About

A disorganized blog post loses readers within 3 seconds. Without a structural plan, writers produce meandering articles that fail both human attention and search-engine crawlers. This tool enforces hierarchical discipline: you define a Title, decompose it into Sections, attach Subsections and Points, then annotate with Notes. The result is a tree of depth d ≤ 4 that maps directly to heading tags (H2, H3) and list items in your CMS. Export produces clean Markdown or HTML ready for WordPress, Ghost, or static-site generators.

The outliner approximates final word count by multiplying leaf nodes by an average paragraph length of 80 words. This estimate assumes standard informational content. Listicles and technical tutorials will deviate. Drag-and-drop reordering lets you test narrative flow before committing to a draft. Pro tip: search engines reward posts with 5 - 9 H2 sections and a logical subtopic hierarchy. Use the section counter to stay in that range.

Formulas

The outliner estimates total word count and reading time using recursive tree analysis. Every leaf node (a node with no children) represents one content paragraph.

W_est = N_leaves × 80

Where W_est = estimated total word count, N_leaves = number of leaf nodes in the outline tree, and 80 = average words per paragraph (informational content baseline).

T_read = W_est238

Where T_read = estimated reading time in minutes, and 238 words/min is the average adult silent reading speed (Brysbaert, 2019). The depth of each node determines its Markdown heading level.

{

prefix(node) = "# " if depth = 0 (Title)prefix(node) = "## " if depth = 1 (Section)prefix(node) = "### " if depth = 2 (Subsection)prefix(node) = "- " if depth = 3 (Point)prefix(node) = "> " if depth = 4 (Note)

This mapping ensures the exported Markdown renders valid heading hierarchy when pasted into any CMS or static site generator.

Reference Data

Blog Post Type	Recommended Sections	Target Word Count	Avg. H2 Headings	Avg. H3 per H2	Ideal Read Time
How-To Guide	5 - 8	1500 - 2500 words	6	2 - 3	7 - 10 min
Listicle	7 - 15	1200 - 2000 words	10	0 - 1	5 - 8 min
Ultimate Guide	8 - 15	3000 - 5000 words	12	3 - 4	15 - 25 min
Opinion / Editorial	3 - 5	800 - 1500 words	4	1	4 - 6 min
Case Study	5 - 7	1500 - 2500 words	6	2	7 - 10 min
Product Review	6 - 9	1000 - 2000 words	7	1 - 2	5 - 8 min
Comparison Post	5 - 8	1500 - 3000 words	7	2 - 3	7 - 12 min
News / Announcement	3 - 5	400 - 800 words	3	0 - 1	2 - 4 min
Tutorial (Code)	6 - 10	2000 - 4000 words	8	2 - 3	10 - 18 min
Interview / Q&A	5 - 10	1200 - 2500 words	7	0	5 - 10 min
Pillar / Cornerstone	10 - 20	4000 - 8000 words	15	3 - 5	20 - 35 min
FAQ Post	8 - 15	1000 - 2000 words	10	0	4 - 8 min

Frequently Asked Questions

Every node without children is treated as a leaf. A top-level section with no subsections counts as one leaf and contributes 80 words to the estimate. If you add 3 subsections beneath it, those 3 subsections become the leaves instead, contributing 240 words total. The parent section itself no longer counts as a leaf.

Yes. The Title maps to H1 (#), Sections to H2 (##), and Subsections to H3 (###). Search engines penalize heading-level skips (e.g., jumping from H2 to H4). The outliner enforces that you cannot create a subsection without a parent section, preventing invalid hierarchy.

Studies of top-ranking content (Backlinko, 2023) show that posts with 5 to 9 H2 headings correlate with higher average positions. Fewer than 3 suggests thin content. More than 15 can dilute topical focus unless the post is a pillar page exceeding 4000 words.

Yes. Each item has a drag handle. Drag it to reposition within the same level. You can also use the arrow buttons for keyboard-accessible reordering. Items move within their parent scope only - a subsection stays under its section.

The 250 wpm figure dates from a 1960s study with narrow methodology. Brysbaert (2019) conducted a meta-analysis of 190 studies totaling 18,573 participants and found the median silent reading speed for English is 238 wpm. This tool uses the more rigorous figure.

Points export as list items (- prefix in Markdown,

in HTML). Notes export as blockquotes (> prefix in Markdown,

in HTML). Use Notes for editorial reminders, source references, or CTA placements that are not part of the reader-facing content flow.