More from Bill Tancer's Click. He found out that 'How To' queries represented nearly 3% of all searches in the United States. This was around 2007. The number might have increased by now. At that time it was the most commonly searched phrase in search engines.
Tancer says though 3% may not look like a large number at first blush, it is indeed shockingly high, considering the hundreds of millions of queries that search engines try to answer every day. Just as in searches incorporating New Year resolutions, here too he was able to identify some patterns. For instance, the 'How To' phrasal search coincided with the US school calendar: it peaked in summer, and ebbed during winter vacation and spring break!
In his research into popular 'How To' queries, Tancer found 'How to tie a tie' regularly topping the charts. But when he checked the data for other countries, he found a noticeable difference. In the UK, for instance, it was only the 51st popular 'How To' query. Perhaps that's because ties are part of the attire of schools in the UK, and tying a proper necktie becomes second nature? Tancer wonders.
Tancer continued with his substantial research into the question, and made an effort to group the 'How To' queries. He found that the most prevalent type were the general knowledge 'How To' questions (@57%), followed by queries of a sexual nature (eg. 'How to Kiss') @ 17%. Self-improvement 'How To' queries (eg. 'How to Lose Weight') @12% and searches for illegal activities (eg. 'How to Grow Weed') @ 9.5% brought up the rear.
Here's a list of the top 10 US 'How To' queries unearthed by Tancer:
Comments are welcome.
Tancer says though 3% may not look like a large number at first blush, it is indeed shockingly high, considering the hundreds of millions of queries that search engines try to answer every day. Just as in searches incorporating New Year resolutions, here too he was able to identify some patterns. For instance, the 'How To' phrasal search coincided with the US school calendar: it peaked in summer, and ebbed during winter vacation and spring break!
In his research into popular 'How To' queries, Tancer found 'How to tie a tie' regularly topping the charts. But when he checked the data for other countries, he found a noticeable difference. In the UK, for instance, it was only the 51st popular 'How To' query. Perhaps that's because ties are part of the attire of schools in the UK, and tying a proper necktie becomes second nature? Tancer wonders.
Tancer continued with his substantial research into the question, and made an effort to group the 'How To' queries. He found that the most prevalent type were the general knowledge 'How To' questions (@57%), followed by queries of a sexual nature (eg. 'How to Kiss') @ 17%. Self-improvement 'How To' queries (eg. 'How to Lose Weight') @12% and searches for illegal activities (eg. 'How to Grow Weed') @ 9.5% brought up the rear.
Here's a list of the top 10 US 'How To' queries unearthed by Tancer:
- How to tie a tie
- How to have sex
- How to kiss
- How to lose weight
- How to write a resume
- How to levitate
- How to draw
- How to get pregnant
- How to make out
- How to make a video
Comments are welcome.
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