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merriam-webster.com

18 technologies
VerifiedVisit55.7M/mo$25M10318 Tech25 Leads
Deep Dive

Merriam-Webster: The Dictionary That Won the Internet

How a 200-year-old reference brand became a digital traffic juggernaut

While most legacy publishers are struggling to survive, Merriam-Webster has quietly built an empire on the web. With 55 million monthly visits and a backlink profile that would make tech giants jealous, this dictionary isn't just surviving—it's defining the digital reference landscape.

55.7M
monthly visits
#913
global rank
73%
organic search traffic
41M+
backlinks

"Merriam-Webster isn't just a dictionary—it's the default answer engine for the English-speaking internet."

The SEO Powerhouse Strategy

Their dominance isn't accidental. With 73% of traffic coming from organic search, they've mastered the art of being the answer. When someone searches 'thesaurus' (927K monthly searches) or 'dictionary' (538K), Merriam-Webster is almost always the first result. They've turned a 200-year-old reference brand into Google's preferred source for word definitions, capturing intent at the exact moment of need.

Beyond Definitions: Cultural Relevance

The data reveals a fascinating pivot: 'quordle' (316K monthly searches) and '5 letter words' (200K) appear in their top keywords. This isn't just a dictionary—it's a gaming companion for Wordle enthusiasts. By capitalizing on cultural moments and word games, they've expanded beyond reference into entertainment, capturing a younger, more engaged audience that might never open a physical dictionary.

With only 103 employees generating $25M in revenue, Merriam-Webster achieves a remarkable $242K per employee. This efficiency is built on a lean digital product stack—using modern tools like Tailwind CSS, PWA technology, and Google's analytics suite—while maintaining the editorial integrity that makes them 'the most authoritative English dictionary.' They're not just digitizing print; they're redefining what a reference brand can be in the age of instant information.

  • Built a 41M+ backlink profile through authority and trust
  • Captures 24% direct traffic—brand loyalty in a commodity market
  • Turned cultural moments (Wordle, political discourse) into search gold
  • Maintains editorial credibility while competing with AI and Wikipedia
Chasing every new tech trend
Doubling down on core expertise
Complicating the user experience
Keeping the interface clean and fast
Selling user data or premium subscriptions
Monetizing through advertising and enterprise licensing

The Unsexy Unicorn

In a world obsessed with disruption, Merriam-Webster proves that being the definitive source for a fundamental need is the most sustainable business model of all.

What tech stack does Merriam-webster use?

25 detected
Programming Languages1
Customer Support1
A/B Testing1
Web Standards2
UI Libraries2
JavaScript Libraries1
Tracking & Analytics7
G
Google Analytics
G
Google Tag Manager
G
Google Tag Manager
G
Google Tag Manager
G
Google DoubleClick
G
Google Analytics
G
Google AdSense

How much traffic does Merriam-webster get?

Traffic & Engagement

82.3M
Monthly Visits
-9.5%
2.6
Pages/Visit
8:22
Avg. Duration
63%
Bounce Rate
Monthly Traffic Trend-35%
126.3M
Oct 2025
Oct
91.0M
Nov 2025
Nov
82.3M
Dec 2025
Dec

Rankings

#444
Global Rank
#175
United States Rank
Distance Learning
Category

Backlinks & Authority

41.4M
Backlinks
288.4K
Ref. Domains
100
Authority Score
Low
Penalty Risk
Backlinks Trend-7%
44.5M
Jul 2025
Jul
44.2M
Aug 2025
Aug
43.0M
Sep 2025
Sep
43.4M
Oct 2025
Oct
42.7M
Nov 2025
Nov
41.4M
Dec 2025
Dec

Search Traffic

Organic
496.1M
Paid
272.5K

Top Organic Keywords

#1quordle
1,830,000 vol0.7%
#1online dictionary
2,240,000 vol0.3%
#1hi
1,830,000 vol0.2%
#1merriam webster
301,000 vol0.1%
#1how
823,000 vol0.1%

Where is Merriam-webster's audience located?

🇺🇸United States64.6%
🇬🇧United Kingdom5.7%
🇮🇳India3.8%
🇨🇦Canada3.5%
🇦🇺Australia3.0%

Device Distribution

Desktop35.4%
Mobile64.6%

What keywords does Merriam-webster rank for?

5 keywords
1thesaurus928.0K vol$0.44
2merriam webster181.0K vol$0.34
3quordle316.9K vol$0.98
45 letter words200.4K vol$2.67
5dictionary538.6K vol$0.29

How is Merriam-webster's SEO?

Open Graph Image

OG Image preview
og:image

https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/static/social-media-share/[email protected]

Meta Tags

title50 chars

Merriam-Webster: America's Most Trusted Dictionary

description137 chars

Find definitions for over 300,000 words from the most authoritative English dictionary. Continuously updated with new words and meanings.

languageEN

H1 Tags

h1Manage Your Privacy

Schema Types

UnknownWebSiteOrganization

Who works at Merriam-webster?

Loading leads...

What do customers think of Merriam-webster?

