Search intent or say user intent is defined as the primary goal of a user when they search for a relevant keyword in the search engine. The search purpose might be only for informational purposes, for buying purposes, or for landing on a specific website. Satisfying the search intent is extremely important for various aspects of your website SEO, PPC, and content writing. Search intent is a bit complex thing to master, but absolutely fruitful.
Importance of Search Intent
Most users prefer searching with more than 4 words and in a question form to get more specific answers. Thus, ranking your website on a single keyword is not at all enough. As a content creator, you always want to be the answer for every search query a user searches regarding your niche.
Neglecting any search query may affect your website visibility to a great extent. This will eventually lead your website to less traffic. Providing the users specific answers to their question will increase the conversion rate to a good extent.
For example, someone searches for “How to take care of a money plant?”. Let’s say your website only mentions about types of money plant & their prices. So, do you think your website will be a part of the search engine results when this question is asked? No. So, it is necessary for you to analyze every dimension of the search query to get ranked for the keywords & its variations.
How to improve Search Intent?
Some hacks which can help you to recognize the search intent and improve them to increase the traffic on your website are as follows.
1. A strong landing page: Ensure your landing page gives the user a desired information. The person visiting your article for informational pages may not be interested in checking out the offers and discounts at your premises. Don’t confuse and scare them by pushing them to purchase a product.
On the same side, a person visiting your website to purchase a product may not be interested to read the long details of a product. He has already researched the product and then decided to give it a try. So, keep your article short, and provide him an easy way to purchase the desired product.
2. SERP Research: Ever heard of trial-and-error methods? It can come handy in terms of improving the search intent for your website. Try searching for various keywords related to your niche or product and see what Google displays. It will give you a clear idea of what is considered as relevant and liked by Google in terms of displaying the results.
Try searching for maximum keywords to get a better idea of how things work. The more keywords you try, the easier it will be for you to filter the results.
3. Analyze Competitors: Analyzing what the competitors have done always helps. Try recognizing their tone, the seed, and long-tail keywords they have used, their content structure, and try to figure out the questions they have missed. You can answer those questions in your content and give Google a strong case to rank your website. Also, answering the questions others have missed out will guarantee the visibility of your site in the search engine when a user searches for that question.
4. Use Tools: There are numerous tools available to know what the users are searching. It will give you a clear idea on what the latest trends are, and how people search. You can use tools like BuzzSumo, AnswerThePublic, Twitter, YouTube, etc. to know what is trending and what people prefer to search. This will help you to get a clear idea of what your range should be.
5. Interact: Along with using the tools, you interact with the audience and ask them what they prefer to search, it will give you a clear idea on your audience thought process. You can post the questions on your social media handles, and even ask them to fill out a small Google Form which consists of questions on what they like to search.
What is the Search Intent Types?
There are four common types of search intents. You must know them to ensure you are able to think from every dimension and thus figure out seed and long-tail keywords with ease.
1. Informational Search Intent: This search intent usually covers the general information or a solution of the specific thing. Things like “How to”, “Why do”, “What to”, etc. come under informational search intent. Some examples of informational search intent are as follows.
A. Who won FIFA 2018?
B. How do I overcome mobile addiction?
C. How do I learn HTML?
D. Why does my website doesn’t rank?
2. Navigational Search Intent: When a user knows the website, he wants to visit but he types it in Google as he doesn’t know the exact URL or if he doesn’t want to type the long URL (searching it in Google is obviously easy), it is said to be a navigational search intent. Some examples of navigational search intent are as follows.
A. Pat’s Marketing for SEO
B. Ahrefs keyword generator
C. MOZ Keyword Explorer
3. Transactional Search Intent: In this type of search intent, most users are there to purchase something. They don’t want any detailed information, nor any guide, they already have done their research and are all set to purchase. Some examples of transactional search intent include:
A. Buy iPhone 12 Pro Max
B. Get Netflix Subscription
C. Ahref premium version purchase
4. Commercial Search Intent: The research work just before buying a product is termed as commercial search intent. In this search intent type, the user expects details like specifications, price, benefits, etc. Have a look at some examples of commercial search intent below:
A. Best android devices of 2021
B. Latest laptop models for gaming
C. Best MBA Programs in Toronto
We hope our article helps you to figure out the search intent and work in a right direction to improve the same. In case of any questions, you can always reach out to Pat’s Marketing, SEO Company in Toronto, at 888-488-7287 (toll free) to get them answered.
