Phew, are you still there? Did you notice your mind wandering off mid-sentence? Mine sure did. If yours did too, that’s because it’s difficult to process information that isn’t structured. Before you can wrap your head around the information, a new piece of information is already vying for your attention. That’s actually a big reason why we use periods. Periods actually say: “OK, this is the end of what I want to say, let that sink in before you continue”. Let’s rewrite this passage with shorter sentences.

Brian had listened intently when it was explained to him what he should do. He had actually followed most of the instructions exactly as the instructor had written them down for him on the sheet of paper. The instructor had wanted to make sure he would remember them. But Brian had made a big mistake. He had added the packet of sugar which was already on the kitchen counter. Actually, he should have used the vanilla extract. The extract, however, was still in the kitchen cabinet. After all, he had forgotten that the instructor had told him to always put every ingredient on the kitchen counter in advance. This would’ve helped him remember. The different sugar ruined the recipe. It was the vanilla extract, after all, that gave the dessert its distinct flavor.

This fragment is a lot easier to read and more engaging. Shorter sentences make it easier to get your message across. And make no mistake: this is true for more advanced readers as well. We’ve lost count of the number of people who have ignored our advice because they are “writing for a sophisticated audience”. It doesn’t matter. Clear and concise writing benefits everyone. Your content can be as complex as you want it to be. Your writing shouldn’t. Period.

Readability and SEO

Using shorter sentences makes your text easier to read. And, readability is important for SEO. It makes sense if you think about it. Google likes to show (and people like to find and share) high-quality content, which is informative, nice to read, and easy to comprehend. As the example you’ve just read demonstrates, long sentences are more difficult to process. If a long sentence is followed by other long sentences, the reader might fail to understand the meaning of a text completely. That’s not the experience you’d like to give to your visitors. Nor does Google!

User experience is super important. That’s why Yoast SEO Premium helps you improve every aspect. Get rid of 404 errors with our redirect manager. Add relevant internal links with our internal linking tool. This is your chance to make your website a better place. If you’re on WordPress, upgrade to Yoast SEO Premium now!

What does Yoast SEO’s sentence length check do?

The sentence length check assesses – and this will not come as a surprise – the length of your sentences. First, it counts the words you’ve used in each sentence. Next, it calculates how many of your sentences are longer than 20 words. If more than 25% of your sentences is longer than 20 words, you’ll get the advice to shorten them. Don’t know which ones? Just click the eye icon  and all sentences that are considered too long will be highlighted in your text.