Is Your Blog Readable? Try These 6 Easy Tests

How often do you click on a blog post, only to find it difficult to read? You quickly leave and aren’t likely to return. Let’s make sure your readers don’t have that experience!

Here are six quick, easy tests to assess the readability of your blog posts.

1. Colors with a AAA Contrast Rating

Check the contrast of your colors to ensure they have good accessibility.

2. Font Size of At Least 16px

Using Chrome, right-click a paragraph in your blog post, choose “Inspect,” and find “font-size.” Make sure the font size isn’t crossed out.

3. Line Height Between 1.2 and 1.6

Line height (or leading) is the spacing between lines. Right-click a paragraph in Chrome, select “Inspect,” and locate “line-height.”

4. Line Length of 45-90 Characters (Including Spaces)

Copy a full line of text from your blog post at full browser width and paste it here to measure character count. Repeat on a tablet and mobile. Research suggests 55 characters per line optimizes comprehension and reading speed on screens.

5. Flesch Reading Ease Score of 60+

If you use the Yoast SEO plugin in WordPress, this score is calculated in the content analysis section. Alternatively, paste your text here for a readability score. Aim for 60+ for general content; specialized niches (like scientific research) may vary.

6. Use a Legible Font

Some fonts are harder to read in body text. Fonts like Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, Times New Roman, Open Sans, Proxima Nova, and Brandon Text are great choices. Avoid scripted, handwritten, heavily bolded, italicized, or all-uppercase fonts for readability.

Many premium WordPress themes don’t meet these standards. Does yours?