Word count guide: how long should your writing be?

Length targets are guides, not laws, and they vary by publisher, school and platform. Always check the instructions you were given. These are common rules of thumb, and you can measure your own text with the word counter.

Common limits and rough lengths

Short posts on social networks are often limited by characters rather than words. The standard post limit on X is 280 characters. Characters include spaces, so use the counter's character figure.
Text messages (SMS) fit 160 characters in a single standard message. Longer messages are split into several parts, and messages with emoji or some non-Latin characters fit fewer.
Search result descriptions are often cut off at around 150 to 160 characters, though the exact point varies with the width of the characters used.
Common App personal essay for US college applications has a limit of 650 words.
Blog posts that aim to cover a topic in depth often run to 1,000 to 2,000 words, but shorter posts can work well when the topic is narrow.
School essays are set by the teacher. A page of double-spaced typed text is often about 250 to 300 words, but font size and margins change this.

Words, characters and sentences

This site counts a word as any run of characters separated by spaces or line breaks. Different programs count in slightly different ways: for example, whether a hyphenated word like well-known counts as one word or two, or whether a standalone number counts. If an exact figure matters, such as in an exam or a contest entry, check which tool the organiser uses.

Reading time

The reading time shown by the counter assumes about 200 words a minute. Adults commonly read silently at around 200 to 250 words a minute for ordinary text, though reading speed depends on the reader, the topic and the difficulty. Technical text and reading on a screen are usually slower. Speaking is slower than reading: for a talk, plan roughly 125 to 150 words a minute, and add time for pauses, slides and questions.

How to trim a text that is too long

Cut repeated points. If two paragraphs say the same thing, keep the stronger one.
Replace phrases with single words: due to the fact that becomes because.
Remove filler words such as really, very, just and that where the sentence works without them.
Prefer active voice: The team wrote the report is shorter than The report was written by the team.
Check your count again after each pass.

How to expand a text that is too short

Add an example, a definition, a reason or a counter-argument. Padding with empty phrases makes writing worse, so add substance.