Aim for 60–80 (Grade 6–8 level). Social media captions should be 70+. Blog posts can be 60–70. Anything below 50 is too complex for most creator audiences.
Yes — Google considers user engagement signals. Easy-to-read content gets lower bounce rates and longer time-on-page, both of which improve SEO rankings.
Break long sentences in half, replace complex words with simple ones, use bullet points and headers, and read aloud — if you stumble, your readers will too.