Scannability: what is this concept that is so important for SEO writing?
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 8:54 am
Text formats and structures are, in most cases, the main characteristics that define the genre of a text. This is true for college entrance exam essays, legal formats, academic standards, and also for reading texts on the internet in line with SEO practices.
Text on the internet must be in an easy-to-read format, in which the reader (and user) must have the information they need at their fingertips. This is how we consume text and information on the internet, after all, with the aim of easily finding information. Among other characteristics of a text in digital marketing, the concept of scannability is more than important: it is the matrix of an SEO text.
What is scannability?
In general, scannability has this name because it is basically an allusion to the way we search for information: in a similar way to a printer scanner – from top to bottom. This concept is part of the universe of neuromarketing, digital marketing, webwriting and user experience, primarily. But, broadly speaking, it is possible to say that scannability is a user experience technique applied to writing.
Jacon Nielsen, considered one of the founders of usability bolivia whatsapp data user experience studies, discovered that most people do not read texts word for word, but rather “scan” the content. Their eyes look for key words or essential information to absorb the content. You probably do this yourself as you read this content, deciding which parts deserve your attention the most.
In this sense, the practice of writing texts for SEO must follow a scannability pattern, so that users can absorb what they need in a quick glance. If this does not happen, many will give up on consuming the content, or will only read part of the text, which turns into negative data – after all, if the user does not read the entire content, it will not be possible to direct them to other linked content.
The more “scannable” your text is, the more attractive it will be to the user. Therefore, it is essential to know the techniques and apply them to your content.
Usability techniques
To make a text more attractive, several techniques are used to capture the user's attention – both substantial text techniques and visual techniques. Check out these techniques below.
Inverted pyramid
In journalism, one of the writing techniques used is the pyramid, in which it is necessary to make an introduction, a development and, finally, a conclusion. This is the textual standard in journalism and in other areas as well, such as academia. Here, however, the logic must be reversed.
At the beginning of the text, we should start with the conclusion and, throughout the content, we move on to developing the information, simply because the user cannot dedicate so much time to a content. If, at the beginning of the text, the reader feels that he will have the information he needs, he will continue reading. The first lines, therefore, are essential for the text applied to SEO.
Use of bold
This is a simple technique, but it makes all the difference when reading content on the web. After all, bold is a visual device that highlights certain information for the user, giving contrast to the text.
For example, if the reader is looking for information about the price of a smartphone , the ideal is for the information to be highlighted, using bold text. Links should also be bolded, mainly so that the user understands that it can help them delve deeper into the topic they are looking for.
An important tip is to carefully select when you will use bold, since these will be passages that will catch the reader's eye without necessarily having any context. Therefore, the information that is really important to the content should be highlighted.
Short paragraphs and sentences
The longer a paragraph, the harder it is to scan the information. Ideally, each paragraph should contain a central idea, and the sentences that make up the paragraph should be shorter, so that the reader gains breathing space when searching for and reading the information.
Sentences should not exceed two lines, and paragraphs should be between 2 and 5 lines long, with some exceptions.
In addition to helping with reading, it also makes it much easier to adapt to different types of screens on which the user may access the content (which can be literally any random form, such as a desktop computer, cell phone, tablet and other electronic devices).
Use of images and videos
As previously mentioned, the use of visual resources is very important to maintain the text's scannability as robust and elegant as possible for the user. The use of images is essential, especially for texts applied to SEO: after all, some explanations become clearer with images.
The cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words” applies here. And this is partially true: especially in more informative texts about a specific concept, an image can make all the difference when a user searches for information.
Furthermore, visual resources, such as images and videos, will certainly be seen by the user, and they will not necessarily dedicate time to all the paragraphs. Therefore, it is very important to select images that make sense to the text.
Text on the internet must be in an easy-to-read format, in which the reader (and user) must have the information they need at their fingertips. This is how we consume text and information on the internet, after all, with the aim of easily finding information. Among other characteristics of a text in digital marketing, the concept of scannability is more than important: it is the matrix of an SEO text.
What is scannability?
In general, scannability has this name because it is basically an allusion to the way we search for information: in a similar way to a printer scanner – from top to bottom. This concept is part of the universe of neuromarketing, digital marketing, webwriting and user experience, primarily. But, broadly speaking, it is possible to say that scannability is a user experience technique applied to writing.
Jacon Nielsen, considered one of the founders of usability bolivia whatsapp data user experience studies, discovered that most people do not read texts word for word, but rather “scan” the content. Their eyes look for key words or essential information to absorb the content. You probably do this yourself as you read this content, deciding which parts deserve your attention the most.
In this sense, the practice of writing texts for SEO must follow a scannability pattern, so that users can absorb what they need in a quick glance. If this does not happen, many will give up on consuming the content, or will only read part of the text, which turns into negative data – after all, if the user does not read the entire content, it will not be possible to direct them to other linked content.
The more “scannable” your text is, the more attractive it will be to the user. Therefore, it is essential to know the techniques and apply them to your content.
Usability techniques
To make a text more attractive, several techniques are used to capture the user's attention – both substantial text techniques and visual techniques. Check out these techniques below.
Inverted pyramid
In journalism, one of the writing techniques used is the pyramid, in which it is necessary to make an introduction, a development and, finally, a conclusion. This is the textual standard in journalism and in other areas as well, such as academia. Here, however, the logic must be reversed.
At the beginning of the text, we should start with the conclusion and, throughout the content, we move on to developing the information, simply because the user cannot dedicate so much time to a content. If, at the beginning of the text, the reader feels that he will have the information he needs, he will continue reading. The first lines, therefore, are essential for the text applied to SEO.
Use of bold
This is a simple technique, but it makes all the difference when reading content on the web. After all, bold is a visual device that highlights certain information for the user, giving contrast to the text.
For example, if the reader is looking for information about the price of a smartphone , the ideal is for the information to be highlighted, using bold text. Links should also be bolded, mainly so that the user understands that it can help them delve deeper into the topic they are looking for.
An important tip is to carefully select when you will use bold, since these will be passages that will catch the reader's eye without necessarily having any context. Therefore, the information that is really important to the content should be highlighted.
Short paragraphs and sentences
The longer a paragraph, the harder it is to scan the information. Ideally, each paragraph should contain a central idea, and the sentences that make up the paragraph should be shorter, so that the reader gains breathing space when searching for and reading the information.
Sentences should not exceed two lines, and paragraphs should be between 2 and 5 lines long, with some exceptions.
In addition to helping with reading, it also makes it much easier to adapt to different types of screens on which the user may access the content (which can be literally any random form, such as a desktop computer, cell phone, tablet and other electronic devices).
Use of images and videos
As previously mentioned, the use of visual resources is very important to maintain the text's scannability as robust and elegant as possible for the user. The use of images is essential, especially for texts applied to SEO: after all, some explanations become clearer with images.
The cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words” applies here. And this is partially true: especially in more informative texts about a specific concept, an image can make all the difference when a user searches for information.
Furthermore, visual resources, such as images and videos, will certainly be seen by the user, and they will not necessarily dedicate time to all the paragraphs. Therefore, it is very important to select images that make sense to the text.