Hull created a great opportunity early on when Maynor Figueroa's delivered in a perfect cross for Shane Long, whose volley from just a few yards out was pushed to safety by Michel Vorm.
The hosts continued to threaten, with Boyd testing Vorm once again with a low effort from the edge of the box following clever link-up play with Long.
Swansea's best chance of the first half fell to Wayne Routledge, but the winger was unable to lob Steve Harper after seeing the goalkeeper come off his line.
Hull broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when Boyd pulled away from his marker in the box to head Ahmed Elmohamady's cross past a helpless Vorm.
The home side seemed reluctant to push too many players forward in the second half, which invited pressure from Swansea, who were still struggling to produce their best football.
Nathan Dyer linked well with Angel Rangel to set up a good opportunity for himself, but he struck a poor effort wide of the post when in plenty of space on the edge of the box.
Swansea missed another chance to level the scores late on when Jonjo Shelvey played the perfect pass for Wilfried Bony, who was unable to avoid slicing his shot over the crossbar from 10 yards out.
Hull's dominance in the first half proved to be enough as they held off the Swansea challenge to collect all three points.
Source: www.sportsmole.co.uk
