Writing for Skimmers, Not Readers

Jessica Tavares, brand and content strategist at Rocket Web Designer Jessica Tavares · · 1 min read
Woman scrolling and scanning content quickly on her smartphone

By Jessica Tavares

Nobody reads a website top to bottom

Most visitors scan. They jump to headings, bold text, and the first line of each paragraph looking for whatever answers their question. Dense paragraphs with no structure lose them fast.

What actually helps

Short paragraphs, clear headings that tell the story on their own, bold text on the key phrase in each section. A skimmer should be able to get the gist just from headings and bolded words alone.

Don’t bury the important part

Lead with the answer, then explain. Visitors decide whether to keep reading in the first sentence, don’t make them dig for the point.

Test it

Skim your own page in ten seconds. If you can’t tell what it’s about from headings alone, it needs restructuring.