What is Search Intent?
The search intent is the reason for every search. For instance, if someone was searching “what is a financial plan,” then it is an informational search term since they are searching for information about a subject and are a high priority in the marketing funnel. If someone were seeking “the “best educational advisor,” it could be an advertisement phrase since consumers would like to do some investigation prior to making the purchase.
Understanding the Four Types of Search Intent
The intent of the user is usually classified into four categories:
Informational: A user would like to be informed about a particular topic.
Navigational: A user is searching for a specific website .
Commercial: The customer conducts research before making a purchase
Transactional: The customer is contemplating purchasing a product
Informational or navigational searches are classified as low-intent, which means that searchers are usually not near making a purchase and aren’t regarded as potential buyers. However, transactions and commercial search results can indicate that the user is further down the funnel to marketing and closer to purchasing.
Informational Search Intent
Many people use search engines to locate relevant information. If someone is searching for information, they typically look for answers to questions. However, informational searches can also be presented as statements. Here are some examples of informational searches:
“How deep is the Ganga river?”
“Garlic bread recipe”
Navigational Search Intent
Users use navigational search to find specific websites. They’ll usually include the brand’s name and a product or service related to the site in their search. Here are a few examples of search results that are navigational:
“Facebook user login”
“Workshop SEO”
“Zara”
Commercial Search Intent
It could be considered a commercial phrase if someone searches using words that suggest they are researching before making a purchase. While they’re still searching for information, rather than making a purchase to purchase, the data would connect with the result of a decision. Here are a few examples of commercial search results:
“Android vs iPhone”
Transactional Search Intent
Transactional searches are conducted when an individual is contemplating purchasing a product. If someone wants to purchase, they’ll normally look for the exact product or service and occasionally include the brand’s name. Here are the different kinds of transactions that can be searched for:
“Nike T-shirt prices”
“Buy Macbook Pro”
How to Identify User Intent
When you create new content, knowing how people search and their intentions is crucial. Here are a few ways to assess search intent:
Manually Analyze SERPs
Make a list of your keywords and do a manual search. What are the results appearing on the search results pages? Does Google find resources relevant to your site? You might have “custom dog chain” on your list, but it will be adjusted according to the results when the phrase is searched. You should ensure that the keywords you target are used to create content specific to your business and users.
Check Featured Snippets
Search engines can show prominent snippets of information based on the query and whether it’s informational, navigational, or transactional. For instance, keywords with high intent that are similar to “buy” and “shop” are more likely to result in product-related carousels, whereas those with low intent (informational or navigational search) tend to show prominent snippets of information:
Identify Gaps in Content
One effective way to attract targeted visitors is to answer whether content “gaps” exist, meaning there is a chance to offer additional content in areas where information isn’t readily available. Look up your desired keywords to determine whether there is enough information available for each term. If there isn’t, create articles for the query.
Find Related Keywords to “People also ask”
On the search results page, an option often says, “People also ask.” The box is filled with queries related to your search term. Be sure to read this site, as it will give you related keywords to use when enhancing your website’s content:
Look at Top-Ranking Pages
Because Google provides only the best results for its users, we can look at the top pages to figure out the factors that make them relevant to search engines that can answer the specific keywords. While we do not want to create a similar article as rivals, it can be beneficial to look at the content that is performing best when we try to optimize the content for the user’s intent.
Identify the Type of Content
The first step is to determine whether the content is video or text. If it is text, identify whether it is an article, blog post, landing page, product webpage or something else. This will help you determine the style of content the search engines favour and what people expect from their search results.
Check for Structured Data
Structured data provides search engines with more information about a web page’s intended purpose. It also allows pages to appear on SERPs as rich, short snippets.
This free structured data testing tool helps you identify structured data on any website. Use it to check top-ranking pages and see if they use Local, Organization, FAQ, or other schema markup. Then, analyze the structured data from high-ranking pages to inform your strategy.
