Text Analysis Tools: Complete Guide
When to use word count, character count, readability scores, keyword density, and frequency analysis. A reference for writers, editors, and content creators.
What is text analysis?
Text analysis tools measure and quantify your writing. They answer questions like: How long is this? How readable? Which words appear most often? Writers use them to meet length limits, improve clarity, and optimize for SEO.
Word count vs character count
Word count counts tokens (spaces separate words). Character count counts every letter, space, and punctuation. Use word count for essays, articles, and books. Use character count for Twitter, meta descriptions, headlines, and SMS—platforms that enforce character limits, not word limits.
Readability scores
Readability formulas (Flesch-Kincaid, etc.) estimate how easy text is to understand. Lower grade level = easier. Aim for 8th grade for general audiences. Use our readability scorer to check before publishing.
Keyword density
Keyword density is the percentage of a target word or phrase relative to total words. It was once a major SEO factor; today it is one signal among many. The keyword density analyzer shows distribution without encouraging over-optimization.
Frequency analysis
See which words or characters appear most often. Useful for editing (catch overused terms), language learning, and basic cryptanalysis. The frequency analyzer and word frequency ranker handle this.