Search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated, so having a solid understanding of users' search intent is a very important foundation for any successful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy.
This is because Google constantly makes changes to its algorithm, based on several aspects, but among them, the way we search, whether by voice or by mobile typing in a conventional way or even by the evolution of user behavior in light of their needs, always with the aim of delivering to the user a result in the SERP that is compatible with each person's search intention.
An important point in search intent is to understand that digital marketing is always done for people, and that person always has a certain intention when doing their searches on social media, Google or YouTube.
Let’s find a way to improve research into these intentions?
Types of User Intent: Categories to Recognize
According to the keyword search tool, Sem Rush, Search Intent or Keyword Intent, in our translation “search intention”, is nothing more than the ability acquired by the search engine — in the case of Google, the Hummingbird and RankBrain algorithms — to interpret according to the user's final objective and not just literally by the keywords.
Furthermore, when a marketer is doing keyword research for a piece of content, they can’t just rely on volume as a strategy to achieve better results. They need to learn to read between the lines.
The same word can represent different intentions and lead to completely opposite results. And although the science of knowing user intent is somewhat challenging and complex, trying to understand their intent will direct your SEO efforts more effectively.
If Google already interprets search intent, the SEO analyst needs to know this too. For example, if someone searches for “Jaguar”, they have two answer options: the wild animal or a turbocharged car.
If this person already has a history of seeking information about adventures, wildlife, etc., the answers surrounding wild animals will make much more sense.
And it is a fact that every action a person takes when clicking on a search on Google, YouTube or even when showing interest in an ad has an intention behind it. It is necessary to understand what it is.
To get the ball rolling, two questions must be answered when thinking about search intent: will your site or page be there? What will those rankings do for your strategy?
These questions will force us to analyze the audience's behavior, before segmenting the keywords and themes that will be suggested in the SEO strategy.
Search intent categories
These intentions can be divided into categories and refer to the explanation of what the user wants to achieve when performing a certain query in a search engine:
Non-fiction
The most common and highest volume queries are also in the informational category, or when people want to learn about a certain subject or discover new information.
These searches are also at the top of the marketing funnel, in a phase that can be called discovery, when there are still fewer chances of conversion to customers.
These users want pages that answer their questions, clearly and quickly.
Navigation or shortcut
This category is for those users who already know which company or brand they are looking for, usually these searches involve product names as well. These users are looking for navigation to a specific page or website.
In addition to showing home pages of products or services, the results of these searches can also lead to certain news about a brand or product.
Transactional and commercial
These more commercial queries may have a dual intention: they want to search for information about a product or service they intend to purchase.
This means that, in addition to the transactional intention, he seeks information that will help him make a purchasing decision.
It is usually a mix of informational and product or service pages.
In the case of full transactional intent, the user has already been informed and wants to buy. Typically, the results of these searches may present typically commercial pages, with products and services, subscription pages and prices.
Going further with secondaries to refine intent
Categorizing keywords and search queries into these four areas mentioned above will make it easier to understand what searchers want and help with page optimization.
With this clearer understanding of user intent, the keyword search results themselves will help analyze those intents and identify and fill in any gaps that may be left open.
And be happy with this realization: Google wants to show results that match the user's intent.
The keyword alone will not reflect this search intent, but with the help of secondary words and phrase matches, you will place your website or blog in a more refined way to be found by a qualified lead, offering them the information they need and want, at the right time.
A great way to optimize for these intents is to write about them, with the goal of targeting those users’ response intents.
To achieve better results, the tip is to create a main post, quite complete, on the subject related to the keyword, with as much information as you can find in the secondary words, a very eye-catching and comprehensive title, answering several questions to resolve people's doubts about that topic.
To improve your ranking, it is also recommended to create specific posts that will be subdivisions of that first topic.
One way to help with this ranking is to delve deeper into some topics from the first content that was more comprehensive for the keyword.
For example, if the keyword honeymoon was used in the main post, pay attention to the secondary words “honeymoon destinations”, “best honeymoon places”, “honeymoon on the beach”, among many others, as they will indicate the path of these users’ search intentions. Other supporting content should be produced with more specific words on the topic, such as “honeymoon in Europe”, “honeymoon in Gramado” and so on.
But it's worth remembering that researching user intent in content is an action that should involve much more than blog posts, it can be in ads, e-mail marketing campaigns , e-books, advertising, audio marketing, etc.
But don't forget to ask yourself the same questions you ask in your content when researching keywords. Are you meeting your search intent and the user's intent? Once again, we need to study your persona in depth to understand what they want and what their intent is when they do a specific search.
It's always good to remember that search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated in measuring the level of correspondence of pages that best answer users' questions, so optimizing these search intentions will greatly increase the relevance of your content for your personas.