I wrote a 1,000-word article for a client; why does the count go up when it has links, emails and hyphenated words?
Because the counter finds words with Unicode rules, not just spaces. An email address splits at the @ into two words, a full link splits at its slashes into several, and a hyphenated word such as well-known counts as two. On the other hand, e.g. and don't are one word each. If the client pays for article words, agree whether links count, or paste the text without them to get the figure you both mean.
What happens to each kind
We pasted short pieces into the Word and character counter and read the word count:
- info@example.com: two words, info and example.com.
- sara.alotaibi@example.com: also two, because letters separated by a single dot are joined.
- www.example.com: one word, for the same reason.
- https://www.example.com/shop/bags: four words, https, the domain, shop and bags.
- well-known: two words, because the hyphen separates.
- e.g. and don't: one word each.
A full sentence in numbers
The sentence Email sara.alotaibi@example.com or see https://www.example.com/shop/bags for well-known brands gives 13 words in the counter. Counting only what sits between spaces, you would find 8 pieces. The five-word gap comes entirely from the email, the link and the hyphen. Replacing the link with 'our shop' brought it to 11, and the sentence Contact info@example.com or visit www.example.com for well-known brands gives 10.
In a 1,000-word article with ten full links and a few email addresses, the count can climb by dozens of words this way without you writing a single extra sentence.
Agreeing a fair figure with the client
- Before you start, ask: is the limit or price on body words only, or on everything in the file?
- If it is body words, paste the article into the counter after removing the reference list and full links, or replace each link with a single word such as 'link', then count.
- Give both figures in your delivery message if you can, body words alone and the total including links, so the client is not surprised if they count their own way.
- If the client relies on another counting tool, find that out at the start. Counters differ in their rules, especially around links and symbols.
Why the counter does not treat a link as one word
Unicode word-boundary rules are general rules for all languages, and they have no special idea of a link. They see letters and digits separated by marks such as /, @ and -, and split there. The tool adds one exception only, so that browsers agree: letters separated by a single dot with no space count as one word, which is why example.com and e.g. are single words. Otherwise it applies the rules as they are, and explains them in the 'How does this tool count?' section under the results.
Common questions
Does this affect Arabic text?
A little, since links and email addresses are usually Latin even in an Arabic article. Arabic words themselves rarely contain hyphens.
Is the character count affected the same way?
No. The character count includes every character of the link as it is, and has nothing to do with how words are split.