

Ask HN: What phrase is a search query most likley to begin with - wturner

Hi, How can I gauge and contrast the number of internet search queries that start with "How to" vs "How do I" vs "How do you". I am curious to find out what phrase people are most likely to preface a question when typing into a search engine. Thanks as always.
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answerly
According to the Google keyword suggestion tool, the global search volumes for
those phrases are:

"How to" - 226m "How do I" - 9.14m "How do you" - 11.1m

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wturner
Thanks. I should have thought of using that.

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answerly
We also have a bunch of internal data from our q&a search engine. I wouldn't
want to publish that publicly, but feel free to email me (address in my
profile) and I'd be glad to share.

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jeffmould
You could start with the Google Adwords keyword tool or traffic estimator.
They will give you a gauge to work with, but you have to take their numbers
with a little hesitation. You can also check out Wordtracker or Keyword
Country to gauge search terms.

