Word Counter
What are the character and word limits for Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn?
| Content Type | Recommended Word Count |
|---|---|
| Tweet / X post | Up to 280 characters (~50–60 words) |
| Instagram caption | 138–150 words optimal |
| Blog post (basic) | 800–1,200 words |
| SEO-optimised article | 1,500–2,500 words |
| Long-form guide / pillar | 3,000–5,000+ words |
| Academic essay | 1,500–5,000 words (depends on level) |
| Short story | 1,000–7,500 words |
| Novel | 70,000–100,000 words |
| LinkedIn article | 1,000–2,000 words |
Reading speed reference
Average adult silent reading speed: 238 words per minute (Brysbaert, 2019 meta-analysis). Average speaking speed: 130–150 wpm. Speed reading techniques claim 400–700 wpm with reduced comprehension. Audiobook narration: 150–160 wpm. Academic reading (technical content): 100–150 wpm. Use the aspect ratio calculator for related calculations. Related: use the Password Generator to go further, or the Grade Calculator for a different angle.
Frequently asked questions about word counting
How are words counted? Words are typically counted as sequences of characters separated by spaces. Hyphenated words (well-known) count as one word in most counters. Numbers (2026) count as one word. This counter uses whitespace splitting, which is the most common convention.
Do characters include spaces? Character counts usually include spaces (for total character count) and are also shown without spaces (for character density analysis). Platform character limits like Twitter (280 characters) count spaces. SEO meta descriptions aim for 150–160 characters including spaces.
What are the ideal word counts for each platform?
| Content Type | Recommended Length | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tweet / X post | Up to 280 chars (~50 words) | Platform limit; under 100 chars boosts engagement |
| Instagram caption | 138–150 words | First ~125 chars visible before "more" |
| LinkedIn post | 150–300 words | First 210 chars visible before "see more" |
| Email subject line | 40–60 characters | Mobile preview cutoff point |
| Basic blog post | 800–1,200 words | Single-topic coverage; minimal SEO depth |
| SEO article | 1,500–2,500 words | Google-preferred depth for competitive queries |
| Long-form pillar page | 3,000–5,000+ words | Topical authority; AI citation targeting |
| Academic essay | 1,500–3,000 words | Typical institution standard |
| Google meta description | 150–160 characters | SERP display cutoff |
| Google title tag | 50–60 characters | ~600px display width before rewrite |
How fast does the average person read?
This counter uses 238 words per minute — the average adult silent reading speed (Brysbaert 2019, n=34,000). Context changes speed significantly: technical academic reading = 100–150 wpm; presentation speaking = 130–150 wpm; audiobook narration = 150–160 wpm. To get speaking time, divide words by 130.
What are the character limits on social media platforms?
| Platform | Limit | Key notes |
|---|---|---|
| Twitter / X | 280 chars | URLs always count as 23 chars |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 chars | Only first ~125 visible in feed |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 chars | First 210 visible on desktop |
| YouTube title | 100 chars | First 70 visible in search |
| SMS | 160 chars | Splits into multiple billed messages above 160 |
| Google page title | 50–60 chars | Google rewrites if too long |
Frequently asked questions
Does word count affect SEO rankings? Not directly — Google has confirmed it is not a ranking signal. However, longer content tends to cover topics more completely, earn more backlinks, and satisfy search intent better, all of which do affect rankings.
How are hyphenated words counted? Most counters, including this one, count hyphenated words as one word: "well-known" = 1 word. For character counts, the hyphen is included as a character.
What is a good average word length? Business and journalistic writing: 4.5–5.5 characters per word (excluding spaces). Academic writing: 5.5–6.5. Very long average word length (>7 chars) may signal heavy jargon that loses general readers.
Word and character limits for major platforms (2026)
| Platform / Format | Limit | Type |
|---|---|---|
| X / Twitter post | 280 characters | Characters (with spaces) |
| X / Twitter thread post | 25,000 characters | Premium subscribers only |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 characters | Characters; 125 before "more" truncation |
| Facebook post | 63,206 characters | Practically unlimited |
| LinkedIn post | 3,000 characters | Characters (700 before "see more") |
| LinkedIn article | 125,000 characters | Full blog-length articles |
| YouTube video title | 100 characters | 70 shown in search results |
| YouTube description | 5,000 characters | 157 shown in search snippet |
| Google meta title | ~60 characters | ~580px rendered width |
| Google meta description | ~160 characters | 920px rendered width |
| Google Ads headline | 30 characters | Per headline; 3 headlines shown |
| Google Ads description | 90 characters | Per description line |
| WhatsApp message | 65,536 characters | Practically unlimited |
| SMS text message | 160 characters | GSM-7; longer splits into multiple SMS |
| Email subject line | No hard limit | 40–50 chars recommended for mobile display |
Reading time and word count guide
| Word Count | Reading Time | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|
| 100–200 words | ~1 minute | Social media posts, short product descriptions |
| 300–500 words | 1.5–2.5 min | News articles, short blog posts, emails |
| 800–1,000 words | 4–5 min | Standard blog post, landing page |
| 1,500–2,000 words | 7.5–10 min | Long-form blog, detailed guide |
| 2,500–3,500 words | 12–17 min | Comprehensive article, white paper |
| 5,000+ words | 25+ min | In-depth guide, research report |
Average adult reading speed: 200–250 words per minute (silent reading). Speed readers: 400–700 wpm. Presentation speaking pace: 100–150 wpm. Audiobook narration: 150–160 wpm.
Sources & References
Sources: Meta (Facebook/Instagram) developer documentation; Twitter/X API v2 character counting; LinkedIn API documentation; Google Search Central — meta description guidelines.
Related calculator: grade calculator
Word count targets by document type
| Document Type | Target Word Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tweet / social post (X) | Under 280 characters (~45 words) | Threads allow longer form |
| LinkedIn post (optimal) | 150–300 words | 1,300 characters max for full display without "see more" |
| Blog post (basic SEO) | 1,200–1,800 words | Minimum for Google search consideration |
| Blog post (competitive) | 2,000–3,500 words | Matches top-ranking content for competitive keywords |
| Email newsletter | 200–500 words | Above 600 words: open-to-click rates drop significantly |
| Short story | 1,000–7,500 words | Flash fiction: under 1,000 |
| Novella | 20,000–50,000 words | Between short story and novel |
| Novel (debut) | 70,000–100,000 words | Literary fiction: 80–120K; thriller: 70–90K |
| Academic essay (undergrad) | 1,500–3,000 words | Varies by subject and university |
| Dissertation (PhD) | 80,000–100,000 words | Varies significantly by field |
Reading time estimator: words per minute by content type
Average reading speed for adults: 200–250 words per minute (wpm) for general content. Technical or dense content: 100–150 wpm. Speed readers: 400–700 wpm. Use this to estimate how long your content takes to read: a 1,500-word blog post at 250 wpm = 6 minutes reading time. Most publishing platforms (Medium, Substack) display an estimated reading time — they typically use 200 wpm. For audio content: average speech rate is 130–150 wpm, so a 1,000-word script ≈ 7 minutes of spoken content. Related: Grade Calculator.