Tools
Word & Character Counter
See word, character, sentence and paragraph counts live as you type; get reading and speaking time, and check Google, X, Instagram and LinkedIn limits at a glance. Free, no sign-up.
Character Limits and Reading Time: What You Need to Know
Character limits come in two kinds, and both decide the fate of your content. Hard limits (like 280 characters on X) block publishing entirely when exceeded; on ad platforms, going over the limit gets your ad rejected. Display limits (like the Google title) do not block you but truncate the text: a half-cut headline fails to deliver your message, lowers your click-through rate (CTR) and looks unprofessional. Counting before you publish is always cheaper than fixing after.
Every platform behaves differently. Google cuts titles by pixels, not characters; the practical limit is 50-60 characters. Instagram allows 2,200 characters in a caption but folds everything after roughly the first 125 characters behind "more"; LinkedIn shows about the first 200 characters of a post and hides the rest. The real battle is not the total limit but the first lines visible before the fold: put your strongest message and call to action first on every platform.
Reading time is a user experience (UX) signal. An adult reads about 200 words per minute; a "5 min read" label at the top of a blog post manages expectations and increases time on page. Speaking pace is slower: roughly 130 words per minute. When preparing a video script, podcast episode or presentation, plan by speaking time; a 60-second video needs roughly 130 words of script.
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