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Word Counter
Paste a blog post or start typing. Words, characters, sentences, reading time and your most used words update as you go.
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- Words
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- Characters
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- 0 without spaces
- Sentences
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- Paragraphs
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- Avg. sentence
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- Longest sentence
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- Reading time
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- Speaking time
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Most used words and keyword density
Words you use 2 or more times show here, leaving out small words like “the” and “and”.
How long should a blog post be?
There is no right number for every post. Google says it has no preferred word count in its guide to helpful content. The useful number is the length of the posts that already rank for your search.
To find it, open the top few results, paste each post’s main text here (leave out menus and footers), and note the counts. Aim near the middle. Much shorter usually means you skipped something readers wanted. Much longer usually means padding.
Our guide to SEO blog writing walks through length alongside titles, headings and links.
How the counter counts
- Words: any run of letters or numbers. Hyphenated words and contractions count once.
- Sentences: text ending in a period, question mark or exclamation point. A heading or list item on its own line counts as one.
- Paragraphs: each block of text on its own line.
- Reading time: 238 words a minute, and speaking time: 183 words a minute. Both come from Brysbaert’s 2019 review of reading speed, which found adults read slower than the 300 words a minute often quoted.
- Most used words: words you use 2 or more times, leaving out small words like “the” and “and”. The percent is keyword density: how many times the word appears, out of every 100 words. A word near the top that isn’t your topic is worth a second look.
Check sentence length too
Mix short and long sentences. If the longest sentence is far above your words-per-sentence average, read it out loud and see if it splits cleanly in two. If every sentence is close to the average, the text will read flat. Our guide on how to format a blog post covers paragraph and sentence length, and the Blog Grader scores a published post on readability for free. For a draft, our Readability Checker marks every sentence of 25 words or more, right in your text.
Questions about the tool
Is my text saved or sent anywhere?
No. The counting runs in your browser. Nothing you paste leaves the page, and closing the tab clears it.
How is reading time worked out?
Words divided by 238 a minute, the average silent reading speed for English non-fiction in a 2019 review of 190 reading studies by Marc Brysbaert. Speaking time uses 183 words a minute, the reading-aloud speed from the same review.
What counts as a word?
Any run of letters or numbers. A hyphenated word such as "step-by-step" counts once, and so does a contraction such as "don't". Punctuation and symbols on their own do not count.
Does word count matter for SEO?
Not by itself. Google says it has no preferred word count. Length matters only as far as the post covers what people searching for it want to know, which is why the best guide is the length of the posts that already rank.
Is the word counter free?
Yes. No account, no email and no limit on length.
Rather not count words at all?
Blog Hands writes researched posts in your voice for small businesses and agencies, every month, at the length that fits each search. Your first post is free, with no card.