Search Intent & SEO – Quick & Easy Guide For Beginners
SEO is not an exact science and Google proves it to us every day with each new update of its algorithm. No prediction is possible regarding the positioning of a page on a given request.
If there is one action that can ensure good visibility in the SERP (search engine result page), it is to offer unique content that meets the research intention of the internet user.
Keep in mind that keyword research and search volumes are not enough. To be visible, your content must meet search intent.
What Is Search Intent For SEO?
Search intent is the reason why the Internet user searches for a keyword or a phrase (a group of keywords). A person can thus carry out a search to obtain an answer to a question, to find the official site of a brand or to research a specific product before buying it.
Coined for the first time in 2002 by Andrei Broder, an employee of AltaVista, search intent is crucial for a successful SEO campaign.
Broder says that the search intent can be divided into three different types:
- Informational Search
- Transactional Search
- Navigational Search
1. Informational Search
These are the so-called generic searches. They are made by people who want to explore a particular topic and therefore their behavior is not expected to end with a purchase.
These questions can be examples of informational search:
- How do you clean microwave ovens?
- How do I clean my microwave oven naturally?
- Differences between vacuum cleaner and electric broom
With Google showing more and more “People Also Ask” in SERPs, it is easy to identify and “capitalize” on these keywords or phrases.
Having this type of content on the website gives you the opportunity to put the brand or site in front of users right at the beginning of their journey and thus increase the chances of the final purchase of a product.
When a website begins to rank consistently for these types of questions, it almost certainly starts to be in a position of advantage over its competitors.
Therefore, by optimizing your content for Featured Snippets and People Also Ask, it is possible to increase organic traffic and at the same time satisfy the informational needs of potential customers.
2. Transactional Search
Transactional searches are those that occur when the user is ready to make a purchase. These will be related to the categories or products on the website.
For example, if you’re an online store selling kitchen appliances, you can build content around the following keywords & phrases:
- Best hand blender
- Best coffee machines
- Popular pressure cooker brands
Transactional searches will be essential for the website in question and should take precedence over informative searches when you start optimizing the website for SEO.
3. Navigational Search
Navigation searches are the easiest to understand and require little effort in terms of optimization. They are carried out with the intent to go directly to a specific web page, which is known to exist, to perform an action.
They coincide with branded searches even though Google seems to treat them differently.
In some cases, users may not know the exact URL and the search engines are used to support the browser navigation bar.
Some examples of navigational searches could be:
- Facebook login page
- Netflix subscription page
- Spotify login page
This type of search usually leads to high conversion rates. On the other hand, these users already know your company, so they cannot become new customers.
For those brands that are not included in the search, it can be a way of intercepting competitors’ traffic, albeit at a definitely reduced conversion rate.
Why Is Understanding The User’s Intention Important In SEO?
In the past, the goal was to position oneself on target keywords without taking into account the quality of the content offered or whether it really corresponded to what the Internet user was looking for.
Google is now developing its data analysis capabilities and artificial intelligence algorithms to better understand what are the real intentions behind the search carried out.
It can reformulate the keywords typed by Internet users to offer content that is much more relevant than before.
Your content and landing pages should be tailored to your audience and their needs. Thus, matching the content created to users’ search intentions helps you to position yourself at the top of Google results.
Blogs can be a good tool for creating mass content and targeting different search intentions. By creating the appropriate content:
- You meet user needs: Providing content that exactly matches search attention will increase click-through rate and reader satisfaction.
- You position yourself as an authority: If you offer quality content, Internet users will remember your name and will be more open to clicking on your content again after a positive first experience. Offering relevant content strengthens your image and sets you apart from the competition.
- You capture traffic at different stages of their purchase cycle for better conversion: By creating varied content on the same subject, you can provide information to Internet users at different stages of their purchase cycle, i.e. supporting them in the initial researching phase, in the final sale phase and even after its purchase. (information on the advantages of a type of product, comparisons between products, testing of a particular product, price comparisons, product user guide, after-sales service sheets, etc.).
If you want to be successful in SEO and content marketing, search intent needs to be an integral part of your strategy.
SEO Tools For Finding Search Intent
Tools exist to save time and gain a broader understanding of the search intent of a given query.
We could quote Answer the Public which allows us to understand the needs of internet users.
This very practical tool will give ideas for creating content in the context of your SEO strategy. It allows you to download all Internet users’ queries in the form of a CSV (spreadsheet) or PNG (image) file.
