Word Counter
Words, characters, sentences and reading time
Why count words?
- SEO — articles of 1,000+ words tend to rank better, and a meta description needs to stay under 160 characters.
- Social media — X is capped at 280 characters, a LinkedIn headline at 220.
- Academia and journalism — word limits on papers and articles. If you are still designing and have no real copy yet, grab some placeholder text.
How is reading time calculated?
At an average of 200 words per minute — the typical pace of an adult reader. Technical text will take longer.
Frequently asked questions
How is reading time calculated?
At 200 words per minute, the average pace of an adult reader. Technical, legal or academic text takes longer — sometimes half that speed. If you display reading time to visitors, round up.
Why does character count matter for SEO?
Google has display limits: titles are truncated around 60 characters and meta descriptions around 155–160. Beyond that Google cuts mid-sentence, which looks careless in search results and hurts click-through. Articles over 1,000 words tend to rank better, though length alone is not enough.
What counts as a word?
The tool counts runs of characters separated by whitespace, like most tools do. Note that in languages such as Hebrew and Arabic, prepositions and pronouns attach to the word itself, so the same text will show 20–30% fewer words than its English translation.
What are the social media character limits?
X allows 280 characters per post. LinkedIn allows 220 for a headline and 3,000 for a post. Instagram captions run to 2,200. YouTube titles are capped at 100 characters and descriptions at 5,000. The tool counts live so you do not discover the overflow after writing.
Characters with spaces versus without?
Limits in forms and content management systems almost always count characters including spaces. Translator and copy-editor pricing, on the other hand, is usually quoted per character excluding spaces, or per word. Both numbers are shown here so you never have to guess which is meant.
Is my text stored anywhere?
No. Counting runs in your browser as you type, nothing is sent to a server and nothing is saved. You can safely paste sensitive text here.