Search intent: What is it? And why does it matter?

What is search intent?

Every time you search online, there’s a reason behind it.

Whether you’re looking to buy something, find an answer or solve a problem, you search online to complete a specific task.

This is search intent.

Search intent, you might also see it called user intent, is the why behind any search made online. Essentially, what is this person expecting to find on the other side of this search?

Let’s imagine you’ve decided to take up golf. You’re completely new to the game and want a reliable set of clubs that won’t cost you a fortune.

So you go to Google and search “best golf club set for beginners”.

You’re met with a bunch of articles with similar titles: Best golf club sets for beginners.

What would you imagine you’d find in one of these articles?

Most likely, a list of recommended golf club sets suitable for beginners. Which is exactly what you do find:

Now all you have to do is look through the recommendations, maybe do a little extra research and then choose the set you want.

That’s a good example of matching content to search intent.

And when it comes to SEO and ranking on Google, search intent has become one of the biggest considerations you have.

Why is search intent important for SEO?

As complicated as Google can seem, it basically has one job.

Interpret searches and provide what it thinks is the most relevant content based on what the user is looking for.

As Google itself says, it spent around five years building a process to analyse meaning and intent around searches to deliver better results.

Search intent for SEO is just like search intent anywhere else.

Imagine you’re looking to buy a house. You walk into an estate agent’s and say: “I’d like some information on 3 bed houses.”

The estate agent hands you a pack of 3 bed buy to let homes you can buy to rent out.

Technically you’ve got information on 3 bed homes, but not the information you wanted. It doesn’t match your intent.

The same works with SEO.

Your content needs to match the intent of the user and provide them with the information they need based on what they’re looking for.

What are the types of search intent?

There are four types of search intent you’ll need to consider when creating content:

Informational

The user wants information or is looking for an answer to a question. This could be something like:

“What is SEO?”

“Best places to visit in the UK.”

Navigational

The user knows where they want to go and is looking for a specific page or website. This could be:

“Nike website.”

“HubSpot blog.”

“Paramount Digital blog.”

Transactional

These are very specific and the user is looking to take an action. Like:

“Buy iPad Pro.”

“Air Jordan size 12.”

“Cheap flights to Boston.”

Commercial

The user is close to buying a product or service but is researching. These could be searches like:

“Best golf clubs for beginners.”

“WooCommerce vs Shopify.”

“Best budget phones.”

Understanding the intent behind the search can help you map which content you should create to match it. But before we get into that, let’s look at how to identify search intent in the first place.

How to identify search intent

Understanding search intent can sound confusing and overwhelming if you’re not used to it. 

How are you meant to know the intent behind all these searches your customers could make?

There are some really easy ways to figure it out.

1. Look at existing SERPs

By far the easiest way to understand the search intent behind a particular keyword is to put it in to Google and see what results come up.

If the searches include a lot of how to guides or blogs, then you’re probably looking at an informational intent and need to create educational content to match it.

If you’re presented with product or category pages, it’s likely a transactional intent, and you need to optimise your landing and product pages to match.

2. Use keyword modifiers

Keyword modifiers provide some hints about the intents behind particular searches.

Let’s say your search includes modifiers like “how to”, “what is”, “examples of”.

You can guess the user is looking for information and not products.

On the other hand, if modifiers include words like “buy”, “for sale”, “order”, these are more likely to be transactional.

3. Use keyword research tools

Many keyword research tools now include search intent suggestions to try and help you.

The letters I, N, T, C will show you what type of intent the search is so you can create content to match.

The best advice I can give when it comes to finding search intent, is to research multiple sources to give you the best idea of what type of content is ranking for particular queries so you can stay on track.

How to optimise content for different types of search intent

The type of content you’ll create for the different search intent again comes down to what the user is expecting to find at the end of a search.

You’ll be able to get a pretty good idea of what type of content to create based on the search results for a particular keyword.

Remember, Google pours lots of money into understanding user behaviour and what they want, so the content types that appear in search results will be close to what you need to create.

If the search results are full of product pages, writing a blog isn’t a good idea.

Having said that, there are some types of content that better suit certain search intents.

What content should you create based on search intent?

Common mistakes with search intent

As an SEO agency that has reviewed thousands of keyword and content strategies over the years, you can imagine we’ve seen a few common mistakes when it comes to search intent.

Most of them completely avoidable. Here are a few to be aware of.

Ignoring intent (or targeting the wrong intent)

If a sign said don’t turn left or you’ll fall into a river, you’re probably not going to turn left.

One of the main problems we see with search intent is the signs are there about what content to create, and they’re ignored.

If a user is searching for information, a product page trying to sell to them will cause them to bounce from your website. 

Not checking search results

If it looks like a dog, smells like a dog and barks like a dog, you can probably guess it’s a dog.

If Google is serving up product pages for a keyword, that tells you what type of search intent you’re dealing with, and what type of content you should create.

Ignoring it will only result in your page not ranking.

Trying to get more than one intent on a page

You’ve probably seen these pages a few times.

They look like they’re going to be informational pages that will help you out, but they spend half the word count selling the products or services of the company that wrote the article.

Trying to be everything to every intent on one page is only going to make the content you create confusing and result in it not ranking.

Getting it wrong on long tail keywords

To be fair, this is easily done. And it comes from lack of understanding around what the actual intent is.

If a user searches best golf clubs for beginners they’re in a research phase, so it’s commercial. 

What you’ll sometimes find are websites targeting these types of searches with transactional intent product pages.

Not updating content

Like everything with SEO, user expectations and intents change. 

An old informational blog explaining how to do something may have worked before, but if customers start to lean more into video tutorials or visual explainers, you’ll need to update your content to keep up.

Not looking at local intent

This can be a massive missed opportunity for local service businesses. 

“Near me” searches have great local intent that can bring ready to buy customers to your website. 

Optimising your website for “loft conversions” is great, but adding local intent with “loft conversions in Manchester” is more likely to get you found by local customers.

Building different types of search intent into your SEO strategy

Search intent might seem like a lot to be getting on with, and it can be.

But it’s worth it, and is an essential part of your SEO strategy that can’t be ignored.

Google is constantly looking to serve the most relevant content to users based on the intent around the search.

So, matching that intent is the best way of increasing your chances of being found in search by your customers.

If you’re worried that search intent might have been ignored or forgotten about on your website, why not get in touch with us and get a free SEO and content audit?

If you’re not ready to contact us, be sure to check out our other SEO content that can help you make your website more visible in search.