How to Best Optimize Your Site for User Intent

Are you struggling to increase your ranking on SERPs despite working hard on SEO?

If yes, it could be that you are failing to focus sufficient effort into optimizing for user intent.

Although Google can seem like a complicated beast, ultimately their main aim in life is to provide searchers with the most relevant results for their queries.

This means that if you want your business to achieve that top spot on search engine results pages, you need to be delivering exactly what your target audience wants.

And to do this, you need to understand their search intent.

Not sure what exactly search intent is or how you can best optimize your content for it?

Within the below guide, you will find out:

• What user intent is
• Why user intent is so important
• What the main types of search intent are
• What Google algorithms support user intent
• How Google determines the intent of its searchers
• How to write optimized content for each type of search intent

Ready to get started?

In just 7 minutes, you will know everything there is to know about search intent and how you can apply it to the content you create.

What is search intent?

Search intent, also referred to as user intent, is the primary goal that a user has when searching a query in a particular search engine. Or, to put it in even simpler terms, the reason why someone is searching online.

For example, are they looking for a specific website? Do they want to make a purchase? Or perhaps they are looking for a local business?

All these searches are part of the overall user journey and over the years Google and other popular search engines have put a lot of effort into finding out how they can best determine user intent. After all, just like you want to make your customers happy and compete with other businesses, so too are search engines.

Why is search intent important?

Although previously websites focused the majority of their efforts on optimizing their content with keywords to enjoy higher rankings, as Google has shifted their attention to user experience, search intent has become much more important.

It is no longer enough to simply integrate relevant keywords into your content and landing pages; you now need to make sure they match the intent of searchers.

In terms of SEO, there are several reasons why search intent matters:

• You can fulfill your audience’s needs better, which drives more traffic to your site and generates better quality leads.
• You can increase the time spent on your page, which sends a positive signal to Google and boosts your rankings.
• You can position yourself as an authority in your niche, which builds trust and leads to more high-quality, organic trafficOrganic search traffic (sometimes called natural or unpaid search) is the traffic that's driven to a website because of unpaid placement on a search engine results page. to your site.
• You can boost brand awareness which leads to more conversions later down the line.

What are the four main types of search intent?

Now that you have a better understanding of why search intent matters for SEO, it’s time to find out about the different types of search intent.

1.   Informational search intent

Informational searches are by far the most common type of searches made on Google and other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo. These searches typically have large search volumes as people are constantly looking for information online.

Examples of searches with informational search intent are:

• How to make a cup of coffee
• Why is my air conditioning unit not working?
• When is the best time to go on vacation with kids?

These types of searches take place in the discovery phase of searching and searchers are looking for content-rich pages that provide them with detailed answers to their questions. The content required for informational searches needs to be clear and easily skimmable.

2.   Navigational search intent

People with navigational intent want to visit a specific website, so this type of intent is only useful if searchers are actively looking for your site.

Examples of searches with navigational search intent are:

• Facebook
• Google Analytics
• Pottery Barn

So, if someone is specifically looking to visit the Facebook website, they will type Facebook into the search bar.

3.   Transactional search intent

This type of search intent refers to users who are searching with the purpose of buying something and are the Holy Grail of search marketing. Developing your landing pages and PPC ads around keywords with transactional intent can result in good ROI.

Examples of searches with transactional search intent are:

• Buy iPhone 12 Pro
• Old Navy coupon
• DoorDash promo code

Commercial Investigating Intent

This type of search refers to people that have the intention to buy in the near future and want to use the web to carry out research before they make a final decision.

Examples of searches with commercial investigation intent include:

• What iPhone is the best?
• Which WordPress plug-in is the most useful?
• What is the cheapest washing machine?

By using commercial intent based keywords, you can drive targeted traffic to your site which ultimately results in more sales and revenue.

What Google Algorithms Support User Intent?

There are several Google algorithms that support the use of user intent as a benchmark for high-quality content that is worth ranking. These include:

• This was introduced in 2011 and was designed to scan sites for quality content and identify sites that contained thin, poor-quality content.
• This algorithm looks for context in search queries so that Google can deliver more accurate search results.
• Launched in 2014, this algorithm allows Google to match search results to a user’s location and focuses on finding the most useful local search results.

How Does Google Determine the Search Intent of Users?

As mentioned briefly above, Google are dedicated to finding out why their searchers are making a particular search so that they can supply them with the best solution to their queries.

However, sometimes it can be challenging to know what a searcher wants from their search. For example, if someone types “garden shed” into Google, they could be looking to buy a garden shed, they could be seeking out information about garden sheds, or they could be trying to find a garden shed in their local area.

