A how-to guide is precisely what it sounds like: a step-by-step walkthrough that helps someone complete a specific task.
Whether you’re teaching people how to install a plugin, bake sourdough, or build a content calendar, the how-to format works because it’s clear, useful, and repeatable.
But here’s the kicker: It’s also one of the best-performing formats in content marketing and SEO.
Well-optimized how-to guides target long-tail keywords, attract organic traffic, and signal valuable information to search engines.
In this article, I’ll break down how to write an effective how-to guide, share examples and a free template, and give you everything you need to create high-quality content that converts.
What you will learn
- The purpose and benefits of how-to guides
- How to structure and optimize a how-to guide for SEO
- Best practices for promotion and updating how-to guides
- How to create a how-to guide template
What is a how-to guide?
A how-to guide is a piece of instructional content that walks you through a specific task, one step at a time.
Whether it’s setting up Google Analytics or learning how to pickle vegetables, the goal is the same: break the process into clear, actionable steps that are easy to follow, with no expert knowledge required.
There are different formats depending on your audience and content type:
- Written articles (like blog posts or print publications)
- Checklists and numbered lists
- Video tutorials
- Annotated screenshots or infographics
- Interactive step-by-step guides
Here's an how-to guide example from Shopify on “How to Start an Online Store”. It has a clear structure with a clickable table of contents, well-labeled process steps, and links to supporting resources that keep the reader moving forward.
If done right, how-to guides serve your readers and your SEO goals by increasing engagement, customer satisfaction, and long-term visibility in search engines.
Why are how-to guides important?
How-to guides are important because they directly address users’ questions with clear, valuable information.
This attracts targeted traffic from search engines, keeps visitors engaged longer, encourages shares and backlinks, and signals to search engines that your content is authoritative and relevant.
How-to guides are the content marketing equivalent of answering someone’s question before they ask it.
They target long-tail keywords: the “how do I fix…” and “what’s the best way to…” type searches your ideal readers are already Googling. These queries are specific, solution-driven, and often come from people ready to act.
This makes how-to content incredibly valuable for SEO.
A great how-to guide can rank in featured snippets, appear in People Also Ask boxes, and drive consistent organic traffic for months or years.
Search “how to create an editorial calendar,” and you’ll see that Optimizely won the featured snippet.
The guide also got a spot in the People Also Ask box for the same search query.
Beyond search visibility, these guides boost customer experience. They solve problems, reduce frustration, and position your brand as a trusted expert.
And for your internal team? They reduce repetitive support questions by providing users with a resource they can follow in just a few clicks.
How to write a how-to guide in 7 steps
Writing a good how-to guide isn’t just about listing steps. It’s about guiding your reader from confusion to clarity.
Here’s how to start creating how-to guides that are useful, engaging, and SEO-ready from the very first draft.
1. Choose the right topic for your how-to guide
Before you start writing, you need to know what your audience wants help with.
A good how-to guide starts with a topic that aligns with real user pain points and your business goals.
The sweet spot? High interest, low friction, and clear relevance to your product or service.
For instance, MyFitnessPal’s blog, a nutrion tracking app, features how-to guides on spotting nutrition misinformation, general wellness, and exercise. They are simple, actionable, and directly tied to the users’ wellness goals as well as the company's core product.
How to find these topics?
Explore online forums, such as Reddit and Facebook groups, as well as customer communities. See what questions keep popping up, and then talk to your sales and support teams, as they’ll also be aware of recurring problems.
Run an SEO competitor analysis to see which how-to content is driving traffic in your niche.
You can also use a free tool like Answer the Public to pinpoint how-to questions users are typing into search engines.
Once you have a list of possible topics, the next step is to identify which topics have enough searches and are realistic to rank for. For that, you can use Surfer's Topical Map.
In Topical Map you can see the topics alongside their keyword difficulty and search volume.
Tip: Use the search box to find "how to" queries, filter by "Not started" and Topical Map will get you a list of relevant topics.
