How many words should a blog post be? How long will your readers spend with an article? Does the word count on your landing page copy matter? The answer to all three: yes, it matters, and knowing the numbers helps you make better decisions.
The standard reading speed
The average adult reads roughly 200–238 words per minute for web content. This is slower than print because screen reading involves more eye movement and scanning.
EazyStudio's Word Counter uses 230 wpm as its baseline for reading time estimates — a reasonable middle ground. You can also see character count (for Twitter/SMS limits), sentence count, and paragraph count.
Optimal lengths by content type
| Content type | Sweet spot | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Blog post (SEO) | 1,500–2,500 words | Enough depth for ranking, not too long to complete |
| Landing page copy | 300–600 words | Focus on conversion, not education |
| Email newsletter | 200–400 words | Most emails are read in under 2 minutes |
| Social post (Twitter/X) | Under 280 chars | Hard limit; ideal is ~100 chars for retweet space |
| LinkedIn post | 150–300 words | "See more" appears at ~210 characters |
| README / docs | Whatever it takes | Completeness matters more than brevity |
Character counts that matter
- SMS: 160 characters per segment. Go over and you'll be charged for two messages.
- Twitter/X: 280 characters. URLs count as 23 characters regardless of length.
- Email subject line: 50–60 characters before Gmail truncates on mobile.
- Meta description: ~155 characters before Google truncates in search results.
- Open Graph title: ~60 characters before social cards truncate.
Reading time as a UX signal
Showing estimated reading time at the top of an article (like this one does) sets expectations. Readers who know an article is 3 minutes are more likely to start it than those staring at an unmarked wall of text. Medium, Substack, and most major editorial sites show reading time for this reason.