Hello! Satarupa Chatterjee from Cloudinary. There is a big change coming from Google in May 2021 having to do with their Core Web Vitals (CWVs). It’s worth paying attention here, as this is going to be a SEO factor.

I recently spoke with Tamas Piros about CWVs. The May 2021 update will factor in CWVs, along with other factors like mobile-friendliness and safe browsing, to generate a set of benchmarks for search rankings. Doubtless, the CWVs will directly affect traffic for websites and apps alike. Tamas is a developer-experience engineer at Cloudinary, a media-optimization expert, and a Google developer-expert in web technologies and web performance.

Here’s a written version of the video above, where the questions (Qs) are me, Satarupa, asking and Tamas answering (As).

Q: How did Google arrive at the three Core Web Vitals and their values?

A: As a dominant force in the search space, Google has researched in depth what constitutes a superb user experience, arriving at three important factors, which the company calls, collectively, the Core Web Vitals.

Before explaining them, I’d like to recommend an informative article, published last May on the Chromium Blog, titled The Science Behind Web Vitals. At the bottom of the piece are links to papers on the research that led to the guidelines for accurately evaluating user experiences.

Now back to the three Core Web Vitals. The first one affects page-load speed, which Google calls Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) with a recommendation of 2.5 seconds or less for the largest element on a page to load.

The second metric is First Input Delay (FID), which is a delta between a user trying to interact with a page, and the browser effectively executing that action. Google recommends 100 milliseconds or less. 

The third and last metric is Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), which measures how stable a site is while it’s loading or while you’re interacting with it. In other words it is a measurement of individual layout shifts as well as unexpected layout shifts that happen during the lifespan of a page. The calculation involves impact and distance fractions which are multiplied together to give a final value. Google advocates this value to be 0.1 or less.

Q: How do the Core Web Vitals affect e-commerce?

A: Behind the ranking of Google search results are many factors, such as whether you use HTTPS and how you structure your content. Let’s not forget that relevant and well-presented content is as important as excellent page performance. The difference that core web vitals will make cannot be overstated. Google returns multiple suggestions for every search, however remember that good relevance is going to take priority. In other words good page experience will not override having great relevant content For example, if you search for Cloudinary, Google will likely show the Cloudinary site at the top of the results page. Page experience will become relevant when there are multiple available results, for a more generic search such as ‘best sports car’. In this case Google establishes that ranking based on the page’s user experience, too, which is determined by the Core Web Vitals.

Q: What about the other web vitals, such as the Lighthouse metrics? Do they still matter?

A: Businesses should focus primarily on meeting or staying below the threshold of the Core Web Vitals. However, they must also keep in mind that their page load times could be affected by other metrics, such as the length of time the first purchase takes and the first contentful paint.

For example, to find out what contributes to a bad First Input Delay—the FID, check the total blocking time and time to interact. Those are also vitals, just not part of the Core Web Vitals. You can also customize metrics with the many robust APIs from Google.. Such metrics could prove to be invaluable in helping you identify and resolve performance issues.

Q: Let’s talk about the Largest Contentful Paint metric, called LCP. Typically, the heaviest element on a webpage or in an app is an image. How would you reduce LCP and keep it below the Google threshold of 2.5 seconds?

A: What’s important to remember with regards to LCP is that we are talking about the largest piece of content that gets loaded on a page, and that is visible in the viewport (that is, it’s visible above the fold). Due to popular UX design patterns it’s likely that the largest, visible element is a hero image.

Google watches for elements as well as elements inside an SVG element. Video elements are considered too but only if they contain a poster attribute. Also of importance to Google are block-level elements, such as text-related ones like

,

, etc., and .

All that means that you must load the largest piece of content as fast as possible. If your LCP is a hero image, be sure to optimize it—but without degrading the visual effects. Check out Cloudinary’s myriad effective and intuitive options for optimization. If you can strike a good balance between the file size and the visual fidelity of your image, your LCP will shine. 

Q: Suppose it’s now May 2021. What’s the likely effect of Google’s new criteria for search rankings for an e-commerce business that has surpassed the thresholds of all three or a couple of the Core Web Vitals?

A: According to Google, sites that meet the thresholds of the Core Web Vitals enjoy a 24-percent lower abandonment rate. The more you adhere to Google’s guidelines, the more engaging your site or app becomes and the faster your sales will grow. Needless to say, an appealing user experience attracts visitors and retains them, winning you an edge over the competition. Of course bear in mind the other search optimization guidelines set out by Google.

Again, be sure to optimize images, especially the most sizable one in the viewport, so that they load as fast as possible.

Q:  It sounds like e-commerce businesses should immediately start exploring ways to meet or better the vitals’ limits. Before we wrap up, what does the future look like for Core Web Vitals?

A: Late last year, Google held a conference and there were multiple talks touching upon this exact subject. All major changes will go into effect on a per-year basis, and Google has committed to announcing them well in advance.

Behind the scenes, Google is constantly collecting data from the field and checking them against user expectations. The first contentful paint, which I mentioned before, is under consideration as another Core Web Vital. Also, Google is thinking about reducing the yardstick for the First Input Delay metric—the FID, remember?—from 100 milliseconds to 75 or even 50.

Beyond that, Google has received a lot of feedback about some of the Core Web Vitals not working well for single-page apps. That’s because those apps are loaded only once. Even if they score an ideal Cumulative Layout Shift—that’s CLS—as you click around the page, things might move around and bring down the score. Down the road, Google might modify CLS to better accommodate single-page apps. 

Also on Google’s radar screen are metrics for security, privacy, and accessibility. Google promises to fine-tune the current metrics and launch new ones more frequently than major releases, including the introduction of new Core Web Vital metrics. 

So, change is the only constant here. I see a bright future for the vitals and have no doubt that we’re in good hands. Remember that Google vigilantly collects real user data as analytics to help figure out the appropriate standards. As long as you keep up with the developments and ensure that your site or app comply with the rules, you’ll get all greens throughout the scoreboard. That’s a great spot to be in.

Cloudinary offers myriad resources on media experience (MX), notably the MX Matters podcast, which encompasses experts’ take on the trends in today’s visual economy along with bulletins on new products and enhancements. Do check them out.

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In today’s digital world, more and more web applications are being developed and released to users each day. This is obviously great news for consumers and for those who rely on these applications. 

However, these are not without their issues. 

For every line of code that is written for a web application (or for anything else for that matter), there is a potential for bugs, which also increases the security risk of these applications. 

What’s more, these bugs can be costly to fix if they’re not detected early enough. This is where web application testing comes in. 

If you’re not sure what web application testing is or what it involves, this guide is for you. Below, we’re going to look in more detail at what web application testing entails and the steps you can take to conduct an effective assessment for your applications. 

What is web application testing?

Let’s start by building a fundamental understanding of what web application testing is. 

In a nutshell, this is a software testing practice used to test web applications for potential bugs. You can also run web tests on entire websites to make sure they are functioning effectively. 

It’s important to complete a test of any web-based application before making it live because as we mentioned above, finding bugs too late can be costly. Plus you want your new web application to be as effective and efficient as possible at all times. 

Essentially, any web application must be checked completely from end-to-end before it is made live to users. So by performing web application tests a business can make sure that everything is functioning properly and can be enjoyed and used in real-time. 

How to conduct a web application penetration test 

There are six different stages to web application testing and these can form a helpful checklist which includes:

• Functionality testing
• Usability testing
• Interface testing
• Compatibility testing
• Performance testing
• Security testing

We’re now going to look at each of these stages in more detail to see what is involved and why each one is important to the overall success of the web application test. 

Step 1: Functional testing

The first step is designed to ensure that all the functions of an application are tested. This part of testing is essentially a quality assurance (QA) process to confirm that all the functions of the web application are behaving as expected.

This happens in the source code where the system is tested against the functional requirements and specifications that have been set out.

What’s more, during this stage of the test process, actual system usage is simulated to be as close as possible to real system usage. This helps to create test conditions that are closest to user requirements and to achieve the most accurate results.

The functional testing stage itself can be broken down into four steps which usually include:

• Identify what functions the web application is supposed to have 
• Data input and entry
• Carrying out the test case 
• Analysing the results

Step 2: Usability testing

This next stage of the test process goes beyond simple functionality testing and involves testing for functionality alongside overall user experience.

This can be done internally by the existing team or you could even source external testers, those that fit your potential user-base, to try this out for you.

Usability testing follows a similar structure to the functionality stage we’ve outlined above and is broken down into these four steps: 

• Developing a testing strategy that will ensure all functions related to usability will be examined. For example, navigation and content
• Finding test participants whether you opt to do this internally or externally
• Running the test with expert observation
• Analysing the results and then improving the usability accordingly

Step 3: Interface testing

The third stage of the test process is interface testing which is required to ensure all interactions between the web server and application server interfaces are running smoothly. This means checking communication processes and making sure that any error messages are showing when required. Another aspect that will be tested at this stage is that any interruptions, whether from the user or server, are being handled correctly. 

Step 4: Compatibility testing

An important part of web application testing is ensuring that it is compatible with different browsers, systems, and devices. As such, there are three key elements that must be tested at this stage:

• Browser compatibility – ensuring that the web application is functioning correctly across different browsers
• Operating system compatibility – checking that the web application is functioning correctly on different operating systems
• Mobile compatibility – ensuring the web application runs on different devices and functions equally as well on Android and iOS

There are cross-browser and other tools that can be used at this point to determine the compatibility of your web application. 

Step 5: Performance testing

Once you know that your web application is functioning properly and that it is compatible with all browsers, you need to truly test how it will perform. This means testing the application against a number of different factors, including different internet speeds and loads. It is recommended at this stage to put the application under increasing pressure until it can no longer function. 

This will determine its breaking point. 