Focus on topics with low to moderate competition and sufficient search volume to ensure better visibility and ranking potential.
2. Research the topic thoroughly
A high-quality how-to guide isn’t only based on what you think works. It’s also built on credible information from expert sources, industry blogs, trusted websites, and real-world case studies.
Start by Googling your topic and analyzing the top 5 ranking pages. If your topic is “how to start exercising,” you’ll look at Healthline, NHS, and the other top sites in the SERPs.
Consider:
- What do they explain well?
- What do they miss?
- Are the step-by-step instructions logical and clear?
- What’s the formatting like?
- How about reader engagement?
Look for opportunities to add value. Can you include useful images, a downloadable template, or a quicker way to complete the task?
Offering something unique—a tool, shortcut, or perspective—can help your guide outperform what’s already ranking.
This is where great how-to guides stand out: They don’t just rehash what’s out there. They expand on it, clarify it, and make it easily accessible for the reader.
3. Outline the steps clearly
Before you write a single sentence, map your guide’s structure.
The most effective how-to guides follow a clear, logical order that mirrors how a real person would move through the task, step by step.
Break the process into 5–10 distinct steps, depending on complexity.
Use numbered H2s or H3s to give your reader visual cues and keep the content organized. Each step should focus on one specific action or concept. So don’t overload the reader with too much info at once.
Within each step, use bullet points or bold formatting to call out sub-tasks, tips, tools, or things to watch out for. Add examples, useful links, or additional resources when it improves clarity.
A good outline is half the job. Surfer can help you create a comprehensive SERP-based outline so you're not left staring at a blank page.
Simply use the Insert Outline function inside the Content Editor.
4. Make your guides comprehensive
A strong how-to guide should aim to be the last resource a reader needs to complete their task. That means going beyond a basic list of steps and creating a resource that truly supports the user from start to finish.
Begin by understanding your audience’s level of knowledge. For beginners, it’s important to explain basic concepts and define any technical terms. For more experienced readers, you can move quickly through the fundamentals but should offer deeper insights or advanced tips that add value.
When outlining your steps, be methodical and ensure each one flows logically to the next. Include any necessary context at the beginning, such as what tools or background knowledge are required.
Don’t shy away from elaborating on complex parts—readers will appreciate the clarity. If certain steps are commonly misunderstood or prone to error, explain those areas in more detail and offer solutions or alternatives.
Here's how Hubspot does that in the form of a Pro tip.
Being comprehensive also improves your SEO. Search engines favor content that fully answers user intent, so when your guide covers a topic thoroughly, it’s more likely to rank well and attract backlinks.
In an internal study, we discovered a clear link between content comprehensiveness and performance. Our top 10 highest-performing articles covered around 74% of the key facts found across the top-ranking pages in the SERPs. In contrast, the bottom 10 articles covered only about 50%.
Facts, in this context, are the individual information units—statistics, definitions, subtopics, steps, or data points—that consistently appear in the pages currently ranking highest for a given query.
The more thoroughly your content covers these essential facts, the more relevant it becomes to search intent, and the better it tends to perform.
You can use Surfer's Coverage Booster to add important facts and create truly comprehensive content that ranks.
5. Use visuals to support learning
Sometimes, written instructions just aren’t enough. A well-placed screenshot or short video can save your reader minutes of confusion and boost your credibility in the process.
Include annotated screenshots, diagrams, GIFs, or screen recordings to walk users through tricky or multi-step actions.
It’s essential to visually demonstrate the steps if your guide covers something hands-on or physical, like “how to repot a plant” or “how to install a smart thermostat.”
Ensure your visuals align with the actual interface or scenario the reader will encounter.
Skip the overused stock photos and opt for real-world examples that reflect the steps involved.
Loom’s Help Center is an excellent example of visual learning in action, with mini video walkthroughs and annotated screenshots for everything from recording settings to sharing permissions.
