This article provides instructions on how to use the Quality Assurance Readability feature to detect the reading level of website pages.
The readability feature categorizes the difficulty of the vocabulary on a website into comprehension and school grade values. This helps website owners improve the experience for their users.
Readability methods
The method that appears is the one that the admin selected during setup.
Flesch Kincaid Readability Test (English Text)
The Flesch–Kincaid readability test is used for English text and it measures word length, number of syllables per word, and sentence length. The formula for the Flesch (FRES) test is:
When Web Governance is not able to generate a readability score for a page, the following error messages describe the reasons:
Language not supported: This indicates that the language of the page is not recognized as English. The Flesch-Kincaid test only works for English language. A encourages you to change to the LIX test to generate scores for non-English pages.
Score could not be generated: This indicates that it was not possible to generate an accurate score for the page. This is typically because either the text on a page is too short or too long, or the web crawler does not detect any text.
LIX Readability Test (Non-English Text)
The LIX method is used for foreign languages and the readability formula is as follows:
LIX = A/B + (C x 100)/A, where:
A = Number of words
B = Number of periods (defined by period, colon, or upper-case first letter)
Clear language rules also affect the overall readability scores. Generally, these rules apply:
Long Sentences: Sentences that exceed 20 words are flagged. Aim for 5% or lower total content with long sentences. The message is likely buried in complex statements and run-on sentences. A tip is to split the long sentences or use lists.
Average Sentence Length: Aim for 10 words per sentence or fewer for optimal readability.
Passive Language: Aim for 5% or lower total content in passive language. Active language is more direct and clear. Examples:
Active voice:
Monkeys adore bananas.
The cashier counted the money.
The dog chased the squirrel.
Passive voice:
Bananas are adored by monkeys.
The money was counted by the cashier.
The squirrel was chased by the dog.
Readability: The ideal readability score is 60 or higher. This ensures a clear message and easy-to-follow instructional text.
Instructions
This section provides instructions on how to access the readability scores in the Quality Assurance module.
Click Quality Assurance (the checkbox icon), on the window toolbar.
The Quality Assurance page opens.
Select Readability from the menu on the left.
Summary
In the Readability sub-menu, select Summary.
A bar chart shows a visual image of the number of pages in each readability difficulty level.
A circular diagram shows the readability category that the highest percentage of pages has.
The Readability by Score section shows the number of pages that have a readability level in each category.
On the same row as a readability score, click on the number in the Pages column.
The Pages with Score pane opens.
The toolbar at the top provides options to:
Export: Click to export the list.
A dialog box opens. Select your export file:
Start Export
A message informs that, "Your export is currently being generated, You will receive an email when the export is ready." To view the progress, click the avatar icon on the main toolbar and select My Exports, or use the provided button Go to My Exports.
Search: Click in the dialog box and type a search parameter.
The page header gives some quick help instructions and shows the percentage of pages with the selected score.
The table with the results has the headers:
Title and URL: The page title and link to the page.
Readability Score: The readability score per school grade.
Total words: Total number of words that meet the criteria to determine the specific readability score.
Priority: Low, Medium, High as determined by the number of page views.
Views: Approximate number of page views since the last scan.
Open page details: On the same row as a page, click the to navigate to the overview of the page. This view shows the readability score as determined by the last scan.
Readability checker
In the Readability sub-menu, select Readability checker.
Paste or type any text into the section provided.
Click Calculate readability score at the bottom of the section.
The readability score for the text displays in the section to the right.
This article provides instructions on how to use the Quality Assurance Readability feature to detect the reading level of website pages.
The readability feature categorizes the difficulty of the vocabulary on a website into comprehension and school grade values. This helps website owners improve the experience for their users.
Readability methods
The method that appears is the one that the admin selected during setup.
Flesch Kincaid Readability Test (English Text)
The Flesch–Kincaid readability test is used for English text and it measures word length, number of syllables per word, and sentence length. The formula for the Flesch (FRES) test is:
When Web Governance is not able to generate a readability score for a page, the following error messages describe the reasons:
Language not supported: This indicates that the language of the page is not recognized as English. The Flesch-Kincaid test only works for English language. A encourages you to change to the LIX test to generate scores for non-English pages.
