Study: Everyone is cheating on Wordle, according to Google search data.
Since The New York Times bought Wordle at the end of January of 2022, cheating has been at an all-time high among Wordle users. Last December, search interest for the question “today’s wordle” on Google was so low it registered a “0” for search popularity, but by February 14, searches for Wordle answers reached peak popularity (registering 100 on Google’s scale from 0–100). Here are some of our findings from a Google Trends exploration of Wordle.
Key findings
- SWILL and AROMA were the words players cheated for most. Both registered 100s on Google’s search popularity scale (0–100). In comparison, on January 4, SIEGE registered a 1 on the scale.
- Wordle cheaters were usually looking up the answers between 7 and 8 a.m.
- The biggest cheaters on Wordle were from New Hampshire.
Cheating has only gotten worse on Wordle
Biggest cheaters and the Wordle answers they cheated for:
- New Hampshire: Swill
- Rhode Island (tied): Caulk
- Vermont (tied): Tacit
- Washington, D.C.: Tacit
- Massachusetts: Dodge
- Maine: Dodge and Tacit
Methodology and Limitations
We analyzed Google Trends data over the past three months to see how often Wordle players cheated by looking up answers online.
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About Mirela Iancu
Mirela Iancu is a Growth Marketer specializing in SEO, Content Strategy, and Product Marketing. A user-centered thinker, she loves numbers and data as much as words. A winning combo for SEO and word games marketing. She is also passionate about language education and the impact of tech on learning accessibility. Currently located in Barcelona, she previously founded a platform for learning Romanian online.