This is important for assessing the resilience of your application and seeing how it performs in different (and sometimes stressful) situations. By testing its functionality under different scenarios and configurations, you can also see how well it is able to recover from crashes. 

Step 6: Security testing

Last but certainly not least, you need to test the security of your web application. This is done to ensure that your application is protected against unauthorised access and malicious actions or attacks. 

In order to effectively test the security of your web application you must conduct the following steps: 

• Testing whether secure pages can be accessed without authorisation
• Determining whether open sessions are being closed after user inactivity and ensuring this happens 
• Verifying the application’s secure sockets layer (SSL) for encryption and verification 
• Ensuring that restricted files cannot be downloaded without authorisation

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Photo by FLY:D on Unsplash

Healthcare Apps: The current generation is a victim of the pandemic, as well as infodemic. You know well which pandemic am I referring to- Covid 19. But, are you wondering what is this “infodemic”? It is nothing but the widespread information as well as misinformation associated with novel coronavirus circulated on the news, print, and social media. 

Well, a year ago when the lockdown was announced for the first time, I am pretty sure, you wouldn’t have thought it would run so long. While everyone hoped for a normal life, the second wave stepped in. However, with the modified version of CoronaVirus, we too have modified our way of dealing with the pandemic outbreak. Technology has essentially turned out to be a boon.

Mobile Apps and its Applications during the Pandemic

Though misconceptions were spread through different media platforms, mobile applications and social media have turned out to be helpful too. This includes software as well as apps concerned with tracking the spread of COVID-19, provisioning remote healthcare, contact tracing, vaccine management, and much more! And all you need is a smartphone to access it. According to mobile app development companies in the USA, the mobile app industry experienced a boom like never before during the pandemic. It was mainly because of the increased use of mobile phones and mobile apps. 

The smartphone leaders, Apple and Google, have their ways of ensuring secure access to the software. Apple checks against malicious software. It allows apps recognized by institutions like the government, healthcare providers in the app store. On the other hand, Google has dedicated a section titled “Coronavirus: Stay informed” in the Play Store. This contains all the certified apps to help you stay prepared along with being informed. 

The Rise in Demand for Software and Mobile Applications

Did you know that there are more than 325,000 mobile health apps in the Play Store and App Store?! Yes, you heard that right.

In the crisis of COVID-19, many sectors have been hit drastically. However, the demand for the software, mobile apps, and AI sector has increased significantly. The need to work remotely has created this demand. The restrictions to move out of the house have resulted in people spending time on apps. 

Coronavirus has created an urgency in global healthcare. The need is to ensure safety and reduce risks concerned with the disease by creating awareness. Also, provide facilities at the doorstep through mobile apps.

Having the right application can be a tool at the right time. It serves the utilitarian purpose, social needs, as well as entertainment. Similarly, it makes sense to have a mHealth app that caters to various needs such as staying fit, tracking Covid-19 status, knowing safe and unsafe zones, getting telehealth support, getting medicines, and much more.

What are healthcare mobile apps?

While technology has taken prominence in our lives, the healthcare sector has entered this sphere with telemedicine. Mhealth is inclusive of gadgets like smartphones, tablets, wearables, and others. These provide services related to health and wellness. It is handy for the users as they can access it anywhere on the go. 

Health apps are useful in diagnosis, treatments, and tracking the health conditions of the patient. The doctors and patients can communicate with each other remotely. 

Wellness apps too come under MedTech. Here the app supervises the user’s overall health. It enhances both the physical and mental health of the user.

Importance of mHealth apps:

• A bridge that connects people, healthcare professionals, and health systems
• Online expert advice avoids the need of stepping out in the pandemic
• Home delivery of medicines ensure you never run out of them
• A reliable and personalized source of information
• Patient care at fingertips beyond the boundaries of the clinics 
• Monitor patient health constantly and track symptoms
• Get real-time notifications about COVID-19
• Ensure self-care measures to reduce the spread of the virus
• Get statistics on vaccines

Types of Healthcare apps

Let us know the types of healthcare apps. It is widely classified as apps for healthcare providers and users. 

MHealth Apps for Healthcare Providers

The apps that are developed for doctors and other healthcare professionals come under this category. Here, the app will have customized features that a clinic needs. Thus, these apps are sophisticated. Some of the purposes are:

• Patient Monitoring– Track patient’s condition and report the progress, storehouse of health records. 
• Healthcare reference apps– Latest data on diseases and medicines.
• Professional Networking– A platform to share knowledge and interact within the professionals’ community.
• Doctor’s appointment– Keep a track of your appointments with notifications of checkups and schedules.
• Telehealth apps– Provide online consultations with telemedicine apps, especially during emergencies.  
• Vaccine Management– Administer vaccines and notify the patients of their next dose. Monitor the health after the vaccine administration as well.

Mobile Apps for Users

• Reminders- Set reminders for medicines, tests, exercises, etc.
• Educative apps- Information on health conditions.
• Mental Health- Ensure mental health with meditation, stress relief, sleep patterns, etc.
• Healthy Lifestyle- Have a healthy life with fitness, weight loss, exercise, etc.
• Nutrition- Get a balanced diet with healthy recipes and clean eating guides. 

Pharmaceutical Apps

Healthcare and medicine are complementary to each other. Pharmaceutical companies have entered the digital sphere with medicine sales with the facility of home delivery and online transactions. 

Ensure these Key Features in your Health App

Easy signup and logins

Registration as well as the sign-in process must be quick and easy. It should ask for minimal personal details of the mobile app user. Ensure easy logins with the phone number or email ids.

Profile access

The profile of the patient and doctor should have all the necessary details. It should be easily accessible. For the patient, it must include the health records, whereas for doctors it must reflect their expertise. It should provide details such as specialization, experience, contact details, etc.

Searching the physicians

The app must provide filters to the user. It should recommend doctors as per the needs of the patient. It should consider factors such as experience, expertise, reviews, charges, as well as location. It should provide smooth in-app communication.

Appointment

After shortlisting and selecting the doctor, the patient should be able to book appointments. Doctors have to confirm the appointment by confirming or modifying the time. Also, it should provide lab booking. 

Reminders

The app should provision to create a plan. Accordingly, it should remind the users about the appointments. Pill administration, and other check-ups. 

Remote Consultation

The app should provision in-app consultation through voice or video calls. It is beneficial in case of emergencies. It should provide a facility for prescriptions too. It should have online payment gateways for the same. 

Privacy and Security

It should adhere to the legal requirements. Besides, all the personal information of the patient, doctors, and the agency should have privacy. It should eliminate risks of any type.

Easy Dashboard

The dashboard should have a clean layout. It should provide a summary of the overall health status of the user. It should also provide sharing options for the reports.

Integration with wearables

The apps must be able to integrate with the smart bands and other devices. This helps to keep a constant record of the health conditions.

Cloud integration

The integration with the cloud enables data access anywhere, at any point of the time. It should be easily accessible.

Let’s wrap up: Mobile Health Apps and Pandemic

(Number of mHealth apps on Play Store over the years- Source: Statista)

In the era of the pandemic, it’s necessary to pay attention to health. Staying fit is the need of the hour. You can read more about the Internet of Behavior for better understanding.

The estimated mHealth global market is said to be 189 USD in 2025! Well, that says it all. The demand for healthcare apps has risen since the pandemic outbreak. We can essentially say that mobile health apps have not only helped in administering care to patients but also in providing the necessary information. Ensure the right use of mHealth apps. Let us stay fit with health apps and join hands in fighting against the virus.

There is a lot of hype on the :is() pseudo-selector lately, probably because now that Safari 14 has it, it’s supported across all the major browsers. You’ve got Miriam tweeting about it, Kevin Powell doing a video, Šime getting it into the Web Platform News, and Robin mentioning it. Bramus really puts a point on it with these “three important facts”:

1. The selector list of :is() is forgiving
2. The specificity of :is() is that of its most specific argument
3. :is() does not work with pseudo-element selectors (for now)

Plus, of course, it’s main functionality which is making otherwise rather verbose, complex, and error-prone selectors easier to write. The specificity thing is extra-interesting. Miriam notes some trickery you could do with it, like juicing up specificity without actually selecting anything.

Say you wanted to use the .button class to select, but give it a ton of specificity

:is(.button, #increase#specificity) {
  /* specificity is now (0, 1, 0, 0) instead of (0, 0, 1, 0)
}

I’ve done silly stuff like this in the past:

.button.button.button {
  /* forcing the selector to be (0, 0, 3, 0) instead of (0, 0, 1, 0) */
  /* doesn't actually require element to have three button classes lol */
}

The :is() trick seems a little more understandable to me.

But what if you want to go the other way with specificity and lower it instead? Well, that’s the whole point of the :where() pseudo-selector. Functionally, it’s exactly the same as :is(). You give it a comma-separated list of things to select as part of the selector chain, and it does, with the same forgiving nature. Except, the specificity of the entire :where() part is zero (0).

Kevin showed off an interesting gotcha with :is() in the video:

.card :is(.title, p) {
  color: red;
}

.card p {
  color: yellow;
}

You might think yellow will win out here, but the presence of .title in that :is() selector on top makes the specificity of that selector (0, 0, 2, 0) winning out over the (0, 0, 1, 1) below.

This is where we could consider using :where() instead! If we were to use the :where() pseudo-selector instead:

.card :where(.title, p) {
  color: red;
}

.card p {
  color: yellow;
}

Then yellow would win, because the top selector lowers to (0, 0, 1, 0) specificity, losing to the bottom selector’s (0, 0, 1, 1).

Which one should you use? Ya know what, I’m not really sure if there is super solid time-tested advice here. At least we have both options available, meaning if you get into a pickle, you’ve got tools to use. Time has taught me that keeping specificity low is generally a healthier place to be. That gives you room to override, where if you’re riding high with specificity you have fewer options. But the zero specificity of :where() is pretty extreme and I could see that leading to confusing moments, too. So my gut is telling me you might wanna start with :is(), unless you notice you need to mix in a higher-specificity selector; if you do, back off to :where().