So, how does Google work out what they want?

On average, searchers use three words to explain what they want from a search engine, and Google must decipher their intent based on this. For example, words such as “buy”, “sale”, “deal”, and “coupon” all indicate transactional intent, whereas phrases such as “how to” signal informational intent.

The Google algorithm also has other ways of determining intent which typically involves interpreting the queries according to a series of categories:

• Common interpretations. If a query has several interpretations, all of which are either common or popular, Google will cover all bases by providing the searcher will a number of different results.
• Dominant interpretations. These are queries in which most users mean the same thing so that the interpretation can be clear from the get-go.
• Minor interpretations. These searches have less common or recognizable interpretations, but Google can often interpret them using location data.
• Do, Know, Go. These are a series of concepts that help Google to understand what a searcher is trying to achieve in active terms and enables them to provide the most relevant information.

Google also now carefully monitors what mobile search can reveal about search intent, with mobile typically acting as the starting point in a searcher’s purchase journey.

How to Optimize Content for Each Type of Search Intent

When optimizing your content for search intent, you should always start with optimizing your existing content first and then move on to creating brand new content that matches searcher intent.

During this stage, it can be a good idea to check out your competitors’ sites and see what type of content they have written and how it is performing on SERPs. This can be used as a benchmark for future content but make your content 100% authentic as you don’t want to be accused of plagiarism.

You may also want to carry out a content gap analysis to identify not only any missing keywords but also areas where you can optimize further for search intent.

Informational Content

To create content for searchers with informational intent, you need to first optimize your headings with words such as:

• How to
• An Ultimate Guide to
• # Ways to

For example, let’s say you sell second-hand iPhones, you may want to provide content on how to buy a used phone or what are the benefits of buying a used phone. Other ideas include how to take care of a second-hand phone and a guide to selling a used phone.

Some of the best formats for informational blog posts include:

• Listicles
• Top tips
• How-to-videos
• Infographics
• Step-by-step guides

Another way to ensure that you rank highly for informational searches is to include as much relevant information as possible. For example, answer multiple questions within your blog that relate to the initial search query. This will not only provide added value to the reader but will also be looked upon favorably by Google and may result in you getting your webpage featured in the Rich Snippets section on Google.

Navigational Content

As navigational searches include either brand names or names of specific products or services that the searcher is already familiar with, you are not likely to rank for navigational terms unless the user is specifically looking for your site.

That being said, to maximize your chances of ranking for navigational intent searches, you should prioritize the following types of content to help your visibility:

• Landing pages
• Product demonstrations
• Case studies
• Product pages
• Services pages
• Webinars
• E-books

Transactional & Commercial Intent

As explained earlier, transactional intent is the type of intent that demonstrates a searcher is ready to make a purchase or complete a certain task, such as signing up to an email subscription service or booking a demo.

Transactional queries are likely to deliver ROI both through organic and paid channels, so you need to make sure you are optimizing not only your transactional pages but also pricing pages, sign-up pages, and blog articles.

Transactional keywords that you may want to include naturally in your content include:

• Buy
• Where to buy
• Purchase
• Reserve
• Deals
• Offers
• For sale
• Download
• Order

If you are a local business, then local SEOLocal SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank on the 1st page of Google for a search term and geographic location that is relevant to your business. is crucial for transactional queries as some searchers may be looking for somewhere to buy a product or use a service locally.

You also need to always include clear CTAs (call to actions) when creating content for transactional queries as you are targeting users at the end of the sales funnel. Plus, try to make the transaction process as simple and seamless as possible as this will result in a maximum number of conversions.

Conclusion

You cannot practice good SEO without considering search intent. After all, how can you expect Google to rank your website high on SERPs if you are not providing relevant content to their users?

Search intent is ultimately all about engaging with your target audience and offering them what they need in the right format. When it comes to optimizing your content for user intent, you must remember to cover all bases and not purely focus on transactional queries, however tempting this may be.

As mentioned at the beginning of the guide, informational search queries are by far the most dominant search type. Therefore, if you want to impress Google and attract customers to your site, you should focus the majority of your efforts on creating this informational content.

Remember that SEO and keyword researchKeyword research helps websites unearth the best keywords to drive traffic and visibility. This research is supported by a number of powerful web-based tools, the best of which we’ve listed here. should still be the foundations on which you build the content for your site but that by writing to fulfill user intent, you can create meaningful content that keeps your target audience coming back for more.

Plus, it helps to tell Google and other search engines that you have created high-quality, relevant content that is worthy of moving up the ranks in SERPs.