Does reading grade level affect rankings? What level should I write for?
-
Search engines measure the reading level of your page.
But how does it affect ranking? Should I be aiming more for a low or high Flesch–Kincaid grade level?
-
I can't quite anser how google uses it, but after looking at this recently, I was suprised at the large portion of the adult workforce has a reltivly low reading comprehension. Make sure your target audiance can read your content, then worry about google second. You might find that this alone restricts you to the point where theres not enough wiggle room to worry about the score.
-
Write for people, not search engines and then keep it simple. Everyone understands simple - even rocket surgeons!
The only caveat here is when you're talking to a very specific audience. In which case you'll want to use language that they use/understand otherwise you can be perceived as an "outsider" or "amature".
So - think of your audience and then keep it simple as you can.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to write an optimal h1?
I am working on optimizing the content on my site and am currently reviewing my h1s and seeing how they can be improved. What is the exact purpose of the h1 and how should it differ from the meta title?We sell clothing apparel on my site. So for example- my meta title for women's printed tops category is- Printed tops for women I Patterned Shirts & Tunics I Company Name. How should my h1 differ from this? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | whiteonlySEO0 -
My Site's Name Not Ranking in Google
Hey all, I've seen a few posts like this. But I wanted to start a new thread in hopes I may find the underlying issue. I've had my site: http://www.ctrl-alt-success.com for about 2 years. Recently I've started really adding a lot of content to it. (about 2-3 posts a week). I get zero organic views which is fine as I know it's still in the beginning. But here's my main question. If I type "ctrl-alt-success" into google. I get some site that shows up. "ctrlaltsuccess.com" I've been looking at this issue forever. That site has been "coming soon" for nearly 2 years. lol My site doesn't even show up on the first 10 pages of google. However in Bing and Yahoo it ranks on the first page. What could my site be doing wrong that it's not even ranking for the exact domain name? Keep in mind, if I google "ctrl-alt-success.com" my site comes up fine. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | Ctrl-Alt-Success0 -
Wrong Page is Ranking
My client is an Ecommerce reseller of a few major scooter brands. We currently rank fifth for a particular brand name but our main brand page isn't the one that ranks. Instead, it's a product page. The main brand page has an A rating from Moz for the desired keyword phrases. Neither page has any backlinks. Any ideas on why our main brand page would be outranked by a product page? What could we do to change this?
On-Page Optimization | | TrinShin0 -
Latent semantic Indexing - Does this help rankings/relevance?
Hi, Does semantically related words to the target term on a page help with rankings/relevance? If your after the term 'PC Screen' and you use the term 'PC Monitor' will go make the connection and also reward you because of the relevance? Anyone do this and have you seen any positives? I've just started to try this out lately and have been combining it with Wordle.net to give me an indication of where the content piece is heading and how aggressive the content leans towards certain words (makes things a little more interesting then calculating densities).
On-Page Optimization | | Bondara0 -
Regarding Ranking.
Hi, Could anyone please advise me on how long would he take to get my website ranked in the top 3 results on first page on google. It's an university's website and close to no university's in Malaysia are doing SEO
On-Page Optimization | | navinan0 -
Does hosting server location affect my local google page rank
Hi All, This is my first (of many I would say) questions. My clients site is in Ireland but the hosting service is in Canada. So when i use the MozBar it states that the IP is in Canada. Will this affect my page ranking in Dublin, Ireland? The company is a plumbing service so we would only want local Dublin customers. Thanks so much and I hope someone can help me out. cheers, Aidan
On-Page Optimization | | aidanlawlor0 -
Zero ranking after a month of ON Page Tweeks.
I've been tweaking a Wordpress little by little over the last 3 to 4 weeks but I'm making no progress in the rankings for my keywords. All keywords are still reporting >50 in the SEOMOZ Campaign. Here's the clients pet keyword: "Sailing in Scotland" www.capriceyachtcharter.co.uk The site is indexed and shows IF I search for the company name "Caprice Yacht Charter" What am I missing? Thanks in advance Steve
On-Page Optimization | | stevecounsell0