Articles
16 articles on readability scoring, editorial tactics, and writing for clarity.
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Writing for Sixth-Grade vs Eighth-Grade Reading Level
What actually separates a grade 6 score from a grade 8 score, shown with the formula and the same notice scored at both levels.
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Healthcare Readability: What FDA and HHS Rules Say
What US rules and FDA guidance actually say about the reading level of patient materials, where the 6th- and 8th-grade targets come from, and how to check your text.
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SMOG Index Explained: How It Works and When to Use It
What the SMOG formula counts, where it came from, what its grade means, and why health writers use it. Taken from the 1969 paper and later research.
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Readability for Technical Documentation: Clarity First
Readability formulas measure sentence and word length, not precision. See two scored examples and a practical way to use scores on technical docs.
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Syllable Counting Errors in Readability Scores
How readability tools count syllables, which words they get wrong, how much a miscount really moves your grade, and how to check a count yourself.
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Grammarly vs ProWritingAid Readability Tools
What each tool's readability feature reports, which formulas it names, what the free plans cover, and what neither tool measures.
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Readability for SEO: Does Google Care About Grade Level?
Google lists no reading-level ranking factor. See what Google's own pages say, what one large study found, and how to use readability scores sensibly.
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Sentence Length vs Reading Ease: How to Cut Words Without Losing Authority
Shorter sentences lower your Flesch-Kincaid grade but can sound juvenile. Here's how to cut a 35-word sentence to 18 without losing authority.
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Which Readability Formula to Use: A Practical Guide
Six readability formulas compared: who made each one, what it counts, and how to choose. Includes two passages scored on all six.
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Readability for B2B SaaS Marketing: Clarity vs Authority
How to use readability scores on B2B SaaS copy: what a grade means, a scored before-and-after, and how to keep product terms without losing the reader.
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Readability and Accessibility: WCAG Compliance, Screen Readers, and Readability Formulas
How readability formulas align with WCAG standards. Optimize for both human readers and screen-reader users with evidence-based techniques.
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Active vs Passive Voice: Does Voice Change Your Grade Level?
Readability formulas cannot see active or passive voice. See what they do count, with three sentence pairs scored on this site's calculator.
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Jargon Detection and Short-Word Substitutes
How long words raise a readability grade, how to find them, and a table of shorter substitutes with correct syllable counts. Includes two scored rewrites.
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Readability for Government and Plain-Language Compliance: Meeting Federal and Accessibility Standards
What the Plain Writing Act and Section 508 actually require, which readability formula is easiest to check, and suggested grade-level targets by audience.
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Coleman-Liau vs Flesch-Kincaid: The Letter-Count Formula
The Coleman-Liau Index counts letters instead of syllables. See the formula with the right units, a worked example, and where it helps.
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Why a grade-level score isn't the same as a reading level
A readability grade is a prediction based on the readers in the original study, not on your readers. Here is what the number means and how to use it.