Spelling and grammar are important for user experience. But is it a search engine ranking factor? Today’s blog look at whether this is the case or not?
You may have a Masters in English language or a perfect score using Grammarly (which we have used to check our blog posts), but does it matter for a search engine? It’s an algorithm, not a human after all.
When Google released its first Panda Update, several sites with poor spelling and grammar saw significant drops in their rankings. If you think about it, if you see a poorly written article littered with typos, you’re not going to hang around on that website and bounce off. So, bad user experience affects search rankings too.
But are spelling and grammar an actual ranking factor? Yes, according to Bing, but no, according to Google. Google does not class it as a ranking signal, as whilst they need to understand or recognise what the webpage is about, poor grammar or spelling can make it harder for them to work it out. Google is all about high-quality content, so some content could be classed as low quality if grammatical errors are present compared to a similar webpage or site.
Bing do class it as a ranking factor, and poorly written content negatively affects your rankings because they see themselves judged on results and the quality of the content they show, so they watch the quality closely.
Whilst not a direct ranking factor, spelling and grammar affects the overall user experience. It is a trust factor; if it’s poorly written and littered with typos, users will bounce off your website so use a spellchecking tool to make sure before publishing.
Believe it or not, poorly written comments, reviews, and user-generated content will not hurt your rankings. However, spammy links and comments will, so if you allow comments and reviews on your website, ensure they have security, such as CAPTCHA in place.
In Summary, spelling and grammar can impact your rankings, possibly directly but also indirectly. It affects the quality and user experience, both of which are important to Google, so make sure you check and read your content, perhaps even use a tool to check it for you, before you publish.
Click here for more information about our services or view more of our blog.
