Statistics tell us that 68% of all online experiences are ignited by a simple search. Now, it’s important to understand that content must be on the first page to make any difference because any content on the second page of Google can achieve only a measly 0.78% click rate.
This tells us how important it is for content to stand out in SERP to make any sort of impact. But, how does readability fit into all of this? The thing is, if you want your content to make an impact, you need it to be readable and understandable.
So, today we’ll be exploring:
- What exactly readable content is?
- Why it’s important?
- What exactly is search engine content?
- Why good search engine content is necessary?
So, let’s get started:
What Is Readable Content?
The process of creating readable content can be challenging. You need to take into consideration the purpose and audience of your content, as well as how to make it easy to read. In order for your content to be readable, it needs to be easy on the eyes and effortless for the reader.
The text should be broken up into small chunks, use short sentences and paragraphs, avoid complicated words or jargon and keep a conversational tone. That’s why there are three steps in any readable content writing:
1. Easy To Read
The first step is to make sure that the content is easy to read. This means that the text should not be too long and easy on the eyes with a lot of white space. The font size should also be big enough for people to read without straining their eyes
2. Easy to Understand
The second step is to make sure that the content is easy to consume. This means that it should not take too much time or effort for people to consume it, and they should get all the information they need. It should also be well-structured so that readers know what they are getting into before they even start reading it.
3. Simplifying Difficulties
The third step is ensuring readers can understand your content seamlessly, without hiccups or confusion. This means using layman’s terms when needed.
Why Is Content Readability Important?
Readable content is important because it helps the audience to understand what you are trying to say. It also helps with SEO ranks and better branding.
A good brand image will help your business grow. That’s why good content is not just about having the right words.
It’s also about ensuring that the message is conveyed in a way that can be understood by your audience. Some writers think that if they use flowery language and complicated words, it will make their content better. But in reality, this only makes it harder to understand what they are trying to say.
It doesn’t matter how well you write if no one understands what you are saying. Therefore, the more readable content is, the better it is for the audience.
This is because they are able to read and comprehend the information on the website. It also improves SEO rankings and makes a good brand image for a company.
What Exactly Is Search Engine/SEO Content?
SEO content is the type of content that is optimized for search engines. It should be written in a way that it will rank high on SERPs and get more organic traffic. With the assistance of Markham SEO services, businesses can refine their content strategy to generate organic traffic, which is essentially the inbound traffic arriving at a website through SERPs without any promotional efforts.
Now, organic traffic, or inbound traffic, is the type of traffic that comes to your site through search engine results pages (SERPs) without any form of promotion. It is also called “natural” or “earned” traffic.
That’s why SEO content is the type of content that generates said traffic to a website. It can be anything, such as:
- Blog posts
- Infographics
- Videos
- Case studies
The most important thing about SEO content is that it’s unique and provides value to the audience. Therefore, it needs to be readable and understandable.
Why Is Search Engine Content Important?
SEO content is important because it has the potential to generate traffic for your website. It can also help you increase your brand visibility and credibility.
SEO content helps people find your website and increases the likelihood that they will stay on your site for longer.
Search engine optimization (SEO) content is important for any business, large or small. It helps to generate traffic and increase brand visibility.
It also helps to build a company’s credibility and retain its audience by providing useful and relevant information.
SEO content directly affects SERP ranks, which in turn can affect the company’s overall presence on the internet.
10 Tips To Ensure Better Readability For SEO
Readability is the key ingredient in luring a mass audience towards your content. However, ensuring readability requires you to tend to a few key essentials.
So, where exactly do you begin? To make things easier for you, we’ve got 10 of the best tips to ensure better readability for SEO. So, let’s begin:
1. Reduce Redundancy
Redundancy in common sense means something that’s not firmly essential to function. However, in content, redundancy is using words and terms that aren’t advancing your narrative/article.
In simple words, redundancy is using content that’s not essential to your main topic. Therefore, reducing this sort of text should be one of your top priorities, as it can cause many readers to face trouble perusing your articles.
2. Avoid Fluff Words
Fluff words are the worst when it comes to readability. These types of words add nothing to the narrative and make the text difficult to read. For instance, using words like that, then, totally, really, and very can help you emphasize.
However, they’re not necessary if you can find a better alternative. For instance, using “brilliant” instead of “very good.” This technique can help you save a lot of typing too.
3. Structure Your Content Properly
Content structure plays a vital role in readability. If your text is difficult to read, it won’t only cause your readers problem but also harm your SEO chances. And using the right H1, H2, and H3 structure is a big part of on-page SEO.
Therefore, you need to structure your text and don’t make it sound like an academic essay. It must feature content breakdowns, structured headings, bullet points, etc. Basically, anything that could help you simply emphasizes your point.
4. Write A Catchy But Understandable Title
Titles are one of the essential parts of readable elements in any article. Suppose your article isn’t attracting any readers. In that case, it will not be of any use if your content is readable.
Therefore, avoid difficult words in your title. Try using something simple yet striking, like numbers, how-to, etc.
5. Write Subheadings That Make Sense
Subheadings are just as important as titles. Because once a reader opens an article, most of them like to scan it roughly before proceeding to read the whole thing. If the subheadings aren’t catchy, they might just turn away from it.
So, your subheadings need to be just as readable and catchy as your main title. Try to keep it simple, but don’t get too informal— keep a balance between the two.
6. Avoid Passive & Focus On Active Voice
Passive voice is one of the most infamous enemies of readable content. Moreover, SEO experts have no tolerance for any sort of passive voice in their content.
Mainly because search engine crawlers also deem it unreadable. Therefore, you must focus on active voice rather than passive voice.
7. Use A Tool To Correct Grammar
Grammatical correction is going to play a vital role in ensuring the readability of your text. Now, we know it’s difficult to ensure grammatical prowess in thousands of words of text. But, that’s when tools like EditPad’s grammar checker come into play:
Once you use this to check your content’s grammar, it’s a straightforward process. Just click on the text marked in either Yellow or Red to correct the text, and you’re good to go.
1. Paraphrase To Ensure Better Fluency
Paraphrasing your text can also help you improve your text’s fluency and readability. However, doing it manually takes a lot of time, so we suggest you try Paraphraser.io or any other tool that offers fluency options in content tone. Here’s how:
- Pick fluency content tone
- Pick the right language
- Do the captcha check
- Paraphrase your text
- Done
And once you do, here’s what your final text would look like:
Therefore, it’s imperative that you try to use a paraphrasing tool and improve your content’s readability.
2. Focus On Easier Words
Perhaps the best way to ensure readability is by using easier words. Trying to write something difficult is impressive, but it’s not always effective. Here, a paraphrase tool comes into play. It uses simple words to rephrase them with difficult words and make content easily readable for everyone.
The paraphrasing tools used proper vocabulary, tone, and style to enhance the text’s readability.
Paraphrase tools use easier alternatives, such as:
- Used “baby” instead of “infant”
- Used “happen” instead of “occur”
- Used “raise” instead of “uplift”
Conclusion
These 9 tips will help you conquer your readability problems. Not only will you employ your own new tactics to ensure readable text, but also the assistance of AI-based tools will also ensure optimal results and ideal content for SEO.