Text Statistics for Writers: What to Check Before You Deliver

The text is written, proofread, and looks good — and yet something about it feels off. Too many repetitions? Fluff? Keywords stuffed too tight? The eye can't tell, but the statistics show it in a second. Here are four situations where text analysis saves you a rewrite — and what exactly to look at.

Case 1. Keyword density in an SEO article

The client asks for "a keyword density of 3–5%." Without a tool you're estimating by feel, and most of the time you overdo it: the article starts reading like an ad, and search engines flag the text as over-optimized. The rule of thumb is simple — keep keyword phrase density within 3–5%, and if the top-words table shows your keyword in first place by a wide margin, it's time to rewrite.

Case 2. Vocabulary uniqueness

The share of unique words is a quick test for fluff and repetition. A coherent 300-word text usually runs 50–65% unique words. If uniqueness drops to 30%, the text is tautological: the same turns of phrase keep going in circles. The reader may not be able to name the problem, but the "something's off here" feeling is guaranteed.

Case 3. Readability for a general audience

The Flesch reading-ease score takes sentence and word length into account. Instructions and articles for a broad audience should be simpler: short sentences, plain everyday words wherever possible. A high "difficult" score is your signal to split up long sentences and replace the bureaucratic phrasing.

Case 4. Reading time

Reading time is an honest measure of length: 500 words is about two minutes. If the brief says "at least a 5-minute read" and the stats come back at 3, the text isn't finished yet. The reverse holds too: a 20-minute longread deserves a table of contents.

All of these metrics live in one place — open text analysis, paste your text, and run through the checklist: keyword density, vocabulary uniqueness, readability, reading time. Two minutes before delivery — and the text reads as professionally as it looks.