Word Counter

Per Backlinko's 2025 study of 11.8M Google search results, the average first-page result contains 1,447 words, and long-form content (2,000+ words) consistently outperforms short-form on competitive informational queries. But word count is a means, not an end. Google's John Mueller has said word count is not a ranking factor. Write as much as you need to fully answer the searcher's question; use this counter to make sure you're in the 1,000-2,500 range for a typical blog post and over 2,500 for pillar guides.

We use 225 words per minute, which is the average silent-reading speed for adult prose on screens per Nielsen Norman Group's 2024 eye-tracking study. Speaking time is calculated at 130 words per minute (the average pace for a prepared talk, per Toastmasters 2024). Reading time is a useful proxy for 'how long will this take a reader.' It's what Medium, Substack, and LinkedIn all use under the hood. Our counter rounds up to the nearest minute, so a 4.3-minute article shows as '5 min'.

Google's official guidance says there's no fixed limit, but in practice meta descriptions are truncated around 155-160 characters on desktop and 120 characters on mobile. Per Conductor's 2025 meta-tag study, 920 pixels is the safe desktop limit. A 2024 Ahrefs analysis of 2.3M pages found descriptions between 140-160 characters get the highest click-through rate. Our counter's 'platform fit' panel flags this for you automatically.

Hyphenated words (state-of-the-art) and words joined by em-dashes count as one word, matching the convention used by Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and most word processors. Apostrophes don't split words (don't = 1, not 2). Numbers count as words. URLs and email addresses are counted as single words. This matches the algorithm used by all major writing tools, so the count you see here will match what your editor shows.

Edge cases that cause small discrepancies: trailing whitespace, line breaks inside paragraphs, and how each tool counts URLs. Microsoft Word and Google Docs are within ±1-2% of each other for typical prose. Our counter matches Google's documented algorithm (whitespace-split), which is what most online writing tools use. If you see a meaningful difference, check whether you have hidden line breaks or HTML entities in your text.

Yes, completely free. No signup, no email gate, no per-check limit. And 100% private: every stat is computed in your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never sent to our servers, never logged, never stored, and never used to train any AI. You can verify by opening DevTools → Network while you type: zero outbound requests carry your text. The only network activity is loading the page itself, exactly like every other page on serpview.com.