Merriam-Webster

Merriam-Webster

2.9
12 reviews

Categories

Search Engine Company#undefinedMedia Company#undefinedSoftware Company#undefined

Activity & Engagement

Reply Rate
0%
Avg. Reply Time
0.0 days

Contact Information

Address:
Federal Street 47
Springfield, US

Reviews (11)

Filter by rating:
Josh Durham
9/10/2025
🇺🇸 United States1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 9/10/2025
Antimony salad

I was able to find different descriptive words used for the same topic. This helped me with my research.

Sawera Aslam
6/2/2021
🇵🇰 Pakistan2 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Useful app for everyone

Useful app for everyone

paisley-mitchell
2/28/2021
🇺🇸 United States3 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Like their digital version of…

Like their digital version of dictionnary, very easy to access and follow.

Eddie Imperial
10/23/2019
🇺🇸 United States44 reviewsOrganic
Definition of marriage

Definition of marriage 1asee usage paragraph below : the state of being united as spouses in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law b: the mutual relation of married persons : WEDLOCK c: the institution whereby individuals are joined in a marriage                      [[[[[[[[ Legal Truth ]]]]]]]] Here is the Legal Reality of the meaning of MARRIAGE. A LEGAL CONTRACT IN WHICH YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE BECOME A SLAVE TO THAT CONTRACT AND THE STATE BECOMES THE 3RD PARTY INTERLOPER IN THAT CONTRACT.

neil gilbert
1/18/2026
🇬🇧 United Kingdom9 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 1/18/2026
Useless

Keeps freezing and throwing me out mid game. Very very very frustrating and exceedingly poor. One star is too good for them.

Frequently Asked Questions about Merriam-webster

What is Merriam-webster's Revenue?
Merriam-webster generates approximately $25M in annual revenue. With 103 employees, that's $243,000 per employee.
What does Merriam-webster do?
Find definitions for over 300,000 words from the most authoritative English dictionary. Continuously updated with new words and meanings.
How fast is Merriam-webster growing?
Merriam-webster has declined by 9.5% in the last 6 months according to traffic data. employee count has changed by 3% year over year.
How do people interact with Merriam-webster?
When visiting Merriam-webster, visitors view an average of 2.6 pages per visit, and spend around 8:22 on the site, and the bounce rate is 62.6%.
How do people find Merriam-webster?
496.1M (603%) find them through organic search. 272.5K (0%) come through paid advertising.
Who uses Merriam-webster?
Merriam-webster's top market is United States with 53.2M visitors (64.6%). United Kingdom is 2nd with 4.7M (5.7%). India is 3rd with 3.1M (3.8%).
What technologies does Merriam-webster use?
Merriam-webster uses 18 technologies across their website including Fonts, Programming Languages, CMS. Key technologies include Font Awesome, Google Fonts, PHP, Contentful.
Who are Merriam-webster's competitors?
Merriam-webster's main competitors include Cheng and Tsui, NEPCo, Massachusetts Medical Society Auxiliary, Barefoot Books, Bharat Babies. These companies operate in similar markets and compete for the same customer base.
What do customers think of Merriam-webster?
Merriam-webster has a Trustpilot score of 2.9 out of 5 (3 stars) based on 12 customer reviews.

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About merriam-webster.com

Find definitions for over 300,000 words from the most authoritative English dictionary. Continuously updated with new words and meanings.

Company Overview

merriam-webster.com
Website
reference_materials
Industry
#913
Global Rank
55.7M
Monthly Visitors
18
Technologies
25+
Employees

merriam-webster.com Key Pages

Technology Stack

merriam-webster.com uses 18 technologies across their website including Font Awesome, Google Fonts, PHP, Contentful, and more.

Fonts

Font Awesome, Google Fonts

Programming Languages

PHP

CMS

Contentful

Cloud & Hosting

Amazon Web Services, AWS CloudFront

Advertising

DoubleClick Floodlight

Customer Support

Zendesk

Traffic & Audience

55.7M
Monthly Visits
55%
Bounce Rate
2.7
Pages/Visit
3:00
Avg. Duration

merriam-webster.com receives approximately 55.7M monthly visitors and ranks #913 globally. The website has a bounce rate of 55% with visitors viewing an average of 2.7 pages per visit. Users spend an average of 3:00 on the site.

The majority of merriam-webster.com's traffic comes from undefined, undefined, .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is merriam-webster.com?
Find definitions for over 300,000 words from the most authoritative English dictionary. Continuously updated with new words and meanings.
What technologies does merriam-webster.com use?
merriam-webster.com uses 18 technologies including Font Awesome, Google Fonts, PHP, and 12 more. View the full tech stack analysis above.
How do I contact merriam-webster.com?
You can contact merriam-webster.com via email at [email protected] or through their contact page.
What are merriam-webster.com's social media accounts?
merriam-webster.com is active on twitter, youtube, facebook, instagram. You can find links to all their social media profiles in the social section above.
How popular is merriam-webster.com?
merriam-webster.com receives approximately 55.7M monthly visitors and ranks #913 globally. Traffic is declining by 4.8% month-over-month.

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This page provides publicly available information about merriam-webster.com. Data is collected from various public sources and may not always be up to date. For the most accurate information, please visit merriam-webster.com directly at https://merriam-webster.com.