Similar To Books scores 74/100, with unusually clear positioning for readers seeking emotionally resonant, thematically aligned fiction and a strong 74/100 positioning score. Its most material weakness is mobile performance: the homepage takes 25 seconds to load, with a 25.1-second LCP.
Reviewed by SiteList Engine · 10 of 13 dimensions · published Reviewed on September 28, 2026
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Claim itSimilar To Books is a book-recommendation service for emotionally resonant fiction.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Domain | similartobooks.com |
| Category | Book recommendation for emotionally resonant fiction |
| Pricing | Unknown; no price range provided |
| Pages crawled | 38 |
| Crawl date | 2026-09-28 |
Similar To Books is strongest when it explains its narrow audience and editorial approach. Positioning scores 92/100 and audience messaging 90/100: the site presents human-curated recommendations for readers seeking emotional and thematic resonance, with clear explanations of how to begin. Design execution is also strong at 87/100, while usability scores 85/100. The dimensions shown here are the applicable dimensions; non-applicable dimensions are intentionally omitted.
The main constraint is performance. Performance scores 35/100; the homepage takes 25 seconds to load on mobile and records a 25.1-second LCP. Accessibility scores 65/100, with unlabeled form controls, missing skip links, incomplete landmarks, and empty alt attributes among the recorded issues. Writing quality and editorial QA both score 68/100, with oversized paragraphs limiting scannability. Risk & stability scores 78/100 and technical SEO scores 82/100, with crawlability and server rendering supported in the supplied samples.
Similar To Books positions itself as a human-curated recommendation service for readers seeking emotional and thematic alignment, not only genre matches. The promise, ‘Better book recommendations in seconds,’ is specific and supported by 1,059 curated lists, detailed reasoning, and a free Chrome extension. The copy contrasts its approach with Goodreads and Amazon recommendations, giving the category a distinct point of view. The remaining opportunity is audience ownership: name a sharper segment in the hero, such as readers seeking a particular genre or mood, so the promise is easier to recognize and remember.
The site answers the main reader questions directly: it offers hand-built lists without algorithms, serves readers seeking emotional resonance, and provides two entry points through the Chrome extension and AI recommender. The service is described as free, while detailed reasoning and 1,059 curated lists support trust. Category language appears above the fold, and Browse and Discover orient users around goals. Only 20% of copy uses ‘we/our,’ keeping the message reader-focused. Add a short explanation of what happens when a recommendation misses to address the one important trust question the current copy leaves implicit.
The interface has clear hierarchy and communicates the recommendation value through focused copy and curated book displays, but the main action is too far from a first-time visitor. ‘Try the Recommender’ appears in the third homepage section and requires three clicks from the homepage. Genre labels such as Comedy, Contemporary Fiction, and Crime are recognizable, yet they do not explain the emotional tone a reader may be seeking. Move the recommender action above the fold or into primary navigation, then add brief plain-language descriptions under genre labels. Keep navigation and footer link styling consistent.
Accessibility scores 65/100 because foundational keyboard and form-labeling support is incomplete. On /ai-book-recommender, email and password inputs lack a matching input ID for their labels. The site also has no skip link, incomplete landmark structure, 6 empty alt attributes on the homepage, and reported contrast failures. Link every input to its label, add a focusable ‘Skip to main content’ link, and complete meaningful alternatives for informative images. Raise text contrast to at least 4.5:1 for body text, then retest the affected templates.
The visual system is well structured and responsive, but mechanical inconsistencies weaken an otherwise strong design. Body text in the sampled page uses #7a8480 on white at a 2.8:1 contrast ratio, below the required 4.5:1. The site also uses 5 distinct button styles and shows 16px and 24px card padding on mobile. Darken the text to a compliant color, consolidate buttons into primary and secondary variants, and standardize card padding through shared tokens. The heading-to-body ratio is already measured at 2.5x, so hierarchy does not need to be rebuilt.
