We remove «water» from the text. Tips for copywriters

Any service for analyzing SEO indicators has such a parameter as “text water content”. Let’s see what “water” is in the text. These are words and phrases, speech turns that do not carry any meaning. That is, if the author deletes them, the article will not lose the original idea. But you shouldn’t completely remove introductory words or phrases either, otherwise the text will become dry, lifeless and uninteresting.

Each verification program has its own “black list” of water content. Thus, the Text.ru service, in addition to phraseological units, stop words, insignificant speech turns, now considers prepositions as “water”. The optimal indicator of “water” in the text for this online program is 18-25%. And for the Advego program, the norm is 55-75%.

Such discrepancies often confuse copywriters themselves, because it is not always possible to remove water in the text and achieve the desired percentage: each service will perceive certain words as «water» in its own way.

Through trial and error, we managed to identify what water is in the text and how to deal with it. To do this, you can safely remove the following introductory words from the written material:

• as is known;
• eg;
• did you know;
• it’s not a secret to anybody;
• simply put, etc.

Checking the written text for water through services will help you navigate which words are superfluous. The optimal ratio is the ratio of 30-40% «water» words to 60-70% of useful information in the text.

How to reduce the water content of the text?

So, above we have described what water is in the text. Now it remains to figure out how to remove it. What can be done for this? By adhering to the following simple rules, you can get rid of the water content in the written material.

1. Understand and accept: «water» in the text is needed. If you are writing an instruction, an article of a medical, technical, legal or other nature, then the emphasis is on formality and brevity. But you still can’t do without some water words: «according to the article», «according to the paragraph», etc. The same applies to texts for social networks, interviews, info articles: they will simply lose their emotionality and become faceless. If you strictly follow the algorithms of the service, then you need to remove all highlighted words. As a result, the indicator will be normal, and there will be no logic in the text.
2. Study an unfamiliar topic. If the author is well versed in the topic on which you need to write a text, then the material will come out at «five». But it is worth getting to know an unfamiliar topic better: look at information on the Internet, read articles already written and prepare your own material. It’s better to spend time studying than endless editing.
3. Start with the essentials. You need to answer the question at once, in the first or two paragraphs. Then you can tell interesting facts, a story and give more information about a product or service. Especially if the task is to write a text for several thousand characters, and the answer is enough for 500 characters.

And the main rule is to accept the fact that everyone makes mistakes. Even copywriting gurus. There is no one universal advice on how to remove water from the text. The same applies to expert articles. If the audience is professionals who understand a lot about cars, then there is no need to talk about the purpose of the fuel filter. But for beginners in the auto industry, this will not hurt.

Summarize

Stop words, phraseological units, established expressions are not a mistake in themselves. Search engines will not categorically punish the site for the presence of a certain number of water words in the text content. Another question is how the site visitors will react to this. Few people want to read a large canvas of words, looking for an answer to their question. It is a good thing to follow the established rules and service indicators. But you shouldn’t forget about the logical component either.

Prioritize quality over the desire to zero water or spam. And for high-quality texts you can contact our agency «Fabrika Slov».

Important: re-read the finished material for the presence of water in the text, and you know how to remove it.