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Google has said that Web Core Vitals (WCV) are going to be an SEO factor, and the date is nigh: May 2021. So, I’m seeing some scrambling to make sure those metrics are good. Ya know, the acronym soup: CLS, LCP, and FID. There is starting to be more and more tooling to measure and diagnose problems. Hopefully, once diagnosed, you have some idea how to fix them. Like if you have crappy CLS, it’s because you load in stuff (probably ads) that shifts layout, and you should either stop doing that or make space for them ahead of time so there is less shifting.

But what about LCP? What if you have this big hero image that is taking a while to paint and it’s giving you a crappy LCP number? Chris Castillo’s trick is to just not load the hero background image at all until a user interacts in some way. Strikes me as weird, but Chris did some light testing and found some users didn’t really notice:

Although this accomplishes the goal, it’s not without a cost. The background image will not load until the user interacts with the screen, so something needs to be used as a fallback until the image can be loaded. I asked a few friends to load the page on their phones and tell me if they found anything strange about the page, and none of them noticed anything “off”. What I observed is that the few friends I asked to test this all had their fingers on the screen or quickly touched the screen when the page was loading, so it happened so quickly they didn’t notice. 

It’s a fine trick that Chris documents, but the point is fooling a machine into giving you better test scores. This feels like the start of a weird new era of web performance where the metrics of web performance have shifted to user-centric measurements, but people are implementing tricky strategies to game those numbers with methods that, if anything, slightly harm user experience.

Direct Link to Article — Permalink

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After putting in multiple hours on researching, outlining, writing, and editing the first draft of your article, you’re eager to press the publish button. You want to share it with your audience, and earn some appreciation.

But guess what?

Your audience won’t bother reading your article unless they find its packaging appealing. You need to ensure a robust user experience (UX) on your website for your prospective visitors. 

For one, Google is rolling out a page experience update factoring the metrics below in its algorithm starting May 2021.

But page experience is merely a subset of overall UX. You can think of it in the form of the honeycomb by Semantic Studios below:

A sophisticated design establishes your brand’s credibility and makes it more likely for a user to return to your website. Called “preconscious judgments”, these aesthetical cues happen even “before any reading or other cognitive processes.” Here are some of the UX elements you need to take care of for your long form content pieces:

Keep your website technically robust

Let’s look at the basic technical operations where your website mustn’t falter.

No dead clicks and errors

Is the navigational menu at the top of your article responding properly on clicking? Is your email opt-in form free of errors? The mismatch of expectations results in a frustrating experience for users. 

You can monitor some of these errors through Google Analytics but it helps to get some feedback from users every time you implement changes on your site.

Now, if you mess with the URLs while moving around your website’s pages, then you can end up creating a lot of 404 errors. Besides fixing these errors, you can also get creative and use a customized 404 page to re-engage a visitor.

Enough of those intrusive interstitials

When Interstitials obstruct content on a page, Google can penalize a site for making their content difficult to access.

Go ahead, and minimize the usage of other aggressive tactics, such as those popup opt-in forms. Wait But Why is one of the internet’s favorite places for 10,000-word articles. They boast an email list of 615,000+ humans. But besides the sidebar opt-in form, they only use the following humorous “scroll bar” that appears after you engage with their articles for a bit:

You can also attempt other locations and less intrusive kinds of opt ins like a floating bar. 

Keep it safe and mobile-friendly

Security and privacy have become increasingly important for consumers today. Google already uses HTTPS as a ranking signal. So ensure that your site uses secure, encrypted connections. Let’s Encrypt allows you to create a free SSL certificate for your site:

Given that mobile-traffic is approximately equivalent to half of the total web traffic, having a mobile-friendly website for your business is a no-brainer. If you’re using WordPress (or any other modern CMS), you typically have numerous responsive theme options to choose from.

Take the mobile-friendly test to identify pages that are not responsive. Then use the Noupe tutorials and mobile web design tips here to fix those pages.

Choose big and readable font combinations

Small font sizes and low contrast between the text and the background are among the most common legibility problems for web users.

What font sizes and combinations should you choose? Well, here are a few tips to help you:

• Each font has a character and impacts the viewer’s emotional state. You can get creative while choosing fonts aiming to show your brand personality, but readability comes first.
• Generally, bigger font sizes help speed and comprehension of text and improve your readability. With long-form articles containing a lot of text, it makes sense to test 12-point size for body copy and even bigger sizes for headlines.
• If you’re targeting 40+ men with visual impairments, your font selection and size needs more care. Older adults prefer 14-point fonts.
• As per psychographics of reading, an increase in line spacing to 1.5 can help the reading speed and comprehension.
• High contrast between your text and the background aids readability.
• Research and choose font pairings that seem to “belong to each other”, find the appropriate font size for your audience by running a test and noting the change in your performance.
• If your fonts don’t specifically draw any attention of the readers, they are likely doing a decent job.

Embrace whitespace

If you cram your blog with a colorful sidebar, five fancy fonts, and lousy color combinations, you set yourself up for failure. Instead, provide breathing space for your audience. Take inspiration from the good folks at Medium (where the optimal reading is around 7 minutes — which can mean a long-form article of up to 2000 words).

On Medium, you always get a slick and distraction-free reading experience. So use some more of that white space, will you?

Break down the article into easily scannable and readable chunks

Web users are habitual of scanning and skimming the content — only 16% of users read word-for-word. So your long-form article faces an upheaval battle for attention. Here’s how you can aid the scanning behavior:

Use short sentences, paragraphs, and subheadings

Breaking your article down into easily digestible chunks of easily understandable sentences and paragraphs saves effort for the readers. Top it up with meaningful subheadings that coherently organize your ideas and make for a seamless reading experience.

A Medium study found that easy-to-read sentences helped an article get more recommendations on the platform.

Indeed you can use an app like Hemingway to ensure an eighth grade (or below) reading level for your articles — unless you work in a specialized industry where jargon is essential. It makes your article accessible to a wider audience and can lead to a higher engagement.

Leverage special elements

Can your article use a special summary box, a “pro and cons” table, a quote pull out, or the like? Generally, such elements provide the most important information from the article to the user. If they are interested, they can continue to read from there.

For example, in my article discussing top online course software at Elite Content Marketer, I’ve discussed fifteen of these platforms. But I’ve used a summary of the top three in a table as visible below:

These elements are to help you take the bite, snack, meal approach in your long-form article:

Help readers navigate through a table of contents

In longer articles, most readers would like to read a section relevant to them right now and walk away from your site. You should help users do that by using a table of contents (TOC) at the top of your article. Here’s an example from an article at The Creatives Hour:

Indeed such a TOC can result in snagging additional sitelinks in SERPs for your article. It increases your CTR for the organic listing and makes your long-form article more accessible:

Integrate multimedia

Visuals can increase the retention of information from 10% to 65%. Further, adding images in your articles at regular intervals is considered an SEO best practice — given they are relevant to the subject matter of the article. Here’s a video discussing SEO for Google Images:

Similarly, videos relevant to your articles (like the one above) could engage readers for a longer time as they are easier to consume than text alone.

Include a progress bar

Using a progress bar is a handy feature that sets expectations on the amount of time required for reading an article. You can use a horizontal thin line indicator like Stronger by Science does below:

Or you could even mention an estimated reading time at the top of your articles like Longreads does at the top of their articles:

Cut unnecessary elements affecting the site’s performance

Your website loading speed is an important attribute that can directly affect your conversions. It’s also a ranking factor in search. Here’s how to improve your performance: 

Compress your images

Sure having an image for every 100 to 150 words is great for visual engagement. But too many images can slow down a web page. The solution is to compress images without compromising quality. 

My article on podcast hosting had 31 images leading to a drop in the page’s performance. On installing the ShortPixel Image Optimizer plugin and compressing these images. I noticed a considerable improvement in its loading speed — without any noticeable drop in quality. You can use a tool such as TinyPNG if you’re not using WordPress.

Watch those video and external embed scripts

Besides images, video and other embedded scripts from third-party websites also lead to a drop in performance. You can either directly link to the videos or elements you mention in your article or use their screenshots to point them.

You can also lazy load all the iframe videos. On WordPress, these settings could be managed by a plugin such as WP Rocket.

Shift to a high-performance hosting

Ultimately, improvement in your performance won’t happen on the top of the average infrastructure — because you get what you pay for. I use WPEngine to host my site as they offer top-notch performance. What’s more? Caching, speed optimization, daily backups, and security are also taken care of in their managed hosting services.

You can learn more about improving site speed here. If you’re on WordPress, this guide could be even more helpful.

Final Thoughts

Throughout the article, I talked about Google search rankings because the main use of long-form content is getting organic traffic. But the UX implications mentioned in the article not only optimize your performance on Google but also help your bottom line. After all, a satisfied user is the most likely to convert into a paying customer.

If you want to further understand the consumer sentiment and engagement with your long-form landing pages, consider putting them through a user experience test with a session replay software (such as Hotjar). It can reveal interesting insights about your prospects.

What other tips do you have for ensuring a stellar user experience in your long-form articles? Let me know in the comments below.

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Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Who is Grammarly for? Can a grammar checking tool like Grammarly replace a human editor and proofreader? Is the Grammarly checker worth it? Are the Grammarly free checks sufficient for me, or should I upgrade to Grammarly Premium? Should I install Grammarly on Chrome? How effective is Grammarly for Word? Is downloading the Grammarly desktop app worth it? You have questions…all of which we’re going to answer.

I have been using Grammarly regularly for proofreading my documents and emails since 2015 and have witnessed its evolution as a product firsthand. After checking over three million words during this period, I can confidently say that Grammarly has come a long way. Raising $200M in total funding at a valuation of $1B+ so far, and with more than a million downloads per month, Grammarly is now a top-1000 website by traffic worldwide.