Knowing the questions of Internet users is essential for answering accurately and getting traffic to your site.
Less known but just as powerful and illustrated, the Also Asked tool will allow you to obtain a detailed tree structure of all the questions (People Also Ask) that Internet users ask themselves.
How To Create Content Corresponding To Good Search Intentions?
The creation of relevant content, which meets user expectations, on a maximum of requests, must be your priority to capture a qualitative audience.
1. Create your lists of keywords and classify them by type of intention
When you start working on your SEO strategy, researching keywords to rank on is a starting point.
In the past, search volume was the main selection factor. Now, the factors to consider when researching keywords have evolved, with user intent becoming a determining factor.
Optimizing the content for the user’s expectations is the priority, targeting a particular keyword is no longer the right strategy to adopt.
To identify a strategy, you can operate as follows:
- Do a keyword research by search volume.
- Classify keywords by categories.
- Assign an intention to each keyword.
- Determine the usefulness of each keyword and its intent in your marketing strategy.
They are important to optimize content for local SEO and queries targeted to a geographic area in order to stand out from your competitors.
Segmenting targeted keywords based on intent will help you identify and fill in the gaps in your keyword targeting. By developing this thinking, the most profitable keywords and intentions for your business will be quickly identified.
Some keywords and irrelevant intentions for your business may be dismissed.
2. Observe Google results
Google has gone from a search engine to a response engine. With the arrival of artificial intelligence at Google (Rankbrain) and algorithms such as BERT, to better understand Internet users’ requests, the search engine is refining its ability to better understand Internet users’ intentions.
If you want to better understand the search intentions of Internet users, check the SERPs for the keywords you are targeting.
By observing the results, you will be able to get an idea of the intent of the user that Google has identified for a particular query and what content it highlights to answer them.
You can analyze and understand why some pages rank higher than others and identify the topics covered and the angle used to cover it. If a specific type of content is highlighted, creating content in the same style will be more relevant.
Observe the similarities of the best results:
- Type of content (blog post, product page, video…).
- Content format (guide, reviews, comparison, listing).
- Angle of treatment of the subject.
3. Modify or create adapted content
By observing which pages appear at the top of search results, you will be able to know the type of information and content that is highlighted for the keywords you are targeting.
This will help you focus on the type of information to include in your content and create content that has a chance to rank. Analyzing SERPs will help you better understand how to make your content relevant to the query and make it better than the competition.
If you’ve created content before, it’s time to pick it up and adapt it rather than starting from scratch with new posts. Take the time to analyze your content to see how well the information matches search intent and how it can be improved to meet them perfectly.
Ask yourself these questions and do this study before creating any content:
- What is the purpose of this search for users?
- What is the intention that Google identified in its results?
- What type of content is most suited to the trend?
- How can I stand out from my competitors?
4. Write clearly and precisely
Your content may contain the information the user needs, but, if your page is not easy and pleasant to read, its search intent will not be satisfied, and you will be penalized by the Google algorithm.
Keep in mind these few simple rules in your SEO strategy:
- Write short and simple sentences
- Integrate the etymological field associated with your keywords
- Limit your paragraphs to 4 lines maximum
- Integrate question / answer formats in the form of bulleted or numbered lists
Having all of the building blocks for an effective user experience tells the Google algorithm that your content meets the user’s search intent for that keyword.
5. Add value to your content
To satisfy both the Google algorithm and the search intent of your target, your page must be rich and offer real added value.
If a user is looking for information, offer him quality content that will meet his expectations.
Optimize your content by including the following elements:
- Original and thought-provoking reflection
- Information-rich reports or research
- Visual content to enrich your content: infographics, videos, tutorials, etc.
If, on the other hand, the search intent of your target is transactional, you should instead optimize your site for action and conversion.
To do this, consider the following elements to integrate into your page:
- Case studies or testimonials from former clients, in clear and pictorial form
- Call to action button: “Book now”, “Contact us”, “Download here”, etc.
- Subscribe to a newsletter
- Presence of an FAQ concerning the conditions of sale
- Livechat to help potential customers who need more information
Final Thoughts
Attracting qualified traffic to your website is not easy. Indeed, before setting up your SEO battle plan, you will need to determine how your audience searches on the internet and what expressions they are likely to type in the Google search engine.
However, your subjectivity and analytical mind will play a major role in your selection of phrases since it will be up to you and only you to determine whether these search intentions will benefit your business.
