Readability Score Checker : Why It Is Important For SEO In 2022?

Are you writing content that can be readable only by Ph.D. scholars? Or by a person with a readability level of 5th grade? You will definitely choose the second option to make your content available for a wider range of audiences. To increase your content reach, you should make it understandable to people of different age groups. We use Readability Score as a metric for measuring the readability level. In WordPress, we have seen almost all SEO plugins focus on readability score or level. For example, Yoast SEO Plugin, etc. But when we talk about blogger, there is no option to check the readability score or level while writing content. So, in this article, we will discuss various types of readability scores and how to calculate these metrics using this readability score checker tool for free.

Free Readability Score Checker Tool

What Is Readability Score?

The term readability refers to the ease with which a user can understand a written text. A readability score is between 1 to 100 used to identify how easy or difficult it is to read or understand a written text.

How To Calculate Readability Score?

The calculation of the readability score is based on the Flesch-Kincaid test of readability. There are two tests available for calculating the readability. One is Flesch Reading-Ease and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. Although they use the same core measures i.e., word length, sentence length, and total syllables they have different weight factors.

The results of the two tests correlate approximately inversely. A text with a comparatively high score on the Reading Ease test should have a lower score on the Grade-Level test.

Flesch Reading-Ease (Target Score: >60)

In the Flesch Reading-Ease test, a higher score indicates that the content is easier to read and understand. While a lower score indicates that it is difficult to read. The formula to calculate the Flesch Reading-Ease is as follows-

Readability Score Checker- Flesch Reading-Ease
Flesch Reading-Ease formula
ScoreSchool LevelNotes
100.00–90.005th gradeVery easy to read. Easily understood by an average 11-year-old student.
90.0–80.06th gradeEasy to read. Conversational English for consumers.
80.0–70.07th gradeFairly easy to read.
70.0–60.08th & 9th gradePlain English. Easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students.
60.0–50.010th to 12th gradeFairly difficult to read.
50.0–30.0CollegeDifficult to read.
30.0–10.0College graduateVery difficult to read. Best understood by university graduates.
10.0–0.0ProfessionalExtremely difficult to read. Best understood by university graduates.
Flesch Reading-Ease (Target Score: >60) – Table

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (Target Score: <8-10)

The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test is also using the same parameters as the Flesch Reading-Ease test to calculate the readability score but with different weight factors. The formula to calculate the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is as follows-

Readability Score Checker- Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Formula

How To Calculate Readability Score Using Readability Score Checker Tool?

To calculate the readability score or readability level, open free Readability Score Checker Tool.

  1. Visit the above mentioned link
  2. Write or copy-paste your content in the given text area
  3. Click on “Calculate” button and analyze the result

Why Readability Score Is Important In SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

The readability number is important as it shows the content is easier and clearer to understand for the larger audience segment.

According to an article published here, “Readability is both a direct factor and an indirect factor for SEO. Good readability helps your target audience digest your content, thus influencing their behavior signals, which Google measures. Google prefers content with high readability that provides a satisfactory experience to the end-user.

Here are some benefits of having a good readability score for your website content.

  1. Increases the dwell time
  2. Decreases the exit rate
  3. Decreases the bounce rate
  4. Increases the social shares
  5. Increases the conversion rate

Definition Of Other Calculated Metrics In Free Readability Score Checker Tool

Words

Total count of the words present in the given sentence or paragraph. The minimum number of required words for an article or post is 300 words.

Sentences

A sentence is a set of words that are put together to mean something. A basic unit of language that expresses a complete thought. For a good readability score, make sure to form shorter sentences (less than 20 words).

SMOG Grade (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) Or SMOG Index

The SMOG grade is a measure of readability that estimates the years of education needed to understand a piece of writing. SMOG is very useful for medical (health) writing and is considered the ‘gold standard’ formula in healthcare. It should be less than 8-10.

SMOG Grade- SMOG Index
SMOG Grade

Complex Words

A complex word is a word made up of two or more morphemes. For example, blackbird (two root words). It is also defined as a word made up of more than three syllables. To improve the readability score, replace complex words with simpler ones.

Coleman Liau Index

The Coleman-Liau Index was created by Meri Coleman and T L Liau. The index doesn’t involve syllable counting but instead counted word length in letters. We use this index in the medical, translation sector, and legal sectors. It should be less than 8-10.

Coleman Liau Index- Readability Score
Coleman Liau Index

Here, L is the average number of letters per 100 words and S is the average number of sentences per 100 words.

ARI (Automated Readability Index)

The automated readability index (ARI) is a readability test for English texts, designed to gauge the understandability of a text. It relies on a factor of characters per word, instead of the usual syllables per word. It should be less than 8-10.

ARI (Automated Readability Index)- Readability Score Checker
ARI (Automated Readability Index)
ScoreAgeGrade Level
15-6Kindergarten
26-7First Grade
37-8Second Grade
48-9Third Grade
59-10Fourth Grade
610-11Fifth Grade
711-12Sixth Grade
812-13Seventh Grade
913-14Eighth Grade
1014-15Ninth Grade
1115-16Tenth Grade
1216-17Eleventh Grade
1317-18Twelfth Grade
1418-22College student
ARI (Automated Readability Index) – Table

Syllables

A syllable is a part of a word that contains a single vowel sound. It is pronounced as a unit. For example, blue, huge, right, etc.

Characters

Total count of characters including spaces.

Gunning Fog Index

The Gunning Fog Index was created by Robert Gunning, an American businessman. The index estimates the years of formal education a person needs to understand the text on the first reading. It should be less than 12.

Gunning Fog Index
Gunning Fog Index
Fog IndexReading Level By Grade
17College graduate
16College senior
15College junior
14College sophomore
13College freshman
12High school senior
11High school junior
10High school sophomore
9High school freshman
8Eighth grade
7Seventh grade
6Sixth grade
Gunning Fog Index – Table

Summary

We discussed the importance of the readability score for improving the website’s on-page SEO. We have also discussed various scores used to measure readability and also seen how to calculate this readability score using free readability score checker tool. Most of the plugins and application uses Flesch Reading-Ease to calculate the readability score.

If you have any queries, you can Contact Us.

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Are you writing you content which can be readable only by PhD scholars? Or by a person with readability level of 5th grade? You will definitely chose the second option to make your content available for a wider range of audience. To increase your content reach, you should make it understandable by people with different age groups. We use Readability Score as a metric for measuring the readability level. In WordPress, we have seen almost all SEO plugins focus on readability score or level. For example, Yoast SEO Plugin, etc. But when we talk about blogger, there is no option to check the readability score or level while writing content. So, in this article, we will discussed various types of readability score and how to calculate these metrics using this readability score checker tool for free.

Spread the love