I write a lot, so Grammarly has been my go-to writing assistant for correcting passages and enhancing my writing. I first tried the Free version, and in May 2020, I upgraded to the Premium version, finally! Grammarly Premium is a great tool that takes care of most of your writing, proofreading, and plagiarism-checking needs for intensive work.

In this article, I’ll explain what Grammarly is, its features, what it does (functions of all versions and products), the pros and cons of using Grammarly, my rating of Grammarly, who should use the Free version, and who should use the Premium version and the difference between the two. I’ll also explain how to use Grammarly properly. I’ll then compare it with other popular tools and suggest which ones suit your needs. In the end, I’ll leave you with my final assessment and FAQs.

What is Grammarly?

Grammarly is an online digital writing assistant that checks for a range of English grammar and spelling mistakes. It also helps enhance the writing through its excellent context-based clarity suggestions (Premium version).

Grammarly is a writing aid that checks not only for spelling slights, grammar rules, and clarity issues but also identifies the tone of the writing to provide relevant instructions through its Error Cards. It also has a plagiarism checking tool, which is available with the Premium version.

Grammarly employs AI (Artificial Intelligence) and NLP (Natural Language Processing) to check the content for all possible syntactic and semantic issues. Although it has an extensive database, it is still incomparable to human proofreading and professional editing, especially when it comes to understanding the context of the writing.

Grammarly Overview For Beginners – Compatible, Accessible

Grammarly is astonishingly easy to use, primarily due to its compatibility via the Browser Extension/Add-on, from which you can use it on millions of websites. Moreover, its other product forms, i.e., the Online Editor (Web App), Desktop Application, MS Word/Outlook Add-in, and the Grammarly Keyboard for iOS/Android, make it accessible everywhere.

How Does Grammarly Work?

It automatically detects issues in the content in the Desktop App, the Online Editor, and the browser (even in Google Docs, which is in Beta at this time) via its add-on. Yet, for the MS Word Add-in, you have to click the Grammarly button to activate the app. Grammarly explains all detected issues via an Error Card that contains relevant information for each item. You can implement it by clicking the suggestion, ‘Ignore’ the problem, or ‘Add to Dictionary’ (in case of a spelling issue). You can also provide feedback (if you think that the suggestion is wrong). The Free version checks only for spelling and critical grammar mistakes. The Premium version also reveals a ton of advanced ‘Clarity Issues.’

The Tone Detector helps you estimate the entire document’s tone, which can be valuable for many writers who target a particular audience, e.g., formal writing for the business audience.

Limitations of Grammarly (For Beginners)

Grammarly, overall, excels at almost all the things it does, and therefore the free version is recommended for everyone. Grammarly provides a generic readability score. Advanced grammar checks like the clarity checker, the plagiarism checker, and many other features are not available for the free version.

Grammarly is dominant amongst its competition, but it doesn’t solve all English language problems. It is useful at picking syntactic mistakes but still misses significant semantic errors, which can be a problem for people who are not particularly adept at English — as they won’t notice these slips.

The Good	The Bad	& The Ugly
Ease of use – simple, intuitive, and efficient interface	English language only	Tad expensive (notably the monthly subscription at $29.95 per month)
Context-based grammar checking	Not 100% accurate (primarily misses linguistic bloopers)	No free trial for the premium version.
Fantastic grammar checker	Business account starts at three users and charges per number of users (can be a bit expensive for small businesses)	Only one account (license) for the premium version. You can use it on up to five devices.
Convenient tone detector	Insufficient as a standalone tool (doesn’t do everything)	Incomplete sentences can sometimes go undetected
The insightful error cards are instructional and productive (they help you to improve your writing)	Unlike ProWritingAid and Hemmingway Editor, it doesn’t provide much information about the whole passage, Grammarly’s scoring is generic right now	No substitutes are suggested in many cases. Example: synonyms, rephrasing suggestions for the intricate text, etc.
Integrates well with MS Word, Outlook, WordPress, emails, social media, and millions of websites	The free version is limited to fundamental grammar and spelling mistakes	Cannot determine contextually incorrect sentences (it cannot perceive the meaning of the written document)
Knowledge-base	The premium version identifies repeated words but sometimes doesn’t provide a suitable alternative to use	Short on vocabulary suggestions (not as competent as the free thesaurus writing tool)
The Grammarly keyboard is available for Android & iOS for FREE	Free version shows the number of advanced clarity mistakes but doesn’t tell you what those mistakes are and where they are	The formatting tool is rudimentary. You have to write in another text editor and then import it to the Grammarly Editor to format your writing accurately
Personal dictionary	Google Docs is not supported yet (in Beta).	Restricted to English only, and it also doesn’t translate other languages as Ginger does.
The adjust goal option allows you to customize Grammarly’s feedback.	It can miss simple semantic issues, which sometimes can be caught by text editors like Google Docs and MS Word.
Formatting remains the same if you import/upload a document, but it changes if you copy/paste.	Plagiarism Detector is not available for the free version.
Weekly writing stats (sent to user email) can help you identify your problem areas	The browser extension can malfunction, i.e., opening and closing the Grammarly editor within a website (sometimes) duplicates the content
Option to download the detailed performance statistics as a PDF	Sometimes Grammarly doesn’t catch all mistakes on the first try. You have to refresh or scroll to let it run again and see if it finds new issues
Grammarly blog teaches English grammar rules, writing techniques, and more
Context-based checker is more accurate than competitors
Provides rephrasing suggestions for complicated sentences
The premium version excels at catching inconsistencies

Who Should Use Grammarly?

Free:

Everyone

Despite being limited, Grammarly (free version) is a phenomenal tool. Therefore, I would heartily recommend it to everyone. It’s free, and it’s convenient.

The free version should be everyone’s go-to tool for proofreading social media statuses, tweets, and comments. It is also crucial for editing all sorts of short-form writing, such as emails. Professional writers can also use the free version to catch typos and basic grammar mistakes.

Premium:

• Professional Writers
• Authors
• Bloggers
• Students
• Businesses that require extensive writing
• Marketers/Advertisers
• Content Creators
• Editors and Proofreaders

Apart from all the necessary features offered in the Grammarly free version, Grammarly Premium provides several other valuable elements such as an advanced clarity checker and a robust plagiarism checker. All these help you enhance your writing effectively.

Grammarly Premium is a helpful tool for people who are already adept at English as it still requires plenty of work on catching semantic errors. Businesses and Professional writers who do intensive writing should give the Premium version a go. From writing, editing, and proofreading to plagiarism checking, it is almost an All-in-One solution (though not a substitute for a human proofreader – at least yet).

Who Shouldn’t Use Grammarly?

Free:

• Students
• English Learners

People, especially students who cannot learn from their mistakes, should avoid relying on Grammarly as it can hinder their learning process.

Granted, Instructional Error Cards and Weekly Writing Stats (emailed to the user) can pinpoint your weak points, but educating yourself from there on is entirely up to you.

Just like ‘Auto-correct’ hinders people’s ability to learn proper spellings, Grammarly can do that for learning grammar rules.

Premium:

• Amateur Writers
• Infrequent Users

Grammarly is an excellent tool, but it still makes slips, which can be misleading for amateurs who don’t have a solid grip on the English language. Therefore, if you are not proficient enough in English, you should only subscribe to Grammarly Premium if you can remember that it is not a replacement for a human teacher or a proofreader. Or, you can continue using the Free version, which is competent enough to check fundamental grammar and spelling oversights.

Furthermore, businesses and professionals who are infrequent users can stick to the Free version if they feel they will not be making the most of the Premium version.

Grammarly vs. Basic Text Editors

A comparison with basic text editors will illustrate Grammarly’s true potential:

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is the most popular and feature-packed text editor. It includes a basic grammar and spelling checker that catches typos in real-time. However, MS Word is very limited in its grammar checking capabilities.

I’ve written many articles using Microsoft Word, which were considered error-free by the text editor. However, when I put the same documents in Grammarly’s Editor, there’d always be some critical mistakes caught by the Free version and some clarity or consistency mistakes pointed out by the Premium version.

Grammarly finds inconsistent punctuation that MS Word missed.

Google Docs

Google Docs is another mighty text editor, which is free to use. It also has numerous features, including spelling and grammar checking. Google Docs’ grammar and spelling check software only flag issues with an alternative in its database; otherwise, it ignores them. It auto-corrects the obvious spelling blunders. It can also pick missing determiners (articles) better than Microsoft Word. However, once again, when compared to Grammarly, Google Docs falls far behind in exposing slip-ups.

Grammarly in Google Docs.

Google Docs performs a little better than MS Word when it comes to punctuation, yet it is incomparable to Grammarly, which is in Beta for Google Docs.

How to Write Better With Grammarly

Grammarly proofreads content written in English (American, British, Australian, and Canadian) and gives detailed performance statistics. Weekly Writing Statistics are emailed to the user account, and you can download a complete PDF that extensively illustrates your performance.

From scoring to pointing out all mistakes and amendments, Grammarly doles out a comprehensive document that you can use to improve your weak areas. Grammarly can function as your teacher in this regard if you learn from these mistakes and try to improve your performance, especially in areas pointed out by the software.

Try Grammarly for yourself.

All Grammarly Products

Grammarly is available in the following product versions:

1. Grammarly for Business (3 or more users)
2. Grammarly @edu (for Educational Organizations/Institutes)
3. Grammarly Premium
4. Grammarly Free

All these versions are usable in the following product forms:

1. Online Editor

Grammarly’s web application acts as an online editor to upload a document, copy/paste content, or write directly. It has a 4MB size-limit and a 100,000 characters-limit (about 60 pages). When you upload a file, a pop-up tells you that your document formatting will restore when downloaded.

