People use Google search for many things. Looking up baseball stats, movie times, and news articles. But increasingly they’re also asking Google how to do things. (I can attest to this: when my toilet wouldn’t stop running a few months back I queried Google before calling in a professional.)
Google, on Friday, crunched its search data and compiled a global top 10 list of “how to” queries. They are:
1: how to tie a tie
2: how to kiss
3: how to get pregnant
4: how to lose weight
5: how to draw
6: how to make money
7: how to make pancakes
8: how to write a cover letter
9: how to make french toast
10: how to lose belly fat
Oddly, the toilet question didn’t crack the worldwide list, although a related Google (GOOGL) blog post notes that “how to fix a toilet” is a top question in the U.S. And Canada, while fixing washing machines seems to be a bigger concern for people in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea.
Related: Google Has a History of Silencing Messages It Doesn’t Like, Says Former Reporter
If you want to know more about those geographic differences, check out the Google post that breaks down “how to fix X” queries by region.
On Friday, entering “How to fix” into the Google search bar, yielded the following:
Apparently “hard slime” and “sticky slime” are now things.
One caveat with these results. Those who like to learn by seeing rather than reading may well turn to YouTube—another Google property—for tips. A few years back, a single mother reported that her son and his high school friends who had to attend a formal event went straight to video to learn how to tie their bow ties. YouTube, he later informed her, “is the father I never had.”
