Word Counter

Word Counter - Every Metric Your Text Needs, Explained

A word counter sounds like the simplest possible tool - just count the words. But writers, students, content creators, and SEO professionals need far more than one number. Reading time tells you how long your audience will engage. Keyword density shows whether you are overusing a term. Flesch-Kincaid grade level reveals whether your text matches your audience's reading level. Platform limits tell you whether your caption or post will be cut off. This tool gives you all of it, live, as you type.

Word Count Requirements - Common Writing Contexts

Platform Character Limits - Complete Reference

Character limits vary significantly across platforms, and exceeding them usually results in truncation or rejection. Note that many platforms count emojis as 2 characters (Twitter/X) or have additional restrictions on links:

• Twitter / X: 280 characters per post (4,000 for Premium subscribers). Links count as 23 characters regardless of actual length.
• LinkedIn post: 3,000 characters. Status updates show the first 210 characters before "See more" - put the hook early.
• LinkedIn article: 125,000 characters. Headline: 150 characters.
• Instagram caption: 2,200 characters. Only the first 125 characters show before "more" in the feed - front-load the most important content.
• Instagram bio: 150 characters.
• Facebook post: 63,206 characters. Posts truncate after approximately 480 characters in the feed with a "See more" option.
• YouTube video title: 100 characters. Only the first 60–70 characters appear in search results and recommended feeds.
• YouTube description: 5,000 characters. Only the first 157 characters show in search results - include key information and keywords early.
• TikTok caption: 2,200 characters. First line is critical for engagement.
• Pinterest description: 500 characters for pins.
• Google Ads headline: 30 characters per headline (up to 15 headlines).
• Google Ads description: 90 characters per description (up to 4 descriptions).
• Meta (Facebook) Ads headline: 40 characters. Primary text: 125 characters shown before truncation.
• Email subject line: No hard limit, but 40–60 characters display well across most email clients. Mobile shows approximately 30–40 characters.

Readability Scores - What Flesch-Kincaid Actually Means

The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula estimates the US school grade required to comfortably understand a piece of text. It uses average sentence length and average syllables per word:

• Grade 1–5: Very simple. Children's books, basic instructions.
• Grade 6: Plain English ideal for general consumer content. Reader's Digest consistently targets this level.
• Grade 7–8: Good for most general audiences - news articles, popular non-fiction, web content aimed at the general public. Most styleguides recommend this range for maximum accessibility.
• Grade 9–10: High school level. Appropriate for professional content, business writing, quality journalism.
• Grade 11–12: Advanced high school / college prep. Academic articles, detailed technical writing.
• Grade 13+: College and post-graduate level. Academic journals, legal documents, technical specifications.

Two practical levers to improve readability: shorten sentences (aim for an average of 15–20 words per sentence) and choose shorter words (Anglo-Saxon words tend to be shorter and more familiar than Latinate equivalents - "use" instead of "utilise", "start" instead of "commence").

Keyword Density - What It Is and How Much Is Too Much

Keyword density is the percentage of times a specific word or phrase appears relative to total word count. It was once a core SEO metric - now it matters more as a quality control check than as a ranking signal:

• Formula: (Number of times keyword appears ÷ Total word count) × 100
• Optimal range for SEO: 1–3% for the primary keyword. Above 3–4% starts to feel unnatural and may trigger keyword stuffing penalties.
• More important than density: Natural language variation (using synonyms and related terms), covering the topic comprehensively, and matching user intent.
• For non-SEO writing: High keyword density of function words ("the", "is", "and") is normal. High density of content words signals repetitive writing - consider varying vocabulary.

The keyword frequency table in the Analysis tab shows the top non-stop-word terms in your text. Useful for spotting unintentional repetition in any kind of writing, not just SEO content.