Content | October 9, 2014
Does Content Rank Better If It’s Easy to Read?
When it comes to creating online content, it seems as though the rules are always changing. Keyword stuffing is well and truly out, and algorithms are beginning to ensure that content that is written for the reader, rather than for search engines. But what level of reader do you need to target?
Easy to read Vs. complicated
The main point you need to take away from this is that clarity is everything. Sometimes it simply isn’t possible to explain things in a way that kids will understand – scientific papers or complex mechanical walk-throughs for example will almost always appear complicated. Despite this complexity, you need to keep it as clear and concise as possible.
According to Google’s Matt Cutts, your content will rank much better if it is easy to comprehend and your readers can easily follow it. You need to write it in a way that everyone can understand, regardless of whether they are in your industry or not. As long as it is written in a clear way, you can include as many technical and industry terms as you need.
Be attention grabbing
Regardless of what you’re writing about, you need the audience to engage and interact with your content. That means ensuring that it sounds natural and polished, which can only be a good thing as it is likely to be better written, and therefore endure the tests of time better than something more complicated.
Before you write anything, think about your audience. What do they want to read and how do they want it written? If you can hit your target market perfectly then you don’t need to focus too strongly on what Google thinks of it, as it should all fall into place.
Will it really affect rankings?
The simple answer is not really. Although clear writing can definitely help, ranking is very much based on what the user types. As natural language is becoming more and more present in search engines, you will be more likely to be found as a result of writing naturally, although clear writing won’t specifically boost your rankings.
If you want your content to rank better then you need to think about the words your users are going to be typing. If that’s going to be technical jargon then write your content that way, but if it is more likely to be natural common place terms then you need to make the suitable changes.
The best way of figuring out how you need to be writing content is by looking at longtail keywords and figuring it out from there. At Liberty Marketing, our thorough keyword research will help you know exactly what you need to write in order to rank better and gain more traffic. Talk to us today to learn more!