Grammarly’s interface for the online version and the desktop app is identical, and it is outstandingly intuitive and accessible. A dedicated writing assistant panel on the right side contains valuable information and choosable options. It also lists and categorizes all the errors found.

A bar at the bottom contains a few formatting options and some length-related info about the passage.

2. Browser Extension

Typing in any online text editor activates the ’Grammar and Spelling Checker’ when the extension is on. It underlines (in red) all the issues in real-time. Hovering over the problem pops up an Error Card that contains corrections and more information about the mistake.

You can use the Grammarly icon at the bottom-right of online text editors to activate or deactivate the tool. This option is beneficial because sometimes you want to check your content but don’t want distractions while writing. I recommend turning on the extension after you have completed your draft and now want to begin the editing phase. You can also open the Grammarly editor within a website for added convenience.

The Grammarly add-on is available on all popular browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge Chromium, etc. And it is compatible with millions of websites and the web versions of many desktop applications, including WordPress, emails, social media, work platforms, and many more. Grammarly for Google Docs is in Beta right now. The Grammarly extension also gives you the option to ’Show Definitions and Synonyms via Double Click,’ which works like a dictionary within any website.

The Grammarly icon within your text editors tells you the total number of issues found on the Grammarly pop-up. However, you have to scroll through the document and find those problems yourself. It is not as efficient as the online Editor. The extension only shows the critical issues inside your online editor. It gives you the option to open the online Grammarly Editor to see the errors pointed out by the Premium version. The browser extension also works slower for lengthy content. It is convenient but only for short-form writing.

3. Desktop Application

The desktop application, like all other products, is online only and doesn’t work offline. An internet connection is necessary as Grammarly uses its database to process the document. The desktop app is identical to the online editor.

4. Microsoft Word/Outlook Add-in

You can integrate Grammarly into Microsoft Word and Outlook through their Add-in. Unlike other Grammarly product forms, the MS Word Add-in activates when clicked — otherwise, it stays dormant. When enabled, a right panel appears with suggestions, Error Cards, and statistics, just like the Online Editor and the Desktop App. Grammarly has no character limit for the MS Word Add-in.

5. The Grammarly Keyboard App

You can download Grammarly Keyboard for both Android and iOS through their respective stores. Now available for iPad as well, it is easy to use as it works like the auto-correct feature available in the smart devices. It gives suggestions when Grammarly encounters any grammar or spelling lapses.

Grammarly Pricing Plans

Grammarly is a tad expensive when purchased as a monthly subscription, which costs $29.95 per month. The quarterly ($59.95) and annual ($139.95) subscriptions offer better value for money. Through its weekly newsletter and other channels, Grammarly presents discount offers to its free users from time to time, which you can avail yourself of to get an even cheaper deal for the Grammarly Premium subscription.

Grammarly Pricing Plans for Premium Version – Monthly, Quarterly, Annual

Free

Grammarly Free is limited but still adequate for many as it gives you critical grammar and spelling checking capabilities. It is usable in all product forms.

Premium

Grammarly Premium, along with Spelling and Grammar Checker, offers an advanced Clarity Checker, Plagiarism Checker, and experimental Tone Detector. All Grammarly features are available for the Premium version.

Business

Grammarly for Business offers all the Premium features for three or more users. It also gives you an admin panel to customize your experience. You can add a personal dictionary, among other things, which will be accessible to all users. Grammarly for Business includes:

• Individual accounts
• Admin panel
• Centralized billing
• Team usage stats
• Priority email support
• Single sign-on

Grammarly Business Pricing Example

Grammarly @Edu

Grammarly @Edu is also an available option, of which educational institutes and organizations can avail themselves. It caters to a large number of accounts, as it targets students.

Grammarly Features

UI

Grammarly has hands-down the best interface among all the writing assistants. It is incredibly intuitive and user-friendly.

Compatibility

Grammarly integrates with millions of sites and text editors. It is also compatible with MS Word (both for Windows and Mac) and Outlook via an Add-in. It is still in Beta for Google Docs.

Grammarly is incompatible with some desktop apps, but you can use Grammarly in their web versions.

Supported Document Formats

For products where you can upload text documents, the supported document formats are: .docx, .rtf, .odt, .txt.

Languages

Grammarly is restricted to English only, including American, British, Canadian, and Australian English. Grammarly doesn’t support foreign language phrases, translation, etc., at the moment.

Grammarly Functions

Spelling Checker

Grammarly checks for spelling mistakes based on context. It is excellent at differentiating between commonly misspelled words. It can also tell Common and Proper Nouns apart (in most cases).

Grammar Checker

All Grammarly products on all plans help you check for grammatical errors and syntax issues in the provided document in real-time.

Plagiarism Checker

The Plagiarism Checker is not available for the free version. When I inquired about plagiarism in hard copy, patch plagiarism, and ProQuest, here’s what Grammarly Support had to say:

“We teamed up with ProQuest to provide even more accurate plagiarism checks: currently, Grammarly’s plagiarism checker searches major proprietary databases along with over 16 billion web pages. You can check ProQuest libraries here http://www.proquest.com/libraries/academic/databases/.

Please note that Grammarly catches verbatim plagiarism and slightly modified text that can be classified as unoriginal. As comprehensive as our algorithms are, significantly rephrased text oftentimes can’t be traced back to its source.”

Note: I checked this document with both; Grammarly Plagiarism Checker is not as robust as Copyscape, but it’s catching up fast.

Tone Detector

It detects a variety of tones based on the context of the given passage.

Grammarly Tone Detector

Clarity Checker

Grammarly checks for advanced issues for the Premium, Education, and Business versions. The Free version checks for limited conciseness; the rest is available on the Premium version only.

Grammarly Support

Grammarly offers support via its extensive, well-written, and user-oriented knowledge-base. Grammarly also provides support via email (24/7 for the Business version) if you can’t find a relevant answer in the knowledge-base.

Moreover, the Grammarly Blog teaches, among other useful things, the proper use of grammar in English.

Grammarly Blog

The Grammarly Blog teaches the rules of English grammar and gives tips on writing. It also specializes in teaching about the most common blunders, which are also a strong suit of the application.

Detailed Performance Statistics

You can view the ‘Statistics Summary Card’ by clicking the ‘See Performance’ button. Or you can download the detailed statistics via the Download PDF Report option. These statistics are in-depth and contain exhaustive information regarding the whole document, including your score, errors, reading time, speaking time, and more.

Grammarly Performance Stats

Adjust Goals

You can customize Grammarly’s feedback according to your needs. This option gives you an adjustable chart where you can set your preferences according to your needs. It helps with the document’s tone, the difficulty level depending on the target audience, and more.

Grammarly Adjust Goals

Get Expert Writing Help

Grammarly gives you the option to get your work checked by experts. It’s a particularly convenient option for those who cannot or do not want to rely on their proofreading skills better than finding and hiring someone yourself.

Grammarly Expert Writing Help

Is Grammarly Really Free to Use?

Grammarly has a free version with a powerful-enough spelling and grammar checker. It is available in all product forms – Online Editor, Browser Extension, Desktop Application, and Word Add-in. The Free version checks for up to 150 grammar rules.

It is superb at uncovering elementary grammar fallacies due to its context-based checking, powered by its robust AI and NLP software.

The Free version doesn’t show clarity issues. It reveals the number of clarity issues in the content, but it doesn’t tell you what and where those issues are.

Is Grammarly Premium Worth The Cost?

The Premium version shows advanced grammar issues such as clarity, conciseness, dangling modifiers, squinting modifiers, monotonous sentences, intricate text, split infinitives, and many more. It checks for over 400 rules of English grammar, far more than the Free version. Grammarly Premium also has a plagiarism checker within the interface, which is mighty-enough for online plagiarism checking.

Grammar Checks

When you run some text through any version and product form of the app, Grammarly will process the document for the following:

1. Sensitivity
2. Determiners
3. Voice
4. Conciseness
5. Conjunctions
6. References
7. Nouns
8. Fluency
9. Word order
10. Spelling
11. Conventions
12. Syntax
13. Variety
14. Formality
15. Pronouns
16. Prepositions
17. Verbs
18. Numerals
19. Punctuation
20. Modifiers
21. Consistency
22. Correctness
23. Clarity
24. Delivery
25. Readability
26. Engagement

However, Grammarly will not point out many of these mistakes for the Free version. It will only tell you the number of such problems in your content.

Grammarly Checklist

Grammarly Free in Action:

Let’s see some examples.

Verbs

Grammarly detecting the wrong form of a verb.

Context-Based Checking

Grammarly Context-Based Checking

Capitalized Words

Grammarly detects unknown words, and if you capitalize them, it considers them proper nouns. It can also miss the incorrect use of a term if you spell it correctly and put it within commas.

Grammarly while dealing with proper nouns, capitalization, and unknown words

Phrases vs. Sentences

Grammarly can differentiate between phrases and sentences. Therefore, you can write headings and subheadings in the form of expression.

Grammarly differentiating between sentences and phrases

Multiple Mistakes in One Sentence

Grammarly catching multiple mistakes in one sentence

Determiners

Grammarly pointing out the wrong determiner-article use

Incomplete Sentences

The Grammarly algorithm is not good enough yet at recognizing incomplete sentences. Grammarly is far from perfect, as evident from these examples. Google Docs suggested ’was because’ for the last line instead of ’is because,’ but Grammarly missed that.

Grammarly can miss incomplete sentences.

Grammarly is only making one suggestion that the article use may be incorrect here in the below image.

Cannot detect incomplete sentences (sometimes) if other issues exist

Grammarly suggests you change the first line in the below image because it believes it’s caught a sentence fragment. You accept the suggestion, and it becomes the second line, which is, again, a sentence fragment, according to Grammarly.

Grammarly ‘sentence fragment’ suggestions

Sometimes, the suggestions are right as well.

