If you already have a basic understanding of search engine optimization, then you will know that it is a highly effective way to drive organic traffic to your website. By optimizing the key elements of your site, Google will be able to crawl and index your site with ease, resulting in you rising in the ranks of SERPs, and in turn, attracting more customers and increasing sales.
As part of your current SEO strategy, you are hopefully already optimizing your content with a series of well-chosen keywords, including voice search which is becoming increasingly popular as a means of search by users every day.
However, basic keyword research will only get you so far in your efforts to rise in the ranks of Google and other popular search engines. If you are really serious about increasing traffic and turning this traffic into conversions, you need to start thinking about search intent.
What is search intent?
As the name suggests, search intent, or user intent as it is also known, is the why behind an online search query.
In other words, why did a person make this search? Are they wanting information? Do they want to make a purchase? Or are they looking for a specific website or brand?
Why does search intent matter?
In a nutshell, Google’s main goal is to provide the most relevant result for any query. Search intent allows you to ensure that your specific page fits the intended search of your target audience.
What are the different categories of search intent?
To be able to determine search intent, you first need to be able to understand each specific type of search intent, of which there are four.
1. Informational intent
Think about the different reasons that you use the internet. One of the most frequent ones is probably to find out information about something.
Users with informational intent usually have a specific question that they need answered.
Examples of informational content include:
- Who is William Barr?
- Latest NFL scores
- New York airports
Due to Google’s cleverness, it will instantly be able to understand exactly what a searcher wants from an informational search. For example, they will know whether someone searching for “New York airports” wants directions, information about the facilities or simply a list of the different airports in this city.
If you want to attract users with informational intent, and believe us when we tell you that you do, link building is arguably the simplest way to do this, as it allows you to align yourself with authoritative websites that improve your domain authority (DA) on Google.
2. Navigational intent
The second type of search intent is navigational intent. This type of search is one with the intent of finding a specific website or web page.
Examples of navigational searches include:
- Facebook login
- Click intelligence
3. Transactional intent
Transactional intent is where the searcher uses phrases that include specific product names combined with buying words. This type of intent indicates that a searcher is ready to make a purchase.
Examples of transactional intent include:
- Buy iPhone 11
- Best price Xbox live
4. Commercial investigation
Commercial intent is a phrase used to describe searchers who are intent on buying a product or service but are not quite ready to make a purchase yet. They are carrying out commercial research into the products or services they want to buy in the future.
These searchers also have transactional intent, but you will need to work a little bit harder to convince them to actually make a purchase.
Examples of commercial investigation include:
- Best link building services
- Best places to eat in Los Angeles
- Ford vs Chevy Trucks
Why does search intent matter for SEO?
As briefly mentioned above, search intent is vital if you want to impress the likes of Google and see your page up there with the best of the best.
Google and other popular search engines pride themselves on providing their users with the most useful and most relevant search results each and every time they enter a phrase or question into the search bar.
So, if you want to be that chosen search result, you need to focus on understanding and utilizing search intent.
It is also worth noting that Google can be crafty at times and will change the search results for a keyword to align with what they believe a user’s search intent to be. This means that you need to be clever when it comes to applying search intent to your keyword strategy.
For example, if you are trying to rank for “the best investment bonds,” you cannot just force your landing page onto SERPs. This is because Google will simply change the keyword intent to informational.
Instead, you need to focus your content marketing strategy on creating content that provides useful and relevant information to your target audience. For example, a blog that compares the “best investment bonds” or a list of the top financial benefits of investing in bonds.
Above all else, if you want to achieve a successful SEO campaign, you need to ensure that your content and the keywords that you use to optimize it offer both relevancy and value.
How to establish search intent?
Once you have carried out your keyword research and you have the keywords that you want to rank well for, it is now time to determine what the search intent is for those keywords.
You can do this in one of three ways:
Study the SERPs
Although you may be able to make an educated guess when it comes to identifying the intent of your chosen keywords, there is a more reliable way to determine search intent.
Studying the SERPS.
Google know a lot more about the search intent of their users than you may realize. For example, if someone searches for “Christmas lights”, you may assume that they are wanting to buy Christmas lights. However, this may not be the case. They may be wanting to compare different types of Christmas lights or they may want to know where to purchase Christmas lights locally, which is known in SEO as local search intent.
Ways you can use SERPs to find out this information include:
- Looking out for paid ads
- Paying attention to organic or natural listings
- Checking out knowledge graph results
Use AdWords
If you are looking to target users with commercial intent, i.e. ones that are close to making a purchase but not quite there yet, then you should be using an AdWords tool.
AdWords works by enabling you to establish the extent of commercial intent that searchers have for a specific keyword. This process is simple; if the keyword in question has a high suggested bid and level of competition, it also has high commercial intent.
Of course, nothing is foolproof when it comes to converting site visitors into paying customers, but AdWords can give you a strong indication that a purchase is in sight.
Analyze your bounce rates
When it comes to search engine optimization, people often forget the importance of analyzing your current performance to see what works and what doesn’t, instead preferring to focus on new strategies for the future.
However, this is a mistake.
Put it this way: would you waste your time trying to fix something that actually isn’t broken?
Of course not! The same goes for SEO. It is always a good idea to first determine what is working for you in terms of keyword optimization before deciding how to optimize any new content.
You can check the success of your existing content simply by seeing how high your bounce rates are for visitors who found your site via the search engines. The simplest way to do this is by carrying out an SEO audit. If the results show that your bounce rates are higher here than from other traffic resources, you know that the keywords your site is ranking for are not matching with your content.
Do you want to increase your conversion rate right now? Find out how search intent can help you achieve this by getting in touch today.
