Quickly Improve the Readability of Your Website
Are you curious how you can improve the readability of your website? You work for hours crafting the perfect blog post or website page, so why aren’t people taking a few minutes to read what you wrote?

​ Poor readability is a big reason why website visitors leave your website too soon. 

How can you improve the readability of your website? 
  1. Put a paragraph break after every one to two sentences ​
  2. Break text up into bullets or numbered lists
  3. ​ Use headings and subheadings to break up the text and improve "skimability"
  4. Use a font that's large enough, but not too large ​
  5. Keep text left-aligned, not centered
  6. Use images to increase understanding
  7. Aim for about a 5th grade reading level​
Improve Website Readability
Images break up text and aid in understanding
Readability is a BIG thing when it comes to websites. It's not necessarily an SEO ranking feature, but it does indirectly affect your website views.

The longer someone spends on your site, the better your site will rank.
If someone comes to your site and sees too many words, they might bounce right back off and head somewhere else. 

This guide will help you get readers to spend more time on your website by improving the readability of your text. 

Write with short paragraphs

When you are writing your blog, use really short paragraphs. It's the number of lines that counts more than the number of sentences. 

Vary the length of the paragraphs also. It's fine to have a paragraph that's just one line, but then make the next paragraph 3 or 4 lines. 
Website screenshot that uses a variety of paragraph lengths and fonts to create interest and readability
Notice how this website varies the length of paragraphs plus adds bold, bullets, and color to accent important text

Use headings and subheadings to increase "skimability" 

I'm not sure "skimability" is a word, but it works. 

Most people don't read every word on a website. I doubt anyone does.

What readers do is skim the headings, bullets, and other highlighted pieces of text to get the gist of what you're saying, then read the body of the text only if it sounds interesting or helpful. 

Is that what you've been doing as you read this article? 
Article that uses headings and subheadings to break up text
This article is using two levels of headings to break up text

Make lists with bullets and numbers

Bullets and numbered lists are great ways to organize important information on a website. 

Don't make everything into a list, but when you have information that can be broken down into a list, it will help that information stand out and be easier to read. 

The website below uses bullets really well. 
Screenshot of website using bullets to highlight text
Use bullets to highlight important text

Use a font that's large enough...

16 px is a good font size for most websites. If your audience is older, you might want to increase it to 18 or even 20.

For example, look at this screenshot below. The text is too small to read easily. 
Picture
The text inside these boxes is too small and hard to read

...but not TOO large

However you also don't want to go to the other extreme and use a font that is too large. Larger fonts are great for titles, headings, and subheadings, but don't use them for body text. 
Example of text that's too big
Not only is the text too big, it's also centered like one huge heading

Use white space to narrow line width

If you allow your text to flow all the way across the screen, your reader will have to move his or her head to get from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. This makes it easier for a reader to lose their place while reading. 

Look at this screenshot to see how the text goes all the way across the screen. 
Screenshot of website where the text goes all the way across the screen
Compare that screenshot with this one to see how much easier it is on the eyes. 
Screenshot with text that has a large right margin
In the example above, they've used a large margin on the right side to narrow the width of the text. 

Keep text left-aligned, not centered

It's fine to center some text, especially for titles and other items you want to call attention to, but don't center large pieces of text. 

If you center text, when the eye gets to the end of the line and goes back to the beginning of the next line, it's unsure where to look since centered text doesn't have a consistent starting point. 
Lots of centered text
This text would be easier to read if it was left-aligned and the font was a little bigger.

Use images to increase understanding

Images are an important part of any website. 

Images improve the readability of a website by: 
  • Breaking up long pieces of text
  • Increasing understanding, especially for visual learners

Have the screenshots I've provided of different websites helped you understand the message?

Be careful about placing text over an image. That makes the text harder to read and therefore decreases readability.
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Improve the readability of your website
Images can add a little fun to your website, too
It's harder to read on a screen than on the printed page, so make it easy on your visitors and use the tips above to improve the readability of your website.  ​​
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Here's an example of a blog post I formatted for a friend on her website using these tips: 
https://glendarobinson.weebly.com/blog/10-essential-oils-for-dealing-with-stress
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