Grammarly recognizes sentence fragments in some cases

Punctuation

Comma

Grammarly is a sniffing-hound-on-steroids when it comes to commas — both missing and wrong ones. It pinpoints the exact location where you should place a comma in a sentence. Whether it is between clauses, a list of items, or something else, Grammarly knows if you have missed a comma or placed a wrong one. It also exposes the famous “Oxford Comma.” Grammarly now points out any inconsistent punctuation (curly vs. straight commas, for example) in your articles.

Grammarly pointing out the missing Oxford Comma

Hyphen

First, it points out the missing hyphen. Once you rectify the error, it points out the wrong capitalization. Grammarly works in steps for multiple errors in a sentence.

Grammarly catching a missing hyphen.

Semi-colon & Colon

Grammarly catches the incorrect use of the semi-colon & colon.

Period

Grammarly points out a missing period

Missing Apostrophes

Grammarly can catch missing apostrophes

Grammarly Premium in Action:

Apart from correctness that checks for critical grammar mistakes, the Premium version has options to check for clarity, delivery, and engagement, along with many more correctness checks.

Clarity

Clarity check is not available for the Free version; all other versions of the app have it. It catches linguistic issues that a fundamental grammar checker cannot reveal. These include dangling modifiers, split infinitives, misuse of passive voice, intricate text, inappropriate colloquialisms, etc.

Text Inconsistencies

Grammarly Premium can detect inconsistencies and gives you the option to select one form if a word has been used inconsistently in the same document. It can also detect inconsistent punctuation, for example, curly and straight commas.

Grammarly Premium identifies text inconsistencies.

Rephrasing Suggestions

For unclear or complicated sentences where there might be an issue of a dangling modifier or something else, Grammarly suggests an alternative way to write the same sentence.

Grammarly Premium giving rephrasing suggestions

Wordy Sentences

Grammarly can also note if you have used many unnecessary words in a sentence. If there are more words and less content in a sentence, then it suggests you rephrase it. This option can help you make your content non-fluff.

Passive Voice Misuse

Grammarly is so-so at deciphering when the passive voice is right to use and when you should avoid it in a sentence. My experience is that, more often than not, it will recommend that you rewrite a sentence if it detects passive voice use anywhere.

Grammarly – always – detects passive voice use.

Intricate Text

Grammarly exposes unclear and hard-to-follow sentences in the written piece. Sometimes it gives alternatives (if one is available in its database), but usually, it only tells you to rephrase the sentence to make it more understandable.

Monotonous Sentences

If you continuously write similar sentences in a passage, Grammarly will detect these sentences’ monotonous nature and advise you to rephrase them.

Grammarly detecting a monotonous passage

Sound Confident Suggestion

Grammarly suggesting alternatives to sound confident

Politeness Suggestion

Sound more diplomatic with Grammarly!

Delivery

Grammarly Premium catches informal sentence structure like a preposition at the end of a sentence. Some other informalities include inappropriate colloquialisms, split infinitives, etc.

Grammarly points out informality.

Engagement

Grammarly Premium points out overused words and suggests using an alternative here, but sometimes it doesn’t provide suitable options like the Thesaurus Writing Tool.

Grammarly suggesting engaging alternatives

Most of the time, the suggestions are worth considering, though.

Grammarly is suggesting more engaging alternatives

Grammarly Free vs. Grammarly Premium

The Grammarly Free version catches all critical issues as it checks for 150 Grammar Rules to determine errors in a document. The Premium version looks for over 400 Grammar Rules and detects far more problems than the Free version.

I wrote an article and checked it through both the Free and the Premium versions. Here is the difference between how the stats of both look like before making the suggested changes:

Original Stats (before checking with Grammarly Free)

Original Stats (before checking with Grammarly Premium)

After editing another article and making the suggested changes, here’s how the Free version stats look like:

Grammarly Free Stats

After editing the same article using the Premium version, the stats look like the following:

Grammarly Premium Stats

Grammarly vs. Human Proofreader

Grammarly is a marvelous tool, but it is incomparable to human proofreading. Grammarly cannot detect the sense and meaning of the written text. It catches blunders using English language and grammar rules as efficiently as a machine can. However, some mistakes can slip through Grammarly if there is no syntax error, but just a linguistic or semantic misuse.

Grammarly didn’t suggest anything for a nonsense sentence

Grammarly is not an alternative to human proofreading

Pros of using Grammarly in 2021

Context-Based Grammar Checker

Grammarly is evolving with time and has gotten pretty accurate in identifying common mistakes. Its extensive database helps Grammarly recognize errors based on the context.

Real-Time Grammar and Spelling Checker

Grammarly scours the whole text for errors when you provide it a written document. Thankfully, it also checks for blunders as you write or edit your text in any product form – Chrome Extension, Online Editor, Word Add-in, Desktop App (Windows and Mac), and the Grammarly Keyboard for iOS and Android.

Accessible Interface and Robust Editing

With Grammarly, you get a highly-efficient software, which is not only a phenomenal editor but also incredibly easy to use.

Customizations – Set Goals and Personal Dictionary

You can customize your Set Goals and your Personal Dictionary with the ‘Add to Dictionary’ feature in the Error Cards. This element is convenient for proper nouns and personal vocabulary (even words from a different language).

Tone Detector

Based on your Goals, Grammarly, through its tone detector emojis, cautions you of your tone – the vocabulary and phrasing you are using. You can adjust goals keeping in mind your target audience and choose the most appropriate words to use.

Clarity Checker

Apart from basic grammatical mistakes, Grammarly helps you fix linguistic oversights. It tracks down a wide range of slip-ups, including dangling modifiers, intricate text, split infinitives, passive voice misuse, redundancies, and many other slips. In essence, the Clarity Checker elevates the level of your writing.

Plagiarism Checker

It is a bonus in all senses of the word. It might not be essential to the app, but it certainly assists users. Grammarly plagiarism checker is not the absolute best in the industry, but it does the job swiftly. It checks plagiarism across 16 billion pages on the internet and ProQuest’s database.

Error Cards

Error cards are compact, simple, and instructional. They serve their purpose elegantly. Any shortcoming that you experience in Grammarly’s usage so far is due to its still-not-so-extensive database. Error cards also fall short when it comes to giving suggestions due to this very reason. Otherwise, they are usually handy.

Free Version

You can proofread, remove typos, and analyze the content quickly via the app’s free version. You can also use it before buying the Grammarly Premium subscription.

The Grammarly Keyboard

Supported on both Android and iOS, The Grammarly Keyboard App functions like the auto-correct feature. It gives real-time suggestions about the proper use of grammar and spellings in the written text. Grammarly is now available for iPad and supports hardware keyboards as well.

Grammarly Support

Grammarly provides customer support via its extensive database and email. By now, almost all popular queries have a database entry. Furthermore, the Grammarly Blog assists with learning English grammar rules.

Knowledge-base

Grammarly has amassed a plethora of information in its database, which helps run the application smoothly. This knowledge allows the app to identify problems based on the context. You will find accurate solutions for most common issues, thanks to its extensive database growing with time.

Grammarly Blog

The Grammarly Blog focuses on teaching people English grammar rules and common mistakes in their writing. There are dedicated articles for each item; separate sections cover different punctuation like Commas, Hyphens, etc.

Writing Stats

The weekly writing stats sent via email and the downloadable detailed performance stats PDF give you comprehensive feedback on your writing. This feature helps you pinpoint your mistakes better than anything else available in the market.

Insights

Grammarly Insights are the real-time feedback that the application provides regarding your writing. It bases it on your Set Goals. You can customize this feedback according to your needs, which can be amazingly valuable if you cover different audiences. Insights also include the reading time and speaking time, which is particularly useful to Vloggers, YouTubers, etc., who can quickly determine how much time their script will take on the video.

Reliability

Grammarly is the most popular and best-in-class digital writing assistant tool, growing exponentially both in features and number of users, indicating that it will provide the best services to its customer base.

Grammarly is notably popular among professional writers, bloggers, publishers, marketers, and businesses, showing that Grammarly has a demanding clientele to please. Therefore, their standards are supposed to be (and they are) higher than the competition.

Product Investment

Having more than a million downloads per month and being a top-1000 website by traffic globally, Grammarly has raised $200M in total funding at a valuation of $1B+ so far, which speaks volumes of its success, investors’ trust in the product, and its projections.

Cons of using Grammarly in 2021

Free Version is Limited

The Free version identifies only critical grammatical errors, typos, and limited ‘conciseness.’ Moreover, it only lists the number of total advanced clarity issues in the text with an ‘Ad’ that keeps asking you to buy a Premium subscription for these issues. It also doesn’t support plagiarism checking.

Premium Version is a Tad Expensive

The biggest drawback of Grammarly is that it is a tad expensive for many. Grammarly Premium can be a costly subscription at $30 per month if you don’t have much writing to proofread.

Semantic Issues

Grammarly is good at picking fundamental grammar mistakes – even context-based grammar issues, but it still cannot understand what you have written. If you write a nonsense sentence with no grammatical fault, Grammarly will consider it a correct sentence. It can also happen with incomplete sentences.

Insufficient

Grammarly is a mighty grammar checker but lags behind when it comes to rating the whole document. Its scoring is based on mistakes and length of words and sentences only, unlike some other tools that provide a more comprehensive text scoring. Grammarly is also not an alternative to human proofreading as it can’t understand the meaning of the written content.

Limited Vocabulary

Grammarly has a limited vocabulary in its database so far, which leads to inaccurate synonym suggestions at times. The Thesaurus Writing Tool, another free digital writing assistant, has an extensive vocabulary due to its vast Thesaurus.com database and offers far more vocabulary suggestions and alternatives.

Alternatives Not Provided for Every Issue

For many suggestions like Intricate Text, Split Infinitives, etc., Grammarly doesn’t provide an alternative. You have to rephrase the sentence yourself. Grammarly only points out bloopers sometimes, which can be a little frustrating for amateur writers.

