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Google's Reading Level Filter
| Guest post by: Michael Marshall |
Article Overview: Google has a new filter that is based on the reading level of pages. You can use this advanced search filter to display the reading level for each URL in a search result. You can also do a site:www.domain.com search on any domain with the filter on and see what proportion of the pages on that domain have Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced reading difficulty. I would expect this to be important in the area of personalized search
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Free Download - Calculating ROI for SEO By Michael Marshall |
Google's Reading Level Filter
Google's Reading Level Filter
Google has a new filter that is based on thereading level of pages. You can use this advanced search filter to display the reading level for each URL in a search result. You can also do a site:www.domain.com search on any domain with the filter on and see what proportion of the pages on that domain have Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced reading difficulty.
I would expect this to be important in the area of personalized search. I'm sure Google keeps track of reading level when maintaining a profile for searchers. So depending on your audience, having your content at a certain reading level may affect your position in personalized search results. This is important for usability as well.
You can check the readability of your own content in a number of ways. One way is using the Flesch-Kincaid method. It seems to track fairly well with Google's Reading Level system. Below, I've used a free readability calculator on some URLs Google has labelled "Advanced", "Intermediate", and "Basic" respectively.
Readability Index Calculator:http://www.standards-schmandards.com/exhibits/rix/index.php
research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/horvitz/ps.htm (Advanced)
Flesch-Kincaid Grade level:16.
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score:5.
http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1279/Personalization-of-Search-and-its-implications-for-SEO.html (Intermediate)
Flesch-Kincaid Grade level:15.
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score:21.
searchengineland.com/google-now-personalizes-everyones-search-results-31195 (Basic)
Flesch-Kincaid Grade level:12.
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score:38.
TheFlesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score indicates how easy a text is to read. A high score implies an easy text. In comparison comics typically score around 90 while legalese can get a score below 10.
TheFlesch-Kincaid Grade level indicates the grade a person will have to have reached to be able to understand the text. E.g. a grade level of 7 means that a seventh grader will be able to understand the text.
The Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score seems to correlate best with Google's Reading Levels in the examples above. Much more testing with a large sample size is needed for any reliable comparison. However, the free calculator is a good start to measure any content you're writing for readability before it goes live.
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Article Tags: google, personalization, reading difficulty, reading level, search filter, search result
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About the Author: Michael Marshall RSS for Michael's articles - Visit Michael's website I am also a contributing author to SEOToday.com, the premier website for SEM professionals, and a contributor to "Building Your Business With Google for Dummies" by Brad Hill. I am a frequent presenter at Ultra Advanced SEO Symposiums, a meeting of select masters of the search engine marketing industry, at Search Engine Workshops. I am also a certified instructor at the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Search Engine Academy, an SEO certification program approved by the US educational system. Three SEO Tools I've created: SEM SCOUT - Content Relevance SEO Sniper - Keyphrase Research SEO Recon - SEO Competitive Intelligence Click here to visit Michael's website   SEO Google and Flash The Tao of Search Engine Marketing Dualism in SEO Fish or Cut Bait Connecting the DOTS The Semantic Web |
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[quote="Barry Sarner":ev3dumxj]"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more
important than any other one thing."
- Abraham Lincoln
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS STATEMENT ???[/quote:ev3dumxj]
It's true on two levels.
Level 1 - Doing something for the first time to succeed.
Level 2 - Coming back from failure and not resting until you've regained success.
The scares maybe deep. The wounds tender to the touch. But it will always be man's resolve or lack there of that defines the limits he is willing to go to, to gain or regain succeed.
Books, audios, videos, courses, seminars, webinars, & etc. are important and I can't get enough. But nothing can take the place of what a man must decide to do, deep down within himself, if he wants to succeed.
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!!
- [quote="ThePromotionalGuy":18e9nuiy]Hey Barry,
[quote="Barry Sarner":18e9nuiy]"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more
important than any other one thing."
- Abraham Lincoln
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS STATEMENT ???[/quote:18e9nuiy]
It's true on two levels.
Level 1 - Doing something for the first time to succeed.
Level 2 - Coming back from failure and not resting until you've regained success.
The scares maybe deep. The wounds tender to the touch. But it will always be man's resolve or lack there of that defines the limits he is willing to go to succeed.
Books, audios, videos, courses, seminars, webinars, & etc. I love. But nothing can take the place of what a man must decide to do, deep down if he wants to succeed.[/quote:18e9nuiy]
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Updating your status
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