How to Count Characters in Word (For Marketing)

If you're in your company's marketing department or managing an ad campaign for your own products, you know how important character count is in digital marketing. Every platform has specific limitations, and exceeding them can lead to truncated messages or ineffective ads. To avoid these issues, we have some tools to help you monitor your character count in Word in real time as you create ads, ensuring that your message stays within the limits while still delivering the intended impact.

Alt text: How to Count Characters in Word (For Marketing)

Character Limits Imposed by Popular Advertising Websites

As someone in the marketing profession, you're likely familiar with the character limits set by various advertising platforms, including Google. Even SEO practices require attention to character limits in certain sections. It can be frustrating when you craft what seems like the perfect ad copy or meta description, only to find out it's too long for the platform. Let's take a look at some of the most common advertising platforms or marketing practices that require you to keep an eye on the character count of your content.

Google Ads:

If we talk about Google Ads, the largest advertising platform out there, it also imposes character limits on your ads. Here's how Google Ads limits are set as of 2024:

Google Ads character limitations

Not adhering to these limits could result in your ad showing less often, meaning fewer clicks. It could also be disapproved by their system, resulting in no ads appearing at all!

SEO Title and Meta:

Not adhering to character limitations when writing your webpage's Meta Title and Meta Description can harm your website's SEO performance. Google penalizes websites that don't follow its SEO policies, and with policies evolving over the years, your Meta Title and Description shouldn't be the reason your webpage doesn't appear in SERP results.

Meta Title: 60 characters

Meta Description: 160 characters

How to Use the Word Count Tool to Count the Characters in Word

When it comes to creating ads or writing website copy, it all begins with writing software like Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word can be incredibly useful for adhering to character count policies, whether for SEO or Google Ads. It's essential to ensure that character count limitations include spaces. So, let's explore how to count characters in Word, including spaces.

Let's take a look through an example, so we have an article written for which we've also written a meta title and meta description. So, let's try to see how we can use the Microsoft Word count tool to count characters.

Step 1: Let's open our written article in Microsoft Word to check the character count.

Step 2: We have the meta description written at the top, so we will select the meta description using our mouse.

Step 3: Next, head over to the Review tab and then click on the "Word Count" button in the ribbon menu.

Step 4: Now we can see various statistics in the Word Count dialog. The statistic we need to look at is the "Characters (with spaces)".

For our meta description, we need our character count to be less than 160, so make sure that if you've accidentally written more, rewrite it.

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How to Use the Status Bar to Count Characters in Word

Step 1: Let's open Word, and right at the bottom of the interface is what we call the status bar, where word count, number of pages, and language display.

Step 2: To enable character count with spaces, right-click on the Status bar and click on "Character Count (with spaces)".

Step 3: Now you can see the character count displayed in the status bar, so let's quickly check the character count of our Meta Title by selecting it using our mouse.

How to Count Characters in Word on Mobile

If you're on the go, the Microsoft Word mobile app also allows users to make use of the word count tool. Here's how to count characters in Microsoft Word mobile:

Step 1: Firstly, we'll open the document on the Microsoft Word mobile app.

Step 2: Once the document is open, click on the "Pencil" icon at the top of the page to begin editing.

Step 3: Now, select the text for which we want the character count without spaces, i.e., the meta description.

Step 4: To open the menu bar, click on the "3 dots" located in the bar right above the keyboard.

Step 5: Then, click on the "Home" button to switch tabs to "Review".

Step 6: In the Review tab, we'll click on the "Word Count" option.

Step 7: The stats will appear on the screen, just like the desktop version. Microsoft Word mobile shows word count, character count with and without spaces, and other stats.

Tips: How to Display Count Characters Instead of Words at the Bottom?

If you want only the character count to be displayed on the status bar and not the word count, you can easily disable it:

Step 1: Open Microsoft Word on your system and right-click on the Status bar.

Step 2: In the context menu, click on "Word Count" to disable the word count tool from the status bar.

Step 3: Now you can see that only the character count is being displayed on the status bar.

Use WPS AI for Better Marketing Copy

We all know WPS Office as a fantastic office suite, perfect for creating and managing all kinds of documents, catering to everyone from students to professionals. Its wide appeal makes it a favorite across many industries, including marketing, where it's especially useful. With WPS Office, you can create effective and impactful marketing copy that attracts leads and drives traffic.

And thanks to the integration of WPS AI, you get additional support in structuring your ad copy while ensuring it stays within the required character limit. This combination of features makes WPS Office a powerful tool for marketers looking to craft concise yet compelling content. Other features offered by WPS Office that are immensely helpful to a marker are as:

• Template Library: WPS Office provides a variety of templates designed for marketing purposes, including presentations, flyers, brochures, and more. These templates make it easy to create professional-looking promotional materials without starting from scratch.

• Collaboration Tools: With real-time collaboration and integrated cloud storage, WPS Office enables marketing teams to work together seamlessly. Team members can share documents, leave comments, and track changes in real-time, streamlining the workflow and ensuring everyone stays on the same page.

• Content Generation with WPS AI: The WPS AI feature can generate content for marketing campaigns, presentations, and social media posts. It offers suggestions to improve marketing copy, helping marketers create engaging and impactful content while staying within character limits or other constraints.

FAQs about character count in word

1. How many Words is 1,000 characters?

A 1,000-character count can represent between 142 and 250 words when spaces are included and between 166 and 334 words without spaces. This equates to approximately 7 to 17 sentences, with each sentence generally containing 15 to 20 words.

2. How many Characters are in a Word?

The average English word has around 5 characters, but when you include spaces and punctuation, this average increases to between 5 and 6.5 characters. For example, "Pride and Prejudice" has an average of 5.56 characters per word, "The Catcher in the Rye" averages 5.59 characters per word, and "To Kill a Mockingbird" has around 5.68 characters per word. By comparison, many technical or scientific texts have longer words, often exceeding 6 characters. If you want to estimate without spaces, just subtract 1 from the total, resulting in a range of 4 to 5.5 characters per word.

3. Is 200 Characters the same as 200 Words?

200 characters doesn't equate to 200 words. When spaces are included, 200 characters is about 28 to 50 words; without spaces, it ranges from 33 to 67 words. The average English word is 5.1 characters long, but with spaces and punctuation, it increases to between 5 and 6.5 characters per word.

4. How to Use Shortcut Keys to Count Characters in Word?

If you're someone who uses shortcuts in Microsoft Word very often, you can access the Word counter tool by pressing "CTRL + SHIFT + G" to quickly open the Word Counter tool in Microsoft Word.

Master The Art Of Marketing With WPS Office

Marketing is integral to a business; if you can't effectively market your product or service, it might as well not exist. Marketing helps you reach your target audience, generate leads, and ultimately drive traffic and profits. WPS Office understands the importance of marketing and provides the tools you need to create compelling marketing copy, offering significant growth potential for your business. With WPS Office, you can create and edit documents with ease, and even track the character count in Word documents, ensuring your marketing copy is both effective and concise. Download WPS Office now to meet your marketing needs and take your business to the next level.