Our content strategy
Our Content Strategy outlines our approach to the development, governance and publication of useful and usable content.
Our web content and services also need to be as accessible and as easy to use as possible. We also have an Accessibility Strategy for Content.
Making things as simple and clear as possible
We want to make things as simple and clear as possible for our users – to make it easier for people to get things done and find the information they are looking for.
We plan the content of pages so that they work in the site search and wider searches. This is done by having descriptive, meaningful page titles and headings, and important words – the words people use to search for things – high on the page. We want everything to be found as easily, directly and quickly as possible.
We tell people using our sites specifically and concisely what they can do or find. We recommend using the on-site search as the best way of finding information.
We use an active voice where possible. It makes the information more personal and relevant and less clumsy.
We recommend that pages with diverse and complicated content should be split up into sections so that each concept is easier to describe and find.
We link pages so that we do not have to repeat things we have already said somewhere else.
We do not want to get in the way of people finding what they want if we do not do the thing they are looking for. In most cases, if we do not do it, we do not say it. If we do not say it, the organisations that do appear higher in someone’s search results. This is the best way of making sure the right information is easier to find.
How people read webpages
People read web content differently from how they read on paper.
Readers tend to scan web information looking for what they need. They do not read every word. Instead, they read and recognise specific words they are looking for or particular words that stand out for them. Research shows that people only actually read between 20 and 30 per cent of a webpage.
People using websites usually read in an ‘F-shape pattern’. They scan across the top of the webpage, then down the left side and across to find what they need. And the sideways scan gets slightly shorter every time.
This means that content should be written so people can easily scan it – with a clear title at the top, a meaningful description and important words and phrases in the first paragraph.
Reading age
Reading age is a measure of how easy or hard content is to read. The higher the reading age, the more difficult it will be to understand.
On Somerset Council websites we aim for a reading age of 9 to 12 years.
There are many readability tests available – for example, the Flesch-Kincaid readability test.
Many website users have a low reading age. This may be due to the level of their literacy skills, or because English is not their first language. We cannot know, and should not assume, what our audience will know, understand or be familiar with.
We understand that different webpages have different audiences, but we do not always know who they are or what their abilities and background knowledge are. A page about support for businesses might have a different audience to one about choosing a school, but we cannot assume what those differences might be.
It is important to make sure content is easier to read and understand for everyone by writing simply and concisely. This makes it easier for all users to understand, not just those with a low reading age.