Using “How To” in Keyword Research

When people search for content online, they often want to find “how to” do something. That’s exactly why “how to” sites, like eHow and wikiHow, are so popular with the search engines.

Here’s an example:

The term “kite flying” is searched approximately 40,500 times per month, and when entered into Google, there are 1, 900,000 sites that can offer me information about kite flying.

However, if I search “how to fly a kite,” a search that is only performed 4,400 times per month, I get 1, 230,000 results. While almost 700,000 les results might now seem like much, it means that there are 700,000 less sites to compete with when it comes to that search term.

One of the trends I have noticed in my own writing is that “how to” articles do well with readers.  They are looking for information, and the ads that the keywords in the article bring up are amost always enticing to readers.  They offer more information than the content, and as such, can be great earners.

Another trick with using “how to” in an article is to eliminate the “to.”  Many searchers think along the lines of keywords only, and they eliminate the extra words. “How fly kite,” and “how kite fly,” for instance, both garner about 30,000 searches each per month with under 1,000,000 search results to compete against.

Writing “how to” content is an easy way to get pertinent ads next to your content.  Many companies bid on “how to” terms because they know they are actively searched for and likely to get them page views.