Year in Search 2022: Top “How-To” searches across Canada

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As the end of 2022 approaches, people will spend the rest of their year reflecting on the changes they’ve made. What did they achieve? What do they regret? Most importantly, what did they learn? With so many available resources online, millions of people scour the internet for answers for their current DIY projects, online courses, hobbies, etc. We wanted to see what Canadians wanted to learn the most this year by finding the most common “how-to” search in each province and territory.

We took a deep dive into Canadians’ Google searches to discover the most “how-to” search in their province or territory. 

British Columbia (B.C.), Manitoba, New Brunswick (N.B.), Nova Scotia (N.S.), Quebec, and Saskatchewan all shared a common interest this past year and wanted to know “how to play Wordle”. With the massive popularity Wordle enjoyed this year, it’s no surprise this search term exploded. 

Both Newfoundland and Labrador’s (N.L.) and Prince Edward Island’s (P.E.I.) top “how-to” search were bug-removal related. N.L. searched “how to get rid of fruit flies” (4,000% search increase) and P.E.I. searched “how to get rid of earwigs” (2,100% search increase). 

With a 4,150% search increase, Alberta’s top “how-to” search for 2022 was “how to make yourself puke” – a strange search topic, but perhaps Albertans weren’t feeling the best this year.

Last but not least, Ontario’s biggest “how-to” search hit a breakout record according to Google Trends, which means the search term grew by more than 5,000%. Ontario’s “how-to” breakout search was “how to draw a unicorn easy.” 

The Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon were not accounted for due to a lack of data. 

For Canadians who learn better through visual means, we took a look at Youtube searches to find each province or territory’s most popular “how-to” search.

With TikTok taking over the world, it has also made its way into three provinces’ top “how-to” Youtube searches in 2022. “How to get sturdy” (a Tiktok dance) was a breakout search in Alberta, and was the top search topic in B.C. and Ontario. 

Manitoba took the time this year to revisit some old-school math as “how to do long division” was a breakout search in their Youtube searches for 2022.  N.B. took the DIY route since “how to cut your own hair” grew by 3,850% in searches for 2022. N.L. took advantage of Canada’s cannabis legalization as “how to roll a joint” was their breakout search topic on Youtube. P.E.I.’s top Youtube “how-search” for 2022 was “how to tie a tie” – resulting in a breakout search as well.

N.S., Quebec, and Saskatchewan’s top “how-to” Youtube searches circled around food this year. N.S. wanted to know “how to cut a mango”, Quebec wanted to learn “how to cut a pineapple”, and Saskatchewan wanted to know “how to make french toast.”

The Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon were not accounted for due to a lack of data. 

Methodology

To find out what the most popular “how-to” search was in each province and territory, we used Google Trends to analyze the search volumes (both on web searches and Youtube searches) for “how-to” search terms for 2022.

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