Google Reading Level

Google have added a new feature to their search results to help users find web pages suitable for their reading level.

In the left-hand menu find "All Results" and click on "More search tools"

You will see the new tools marked "Dictionary" and "Reading level"  Dictionary replaces the old "Define:" command which was used for quickly looking up a dictionary definition.

Reading level however is totally new.  Google describes what it can be used for in their help files.

"Sometimes you may want to limit your search results to a specific reading level. For instance, a junior high school teacher looking for content for her students or a second-language learner might want web pages written at a basic reading level. A scientist searching for the latest findings from the experts may want to limit results to those at advanced reading levels."

A few quick tests bring up some interesting results.  When searching for the phrase "UK newspaper news," the top two newspapers requiring a basic reading ability are The Sun and The Times, spot on!






The number one spot for the newspaper requiring an intermediate reading ability is The Independent.

I can't help feeling that webmasters will be testing their sites against competitors to see in which category Google has placed their site.

Using Reading Level with the Google "site:" operator

If you use a search such as site:http://www.fuseo.co.uk you can get an overall Google Reading Level score for an entire site.  Here is what Google thinks of the Fuse site.

Interestingly when you click to view the basic pages, there is only one.  A news story about a gadget called an IdeaPad from the Chinese company Lenovo.

A few experiments seem to suggest that Google has definately got it right.  Consider this site search of the CBeebies site, the young childrens (under 5's) section of the BBC website.

And finally, the other end of the spectrum.  This is a site search of the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University.

Will Google Reading Level have any affect on the SEO industry

We now know that Google has recorded the reading level of every websiste indexed.  It follows that it will also have an idea of the general reading level of all sites in a particular industry or niche.  With data such as this Google could use it in a number of ways.  For example, sites in the middle of the 'bell curve' of reading level may be favoured above those at the extremities.  Or perhaps the reading level of search phrases may be used to match the person searching to the right level of website.