Clarity is a product KPI — not a nice-to-have. When readability, plain language, and WCAG work as one system instead of three disconnected checklists, you measurably cut cognitive load, boost task completion and SEO performance, and reduce legal risk. The shift is treating WCAG as your quality standard and plain language as the tool that makes it real. Together, they turn content into something people can find, understand, and use — which directly lifts satisfaction, conversions, and revenue.
Your content is probably failing people right now. Not because you're careless or lazy. But because readability, plain language, and WCAG keep getting treated as three separate problems when they're really one system. Enterprises chase WCAG compliance with technical fixes — alt text, color contrast, semantic HTML — while their words confuse users, bury key information, and make simple tasks exhausting.
This matters beyond compliance. With the ADA Title II deadline hitting April 24, 2026 (requiring WCAG 2.1 Level AA, though smart teams are already adopting WCAG 2.2), content clarity has shifted from nice-to-have to legally mandated. But the real opportunity isn't avoiding lawsuits — it's the conversion lift, reduced support costs, and pipeline growth that come from communication people can use.
The patterns in this guide come from enterprise teams treating clarity as infrastructure and using platforms like Siteimprove.ai alongside analytics, UX research, and legal to make it measurable and repeatable.
We'll show you how to:
- Connect readability scores to revenue signals like time on page, bounce rate, and organic rankings
- Operationalize plain language using WCAG's testable criteria so clarity becomes repeatable, not random
- Quantify ROI through task completion rates, error reduction, and support ticket drops
- Scale quality across distributed teams with governance systems that work in practice, not just in theory
Let's start with readability — what it measures and why your CFO should care.
Understanding readability in digital content
Readability lowers cognitive load, speeds up comprehension, and drives stronger performance in both user behavior and SEO when you measure and optimize it deliberately.
That means readability isn't about dumbing down your content. It measures effort — how hard someone has to work to process your text. A sentence they re-read? Friction. An unfamiliar word? A decision point where they might bail. This compounds fast for people with cognitive disabilities, but also for your VP skimming on her phone between meetings.
Different formulas measure different friction:
| Formula | What it measures | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Flesch-Kincaid | Sentence length + syllables per word | General web content |
| SMOG | Polysyllabic words (3+ syllables) | Technical docs, healthcare |
| Coleman-Liau | Character count (not syllables) | Mobile content, multiple languages |
| Gunning Fog | Complex words + sentence length | Business writing, reports |
These are scoring systems researchers built to quantify reading difficulty. Match the formula to your context. Mobile? Coleman-Liau handles short bursts. Technical audience? SMOG doesn't penalize necessary jargon the way Flesch-Kincaid does.
Google tracks behavior — how long people stay on a page, whether they bounce immediately, whether they click at all. In practice, most enterprise teams don’t just run one-off readability checks. They monitor readability scores and related behavioral signals on platforms like Siteimprove.ai to identify when content performance declines as cognitive load creeps up.
The research backs this up: A 2024 randomized trial found that health information revised for plain language dropped reading grade level by nearly 3 full grades while retaining all key content. Complex language decreased significantly, passive voice dropped, and expert reviewers rated the simplified versions higher for clarity.
When people can parse your content quickly, they stick around and finish what they came to do. Google sees those behavioral signals — lower bounce rates, longer dwell time — and rewards them with better rankings. More visibility, qualified traffic, stronger conversions.
Exploring the principles of plain language
Plain language makes intent obvious, reduces errors, and increases task completion by simplifying words, structure, and information design.
I've watched smart teams spend an hour debating whether to say "utilize" or "use." (It's always "use.") Meanwhile, their users are three clicks deep, lost, and about to leave. Plain language fixes this. It means picking words your audience already knows, putting information in an order that makes sense, and skipping the fancy language that helps nobody.
Most jargon exists to make the writer feel smart. It rarely helps the reader.
Look at what happens when you stop overthinking:
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| "Utilize the portal to initiate the authentication process" | "Log in to start" |
| "Due to unforeseen circumstances, services will be temporarily unavailable." | "We're down for maintenance until 3pm" |
| "Facilitate completion of the requisite documentation" | "Fill out this form" |
Canada just published its first plain language standard in October 2025. It names exactly what you're up against: barriers to understanding, barriers to attention, and barriers to finding what you need. Tell someone "submit your application by March 15" and they know what to do. Tell them to "ensure timely submission of requisite materials in accordance with established timelines" and you just lost them.
You need systems to make this work everywhere. For example, style guides with real examples people can copy. Libraries of approved messages teams can reuse. Checkpoints that catch complicated language before it goes live. At scale, that usually means combining those assets with governance tools like Siteimprove.ai that flag complex language and inconsistent wording before it ships.
And training? Show writers the difference in how many people finish the task. Numbers win arguments faster than rules.
Someone will say "but our audience is educated." Right. That's why they don't want to work hard to understand you. Run a test: plain version versus complicated version, measure who completes the task. Problem solved.
WCAG guidelines and compliance standards
WCAG gives you testable rules that make content work for everyone. Those rules expand who can use your site, lower your legal risk, and set a quality standard you can measure.
Here's what nobody tells content teams: WCAG isn't just a developer problem. Sure, engineers handle color contrast and semantic HTML. But writers and UX folks own a massive chunk of accessibility compliance — and most don't find out until an audit comes back with red flags all over their carefully crafted copy. WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) isn't some abstract standard. It's a checklist that tells you exactly what needs to happen so people with disabilities can use your content.
