Screaming Frog Spider Explained
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a powerful website crawler used by SEO professionals to analyze and audit technical aspects of a website. It helps in identifying issues such as broken links, duplicate content, missing meta tags, and more. One of its core functions is crawling websites to gather detailed data on pages, which can be used to improve on-page SEO, track site structure, and ensure optimization best practices are followed.
The term “spider” refers to how the tool “crawls” through websites, just like search engine bots (or spiders) that index websites for search engines like Google. In this context, it scans and analyzes every page to detect technical SEO problems or areas for improvement
Introduction to Readability Testing
While acknowledging that various readability algorithms have their own benefits and drawbacks, the Screaming Frog SEO Spider can quickly perform a readability analysis of all website pages using the Flesch Kincaid reading-ease score, providing insights into how easy it is for users to read the content and helping identify areas for improvement.
What is a Flesch Reading-Ease Score?
One popular readability formula that determines a text’s approximate reading grade level is the Flesch reading-ease test.
A readability score in the range of 0 to 100 is computed. Lower scores suggest the text is more difficult to read, while higher values show the material is easier. The Flesch reading-ease test considers the following:
- The average length of sentences (by number of words).
- The average number of syllables for each word
How to test readability in the SEO Spider
Below are the steps to test readability in the SEO Spider
1. Crawl the website
For readability testing, enter the website’s URL in the top bar and select “Start” to start the crawl and analysis. To test individual pages or a collection of URLs, like rival websites, as opposed to the entire website, select “Mode > List” to enter list mode. After that, select “Upload” and enter the URLs.
2. View the “Content’ Tab
- To see the URLs appear in the interface in real time, click the content tab at the top.
- Each page will have a number of details displayed around it on the content tab, including readability columns, the Flesch reading-ease score, average words per sentence, and word and sentence counts.
With the exception of the navigation and footer, text contained in a web page’s body HTML element is subject to word count and readability analysis. The primary content section is this, and it is configurable.
The readability column definitions can be seen below:
- Flesch Reading Ease Score – Text readability is gauged using the Flesch reading ease test. This widely used readability method assigns a score between 0 and 100 based on average sentence length and number of syllables per word. A pupil who is eleven years old can understand 100 easily, however 0 is extremely difficult to comprehend and should only be understood by university graduates.
- Readability – The Flesch Reading Ease Score and recorded score categories were used to classify the total readability assessment.
3. Review Readability Filters
To find pages with readability that are either challenging or extremely difficult, use the content tab filters.
During the crawl, the number of pages for each of these criteria will be updated in real-time in the Overview tab on the right. They will also be marked as possible areas for improvement on the Issues tab.
The filters of readability consist in
- Readability Difficult
The Flesch reading-ease score range for these pages is 30-49. The Flesch reading-ease score algorithm indicates that the content on the page is difficult to read and best understood by college graduates. Long sentences and complicated vocabulary make content more difficult to read and comprehend overall. Think about making the copy easier to read for the people who will be reading it. Shorter phrases with simpler vocabulary make content easier to read and comprehend.
- Readability Very Difficult
The Flesch reading-ease score on these pages ranges from 0 to 29. Per the Flesch reading-ease score algorithm, the content on this page is extremely difficult to read and best understood by university graduates. Long sentences and complicated vocabulary make content more difficult to read and comprehend overall. Think about making the copy easier to read for the people who will be reading it. Shorter sentences with simpler vocabulary are frequently easier to read and comprehend in content.
Score Table
School Level (US) | Avg. words per sentence | Syllables per 100 words | Notes |
5th Grade | 8 | 123 | Very easy to read |
6th Grade | 11 | 131 | Easy to read |
7th Grade | 14 | 139 | Fairly easy to read |
8th & 9th Grade | 17 | 147 | Plain English |
10th to 12th Grade | 21 | 155 | Fairly difficult to read |
College | 25 | 167 | Difficult to read |
College Graduate | 29 | 192 | Difficult to read |
Professional | 29 | 192 | Extremely difficult to read |
4. Export Data
You can use the ‘Export’ button located at the top to export all of the readability data.
How to Improve Readability
- Rather than focusing on achieving high readability scores, the goal should be to improve readability for actual users. Therefore, write for them first and foremost.
- Although they are not perfect, readability scores might be useful in identifying lengthy and complicated sentences. A high readability score does not automatically imply excellent writing, and it should always be revised and evaluated by a human.
Here are 5 suggestions for making website material easier to read:
- Organize Your Writing – To give a page structure and organization, use headers and subheadings. They facilitate material skimming and digestion and offer sign posting. When appropriate, include a table of contents, lists, quotes, images, and media. To assist users and enhance accessibility, employ rationally and consistently.
- Be Concise – Write simply. It’s better to have less. Steer clear of superfluous words that bulk up the text. Reduce the use of airy adverbs like “really,” “quite,” and “very.”
- Shorten Sentences –Make sure phrases and paragraphs are not too long. A block of text that has an excessive number of long sentences becomes harder to read and lowers readability scores. Users are better able to read and process information when sentences are shorter. Aim to keep paragraphs and sentences to no more than a few sentences each.
- Make use of simpler language – Keep your wording straightforward. Steer clear of longer, more syllable terms because they are harder to read. Using words with a lot of syllables can lower readability ratings and make writing harder to read.
- Compose with your audience in mind – Although these general guidelines might aid in increasing readability, you should always write in your own voice and for your own audience. While readability ratings can be helpful in giving guidance, there are situations in which the audience is better served by longer sentences and more complicated vocabulary. Always prioritize your user’s needs over your own and apply common sense when pursuing higher readability scores.
In Summary
This guide will make it easier and more efficient for you to conduct readability tests on websites on a large scale. The readability ratings can be used to pinpoint areas where users’ readability needs to be improved. The SEO Spider can be used to verify a website’s spelling and grammar in addition to its readability.