Does Your Press Release’s Readability Score Affect Your SEO?
SEO is an important part of your marketing strategy. One of the main ways prospects find their way to your website is through an organic search. Through this organic search, they hopefully become a paying customer.
How did they come across your website in the first place? Through your online ranking! When you send out a press release, certain keywords in the release help boost your SEO, increasing your website ranking on search engines. If your press release is full of jargon, causing a low readability score, does it tank your SEO?
Let’s find out…
What is a Readability Score?
The readability of something means how readable it is by your prospect or audience. Now, there are many things that go into making something readable and these components are also what tools use to come up with a readability score.
They look at:
Language
How complicated is the language you use? Does your content have a 5th-grade reading level or a 12th-grade reading level? Do you use jargon and tech-speak or do you speak in layman’s terms?
Sentences & Paragraphs
Online reading can either be easier or more difficult depending on the length of the sentences and paragraphs.
Paragraphs should typically be kept at the standard length of 3-5 sentences. This helps you get your point across in a concise manner, without having any jargon.
Sentences should be kept to no more than ten words. Smaller blocks of content are easier for people to read online.
Subheadings
Using a subheading makes your content more readable, and not to mention appealing! You have the opportunity to really hook in your reader with a great subheading. Consider it to be a continuation of your headline.
Formatting
Formatting is just as important as the content. If your release looks like a block of text, readers will not find it appealing.
Having shorter, informative paragraphs and sentences will allow people to skim through your release and understand the message you are trying to convey.
So How Does Readability Impact SEO?
Google does look deep into your content at a variety of elements. Additionally, they look at how long someone stays on the page, how it’s formatted, and what people do after they read your content. Search engines also look at links coming to the page. The more readable the content is, the more likely you are to have people linking to your content.
Does PR Readability Affect SEO?
Yes. The easier it is to read your press and public relations content, including your press releases, the better your SEO can be. Take the time to check your PR’s readability score. There are different tools you can use such as HemingwayApp and Webfx.com to do so.
It’s worth the extra two minutes! Wouldn’t you want to improve your search engine ranking and get in front of more potential customers?