Mobile performance is the site’s sharpest weakness: the homepage takes 25 seconds to load and records a 25.1-second LCP, far above the 2.5-second reference threshold. The LCP image is 1.9MB, rendered at 4,032px in a 750px slot, and lacks the supplied loading and preload signals. External requests add 1.3MB from fonts.gstatic.com and cdn.sanity.io, while total page weight reaches 4,525 KiB. Optimize the hero asset, prioritize the critical image, defer non-critical external work, and add explicit image dimensions before rerunning mobile measurements.
The copy is strongest when it names the reader problem and the recommendation method, including recommendations based on ‘atmosphere, the pacing, the kind of characters.’ Its main weakness is presentation: the homepage is recorded as one 763-word paragraph, the AI recommender as one 791-word paragraph, and About as one 788-word paragraph. Split these blocks beneath their existing headings into shorter paragraphs, lists, and clear steps. Greek-language samples need a native-language editorial pass; English lexical checks were not applied. Add meaningful alt text to informative covers and interface images.
The supplied sample shows no confirmed sitewide blocker: HTTPS redirects are present, robots.txt allows crawling, sampled pages return 200, and raw and rendered content match. The clearest risk is sitemap conflict. Four sampled paths—/bookmarks/, /account/, /billing/, and /auth/callback/—are marked noindex,nofollow while remaining in the 3,530-URL sitemap. Remove non-indexable utility and callback URLs, then normalize the AI recommender to its trailing-slash URL. GSC is not connected, so this review cannot measure traffic, impressions, or loss magnitude.
Content quality is strongest where the site explains the reader problem and its recommendation method. The editorial risk is scannability: sampled pages contain very large single paragraphs, including 763 words on the homepage, 791 on the AI recommender, and 788 on About. Rebuild those blocks into topic-led paragraphs and lists without changing the underlying proposition. Complete meaningful alt text for informative images, and give the Greek-language catalog a native-language editorial pass. These changes improve access to existing substance rather than requiring new claims or a broader content strategy.
Technical SEO is broadly sound across the 38-page sample: robots.txt allows crawling, the sitemap is present, sampled URLs return 200, and raw and rendered word counts match. The main defect is that four noindex utility or callback paths remain in the 3,530-URL sitemap. The AI recommender also needs one trailing-slash URL across internal links, redirects, canonicals, and the sitemap. Missing alt text recurs across templates, including 6 homepage images and 23 on /community/. Remove non-indexable URLs first, then normalize the recommender and repair template-level alternatives.
Similar To Books earns 74/100 because its audience and editorial proposition are unusually clear, but the 25-second mobile homepage load is too severe to overlook.
The product is aimed at readers who want emotionally resonant, thematically aligned fiction and value human-curated recommendations. The clearest priorities are to reduce the 25.1-second mobile LCP, repair the recorded accessibility failures, and break up oversized paragraphs so key pages scan more easily. Positioning scores 92/100, audience messaging 90/100, design execution 87/100, and technical SEO 82/100.
This is a 13-dimension review based on a crawl of 38 pages completed on 2026-09-28, the public dimension score table, and its one-line summaries. The reviewed published dimensions include positioning, audience and messaging, usability, accessibility, design execution, performance, writing quality, risk and stability, editorial QA of content, and technical SEO.
Decision-support surfaces (dimension 12) and review-content integrity (dimension 13) were not applicable. Search Console was not connected and access was unavailable, so no Search Console enrichment is included. Pricing is unknown, with no price range provided. Read How SiteList scores for the review method.
Similar To Books is for readers seeking emotionally resonant and thematically aligned fiction, rather than recommendations based only on genre.
Mobile performance is the largest weakness: the homepage takes 25 seconds to load and records a 25.1-second LCP.
Yes. Positioning scores 92/100 and audience messaging scores 90/100, supported by clear explanations of the service, audience, and starting points.
Accessibility scores 65/100. The review identifies unlabeled form controls, missing skip links, incomplete landmark structure, and repeatedly empty alt attributes.
SiteList crawled 38 pages on 2026-09-28 and assessed the site through a 13-dimension review. Decision-support surfaces and review-content integrity were excluded.