Start with a blank page
You're staring at a homepage, product listing or ad that needs to work. Begin with the guide built for exactly that moment.
Read the guides →A blank page, and copy that has to work
Copy Online is a practical reference for writing commercial copy in the UK: what a headline needs, why a call to action falls flat, where AI gets the details wrong. Read the guides, run your headline through the Headline Scorer, check a draft against the Readability and Clarity Checker, test a call to action against the Call-to-Action Tester, paste your copy into the Length and Character Counter to see it measured against the limits for Google Ads, email subject lines and more, or hand the job to a copywriter.
Run a line through the Insight Injector Start your brief with the Website Brief StarterWrite it yourself, or get it written
Learn to write the copy yourself, with guides and free tools built for the job, or find someone to write it for you.
What AI gets wrong
AI can draft copy quickly, but it invents specifics and misses five things reliably, each shown in a worked example.
Read the AI guide →Four free browser tools
Score a headline, test a CTA for verb strength and structure, or count characters, then check your draft for readability, all in your browser.
Try the call-to-action tester →Check your length against every format
Paste your copy and see it checked live against limits for ads, subject lines, social posts and meta tags, no upload needed.
Try the length and character counter →Find a UK copywriter
Browse copywriters and agencies from across the UK, listed without ranking, rating or recommendation.
See UK copywriting companies →Send your brief
Set out the format, audience and goal, and send the brief so someone else can write it for you.
Send your brief →
AI and copy
What AI gets right, and where it fails
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DRAFTING SPEED
AI is quick at producing a first structural draft
It can produce a workable first draft, and variations, faster than starting from a blank page.
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INVENTED SPECIFICS
AI invents details that sound plausible and are wrong
It does not know your product, so it fills the gaps with plausible-sounding invention.
Read the AI copy guide -
GENERIC VOICE
AI defaults to a house style nobody chose
Left unedited, it flattens a brand's tone into the same safe register every time.
Read about tone of voice -
WEAK CALLS TO ACTION
AI reaches for vague verbs like discover and unlock
A call to action should name what happens next. Run the draft through our call-to-action tester to check verb strength and specificity before you use it.
Try the call-to-action tester -
HEADLINE CHECKS
AI-drafted headlines still need scoring before you use them
It writes a headline in seconds but does not check word count, power words, or clarity for you.
Try the headline scorer -
CLARITY CHECKS
AI-drafted copy can read clearer than it actually is
Run a draft through our readability and clarity checker to see the reading age, passive-voice count and jargon flags before you publish.
Try the readability and clarity checker -
FORMAT LIMITS
AI ignores character counts and format constraints
A subject line or ad headline has a hard limit, and AI will write past it without noticing. Paste the draft into our length and character counter to see it checked against every format limit at once.
Try the length and character counter -
CLAIMS AND RISK
AI cannot judge whether a claim is substantiated
It cannot judge whether a claim would hold up, only a review against the actual code can.
Four tools you can use in the browser, right now
Each one checks a different part of the job: the headline, the reading level, the call to action, and whether the copy fits the space you have for it.
Headline Scorer
Paste in a headline or subject line, up to 100 characters, and the tool scores it from 0 to 100 against five criteria: word count, whether a power word is present, the balance of emotional and rational appeal, clarity, and length against platform limits. It also gives three specific ways to improve the line, built around plain UK usage. The scoring runs entirely in your browser, so nothing you type is sent anywhere or logged. The score is a starting point, not a verdict: it can be wrong, so read the reasoning behind it before you rewrite anything.
Readability and Clarity Checker
Paste in a block of your own copy, at least 50 words, and the checker returns a Flesch-Kincaid reading age, the average sentence length, a count and percentage of passive-voice sentences, and a list of any industry jargon it spots, alongside an overall verdict of Clear, Review or Revise with the problem sentences marked. It measures commercial-copy clarity rather than academic readability, so a reading age of 11 suits a product page and would sink a financial services document; the number means little until you know who you are writing for. Because you are pasting in your own draft, everything runs in your browser: nothing is sent to a server and nothing is logged. Try the readability and clarity checker on the paragraph you are least sure of.
Call-to-Action Tester
Enter a call to action, up to eight words, the line that tells the reader what happens next, and add a note on what the page or email is about if you want a sharper read. The tester rates the verb as weak, moderate or strong, scores how specific the phrase is, checks the character count against the platform you are writing for, matches the pattern against structures that tend to hold up well, and offers three alternative phrasings. It checks the persuasive structure of the line. It cannot tell you whether the promise is one you can keep. Only you know that. The whole thing runs in your browser, so nothing you type is sent anywhere or logged. Try the call-to-action tester on the button copy you are least sure of.
Length and Character Counter
Paste in your copy, of any length, and the counter gives you a live word count alongside character counts with and without spaces, updating as you paste or type. Beside that sits a table checking your total against the limits for nine formats at once: Google Ads headline, Google Ads description, email subject line, SMS at 160 characters, LinkedIn post, Twitter/X post, meta title, meta description, and Amazon product title. The point is seeing every limit at the same time, so you stop switching tabs to check a character count and then doing the arithmetic yourself. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing you paste is sent anywhere or logged. Try the length and character counter on the line you are about to publish.
See what's missing before you publish
Two free tools you can run on your own draft: the Insight Injector flags the places where your copy talks around a point, and the Website Brief Starter turns a rough idea into a brief a copywriter, or you, can work from. Both run entirely in your browser, so nothing you type leaves the page. If it's plain clarity you want checked, our readability and clarity checker gives you a reading age, average sentence length and a Clear, Review or Revise verdict on the same terms. If you're weighing a headline or subject line against a format limit, try our length and character counter: it shows a live word and character count next to the recommended limit for a Google Ads headline, an email subject line, an SMS message and several other formats at once, so you stop switching tabs to check each one by hand. And if the page ends on a call to action, try the call-to-action tester: it rates the verb, scores how specific the phrase is, and suggests three alternatives, though it can misjudge a phrase, so treat the result as a guide. This one works the same way: no text leaves your browser either.