So how can you test your posts for readability ease? There are a number of sites around that give you a free calculator for any text you have written. There is an old WordPress plug-in called Better Writing that purports to help with these readability scores but it hasn’t been updated in a while so I wouldn’t recommend it.

One website I used to check read-ability scores was www.read-able.com. It is very easy to use since it allows you to check the scores for your main page or a specific page already published. For example, I checked my recent post about how to use your smartphone camera more effectively. I copied the Pretty Link on my Word Press dashboard on to the search page, hit enter and literally in seconds the results below appeared.

Readability Test Results

Web Address: ilovesamsungphones.com/howtotakeamazingphotos

This page has an average grade level of about 6.
It should be easily understood by 11 to 12 year olds.

Readability Indices:

Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease - 72.9

Flesch Kincaid Grade Level - 5.3

Gunning Fog Score - 6.7

SMOG Index - 6

Coleman Liau Index - 9.9

Automated Readability Index - 3.5


Text Statistics:

No. of sentences - 183

No. of words - 1597

No. of complex words - 180

Percent of complex words - 11.27%

Average words per sentence - 8.73

Average syllables per word - 1.48


Okay, you say, but what do all those figures mean? The next page introduces the various page readability indexes and what they mean. Later in the training, we will also compare some published text to note the differences.

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barsum52 Premium
Thanks Funkydunc.Thats a great tool.I just did a test and my overall readability score was 77.9.Is that good or bad? Thank you again.
Barry
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Funkydunc208 Premium
@barsum52
Barry, that is very readable content that doesn't require a uni degree to understand. Naturally, we don't want it to be too simple, but that is a very good score.
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Loes Premium
I am always in the green numbers with the flesch readability test, because my English is of kindergarten level.

But I have a Dutch website, and the readability test isn't working there. It seems that the Flesch readability engine doesn't speak any foreign language ;)
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Funkydunc208 Premium
@Loes
Oh dear, what a shame about there not being a Dutch test. Maybe, we can design one and call it the Loes test. If Loes finds it an easy read, then an appropriate points score can be awarded. :))
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Loes Premium
@Funkydunc208
:) perhaps a whole in the market:)
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lavera Premium
Thank you so much for this training, finally i know what all those numbers mean and can read about them in one place. Bookmarked :)
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Funkydunc208 Premium
@lavera
Glad you enjoyed it so much. We all have the capacity to write killer content in our own unique style. Developing that style and maintaining confidence in it is the key. A few tools to assist us along the way can help.
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stevechic Premium
Thankyou very much so helpful will definitely be using this and checking my readability scores. Just ten to write what comes into my head and publish at present.
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Funkydunc208 Premium
@stevechic
Yes, but Steve, that may be killer content since it is how you speak naturally and so we readers will connect with what you say.
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stevechic Premium
@Funkydunc208
If this is true then I will continue to just write as I feel thanks
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Funkydunc208 Premium
@stevechic
Be true to your own personality and develop the writing skills that make you shine, that allows you to express who you are. That way, those of us who have just met you, will get to know you through your fascinating and killer content.
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kennick2015 Premium
Funkydunc, that is an outstanding set of training lessons you have provided to the members. The ability for everyone to be able to write content that is easy to read and be understood is paramount to engaging your audience. It does not, however, come easily to many people and your lessons will go a long way to give confidence to those, and with the tools you provided at least allow them to better check their content. for readability. I do find one of the most annoying traits is the lack of proof reading before publishing a post or a page. The need to get it online hastily without the proper checks can be seriously detrimental to the writers' credibility and harmful in being able to maintain their audience in the long term. Again, a great series of lessons!
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Funkydunc208 Premium
@kennick2015
Thanks, buddy, for your positive response. I am glad you enjoyed and benefited from it. I must have proof read the training five times and tweaked it each time. Some great points you raise in your comments.
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