Does Grammar Matter On Your Blog?

grammar checkerShould you use a grammar checker when blogging?

As a former freelance proof-reader, I'm afraid I'm a bit of a stickler for correct grammar – whether it's on blog posts or on the signs I see in offline shops.

You'll probably guess that my answer to my own question is a firm YES, grammar does matter.

I am also very aware that I must read this article really, really carefully so that I don't fall foul of my own rant!

Everyone makes the occasional mistake and typo, especially me. Here I am referring to errors that appear over and over again on a business blog or website.

Why Does Grammar Matter (To Me)?

This is probably a rather selfish point of view, but bad grammar matters to me because it “pulls me up short” and delays my understanding of the post. Sometimes I have to re-read the same section to check what was meant.

This is probably what Google refers to as having “a poor user experience”.

If it happens too often, I give up; because it makes me wonder if I have misunderstood something fundamental.

So in fact, bad grammar should matter to blog authors as well as readers.

Bad grammar, wherever it's found, suggests to me that the business owner may be somewhat careless of their pre-sales presentation. So what else could they be careless of?

When English Is Not Your First Language

I really admire bloggers who write in a language that's not their first language. That's far beyond my skills. Blogging in English has enough pitfalls for me!

Bloggers whose first language is not English must put in so much hard work to learn blogging AND a different language. Many of these bloggers are more punctilious than bloggers whose first language IS English. For the others, I will always try to give them the “benefit of the doubt” by reading less critically.

Other readers may not.

Don't Lose Your Blog Readers

What a shame – after all the effort of producing an article – to risk losing readers for the sake of a few extra minutes using the free grammar checking tools available.

 

Does Google Check The Grammar On Your Blog?

So WHAT if Joy Healey doesn't like the grammar on your blog?

Does Google care about bad grammar on your blog? Click To Tweet

I “asked Google” and found what Matt Cutts had to say recently, with thanks to Get.uk.com where I found the video below.

Get.uk.com concluded that:

At the time Matt said that it wasn’t yet a factor in determining search engine rankings but also that it would be fair to use this information in the future.

I am inclined to agree that correct grammar could, and probably will, become an important factor in ranking sites.

Are YOU wondering how your site measures up?

Which Grammar Checker?

  • Although I tend to stick with the free checks that warn me when I create my articles, I know that there are several grammar checkers available.
  • The excellent Yoast SEO plugin also calculates a “Readability index”, and I aim for “Green”.
  • The simplest grammar checking tip, from the infographic above, is to read your post aloud – substituting as described above for any contractions. This will help you to check that it makes sense.
  • Many people speak highly of Grammarly.com.  It's said to be the world's most accurate grammar checker, so why not give it a try?

Over to you. What do you think about grammar on blog posts?

  • Does bad grammar / spelling spoil your enjoyment of a blog post?
  • Do you use Grammarly, or any other tool to check your grammar and spelling?
  • Please share any other grammar goofs that make you cringe
  • As a bit of an aside – I'd love everyone's opinions on how a British blogger (me) should handle writing for an audience mostly from the USA. Should I write “colour” or “color”? What does everyone think, please?

Please share your thoughts in the comments below.