What you need to know about user intent

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A lot of great SEOs don’t do keyword research as well as they should. This is the case even though many have a great process in place that helps them find potentially highly profitable keywords. What is it that they are doing wrong? They are failing to understand user intent.

The only way to truly maximize the ROI of your SEO campaigns is to take into account the reason why users carry out a particular search. Ranking in Google is one thing, but it won’t matter if your ranking page doesn’t match the user’s intent. They will just leave. Here’s everything to know about user intent.

 

What is User Intent?

The phrase “user intent” means the reason why someone searches on Google or another search engine. The intent is the goal they are trying to achieve by searching.

A user could have several intentions. For one, they could be looking for advice on a topic or an answer to a certain question. Secondly, they could be looking for somewhere to buy a particular product or reviews on that product. They could even be searching for a local area for a certain type of business.

 

Google more than other search engines has gotten a lot better at defining user intent. Now, they are starting to personalize searches in a way that reflects intent in order to provide a better user experience.

 

What Are the Types of User Intent?

Typically, there are four core intentions behind searches.

 

1. Informational Intent

When a user has informational intent they are looking for more information about a certain topic, an answer to a particular question or just information about anything. Informational intent is commonly linked with action intent. If you are searching for DIY information you are probably like to do DIY soon.

When Google detects informational intent, it will typically by serving up a range of different SERP features. These can include a knowledge box, an image carousel, links to relevant blogs and Youtube videos.

 

2. Navigational Intent

A navigational intent means that the user is trying to get to a specific website – not a specific physical destination. As an example, if a user searches for Apple, Google knows they want to go to the Apple website and offers that as the first result.

 

3. Local Intent

Local intent is a navigational question and usually means that the searcher is looking for a type of business in a specific area. In return, Google will usually show map-based results, a local listings pack and other navigational elements.

 

4. Transactional Intent

Transactional intent is when a user wants to buy something even online or offline. This may be as a result of this search or they may want to make a purchase soon after. As a result. Google tends to display product ads in these searches and include a lot of eCommerce stores.

 

If you need help with user intent, we are here to help. Get in touch today to find out how.