Not Supported Everywhere

Grammarly is not supported everywhere yet. The most prominent places are Google Docs (in Beta at the moment – which doesn’t include Grammarly Premium corrections and the Pop-up Grammarly Editor) and desktop applications. However, it works on the web versions of these desktop applications via its browser extension.

Insufficient Formatting Options in the Editor

Grammarly Editor is imperfect for writing purposes. It is incomparable to authoritative text editors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. So you have to write your text in another editor and import it in Grammarly for proofreading if you want proper formatting of your document.

Irritating and Aggressive Advertising

Grammarly wants you to upgrade all the time. When using the Free version, you’ll get constant notifications to upgrade to Premium to check for issues that are not available in the Free version.

Only One Language Supported

Grammarly doesn’t offer support for languages other than English. There is also no option available for translation like Ginger.

Only One Account for Premium

The Grammarly Premium account gives you only one license for use on up to five devices. It is an obstacle for people with multiple accounts for different purposes. Grammarly Premium is already expensive, so buying two licenses is not feasible for the majority.

Top 5 Free Grammarly Alternatives 2021

Grammarly stands out as the most prominent and well-received tool when you compare all popular digital writing assistants. It has been endorsed and appreciated by countless publishers and writers. Grammarly has become a top product in the digital writing industry with its robust marketing and significant NLP and AI improvements.

Grammarly Inc. has secured enough funding as of late 2019 to improve its natural language learning database to enhance its AI-based application further. Keeping all this in mind, it is evident that Grammarly is dominating the market. Still, there are a few products that come close for one reason or the other. Here are the top 5 Grammarly alternatives in 2021:

ProWritingAid

Pros: Long-Form Writing (Books, etc.), Writing Insights, Separate Checking of Issues, MS Word Add-in, Efficient Browser Extension

Cons: Short-Form Writing, Fewer Errors Detected, Not for Amateurs, No Free Version

ProWritingAid is considered a worthy alternative to Grammarly (notably for long-form writing – books, etc.), but it falls far behind Grammarly for short-form writing.

ProWritingAid is accurate, feature-rich, and integrates well with apps and websites, but the interface is not as user-friendly as Grammarly’s. It also reveals fewer issues as Grammarly has advanced context-based grammar checking capabilities.

ProWritingAid offers better pricing and value for money (Premium is $60 per year, $70 with Plagiarism Checker), and it also has a Lifetime Plan. However, it doesn’t have a free plan like Grammarly. The Online Editor has no word limit, unlike Grammarly’s 60-pages or 100,000 character limit.

ProWritingAid provides many options/tabs to check for each issue separately, handy for longer articles or books. However, it is not as user-friendly for short writing pieces.

It also presents a better analysis of the whole document and provides a lot of information regarding your writing, which you can use to improve your writing style.

ProWritingAid has an easy-to-scroll-through panel at the right-side that contains corrections and suggestions, which you can use to see all issues without scrolling the entire document.

ProWritingAid has the following tabs to check for each issue separately:

• Grammar
• Spelling
• Overused
• Readability
• Cliche
• Sticky
• Diction
• All Repeats
• Echoes
• Thesaurus
• Dialogue
• Consistency
• Pacing
• Pronouns
• Alliterations
• Homonyms
• Transition
• Acronym

Ginger

Pros: Keeps Formatting, 60 Languages & Translation, Built-in Dictionary, Browser Extension, Free Version

Cons: Fewer Issues Detected, Fewer Insights, Interface is just OK, no MS Word plugin

Ginger is also a notable competitor of Grammarly. It has a free version, and it integrates well with different websites. However, it doesn’t have an MS Word plugin. It is also not as accessible due to its clunky interface.

Ginger is not as powerful as Grammarly, but it is still a decent alternative. Ginger’s annual subscription is $89.88 (cheaper than Grammarly’s).

Ginger keeps the original formatting of the text document, which is pleasant. It also has a Translator within the app that supports 60 languages. Also, there’s a built-in dictionary, which you can use to find alternatives to overused words.

WhiteSmoke

Pros: Cheap, Integrates with Platforms, Gimmicks – i.e., Templates, etc.

Cons: Interface is awful, Fewer Mistakes Caught

WhiteSmoke is cheap to use, but it has a horrible interface. It integrates with many platforms, but it is incomparable to an advanced tool like Grammarly. It has some useful gimmicks like templates for specific writing purposes, i.e., Sorry, Thank You, Condolences, etc.

The annual subscription of WhiteSmoke costs $79.99. However, it is not advanced enough to be considered better value for money.

Thesaurus Writing Tool

Pros: Free, Vocabulary suggestions on hovering the cursor over a word, Blog

Cons: Editor is dreadful to use, Ruins Formatting

Thesaurus Writing Tool is a free-to-use online text editor powered by Thesaurus.com. You can copy/paste or write directly in the Editor. It doesn’t retain the original formatting, which makes it a bit uncomfortable to use. Just click on the ‘Check for Grammar’ button, and it will work its magic. It also has a dedicated blog that teaches you how to write better.

The Thesaurus Writing Tool is unimpressive when checking grammatical errors, but it is highly potent in vocabulary suggestions. Its interface is simple but insufficient. Hover over any word, and it will show you a vocabulary card with a lot of synonyms. Clicking on any suggestion will replace the original term with the selected item. The replaced word gets a yellow underline. An undo option is available if you are not happy with your word selection.

Hemingway App

Pros: Free, Information about Text, Text Readability Score

Cons: Ruins Formatting, Fewer Mistakes Caught

Hemingway App is yet another incredible tool that is quite capable and straight-forward. It is convenient for analyzing your document as it scores the content based on its readability. It has a free web app and a paid desktop app. You can copy/paste into the online Editor or write directly, but it messes up the formatting.

Hemingway App identifies the use of passive voice, adverbs, and difficulty of reading. It recognizes long sentences – even the easy-to-read ones – as complex, which affects the document’s grade.

Final Verdict: Grammarly Review 2021

Using advanced NLP and AI, Grammarly free is hands-down the best and must-have writing, editing, and proofreading tool for everyone that checks for spelling and critical grammar mistakes. Easy to use, compatible with most popular products, and trusted by millions of users, Grammarly instantly elevates your writing everywhere; statuses, comments, emails, documents, tweets, you name it! Trying out the free version before upgrading to a premium plan also makes sense.

Grammarly Premium is a more robust and advanced tool with numerous amazing features like an advanced clarity checker, tone detector, and plagiarism checker. The Premium version is unparalleled when complemented with knowledge of the English language and some other tools. However, it is insufficient as a standalone tool because it can make slips (especially semantic ones).

I highly recommend Grammarly Premium to professionals (freelancers, writers, bloggers, authors, publishers, and editors) who require intensive use of the app. Similarly, Grammarly for Business is a good investment if your team does intensive writing. Non-intensive users should stick to the Free version as it suffices.

Aa one user said, “Grammarly Premium helps you sound like a pro, or at least helps you avoid looking like a fool!”

FAQs About Grammarly

Is Grammarly a good app?

Yes, Grammarly stands out among its competitors as it has advanced context-based grammar checking capabilities, thanks to its up-to-date natural language processing and artificial intelligence.

Is Grammarly Premium worth it?

Yes, for the most part. However, it is a tad expensive for many. It is suitable for professionals and businesses that have lots of writing needs. It identifies several advanced grammar issues that the Free version only counts. However, it is not a substitute for human proofreading as it can make linguistic mistakes that a human can easily find.

Is Grammarly supported in Google Docs?

It is in Beta at the moment. So, it should be available shortly. At the moment, it is imperfect as it only specifies the number of errors. You have to scroll the document to find those mistakes (underlined red) on your own. It has already started working in the comments, though.

Is Grammarly supported in Quora?

Yes, Grammarly works with Quora.

Is Grammarly supported in Medium?

Yes, Grammarly is available for Medium.

Can Grammarly replace a professional editor?

No, it can’t. Grammarly can make simple semantic mistakes because it doesn’t know the meaning of the written text, so it cannot replace a professional editor. It is only suitable for catching syntactic issues.

Is Grammarly supported in Microsoft Word?

Yes, a plugin is available. It is an efficient plugin as it gives similar options in Microsoft Word as it does in its online editor and desktop application. Grammarly is now available for both Windows and macOS versions of MS Word.

Is Grammarly available for Mac?

Yes, Grammarly’s desktop app is available for macOS. Grammarly is available for both Windows and macOS. Grammarly for MS Word is also available for Mac now.

Is Grammarly supported in WordPress?

Yes, it is supported. You can use Grammarly in WordPress via its browser extension.

Is Grammarly supported in Gmail?

Yes, it is. You can edit your email using the Grammarly browser extension within Gmail. However, it is not the best solution for lengthy content. For extended text, the Online Editor, the Desktop App, and the MS Word Add-in are better options.

Does Grammarly work offline?

No, it doesn’t. Grammarly uses its database to run the app, so an internet connection is necessary.

Does Grammarly help you improve your writing?

Yes. If you read the weekly stats, detailed performance stats PDF, and Grammarly Blog for grammar rules and writing tips and try to implement them in your writing, Grammarly can significantly improve your writing capabilities.

Is Grammarly Safe and Secure?

Yes, Grammarly is quite safe, as Google verifies it. Moreover, Grammarly is as secure as any other site that uses SSL/TLS encryption. It is also reliable for plagiarism checking as it doesn’t violate your privacy.

What is the Grammarly cancellation refund policy?

You can get your money back if you are not satisfied with the Premium subscription by contacting Grammarly support within ten days.

Is Grammarly a reliable checker?

Yes, Grammarly outperforms its competitors. Yet, it cannot surpass a professional human editor.

Is Grammarly available for Android/iOS?

