Flesch reading ease

What is flesch reading ease score?

The Flesch Reading Ease score measures how easy a piece of text is to read. A higher score means the writing is simpler and clearer. It rates text on a scale from 0 to 100. A lower score means it’s harder to understand.

This score is important for SEO because search engines favor content that is easy to read and understand. In AI SEO, readability matters because some AI tools (especially ChatGPT) are more likely to quote or cite content that is easy to read.

The Flesch Reading Ease formula considers two main factors: sentence length and the number of syllables per word. Shorter sentences and simpler words result in a higher, more readable score.

Why it matters for AI visibility

Traditional SEO signals like backlinks and domain authority don’t always predict what AI chatbots will cite. But readability can act like a “small bonus.” If your content is clear, an AI model can understand it faster and pull clean sentences from it.

ChatGPT seems to care a lot about readability when choosing sources to cite.
Readability and content depth work together. Detailed content gives the AI more useful lines to use, and readable writing makes those lines easier to pick.