Score could not be generated: This indicates that it was not possible to generate an accurate score for the page. This is typically because either the text on a page is too short or too long, or the web crawler does not detect any text.
LIX Readability Test (Non-English Text)
The LIX method is used for foreign languages and the readability formula is as follows:
LIX = A/B + (C x 100)/A, where:
A = Number of words
B = Number of periods (defined by period, colon, or upper-case first letter)
Clear language rules also affect the overall readability scores. Generally, these rules apply:
Long Sentences: Sentences that exceed 20 words are flagged. Aim for 5% or lower total content with long sentences. The message is likely buried in complex statements and run-on sentences. A tip is to split the long sentences or use lists.
Average Sentence Length: Aim for 10 words per sentence or fewer for optimal readability.
Passive Language: Aim for 5% or lower total content in passive language. Active language is more direct and clear. Examples:
Active voice:
Monkeys adore bananas.
The cashier counted the money.
The dog chased the squirrel.
Passive voice:
Bananas are adored by monkeys.
The money was counted by the cashier.
The squirrel was chased by the dog.
Readability: The ideal readability score is 60 or higher. This ensures a clear message and easy-to-follow instructional text.
Instructions
This section provides instructions on how to access the readability scores in the Quality Assurance module.
Click Quality Assurance (the checkbox icon), on the window toolbar.
The Quality Assurance page opens.
Select Readability from the menu on the left.
Summary
In the Readability sub-menu, select Summary.
A bar chart shows a visual image of the number of pages in each readability difficulty level.
A circular diagram shows the readability category that the highest percentage of pages has.
The Readability by Score section shows the number of pages that have a readability level in each category.
On the same row as a readability score, click on the number in the Pages column.
The Pages with Score pane opens.
The toolbar at the top provides options to:
Export: Click to export the list.
A dialog box opens. Select your export file:
Start Export
A message informs that, "Your export is currently being generated, You will receive an email when the export is ready." To view the progress, click the avatar icon on the main toolbar and select My Exports, or use the provided button Go to My Exports.
Search: Click in the dialog box and type a search parameter.
The page header gives some quick help instructions and shows the percentage of pages with the selected score.
The table with the results has the headers:
Title and URL: The page title and link to the page.
Readability Score: The readability score per school grade.
Total words: Total number of words that meet the criteria to determine the specific readability score.
Priority: Low, Medium, High as determined by the number of page views.
Views: Approximate number of page views since the last scan.
Open page details: On the same row as a page, click the to navigate to the overview of the page. This view shows the readability score as determined by the last scan.
Readability checker
In the Readability sub-menu, select Readability checker.
Paste or type any text into the section provided.
Click Calculate readability score at the bottom of the section.
The readability score for the text displays in the section to the right.
Redirect to page: Click to navigate to the page URL and view the page as an external visitor.
Network speed: The speed of the network.
Check frequency: The frequency of the check.
Important: The Dashboard always shows data with the default profile selected. To change this, select a new profile (click the drop-down arrow to see the available profiles). Please be aware that when you change the profile, the numbers on all three sections inside the Performance module update accordingly.
Graph with performance speed and date as well as a donut chart showing the average performance score.
Scan history results: This table shows valuable scan data from previous scans.
Scan history results: This table shows valuable scan data from previous scans.
Crawled at: Date and time of scan.
Pages crawled: Number of pages scanned.
Readability levels: Total number of issues per readability level criteria, broken down into category icons that represent the reading grade level. For more information, visit History Center.
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Page icon
Redirect to page: Click to navigate to the page URL and view the page as an external visitor.
Network speed: The speed of the network.
Check frequency: The frequency of the check.
Important: The Dashboard always shows data with the default profile selected. To change this, select a new profile (click the drop-down arrow to see the available profiles). Please be aware that when you change the profile, the numbers on all three sections inside the Performance module update accordingly.
Graph with performance speed and date as well as a donut chart showing the average performance score.
Scan history results: This table shows valuable scan data from previous scans.
Scan history results: This table shows valuable scan data from previous scans.
Crawled at: Date and time of scan.
Pages crawled: Number of pages scanned.
Readability levels: Total number of issues per readability level criteria, broken down into category icons that represent the reading grade level. For more information, visit History Center.
Did not find what you were looking for?
If this content did not answer your questions, try searching or contacting our support team for further assistance.
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