6. Optimize for SEO and readability
A good how-to guide answers the readers’ query and it helps them find you. That’s where SEO comes in.
Place your target keyword in the title, H1, meta description, and URL. Sprinkle in secondary keywords naturally throughout the body, alt text, and subheadings without forcing them.
Almanac’s “How to Start a Vegetable Garden for Beginners” uses keywords in all the right places, like the title and meta description. This keyword placement ensures they show up in the SERPs.
The main keyword also features in the H1, introduction and throughout the rest of the how-to guide.
The body of the article should include variations of that keyword.
Besides keyword placement, the content should be reader-friendly. So keep paragraphs short, use bolded phrases to highlight key information, and add white space to prevent overwhelm and improve scanning.
Not sure if your draft checks all the boxes? Use Surfer's Content Editor to guide optimization in real-time.
Inside the Content Editor you can see which keywords to include in your content and how often. It also shows you how to properly structure your content so it’s optimized for both search engines and readers.
At the top, you can also find a properly optimized title and meta description that includes the main keyword.
7. Close with the next steps or related content
Don’t leave your reader hanging. A complete how-to guide ends with a quick summary of what’s been accomplished, like what the reader learned or achieved by following your step-by-step guide.
Then, guide them toward what’s next. Add a clear, relevant call to action like “Try it yourself,” “Download the full checklist,” or “Explore our advanced tutorial.”
Novoresume’s “How to Write a Cover Letter” guide ends with a CTA to use one of its tools.
These CTAs boost customer satisfaction and keep readers engaged with your brand.
Link to related how-to content, blog posts, or relevant product pages. This strengthens your internal linking strategy, helps with SEO crawlability, and keeps users moving through your site, reducing bounce rate and increasing session time.
7 best practices for high-performing how-to guides
Once you’ve written a solid how-to guide, you’ll need to turn it into a piece of high-quality content that drives traffic, earns trust, and ranks well long-term. And that requires a final layer of polish.
These best practices will help you strengthen authority, improve user experience, and make your guide easier to find in search engines.
1. Write with clarity and purpose
A great how-to guide doesn’t just tell; it teaches. That means writing in a way that’s clear, confident, and easy to follow for your specific audience.
Here are some tips to achieve that:
- Start each step with an action verb.
- Use a second-person voice (“you”) so the content feels personal and actionable.
- Stick to an active voice and keep your sentences short.
- Avoid filler and fluff. Your goal is clarity over cleverness.
Facebook’s “how to permanently delete your account” guide does this well. Each step begins with a strong verb, such as “Click” or “Select,” making the process intuitive and easy to follow.
Skip the jargon unless you’ve taken time to understand your target audience is more advanced and you know they expect it.
2. Add trust-building elements
People trust people, not anonymous how-to content floating in the void. Adding trust signals can make the difference between someone skimming your post and actually following through on your steps.
Start with an author bio that highlights either the credentials or lived experience of the writer as related to the task.
If your guide walks through something health-related, mention if it was reviewed by a medical professional, as Healthline does to build trust and ensure accuracy.
Add a “Last updated on” date to show the guide is current. This is especially important in fast-changing industries like medicine, tech, or digital marketing.
Finally, reference original sources wherever possible: link to official docs, industry studies, or trusted tools. These help the reader and signal credibility to search engines.
3. Optimize for search features and enhancements
Optimize your how-to guides for search features that boost visibility and tailor the customer experience.
Add an FAQ schema to your page. This allows your content to appear in People Also Ask boxes on Google, which is prime real estate for attracting clicks and raising awareness around your topic.
Here's an example of how Qwilr uses FAQ schema to its site code for the “How to Write a Social Media Proposal” guide.
The how-to features in People Also Ask.
Format common follow-up questions as collapsible answers, and keep responses clear and concise.
For longer guides, use jump links or a sticky table of contents to help readers move between sections quickly.
These features improve usability and make your guide easily accessible and more likely to land the coveted featured snippet spot.
