Readability archives

Recent Readability articles

The readability checks in Yoast SEO: a closer look with our linguists

14 May 2021 | 6 Comments Willemien Hallebeek

This month we are commemorating 5 years since the Yoast SEO readability check was first released! Since then, we’ve continued making improvements. We sat down with our Linguistics team lead, Manuel Augustin, and researcher-developer, Hanna Worku, to get a deeper view of how the readability check works and how they adapt the tool to add …

Read: "The readability checks in Yoast SEO: a closer look with our linguists"
The readability checks in Yoast SEO: a closer look with our linguists

5 years of writing readable content with Yoast SEO

Writing seems simple enough, but writing a compelling text that keeps the attention is quite hard. Especially online. To keep people on your page, you need to write quality content that’s easy to read. Easier said than done? You’re absolutely right. That’s why we introduced a readability analysis in our Yoast SEO plugin five years …

Read: "5 years of writing readable content with Yoast SEO"
5 years of writing readable content with Yoast SEO

10 years of Yoast and SEO: Webinar recap

5 June 2020 | 19 Comments Willemien Hallebeek

Last Friday, May 29th, Yoast celebrated its 10th anniversary, and we invited everyone to join us! And what better way to celebrate than with an awesome, interactive webinar? We had multiple talks, Q&As, live site reviews, all with loads of SEO tips, insights and practical advice. Of course, we understand that not everyone could join …

Read: "10 years of Yoast and SEO: Webinar recap"
10 years of Yoast and SEO: Webinar recap

Is readability oversimplifying or opening up?

24 February 2020 | 3 Comments Marieke van de Rakt

Writing a readable text can be daunting, especially if the topic of your blog is difficult or extremely technical. Is it necessary to focus on readability if your audience is used to your jargon? Well, although your audience might be up to the task of reading your lingo, the entire purpose of SEO is to …

Read: "Is readability oversimplifying or opening up?"
Is readability oversimplifying or opening up?

Why and how to write shorter sentences for SEO

11 February 2020 Marieke van de Rakt

The sentence length check in Yoast SEO warns against using too many long sentences. But what makes a sentence too long? Why should you avoid too many long sentences? And how do you chop up one longer sentence into several shorter sentences? This article will explain why you shouldn’t use too many long sentences and …

Read: "Why and how to write shorter sentences for SEO"
Why and how to write shorter sentences for SEO



The passive voice: What is it and how to avoid it?

1 December 2019 Fleur Heesen

Do you know what the passive voice is and why you should avoid it in most cases? In the readability analysis in Yoast SEO, we recommend using the passive voice in a maximum of 10% of your sentences. This post will answer some questions about our plugin’s passive voice and assessment. Firstly, we’ll explain what it is. …

Read: "The passive voice: What is it and how to avoid it?"
The passive voice: What is it and how to avoid it?

Engaging your online audience: 8 practical tips

16 October 2019 | 18 Comments Fleur Heesen

Engaging your audience is a very powerful tool to keep them on your site, but also not the easiest thing in the world. Especially when it comes to online. In this article, I’ll explore three areas to help you engage your online audience: knowledge gaps, memory overload, and creating a connection. I’ll also give lots …

Read: "Engaging your online audience: 8 practical tips"
Engaging your online audience: 8 practical tips