What is Search Intent? And Why It Matters For Your Business
What Potential Customers Search For On the Web
Your customers don’t think in keywords. When they search for something on the web, they use their own words. Each search is a query. Behind each query is intent.
Intent is what someone wants as a result of the search query. An answer to their question.
When you understand intent hierarchy, you have a better chance of capturing interest at every stage of customer awareness.
When you understand how search intent sends people to your business, you have a better idea of how to create content that presents the answer to their question and builds brand awareness for your business.
The Old Way May Not Bring You the Traffic You Want
If you are still basing your content on keywords, it’s time to think about topics and the hierarchy of search intent.
The reason you want people to find your website is to convert them into customers. A keyword that has a high volume may bring you traffic, but not traffic that results in customers.
In a recent article on Wellspring Digital enterprise SEO practitioner Omi Sido says, “Traffic is useless unless those visitors become customers.”
If you are a plumbing business in New Jersey and your main keyword is “Plumbing” you may get traffic to your site, but that traffic may not result in business. In fact, because it is a high-volume keyword, the likelihood of having the right customers land on your website is small. Tiny. That’s not qualified traffic.
Without revenue, your business suffers.
You need to match intent to draw qualified traffic to your website. That way, you match the intent of the searchers. They are already searching for what your business offers.
Let’s look at the three types of searcher intent identified in search optimization and then look at how your business can address these types of intent.
Informational. The searcher is trying to find information they believe is available on the web.
Transactional. The web user wants to perform an activity facilitated by the web.
Navigational. The user wants to reach a particular site.
Informational
Most searches on the web are information. A user wants to find out information, often facts like weather, or celebrity news, or a point of geography, or how to write content for their business.
In the customer journey for your business, the searcher is looking for information about how to fulfill a need or solve a problem.
Frequently, these searches are question-based and start with phrases like
Who
What is/ What are the benefits of
Where
When
Why
Ways to
How/ How can I
Guide
Tutorial
You want to identify search queries related to your business, products, and services. So, rather than doing “keyword” research, you want to research what Omi Sido calls “search query research.” Then you can match your content to answer the questions posed in these queries.
You can search for queries in the “people also ask” section in a query result by entering a word or phrase in Google search. Google displays related queries which are a goldmine of content ideas. That will give you a start on what users want.
But you can gather direct queries related to your topic or phrase by using the free tool Answer The Public. Not only does the tool display current search queries related to your topic, but you can download a .CSV file of the search queries to use as prompts for content that answers questions. I describe using Answer The Public in a recent article How To Use Answer The Public at ProWritingAid.
Although it is unlikely, you will make a direct sale from articles that respond to informational queries, Google will often use pieces of the content to create a Featured Snippet as the “featured” answer to the query.
Featured Snippets build brand awareness. A potential customer may not be familiar with your business, but there you are giving the exact answer to the question they asked. Featured snippets (also known as answer boxes, knowledge graphs or Google direct answers) have the potential to boost website traffic which builds even more brand awareness.
Detailed and organized answers make effective content for informational search intent:
Articles with tips formatted as lists
Step-by-step guides
Infographics
How-to videos—upload them on YouTube and link back to your article with the embedded YouTube video
Checklists—use terms like “checklist”, “list” and “to-do list” in your description
Transactional
This is your business dream search intent. The user is ready to make a purchase. They may search for a generic term “running shoes,” or a brand “Nike,” or a specific product “Nike Zoom Pegasus Turbo 2.” However they query, the user is ready to make a purchase.
For transnational intent, make sure your web content is fully detailed. List, price, size, color, model choices, etc. And make sure your description takes advantage of SEO. For example, if you sell “Nike Zoom Pegasus Turbo 2” make sure that the keyword is present in your tags, meta description, and image descriptions.
Include price and availability and enrich descriptions with images and video. Customer reviews are a component of content aimed at transactional intent. Prospective buyers want to know others had a good buying experience and are satisfied with the product.
Navigational
Navigational intent involves search queries that want to go directly to your website. This is a challenge for small business organic search. All the work you do to increase brand awareness through articles that target informational and transactional intent, can make your business top of mind so they think of your business first.
This is especially true for local businesses when users perform an informational search that includes “near me.”
You can help build that awareness by creating specific pages on your website that address your brand identity. SEO practitioner Omi Sido suggests:
Brand + service
Brand + product
Brand + sale
Supplement your organic reach content with paid advertising for more navigational intent. Pay per click (PPC) advertising can quickly bring you from unknown to top of mind.
Make Your Intent to Match Search Intent
If website traffic has been your goal, shift your thinking to getting the right traffic—targeted traffic. Match your website and social media content to the intent of people searching for the solution your business provides.
I’ve been writing web content for over seven years. Get in touch if you want help with your content strategy to improve customer response. And if you are curious about pad advertising, I can help you find the right person.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
