Why word counts still matter
Writers, marketers, and developers track word and character counts to meet SEO guidelines, platform limits, and accessibility targets.
Different metrics, different goals
Words gauge readability and pacing, while characters matter for tweets, SMS, or metadata fields.
Line counts help editors review scripts, subtitles, or code diffs.
Historical context
Print media charged by column inches, so journalists learned to hit precise lengths.
Digital platforms inherited limits (like 160-character SMS) that still influence content planning.
Beyond simple counting
Modern tools also reveal average word length, reading time, and keyword density.
Combining counts with readability scores uncovers when content needs simplification.
Use cases
- Preparing blog posts, newsletters, or UX microcopy
- Checking essay requirements for academic submissions
- Balancing localization budgets by measuring string lengths
- Auditing transcripts or captions for compliance
Tips for consistent results
- Decide whether to count hyphenated words as one or two
- Strip Markdown or HTML tags when comparing pure content
- Note whether whitespace-only lines should count toward totals
- Store counts alongside revision history to spot scope creep