Our content strategy
Our Content Strategy explains how we make and share helpful content. We explain how we create it, check it, and put it online.
We want everyone to use our websites and online services easily. That is why we have an Accessibility Strategy for Content to make our content work well for people with different needs.
We also have tips to help make documents easier to read and use. You can find them on our Creating accessible documents page.
Making things as simple and clear as possible
We want to make things simple and clear, so people can find what they need and get things done easily.
We plan our web pages so they show up well in search results. We do this by using clear page titles, helpful headings, and putting important words near the top of the page. This helps people find what they are looking for quickly.
We say clearly what each page is for and what people can do on it. We also suggest using the search box to help find things.
We try to write in a way that sounds active and friendly. This makes the information easier to understand.
If a page has lots of different things on it, we split it into sections. That way, each part is easier to explain and find.
We link to other pages instead of repeating the same information.
If we do not offer something, we don’t talk about it. This helps people find the right organisation when they search online.
User needs and customer journey
User needs – What people need from our website
People come to Somerset.gov.uk to do things like pay Council Tax or check when their bins will be collected. These are called user needs—the things people want to do or find out.
Every page on our website should help with a real user need. We follow advice from GOV.UK user needs guide to help us write useful and clear content.
Customer journey – How people use our website
A customer journey is the path someone takes on our website. It starts when they first visit the site and ends when they finish something—like applying for a service or making a payment.
We look at these journeys to see how people move through the site. This helps us find problems and make the website easier to use.
How people read websites
People read websites differently from books or paper.
They usually scan the page to find what they need. They don’t read every word. Instead, they look for keywords or things that stand out. Research shows that people only read about 20 to 30 out of every 100 words on a webpage.
Most people read in an F-shape. They look across the top of the page, then down the left side, and across again—but each time, the sideways look gets shorter.
This means we should write content that is easy to scan:
- Put a clear title at the top.
- Add a short description that explains what the page is about.
- Use important words in the first paragraph.
Reading age
Reading age shows how easy or hard something is to read. A higher reading age means the writing is harder to understand.
The writing for GOV UK guide says we should aim for a reading age of 9 years old. On Somerset Council websites, we try to keep the reading age between 9 and 12 years old. Some pages, like planning pages, might be a bit harder.
There are tests that help check reading age. One example is the Flesch-Kincaid readability test.
Many people who use websites have a low reading age. This might be because they find reading hard or English is not their first language. We don’t know what people will understand, so we don’t guess.
Different pages have different readers. A page about business support might have different readers than one about choosing a school. But we cannot assume what people know or what they need.
That is why we write in a simple and clear way. This helps everyone understand the content—not just people with a low reading age.