What is Search Intent: the importance of user intent

Have you ever wondered why Google finds the information you are looking for the first time with just three words? This is the Search Intent. Search engines understand your search intention perfectly, providing the necessary information so that the result is entirely satisfactory. Therefore, it is essential to consider your users’ intentions when designing the information on your website.

Table of Contents

What is it? What is it for?

Search Intent consists of fully satisfying the user’s need when doing a search on Google, that is, analyzing the user’s behaviour so that we have a clear idea of what they are looking for and what they intend to achieve through their search. Take into account the what and why and understand what the user intends to find.

Furthermore, it is one of the critical aspects that Google takes into account when positioning a website in the ranking, and, therefore, it is worth delving into it for the optimization strategy of your website.

Guys

To understand the Search Intent, we must start with the types of search or query that a user can perform:

Informative: In this case, the user will have searched solely to obtain information. In turn, this information can be:
Simple: A short and concise answer is given when the user searches for information. In this case, Google will present the information directly in the search (in a featured snippet ) without the user visiting a web page. An example of this search would be “actor in Lethal Weapon .”
Complex: Users browse one or more pages When they seek more in-depth information about the keyword. In this case, the search would be “Mel Gibson”.
Navigational: Here, the user will search for the keyword and a specific brand they already know. The search is based, then, on branding. For example, “Gucci shoes.”
Commercial: In this search type, the user expects to find reviews, comparisons between products and buying guides. The user could search for “Samsung Galaxy S”.

Transactional: The user is looking to make a direct transaction; their search is probably “buy Samsung Galaxy S”.
Local: For this search, the user wants to know where a place is located, get an address, and locate an establishment. An example: “Casa Paco Restaurant”.Search Intent Classification

In addition to these categories, we must also take into account a series of standardized search intentions according to Google’s guidelines:

Know: The user seeks broad and unspecific information.
Know simple: In this scenario, the user seeks particular information.
Do: Here, the user wants to perform a specific action such as buying, selling or booking.
Device action: Mobile devices or digital assistants come into play in this category.
Website location: When the user intends to go directly to a specific web page.
Visit in person: When the user intends to go to the business and wants to know the address or location in advance.

The conversion funnel

What is it?

In any SEO strategy, the main idea is to convert visits to our website into conversions, that is, actions by our users that meet our established objectives. Furthermore, it is a crucial metric because it helps us identify in which phase we lose the user. In this way, we will be able to detect our errors and areas for improvement and know where to focus our efforts.

Phases

The conversion funnel or funnel is based on a series of phases or stages:

Acquisition: In this phase, we attract users to our website and make ourselves known through online marketing.
Activation: Here, we earn the user’s trust by providing quality content.
Retention: This phase aims to build user loyalty, get them to register, and spend more time on our website.
Sale: It is the most important phase of conversion, where the user becomes a client of our website.
Reference: Finally, we are interested in the customers’ satisfaction and intention to purchase or use our services again. We also recommend us to third parties.

Another model for categorizing the stages:

Information ( inbound ): Within this type of phase, we find several models that filter users through the funnel:
Google Adsense Niches: In this case, it would be a page to find information about a product or service. If the user entered “Samsung Galaxy S” in the search, they would see all the technical details on the phone here.
Adsense + Amazon authority portal: In this type of website, we find more or less general information about a product or service, but a purchasing guide is also added. For example, the user would also search for “Samsung Galaxy S”, and the page would inform them about the product, but there would also be a comparison table and reviews.
360-user response portal: This model offers a complete experience to the user; that is, from the search “Samsung Galaxy S”, you would find all the information about the product, a purchasing guide with comparative tables and reviews and, finally, a link to buy the phone directly, which is known as transactional content.
Transactional inbound: This model uses the copy or writing of the website to change the user’s intention, that is, someone who accesses it looking for information but who, thanks to the layout and content of the website, ends up carrying out a transaction.
Purchasing guide: As we have seen before, buying guides are usually based on comparative tables and reviews from previous customers. This is when affiliate niches come into play:
Membership Niches: It occurs when several web pages that share the same market niche mention each other’s products on their respective pages. Following the previous example, the user who has searched for “Samsung Galaxy S” has arrived at a web page where, in addition to information about this phone, there is a comparison with other current phones. In this case, the page’s owner is advertising other phones in addition to Samsung so that he will receive a commission for the Marketing he does for the other brands.
Transaction: This is the most important phase since the user makes a transaction or purchase on our website. He finally ordered the Samsung Galaxy S, which he had researched for a while.

Optimize your website

Once we have reached this point, we must consider how to address our target audience and develop the strategy to achieve our objectives, constantly considering all the previous elements.

Analyze

All optimization must begin by analyzing the determining factors for your website.

SERPs: To begin, we must do a keyword search to analyze which works best and know which keywords to use when creating our strategy. We must also consider the rest of the parameters of the search results. For example, you have a pet products website selling food, toys, etc. You may be thinking about using keywords like ‘dog food’ or ‘cat toys,’ but first, you must check which Types of Keywords work well and which don’t fit your users’ Search Intent.
Competence: Next, you should have a clear idea of how your competitors use these keywords and the rest of the elements of their web pages for their strategy. Analyze who achieves positive results and why, and incorporate these elements into your tactics. Remember that this does not mean that you copy their content. Continuing with the example, investigate the websites of other sellers of pet products and focus on their design and content.

Adapt your content

Make sure your content is aligned with the primary user intent parameters:

Guy: It refers to the type of content, whether it is a product page, a blog article, a location, etc. So, you must establish the predominant content for the keywords you want to use. For example, in the previous “dog food” case, the main results are product pages. Type content

Format: Some of the most common are lists, tutorials, opinions or comparisons. This will be based on the user’s search. If you search for “best dog food”, the results will be lists and comparisons.
Angle: This refers to the point that makes a product stand out or differentiate itself from others. This is where we sell our product or service. We could put “dog food at the best price” on our pet products website or “original handmade cat toys.”

Guide your goal

Last but not least, it is imperative that you apply all the previous information, always focusing on the purpose you want your website to have:

Informational: The keywords will be the most important and best ally for this type of search intent since your objective is to offer satisfactory information. Make sure you use many keywords without saturating the content with them. You can include questions like “What is…?”, “What are the causes…?”, and “What are the benefits of…?” and try to answer as soon as possible.
Commercial: Here, our objective is to capture the attention of the user who can become a customer. To do this, we will use calls to action such as “buy now”, “get the discount”, or “last offer” so that you persuade the user to make a purchase that they had not originally planned.
Transactional: In this case, the user is already predisposed to buy, so your task will be to make it as easy as possible for them. Get used to the idea that you must optimize a quick and easy way to complete the transaction, such as product or registration pages.

Google organize the world’s information.

As we have seen throughout this post, Search Intent or user intention is an essential element to consider when optimizing our website and getting the best possible performance. It helps us know the users and understand what they expect from us so that we can provide it to them. In short, it is the basis of our work as SEO experts.