When it comes to SEO, the old adage ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ appears to be true. A recent discovery by machine learning SEO platform MathSight has found that Google’s Penguin 2.1 is ranking web pages according to the quality and readability of content. I would like to explain why it pays to hire a journalist.
You know that clever guy at the dinner party, the one who casually peppers his conversation with words like ‘bacillophobia’ or ‘mendaciloquent’? It’s impressive, right? Well, Google seems to think so, too.
The search engine’s latest algorithm update has come out clearly in favour of the educated and articulate; judging the authority of a web page by the sophistication of its content. And just how is Google evaluating this content? The answer is readability tests.
The readability factor
Since Penguin 2.1 was launched in October 2013, MathSight has been analysing traffic data and has recently been able to confirm – to a 99.9% confidence level – that the algorithm is using the Flesch Kincaid and Dale Chall readability related tests as part of a combination of metrics to evaluate both linking and onsite content.
Dale Chall Readability focuses on the ratio of of rare words to common words. Rare words are defined as words not in the top 3,000 words in common usage in the English dictionary. The formula is:
Raw Score = 0.1579 * (PDW) + 0.0496 * ASL
Raw Score = Reading Grade of a reader
PDW = Percentage of Difficult Words
ASL = Average Sentence Length in words
Flesch Kincaid on the other hand looks at the ratio of words per sentence and the syllables per word. The formula is:
RE = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)
RE = Readability Ease
ASL = Average Sentence Length (i.e., the number of words divided by the number of sentences)
ASW = Average number of syllables per word (i.e., the number of syllables divided by the number of words)
Syllables being rewarded
The latest algorithm change builds on the foundations laid by Penguin 2.0, which caused a number of high profile sites, such as comparethemarket.com, to lose traffic when it was released in May 2013.
With Penguin 2.1 there is less of a focus on offsite Dale Chall, but backlink readability evaluated using Flesch Kincaid metrics (grade level and reading ease), is having an increased influence on traffic.
Compared to Penguin 2.0 there is a slightly decreased focus on the ratios of rare and common words to total per onsite page, however this is still a contributing factor.
Change can be good
‘Good’ content is well researched, informative and useful – and readers actually want to share it. Quality content can be announced via press releases and social media to earn links from important sites that customers will read.
In an age where online businesses are becoming publishers and the search engines are evolving towards the user, hiring a professional journalist is one of the most future-proof decisions a business can make to ensure its site’s ranking will withstand future algorithm updates.