What is search intent? How to use it in your SEO strategy
Search intent: how to use it to your advantage?
One of the most popular and widely used methods of doing a study for keywords used by Google search users is to prepare a list of ‘candidate’ keywords.
You make a list of potentially usable keywords and, with this list, evaluate the competition, costs and benefits of each keyword to make an optimal selection.
All correct.
But if you want to give your content a boost, a boost over your competitors’ content, you need to understand search intent or in Italian search intent and use it to your advantage.
Basically, you have to understand what motive drives the user to query the search engine.
When a user queries Google he has a specific question and expects a specific answer.
If his search query is, for example, “list of the best smartphones of 2022,” his intent is to inquire, probably to buy a smartphone, but he has not yet decided which model.
If, on the other hand, his search query is “samsung a6 prof price” it indicates to us that he has already chosen the smartphone model and is looking for the best deal.
Whenever people query a search engine, they have specific questions from which they expect content to provide the specific answers.
Understanding search intent helps you answer your audience’s questions with the content they expect to see.
Table of contents hide
What is search intent? How to use it in your SEO strategy
Google’s search intent
The four categories of search intent
Informational search
Navigational search
Transactional search
Commercial survey search
The value of search intent
How to tell if a keyword is informative
Optimizing content based on search intent
Google is search intent
Google has been the undisputed leader among search engines for years because it was the first to understand that its job is to understand what the search intent of each query is and match to it, the most appropriate and relevant content.
Searches have been improved by differentiating between exact-match, general-match, and phrase-matched searches.
And over all these years, Google’s patented algorithms that continuously scan the Web have been designed to improve the relationship between search intent and the most relevant content.
And they have succeeded.
Don’t believe me? When was the last time you did a search on Bing? 🙂
So, if you want your content to work and rank on Google, you must strive to match it with the appropriate search intent.
Table of contents hide
What is search intent? How to use it in your SEO strategy
Google’s search intent
The four categories of search intent
Informational search
Navigational search
Transactional search
Commercial survey search
The value of search intent
How to tell if a keyword is informative
Optimizing content based on search intent
Google is search intent
Google has been the undisputed leader among search engines for years because it was the first to understand that its job is to understand what the search intent of each query is and match to it, the most appropriate and relevant content.
Searches have been improved by differentiating between exact-match, general-match, and phrase-matched searches.
And over all these years, Google’s patented algorithms that continuously scan the Web have been designed to improve the relationship between search intent and the most relevant content.
And they have succeeded.
Don’t believe me? When was the last time you did a search on Bing? 🙂
So, if you want your content to work and rank on Google, you must strive to match it with the appropriate search intent.The four categories of search intent
Informational search
Most searches in marketing, are informational, this is because people tend to use the search engine to find answers to their questions.
Informational type searches are characterized by the terms “how,” “why,” “what is,” “who,” “what is,” and “guide” followed by the topic of interest.
Examples of queries with informational intent:
- Who wrote the Malavoglia.
- What is the capital of Belgium.
- How to make a Mojito.
- Guide to filling out the 730
Navigational search
These are those searches where users are looking for a brand, a website, or a particular service.
The user might type Teutra on the search engine rather than typing www.teutra.it.
This search typology makes Google a ‘cab’ that is only used to be ‘transported’ to a certain place on the Internet.
The search intent behind these queries includes terms such as product names, services, and brands.
Transactional search
The search intent behind a transactional search is almost always, a purchase.
The terms that identify it are “buy,” “cheap,” “offer,” “cost,” and “best price” combined with the name of the product or service being purchased.
- How much does it cost to make a website.
- Best price watch model xxx.
- Cheapest tablet model xxx.
- Find smartphone prices.
For local businesses a transactional search can be “pizzeria near me.”
Commercial survey search
Commercial survey search intent is when the user is looking for information to help him make a decision about buying a product.
He is not yet ready to buy, he evaluates products to choose the one best suited for him.
The content he expects to find are detailed descriptions of products and services, reviews of users who have purchased the product, and comparisons with similar products.
The terms used are “best,” “review,” “comparison,” and “alternatives.”
- Best tennis racket under 300€.
- Review microwave model xxx.
- Comparison phone company A, phone company B.
The value of search intent
When a user types in a search query, Google’s job is to identify the intent of the search and show the most relevant results.
If a search engine cannot do this job well, it will provide an inaccurate search results page and lose credibility in the eyes of users.
This is exactly what happened.
Google understood before others, the importance of search intent and semantic search and how to deliver appropriate results to users.
Its search algorithm has evolved so much that it can deliver results that fully satisfy every user.
And not only that. Google is also able to properly handle queries where the search intent is not so obvious.
For example, if you type only the word “panda,” the page you get will consist of:
- The official home page of the Panda car on the Fiat website.
- The Wikipedia page on the Panda (car) and the Panda (animal).
- The page with the price list for the Panda (car).
- Informative videos (why buy a Panda and why not in 2022).
- WWF’s page on the Panda.
- The home page of the Panda antivirus site.
Understanding the search intent behind a keyword is really important when considering producing content on a given keyword.
Given the different search intents, keyword lists should identify different values and opportunities for your content.
For example, for informational searches you should respond with informative articles on your company blog, for commercial searches, with a landing page for a product or service.
But how do you figure out the search intent for a keyword?
Simple.
Google tells you with the SERP, the search results page.
How to tell if a keyword is informative
Informative queries are intended to get an answer to a specific question.
Google uses every tool at its disposal to answer users’ questions.
Try typing the search key “how to make a mojito” into Google.
Skipping the paid ads, you will see that the engine has figured out that you are looking for a recipe.
As first, it presents you with a panel titled “Recipes” with photos that lead to sites that offer the mojito recipe.
It also shows you the “People Also Asked” panel with the following questions:
- What rum is used for moijto?
- How many degrees does a moijto have?
- Who created the moijto?
- Where was the moijto invented.
This is followed by the panel with YouTube videos where recipes on how to make a moijto are presented and, next, in the organic part, the results most relevant to the search.
All search results are centered on the recipe therefore, since the search did not express a clear intent, Google decides, based on its query history and index, that the recipe is what users expect to find in the face of the search query “how to make a moijto.”
Optimizing content based on search intent
Now that we have identified the four main types of search intent, let’s use this information to our advantage.
What we need to do is make an association between the search keys used on Google by our potential customers, and the pages on our website.
With this list, you can plan to optimize pages that are already there and create new pages for missing keywords.
But that’s not enough.
Observe whether the link leads to a page on your site, a category page, a product page, or a blog post.
Adjust your content.
Another thing you should take into account is the format of the content.
For example, for a blog post, the formats can be a regular post, a product list, a tutorial, a guide.
If a guide is prioritized in Google’s SERP, make a guide for that keyword.
Finally, what is the strength contained in Google’s top results page?
The ability to make a purchase? The ability to subscribe to a newsletter? The ability to download an ebook?
If you can understand and replicate, while improving, the strength of the top results, your content will stand out by providing the user with the exact answer to their question.
Conclusion
Search intent is a strong point for an effective marketing strategy.
It means not only creating a list of keywords but understanding their meaning to create the right content.
Search intent is the most important ranking factor, remember it if you want to improve your visibility on Google.
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