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The main goal of Google is to provide relevant and helpful search results for all users. Proxies like keywords and backlinks increase the probability of a web page satisfying the user intent. The main objective of any website is to be optimized for user intent. If your website is well-matched and tailored for user intent, it can easily outperform websites that optimize their content primarily for search engines.
Optimizing your website and its content for user intent is one of the most innovative SEO strategies in the industry. It focuses on providing content that users want. However, different users have different intents and queries. Analyzing the different user search intent and queries will help you optimize your website’s content.
What is user search intent?
User intent refers to what an individual looks for when conducting an online search. Marketers and businesses need to understand the user intent of every individual visiting their online platform. User intent analysis considers the various keywords used by users while also diving deeper and looking at the search semantics. The search semantics help marketers understand the goal of the user search.
For instance, a user can search online to buy a specific item from a specific brand or recommend a specific service. Understanding user search intent makes it easy for marketers to target the right search items and keywords in their SEO strategies and online content.
Which are the different user search intents?
There are three main types of user search intents, they include:
- Informational
- Transactional
- Navigational
The above three types are based on the “do, know, go” ideology. The concept focuses on breaking down the user search intent based on the user's action in the end. The three types of user search intents affect content marketing and SEO strategies differently. Let’s have a deeper look at the types of user search intents.
1. Informational Intent
The informational user search intent is when users are looking for information. Thanks to mobile devices and easy access to the internet, micro-moment searches are becoming more popular every day. The searches can range from educational, fun facts or even just confirmation of travel plans.
Users do online searches to satisfy their need for a piece of specific information. Once the user has the information, they don’t plan on making any “Call to Action” with the newly acquired information. But this doesn’t mean informational queries aren't helpful in online marketing and SEO.
Online businesses can still benefit from informational queries. You can quickly gain organic traffic by providing relevant content that connects users to your products and services. Your website will rank highly as you get more queries from different funnel stages and intents. Additionally, it will enhance your website’s E-A-T metrics.
2. Transactional Intent (High Intent / Buying Queries)
With transactional user search intent, the user ultimately wants to purchase a service or product. Transactional searches contain high intent and specific keywords. They’re beneficial for online businesses since users will easily click the “buy” button if they’re satisfied with what they discover through their search.
Marketers need to identify and understand the correct user intent, then adapt their SEO strategies accordingly. With the correct SEO strategy and content, one can easily target customers ready to purchase.
3. Navigational Intent
A navigational query is slightly different even though it has a similar methodology as the informational and transactional intents. When carrying out a navigational intent search, users navigate to a specific website looking for a specific brand of product or service. It’s more like walking in a supermarket looking for a specific brand of ice cream, but now in an online setting.
Navigational intent is very tricky to analyze and develop search intent SEO strategies. Marketers need to identify which keywords are worthwhile and make them stand out against their competitors’ offerings. Sadly Google might not be beneficial for navigational intent since it’s evident what the user is looking for.
How to identify the different search intents for your SEO and SEM Campaigns
Effective SEO and SEM campaigns make it easy to fully understand the user intent. Plenty of user intent queries are straightforward. It’s essential to evaluate intent queries before formulating any marketing strategies. Most users carry out informational queries, and they act as the key drivers of brand awareness and customer acquisition.
If you have a smaller website, you can quickly evaluate the intent using a manual process. For more prominent websites, you’ll need to scale up the process. Nevertheless, user intent evaluation involves two main aspects:
1. Find out how users search in your market and identify their search intent stage
The SERP (search engine results page) gives plenty of information regarding user intent evaluation. The top results will show what most users are looking for when making any queries. With search engine results pages, you can identify the following key metrics:
- The types of websites that are ranking highly
- The type of content found on the sites that are ranked highly
- The main text or phrase used by users in making the queries
Analyzing and understanding the search engine results page (SERP) data is intuitive and straightforward. Nevertheless, the SERP is becoming more competitive as more businesses embrace online platforms. When developing SEO strategies, you must consider the user search intent stage.
All your strategies need to have relevant content and be user-focused. When you fully understand the user intent and their user stage, you’ll develop effective marketing and SEO strategies.
2. Use third-party data tools to analyze your market and competition (Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and Similarweb)
When tracking search engine results pages, you need the best tools. There are different third-party tools that marketers can use to analyze SERP. With them, it’s easier and faster to monitor SERP features for specific keywords. Top online tools for tracking SERP are:
- Semrush
- Ahrefs
- Moz
- Similarweb
Marketers can use these tools in assigning intent categories. Different features will hint at specific user intents based on your industry. Therefore, it’s essential to sample keywords using various user intent codes and SERP features. Pick the best SERP analysis tool for your online business based on your SEO needs and user intent analysis.
Automate the process of adding high buying intent search queries to your Google Ads campaigns with OrbitalAds
OrbitalAds provides several tools to spot and automatically upload all search queries that are considered to have a high buying intent. This is key to be on top of the game with very specific long-tail keywords that provide very high conversion rates.