The whole thing runs on four principles — Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust (POUR, if you like acronyms):
- Perceivable: Can people get to the information? Text for images, captions for video.
- Operable: Can people move through it? Keyboard navigation, no time limits that stress people out.
- Understandable: Can people figure out what you're asking them to do? Clear words, consistent patterns.
- Robust: Does it work on different tech? Proper code, plays nice with screen readers.
Content teams live in "Understandable." That's success criteria 3.1 through 3.3:
| What WCAG calls it | What it means | Why you care |
|---|---|---|
| 3.1.5 Reading Level | Write so people can understand, or offer a simpler version | This is literally your readability score |
| 3.2.4 Consistent Identification | Call the same thing the same name everywhere | Your "Submi" button can't morph into "Send" two pages later |
| 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions | Tell people exactly what you need from them | "Enter your information" doesn't cut it |
WCAG has three levels: A is basic, AA is where most companies aim, AAA is the top tier. The ADA Title II deadline (April 24, 2026) requires WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Companies that know what's coming are already moving to WCAG 2.2 — nine new rules, mostly about mobile, cognitive load, and making login less painful.
What changed in 2.2 for content? Better focus indicators so keyboard users can see where they are. Simpler authentication that doesn't force people to memorize random strings. Help text that shows up in the same spot on every page.
Compliance isn't one team's job. Writers follow the rules. Design checks visuals. Engineers build it right. QA tests with assistive tech. Drop the ball anywhere and the whole thing fails.
Tooling helps here, but it doesn’t replace that shared ownership. Platforms like Siteimprove.ai give each team a view of WCAG issues in their lane — from content readability and labels to code-level issues — so no one is guessing where they stand.
The intersection of plain language and accessibility
Plain language turns WCAG's understandability principle into something you can implement. It cuts cognitive load and improves outcomes for everyone — especially people with disabilities.
That means plain language isn't some nice-to-have layered on top of WCAG compliance. It's the mechanism that makes understandability work. WCAG sections 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 set the rules. Plain language is how you meet them. Write at an appropriate reading level (3.1.5)? That's plain language. Keep navigation consistent (3.2.4)? Plain language does that. Provide clear error messages (3.3.1)? Plain language again.
The benefits show up fast for people with dyslexia, ADHD, non-native English speakers, and screen reader users. Shorter sentences mean less working memory load. Familiar words reduce processing time. Clear structure helps people scan and jump to what they need.
Measure what matters: task success rate, error rate, satisfaction scores, and how often people use assistive tech to complete tasks. Run usability sessions with diverse users. Watch Google Search Console for behavior signals — time on page, bounce rate — and use a platform like Siteimprove.ai to connect those signals to specific pages, components, and flows that need clearer language. When people understand your content faster, they stay longer and convert more.
The ROI is direct: better task completion drives conversions, lower cognitive load reduces support tickets, and accessibility improvements lift your entire funnel. Plain language doesn't just help you pass compliance audits — it makes your business work better.
Future trends in readability, plain language, and WCAG
AI-assisted authoring, component libraries, and WCAG updates will turn clarity into a measurable product quality standard — not an afterthought.
I already see the shift happening. AI will check your readability, tone, and WCAG compliance as you write — not three revisions later when someone flags it. Like spell-check, except it's catching cognitive overload and accessibility gaps. Your editor lights up: "This reads at grade 16, here's a simpler version" or "This form needs instructions (you're breaking WCAG 3.3.2)."
What's coming:
- AI authoring assistants that score readability and WCAG compliance as you type
- Component libraries loaded with pre-approved, accessible microcopy and patterns — no more reinventing button labels
- WCAG 3.0 (expected late 2025/early 2026) with new content requirements around cognitive accessibility
- CMS integration that blocks publication if content fails readability or accessibility thresholds
- Continuous auditing that scans your entire site weekly, not once a year
The companies that win will treat this as change management, not just a tech upgrade. Train your writers now. Build audit loops into your workflow. Set up component libraries before WCAG 3.0 drops. Clarity is becoming a product requirement, not a content team nice-to-have.
Turn clarity into your competitive advantage
Readability, plain language, and WCAG aren't three separate initiatives. They're one system that makes your content work for more people, reduces legal risk, and improves every metric you care about — from time on page to conversions.
Enterprises that treat clarity as infrastructure win on multiple fronts. Better UX because people understand what you're asking. Real inclusion because your content works for people with disabilities, non-native speakers, and anyone under cognitive load. Compliance that's provable because WCAG gives you testable criteria.
Here's how to start:
Baseline where you are. Run readability scores on your top pages. Check WCAG compliance on key flows. Measure current task completion rates.
Pilot rewrites. Pick one high-traffic page. Rewrite using plain language and WCAG standards. Test it. Measure the lift.
Build governance. Create style guides with real examples. Set up component libraries. Add review gates. Train your team on why this matters.
Report the ROI. Track how clarity lifts conversions, cuts support tickets, and improves behavioral signals.
Ready to measure and improve readability, plain language, and WCAG compliance? Request a demo to see how Siteimprove helps.
Saphia Lanier
Marketer. Journalist. Strategist. A powerful combo for B2B SaaS brands looking for customer-centric content that attracts and converts. Saphia's 18 years in digital marketing and magazine/newspaper writing prepped me to develop well-researched long-form content that edutains and drives action.