Reading Level
Businessreading-levelReading Level is an Agent Skill for business published in the thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist repository on GitHub: a SKILL.md instruction file an AI agent can load to do this task.
Use when reviewing content pages for user experience and SEO. Applies to blog posts, landing pages, how-to guides, and any long-form content intended for a broad audience.
How to use this skill
Bring this guide into your coding agent with a prompt tailored to the tool you use.
- Open your project in Codex.
- Copy and paste the prompt below.
- Review files and risks before approving any action.
Inspect the Agent Skill at https://github.com/thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist/blob/HEAD/skills/reading-level/SKILL.md and all supporting files. Report provenance, permissions, scripts, dependencies, and security risks. Propose an exact installation into .agents/skills/reading-level, but wait for my approval before writing files or running scripts.
Copying this prompt does not install or run the skill. Review third-party files before use.
Write at a clear reading level
Content written beyond the reading level of the target audience increases bounce rates and reduces time-on-page—both engagement signals that correlate with search rankings.
Quick Reference
- Target a Flesch Reading Ease score of 60–70 for general audiences (Grade 8–10)
- Use short sentences (15–20 words average) and common vocabulary
- Passive voice, jargon, and long paragraphs reduce readability
- Simple writing increases dwell time and reduces bounce rate
Check
Analyse this page's content for readability. Calculate or estimate the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. Identify sentences longer than 25 words, paragraphs longer than 4 sentences, instances of passive voice, and domain jargon that could be simplified. Report the estimated reading grade level.
Fix
Simplify the identified sentences and paragraphs: break long sentences at conjunctions, replace passive voice with active voice, substitute jargon with plain-language equivalents. Target a Flesch Reading Ease score of 60+ (Grade 8 or below for general audiences). Use subheadings to break up text every 200–300 words.
Explain
Readability measures how easy content is to understand. When content is written above the typical reading level of the audience, users leave faster (higher bounce rate) and spend less time reading (lower dwell time). These engagement signals influence search rankings indirectly. Clear writing also improves conversion rates and user satisfaction.
Code Review
Extract the text content from the page body (excluding navigation, headers, footers). Calculate or estimate the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. Count: sentences longer than 25 words, paragraphs with more than 4 sentences, passive voice instances, and words with more than 3 syllables that could be simplified. Report the grade level and top 5 most complex sentences.
For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance,
see references/rule.md.
Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/seo/reading-level