Yes, it is. You can use the Grammarly Keyboard to edit your text for grammar and spelling errors by installing the Grammarly Keyboard app from the Play Store or the App Store. It works like the auto-correct feature. Grammarly is now available on iPad as well.

Check out Grammarly for yourself.

 

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The post The Most Comprehensive Grammarly Review Ever first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

To stand out in the competitive world of eCommerce, you need to try new strategies and technologies every day. For that, you need to push your products to various marketplaces through different channels for enhancing their visibility to the audience.

Every store owner wants to show their products to potential customers to get more sales. But, it is not only limited to simply showing your products in Google search results. That is, sometimes your products may be listed on the 3rd or 5th page of Google. Those ranks would not make any great impact on your customers since they always click the first few products they see in their search results.

One of the major platforms to market your products is Google Shopping. Listing your products on the Google Shopping page provides more visibility and customers can easily compare a product with other products and choose the best one.

In this marketplace, you do not need to worry about the size or scale of your business, since you can list your products with other established competitors.

There are a number of procedures you need to follow for displaying your WooCommerce products as shopping ads. You need to create a product feed in a sheet with all details regarding your products and submit it to Google Merchant Center.

If you have a very limited number of products to be displayed as ads, you can manually type the details and upload them to the Merchant Center. But, if you have hundreds and thousands of products to be uploaded, you should use a WooCommerce plugin to generate the product feed automatically. 

In this article, we are analyzing 10 WooCommerce plugins to generate the product feeds for uploading them to the Google Merchant Center.

In this article, we will be discussing the following plugins:

1. ELEX WooCommerce Google Shopping Plugin
2. WooCommerce Product Feed Export
3. ShoppingFeeder
4. WP All Import
5. CTX Feed – WooCommerce Product Feed Generator
6. Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce
7. Woocommerce Google Feed Manager
8. YITH Google Product Feed for WooCommerce
9. RexTheme WooCommerce Product Feed Manager
10. WooCommerce Product Feed For Marketing Channels

1. ELEX WooCommerce Google Shopping Plugin

This advanced Google product feed plugin allows you to generate unlimited feeds for simple and variable products in XML, CSV, or TSV file formats. It allows you to choose the targeting country of your sale to generate the feed according to the requirements of the country you have chosen. Similarly, you can choose a language such as English, Russian, Spanish, German, or French to map your product categories with Google product categories properly. Also, you can map your product attributes with Google’s default product attributes for accurate feed generation. 

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• You can refresh the product attribute values on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis for updating the changed attribute values to Google.
• Allows mapping your product attributes with Google’s attributes based on conditions and rules.
• You can add custom attribute values and map them with Google attributes.
• Has an option to create a feed for featured products exclusively.
• Allows creating a feed for specific vendors, etc.

2. WooCommerce Product Feed Export

This free plugin allows you to generate product feeds for the marketplace like Amazon, Snapchat, Etsy, etc., apart from Google. Its simple and intuitive interface would help you create custom product feeds according to your requirements. Its product listing optimization capabilities would open an opportunity for a higher conversion rate in your store. 

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• Can create the product feed for individual WooCommerce categories as well as selected individual products.
• Allows scheduled refreshing of products to feed updated data to Google.
• Supports variable products.
• Helps to map local product categories with the respective merchant categories.
• Will generate feeds that exactly match the merchant’s requirements.

3. ShoppingFeeder

This free WordPress plugin will allow you to manage your product feed for multiple channels including Google Shopping by integrating your store data with ShoppingFinder. Also, it will help you to analyze the performance of the campaigns you have created by monitoring the traffic, ROI, and conversions. It will help you track all clicks, conversions, and referrals you got from the source in which you have submitted your product feed.

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• Generates daily, weekly, or monthly reports.
• Allows to set up multi-user accounts.
• Easy import of product catalogs for uploading them to various channels.
• Boost visibility of your products through multiple channels.
• Configure to grant the accessibility of product data based on the user roles in your team.

4. WP All Import

This advanced plugin allows you to generate and manage product feeds efficiently with its simple and comprehensive interface. With this plugin, you can schedule automatic updates of product attributes to feed the latest product data on Google. Moreover, it comes with almost all the features demanded by Google Merchant Center. It supports product variations, attributes from third-party extensions and other WordPress plugins. With this plugin, you do not need to worry about the file formats supported by Google, as you can simply drag and drop the option on the interface to export the feed into Google Shopping.

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• Provides a developer-friendly environment.
• Efficient category mapping with Google’s default categories.
• Supports multiple languages.
• Seamless customization of your product feed according to specific requirements.
• Can filter the products accurately to generate feed for the selected products.

5. CTX Feed – WooCommerce Product Feed Generator

This WooCommerce product feed generator plugin will allow you to create unlimited product feeds for unlimited products in your store. It allows you to generate a feed that is compatible with 100+ channels such as Facebook Product Ads, Instagram Shopping Ads, Pinterest Shopping Ads, etc., apart from Google Shopping. This plugin supports variable products as well.

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• Supports XML, CSV and TXT file formats.
• Provides advanced filtering options to select specific products to generate the feed.
• Easy category mapping and custom attribute mapping.
• Compatible with other WooCommerce plugins like WooCommerce Multivendor.
• Generate feed for a large number of products as batches.

6. Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce

This WordPress plugin helps to generate the product feeds for uploading it to Google Shopping, Facebook Ads, Bing Ads, etc., for featuring your products on them. You can use the advanced filtering options to generate feed for the potential products to increase sales. It comes up with 100+ default feed templates apart from the option to create custom templates. Also, you can create feeds for unlimited products.

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• Can create unlimited feeds.
• Seamless mapping of product categories and attributes.
• Supports variable products.
• Supports Google Analytics for measuring the performance of ads.
• Helps to set up the shipping zone and shipping class to take the exact shipping cost on the feed.

7. Woocommerce Google Feed Manager

This free Google product feed plugin will allow you to generate product feeds for upto 100 products. And, it will make sure that the updated attribute values of your products would be updated on Google Shopping on time. Its simple interface allows its subscribers to generate feed in simple clicks even if they are not that much into the technical side. 

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• Provides full control over your product feed.
• Well optimization of product feeds.
• Generates feed with satisfying all requirements of Google Merchant Center.

8. YITH Google Product Feed for WooCommerce

This advanced plugin will help you generate product feeds seamlessly with its simple and intuitive interface. You can create feeds for specific products using its advanced filtering options. Also, it allows you to create custom templates by letting you choose your required fields for generating the feed.

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• Generates feed in XML and TXT file formats.
• Override feed general values on the product level.
• Can generate unlimited feeds.
• Helps to add custom fields to map with Google attributes.

9. RexTheme WooCommerce Product Feed Manager

This plugin is another option to generate a product feed for multiple marketplaces such as Google Shopping, Facebook Dynamics, Walmart, etc., to display your products. It provides a number of predefined templates for generating feeds easily. Its auto-syncing option would fetch and upload your product data into Google Merchant Center based on the scheduled interval you have set.

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• Efficient filtering options to generate feed for specific products.
• Allows creating custom fields.
• Supports Google Analytics to measure performance.
• Uses batch processing to generate feed for a large number of products with minimum time.
• Supports XML, CSV, and TXT file formats.

10. WooCommerce Product Feed For Marketing Channels

This is another product feed generator for your WooCommerce store, which allows you to create a feed for upto 40 products with its free version. You can submit unlimited products if you go for its premium version. This plugin helps to map your product categories with Google’s default product categories. Also, it supports variable products.

Other features of this plugin are as follows:

• Upload your product feed in XML file format.
• Helps to generate category-wise product feed.
• Requires verification from Google to upload the feed into your account.

Well, these are the 10 Google shopping plugins you can go for your online store to enhance the visibility of your products.

To sum up,

There are many more Google shopping plugins available in the market. I have picked the above plugins as I found they would be very useful for your store. Take a tour of their product pages and do a thorough analysis of their features. And, pick the one which satisfies all your requirements.

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Photo by Rajeshwar Bachu on Unsplash

Everyday design fans submit incredible industry stories to our sister-site, Webdesigner News. Our colleagues sift through it, selecting the very best stories from the design, UX, tech, and development worlds and posting them live on the site.

The best way to keep up with the most important stories for web professionals is to subscribe to Webdesigner News or check out the site regularly. However, in case you missed a day this week, here’s a handy compilation of the top curated stories from the last seven days. Enjoy!

Fontemon – World’s First Video Game in a Font

20 Best New Websites, March 2021

100+ Colorful Holographic Shapes

A Complete Guide To Accessible Front-End Components

Foont – A Font Game for Designers

8 Common Website Layouts Built with CSS Grid

ITF Launches Free Font Service Fontshare

The Surprising History Behind Some of Design’s Most Famous Principles

Responsive Web Design: 50 Examples and Best Practices

Colorie – Create Your Color Palette With Up To 14 Colors

The End of AMP?

The Logo is Not Enough: The True Nature of Branding

4 Common WordPress Attacks (And How to Avoid Them)

Going Headless: Use Cases And What It’s Good For

Hand Draw Letters That Advocate For Change

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The post Popular Design News of the Week: March 22, 2021 – March 28, 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

PPK:

When introducing width and height I explain that by default width takes as much horizontal space as it can, while height takes as little vertical space as possible. This leads to a discussion of these two opposed models that I excerpt below.

My question is: which names do I give to these models?

The three options:

• inside-out and outside-in
• context-based and content-based
• extrinsic and intrinsic size

There is more context in the post.

I definitely don’t like inside-out and outside-in — they make my head spin. I think I’m gonna vote for extrinsic and intrinsic size. I hear those terms thrown around a lot more lately and the fact that they match the specs is something I like. At the same time, I do feel like context-based and content-based are maybe a smidge more clear, but since they are already abstracted and made up, might as well go with the abstracted and made up term that already has legs.

Direct Link to Article — Permalink

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