The goal of search engines is to provide
relevant information against search results that precisely answer the question.
To build a smart SEO campaign, you must have a good understanding of how the audience
searches the products and services in your industry niche. It requires a thorough knowledge of the
search query by looking beyond the literal meaning of the word or phrase and
trying to discover what prompted users to frame the search query. Once you know
or for that matter search engines know why users raised the question it unveils
the intent behind it and on knowing the intent, it becomes easy to provide the
matching answer. Search engines use advanced algorithms, and by analyzing the massive
volume of traffic, it determines which results would be befitting for the
query.
To develop sound search engine
optimization and content strategies it is crucial to understand the broad
categories of intent to target the keywords by capturing the purpose behind it.
Every SEO company goes through a process to understand the intent behind the targeted keywords that form the backbone of SEO campaigns.
Types of Searcher Intent
To understand what search intent means it is better to
try to find the answer to why did searchers raise the query, and what are they
trying to achieve by knowing the answer or information. Search queries fall into
four categories according to the intent behind them – Informational query, navigational
query, commercial query, and transactional query.
Informational Query or Intent
The largest volume of searches that we
commonly encounter belongs to this category. Searches of this type are entirely
informational meaning that searchers want to gather information without having
any specific plans of using it. They want to learn about a topic or subject and
collect information at random. In the marketing context, information search
queries exist at the stage when consumers are just about to begin their journey
in purchasing. This is the time that in marketing parlance is known as the
discovery phase with minimal chances of visitors progressing toward
conversions that turn them into customers.
During this phase, searchers would be
happy to gather useful information that provides specific answers to their
queries very clearly. They expect the search results to throw up information that
complements their expectations. The information must relate directly to the
products and services of your business so that it brings you in front of the
audience and build awareness and generate website traffic.
Navigational Query
When searchers are looking for some
specific website, business, or brand, they will type in the name of that website
so that they get help from search engines to reach that page or website. This
type of search generates high-value traffic because searchers are already
familiar with the brand or business and want to interact with it with some
purpose. Searches with brand names or product and service names feature in this
category. Searchers want to reach some
specific page like the home page, product page, or page related to services.
Commercial Query
Commercial queries as the name implies is
to have the clear intent of engaging in some transaction while gathering some
information in the process. Transactional intent is apparent in these searches
as the searcher is keen to make a purchase but at the same time wants to gather the information that could help to make a well-informed decision. It is quite
natural that results against such queries would comprise a mix of product or
service pages as well as informational pages.
Transactional Query
This type of query prominently underlines
the commercial intent because searchers are ready to make a purchase. The
intent is very clear in the query that includes terms like sale or price. The corresponding results would naturally
include pages related to products, services, subscriptions, etc. that are
entirely commercial.
Having understood the type of queries,
marketers must categorize the keywords accordingly so that it aligns with the kind of intent and
it becomes easy to understand what searchers want that facilitates optimization
and the creation of pages that carry information.
Optimizing According to the Intent
SEO optimization becomes most effective
when you know the intent and optimize for it. Besides discovering the intent,
you should try to figure out what is Google's understanding of the intent and
whether it matches with yours. It should help to find the answer to what type
of result would make searchers happy or what they are looking for.
Conclusion
In addition to knowing searcher intent
that helps to improve ranking and drive more traffic to websites, it is
important to understand what the traffic would help to accomplish. Traffic does
not always mean conversions because it can help to meet the objectives during
various stages of the purchasing journey.
From brand discovery to authority building, it can help to accomplish
different objectives that match the SEO goals.
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