4. Promote your guide across channels
The most effective how-to guide won’t perform if no one sees it. Once your guide is live, amplify it across the channels your target audience already uses.
Break the content into bite-sized pieces: turn the steps into a LinkedIn carousel, an Instagram Reel, or a YouTube Short that walks through the process visually.
Loom created an Instagram Reel for how to use its Chrome extension.
This raises awareness and gives you more mileage from a single asset.
Consider repackaging the guide into a downloadable checklist for lead generation, or adding it to relevant newsletters and customer onboarding flows.
5. Monitor performance and feedback
To keep your how-to guides performing and improving, you need to monitor how users are engaging with them.
Use Google Search Console to track key metrics like rankings, click-through rate (CTR), and bounce rate.
If you’re ranking but not getting clicks, tweak your title and meta. If people land on the guide but bounce quickly, your step instructions may need more clarity or visuals.
Surfer's Content Audit shows you this data at a glance. You can see how your content is performing, whether it's falling or rising in SERPs, CTR changes, as well as the Content Score.
This way you can easily identify optimization opportunities.
Finally, invite feedback. A simple CTA like “Was this guide helpful?” or a one-click emoji rating can give you direct signals on customer satisfaction.
You can even link to a short survey to gather insights for your final product or next update.
6. Schedule regular maintenance
A how-to guide that worked six months ago might not hold up today, especially if it includes tools, UI walkthroughs, or step-by-step flows tied to a product.
To stay relevant and keep ranking, you’ll need a plan for ongoing upkeep.
Start by flagging sections most likely to change, like screenshots, app menus, or third-party tool steps.
If your guide is versioned or technical, consider keeping a changelog so users can track updates.
Build maintenance into your editorial calendar; a quarterly checkup is usually enough.
Refresh outdated visuals, test every link, and verify that the process still delivers the expected result. If something’s changed, update the copy and adjust the instruction steps to match.
Use the insights from the Content Audit to find which pages could benefit from an update.
Then use the Auto-Optimize feature to make content updates even easier. Auto-Optimize scans your content and makes the necessary adjustments to boost its Content Score.
Keeping your guide fresh is about SEO, maintaining trust, and delivering a great customer experience, every time someone clicks.
7. Anticipate user questions
The best how-to guides answer the follow-up questions before they’re even asked.
Sprinkle inline callouts like “Pro tip,” “Watch out for this,” or “If X happens, do Y” to help users avoid common pitfalls or troubleshoot in real-time.
ClickUp often implements this in their blog posts.
These small additions can dramatically improve your customer satisfaction and reduce support tickets.
If your guide covers multiple use cases or edge cases, consider adding a collapsible FAQ section near the end. This keeps your guide clean and skimmable while still offering depth.
Finally, link out to related troubleshooting content, product comparisons, or decision-making guides.
Use a how-to guide template
Creating how-to content at scale is easier and more consistent when you start with a reusable template.
A good how-to guide template gives you a repeatable structure that’s optimized for clarity, SEO, and user experience, helping you go from the first draft to the final product faster.
Here’s a simple structure you can start with:
Download the FREE template
You can build your own template based on a top-performing guide. You can then feed this template to Surfer and it will create new article outlines and content based on it.
Key takeaways
- A how-to guide is step-by-step content that helps users complete a specific task while supporting SEO and customer satisfaction.
- Choosing the right topic means aligning user intent with business goals and using tools like Surfer or Answer the Public to uncover high-value opportunities.
- A clear structure with chronological steps, actionable verbs, and bullet points makes your guide easy to follow, even for beginners.
- Visuals like screenshots, videos, and diagrams improve clarity and help users complete each step successfully.
- Optimization matters: include your target keyword, write in active voice, and format for readability and featured snippets.
- Promote your guide across channels and monitor engagement to spot updates, improve performance, and raise visibility.
- Save time and improve consistency by using a how-to guide template based on top-performing content.
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