People don’t read on the internet; they scan. Here’s how to adjust your writing style.

Key takeaways
Make your writing scannable and start with key information first in order to catch their interest and provide value upfront.

The internet has changed dramatically in the last few decades, yet countless UX studies have shown that one thing has remained the same: people don’t read on the internet.

Writing for the web isn’t the same as writing for a print journal. People tend to approach print publications with a passive, relaxed consumption mindset, while the online environment is much more dynamic: people go on the internet to actively get things done. They’re looking for an answer, an explanation, a source of entertainment or something else. There’s almost always a clear query and a corresponding solution.

So, your job as the writer is to make it possible for users to find that solution as quickly and painlessly as possible. This article will break down how to do it.

Part 1: People don’t read, they scan

The key principle of writing for the internet is scannability.

People don’t read online; they scan for words, phrases and numbers. So, one of the key metrics you should measure your writing by is how easy it is to navigate and scan through.

But how exactly do people scan?

F-pattern

One of the earliest studies on this topic, the 2006 eyetracking study of 232 users showed that people tended towards an F-pattern:

• Horizontal eye movement across the top part of the content
• Another, shorter, horizontal movement
• Vertical movement down on the content’s left side

While not all users always used this exact pattern (sometimes it was more like E or L, and the pattern is mirrored in right-to-left languages), the findings were consistent enough to draw broader conclusions on user behavior.

Lawn-mower pattern

As the internet developed, there was a rise in popularity of comparison tables and zigzag layouts (where images and text alternate each row), and with it, a new scanning pattern emerged: the lawn mower pattern.

Layer-cake pattern

The layer-cake pattern is formed when users mainly focus on headings and subheadings, and then occassionally glance upon certain parts of the body text.

This type of scanning is very effective, because it helps users identify which section of the article covers the information they’re searching for.

In eyetracking studies, this pattern shows up as a group of horizontal lines with nothing in between them.

There are lots of other reading patterns online, but I’d say that these are the main ones you should keep in mind.

Now let’s see how these insights help us optimize content for better UX.

Part 2: Make your writing scannable

There are lots of ways to make your text scannable, but here are the most effective methods:

Part 3: Front-load your content

The vast majority of people won’t reach the end of the article your worked hard to write. So, get into the habit of presenting the most important information first.

You can front-load content on multiple levels: page, section, paragraph, and even a single line level. But all of it boils down to a fundamental idea:

If the reader only reads one line, what do I want them to know?

Below are a few ideas for how you can front-load your content at multiple levels.

Start with key takeaways

The Inverse Pyramid framework is a story structure where you:

1. Cover key “need to know” information first;
2. Slowly introduce more “nice to know” details as the article goes on.

This style of writing is perfect for the web because you’re servicing both people that only need the broadest information and those that want to delve into the topic further.

Make content understandable without context

Each line you write should be purposeful and able to stand on its own, without having to rely on previous paragraph for context.

So, as you’re writing your content, imagine that the user will only read a single heading, or just a few words from a paragraph. They should be able to understand your message and the general gist of the section from just a few words.

You can achieve this by:

• Highlighting key information
• Starting your line and paragraph with key words/and phrases
• Rewriting your text so the highlighted parts are fully understandable
• Reducing ambiguity and directional language

Here are a few concrete examples.

As you’re writing, keep asking yourself these two questions:

1. Can I move the end of this sentence to the front?
2. Can I turn this heading into a takeaway or benefit?

Part 4: Beyond the blog

You can apply the core principles of scannability and front-loading content in many different contexts, not just web articles.

For example: