Content Length Analyzer
Measure how long a piece really is — excluding navigation, header and footer when you paste HTML — and how that length is spread across its sections. Then compare it with your own target range or with word counts you've measured from other pages.
How to use the Content Length Analyzer
Choose text or HTML
Paste plain text, or a page's HTML to exclude menus, footers, scripts and hidden elements.
Set a target (optional)
Enter the range from your brief or content plan.
Add comparison counts (optional)
Measure a few pages that rank for your topic with this tool and enter their word counts.
Review sections
Find sections that are much longer or shorter than the rest, and gaps worth filling.
What it checks
- Main-content length
- Words, characters and reading time; for HTML, only text outside nav, header, footer, aside, scripts and hidden elements.
- Section breakdown
- Words under each heading, the longest and shortest sections, and sections over about 350 words.
- Balance
- Whether one section holds most of the text, or the introduction runs long before the first heading.
- Text-to-HTML ratio
- For pasted HTML, the share of the page's source that is visible main text.
- Target comparison
- Whether the count sits below, within or above your range.
- Comparison counts
- Median, minimum and maximum of the counts you entered, and where your piece sits among them.
Interpreting the results
The summary shows the main-content word count and where it falls against your target and comparison counts. The section table lists each heading with its word count and share of the total, so you can see at a glance whether the piece is balanced or front-loaded.
Comparison figures come only from numbers you enter. The tool doesn't look up competitors, search results or “ideal lengths”, because any such figure would be a guess. A low text-to-HTML ratio isn't a ranking factor on its own; it's a hint that templates, scripts or markup far outweigh the content.
Detected marks facts read directly from what you provided. Guidance marks general recommendations based on those facts — rules of thumb, not guarantees or search engine requirements.
Practical guidance
There is no universal ideal length. The right length is whatever it takes to answer the searcher's question well — and that differs between a product page, a how-to guide and a definition. Measuring pages that already satisfy searchers for your topic gives a realistic range; your own brief gives the other boundary.
Section lengths are often more useful than the total. A 1,500-word guide where 900 words sit under one heading is hard to scan and probably needs splitting; a 200-word section on the part readers care most about probably needs expanding. Example: a shed-base guide is within its 800–1,200 target, but the introduction is 310 words before the first heading. Cutting it to 90 words gets readers to the useful part faster.
Length matters for linkable content, too. Hosts for contextual backlinks and guest posts should be substantial and genuinely useful — see link relevance. Check structure with the Heading Structure Analyzer and readability with the Readability Checker.
Limitations
- Main-content detection for HTML is rule-based (it removes nav, header, footer, aside, forms, scripts and hidden elements). Unusual templates may include or exclude some text incorrectly.
- It doesn't fetch or measure other pages. Comparison counts are only as good as the numbers you enter.
- Word count says nothing about quality, accuracy or whether the content answers the query.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a blog post be?
Long enough to cover the topic properly, and no longer. Measure a few pages that already serve searchers well for your topic to find a realistic range.
Why is the HTML word count lower than my editor's?
Navigation, header, footer, sidebars and hidden text are excluded, so only the main content is counted.
What is a good text-to-HTML ratio?
There isn't a target. A very low ratio just suggests heavy templates or inline code relative to the content.
Is anything uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser.
Related tools
- Word Counter & Content Analyzer
Live word, character, sentence and paragraph counts with structure analysis. - Heading Structure Analyzer
Map a page's H1–H6 outline and find missing H1s, skipped levels and empty headings. - Readability Checker
Six readability formulas plus the hardest sentences and complex-word share. - Keyword Frequency Analyzer
Full frequency table of words and 1–4 word phrases, filterable and exportable.
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