Flesch–Kincaid Readability Formulas-Are You Writing For Your Audience?
Flesch–Kincaid readability formulas are designed to measure the reading ease text written in English. You might ask so what? A friend of mine and I were developing a website. He was adamant that any post, page or article I wrote score 70 or above on the Flesch–Kincaid readability test. A score of 70 or above means the text is easily read by 13 to 15 year old students. A score between 90 and 100 means the material is easily read by an 11 year old student. Sadly my writing scored in the low 30s, which was better for university graduates than for the general public. So that excluded a great number of potential readers.
As a general real estate appraiser, I developed mostly technical writing skills. That's good for other experts in the industry but not so great for everyday writing. One of my biggest problems is that I've had to learn to write down a little. That’s not meant to be a slight upon anyone’s reading ability. It just means that I needed to use less industry specific verbiage.
My friend could only tell me to keep changing stuff and use Flesch–Kincaid Readability Formulas to keep testing by writing until I got the score up. It was clear he didn't know what to do to increase the Flesch-Kincaid readability formula score to make my writing easily read by more people so I read up on it.
The formula for the Flesch Reading Ease test is 206.835-1.015(total words divided by total sentences)-84.6(total syllables divided by total words). Everybody got that? I was just kidding.
It took me a bit but I understand the formula. So, I will just tell you what can do to increase your score. Short sentences, short words, and fewer apostrophes, equals a higher readability score.
As an example “It is a controversial point.” has a reading ease score of 49.6 but the sentence “It is a moot point.” has a reading ease score of 78.8. One word can make a difference.
Well you could count all words, syllables and sentences or if you have Microsoft Word 2007 or newer, the grammar check tab under the review tab will calculate the score for what you write. That’s an easy way. Or you can go to readability-score.com. Another thing that may be able to help you is a WP plugin by Yoast. The plugin will calculate the Flesch–Kincaid Readability Formulas score and suggest some types of changes to your post to improve SEO.
So as a suggestion unless you are doing technical writing to and audience of professionals like lawyers, doctors or engineers etc. keep your Flesch–Kincaid Readability Formulas score at 70 or above. I think the plugin I mentioned and the general rule of short sentences and short words will be good guides to developing your own writing skills.
Because this article was meant to be a little technical, the Flesch–Kincaid Readability Formulas score is much lower than I would have liked. The article scored a 59.8. Oh well.
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I remember back to 1988 or 1989 I think. I was taking a writing course for professionals in my industry. I knew a number of the people from the business that were there. They were newbies like me. We were in an education program that was designed to help us earn a designation that was considered to be the equivalent of a PHD.
In one exercise we were to take the data on the chalkboard and write a sentence with it. Then we were to take a formula and determine the grade level for our writing. I remember well a friend from the same firm as he looked up and announced to the people around him, “I write at a 29th grade level.” How proud he was of that fact.
But how many people do you know that have had 17 years of college. Who could read that?
Probably the best advice is to just write in a conversational tone. I know you’ve heard that before. The tools above are just an aide to keep you in check.
Lord Bless your efforts.
Thanks William, Yoast it is for the plugin....It's amazing how hard I worked to be a professional English writer in College only to get to downgrade my writing. To me, English is my Third language and we were taught the heavy SAT type of vocabulary...rrgghh
Hi Willie
I have to say - I am not a great fan of tools like this simply because of the arbitrary nature of the decisions. Eg the example you give - ..." moot point" scores more highly than "controversial" . If a lot of your readers have English as a second language they are far more likely to understand the word "controversial" than "moot". I would question how much a word like 'moot' is even being used these days. I think with tools like this people can tie themselves up in knots.
I too have had to adapt the way I write for the internet. My natural style is very long sentences, with lots of long words despite language and communication being one of my specialities. I am now a content specialist and write extensively on a range of subjects for different audiences and always try to keep my writing simple. I don't always succeed but I have large amounts of people reading my articles - so I must being doing something right.
If it works for you and you find it helpful - that's great but it's not something I would suggest most new writers use - or they'll be too busying checking numbers, rather than just writing.
My natural style is much like yours. So I've had to retrain myself.
The example I used was just an example. Most people that I know that try to use the word moot say mute point, which doesn't even have the same meaning.
Tools are just tools designed to help us improve our quality and productivity. I've seen people do a better job wood working with a hammer and chisel than I can with a router and bit. My skill level is simply not up to theirs. So, I have to use what works for me.
My suggestion to everyone is to use the tools that work for them. Like many SEO tools you learn the tricks after a while and do them automatically. Then the tool becomes simply a reminder.
I use this tool as well and usually get into that mid 70's range. I also want to mention that I recently started using a plugin called SEO by Yoast, and I like it better than All in One SEO, it has this F-K readability built right in which is nice.
Very interesting. I had no idea there were tools like this out there! Very beneficial for me! Thanks!
Hi Willie.
I've ran my sites through on-line systems to check the Flesch-Kincaid score - and sometimes I've got 70+, mostly I've got between 55-60 odd.
The training here says time and time again, write naturally, the way you would speak to someone. So I think this system of grading is probably good for technical authors, I'm not as sure it is as important for people trying to describe their passion for Action Man figures.
I'd be glad to see some of the WA members comments saying I'm wrong - and I would always take their advice.
All the best, Mark
No you're not wrong. You have to gauge your audience. If I were writing an article for real estate professionals, then a lower number would be expected. For the general public not so much. Readers digest usually scores about 65 time magazine 52 per wikipedia. Write to your audience.
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Thank so much you for this informative post.