Counts the words that actually matter — headings, hashes, asterisks, and link brackets don't inflate your count.
What counts as a "word" here
The count runs on the text after Markdown formatting is stripped out — so a heading like # Introduction counts as one word ("Introduction"), not two symbols plus a word. Link text is counted; the URL itself is not. Code block contents are counted since they're still content you wrote.
Reading time
Estimated at roughly 200 words per minute, a commonly used average for adult silent reading — treat it as a rough guide, not a guarantee, since reading speed varies a lot by topic and by reader.