Why Search Intent is more important in Content and SEO

Search engine optimization has become an integral part of content marketing nowadays. The main aim of doing this is to get a better ranking for the website so that more users can see the content. Google ranks websites based on relevance and popularity online. they use various methods to find out whether the content is valuable or can be useful for their audience.

The main option they use includes search engine algorithms which are the program that checks the quality of the website and its contents. To make a better online presence SEO is very important.

Just like SEO, there is another factor you need to be considered while publishing content online. there will be an aim behind every content. Some content is used to create awareness among the audience and some others will help to create conversion.  This is where search intent plays an important role. If you are new to this term come with me.

I will show you various aspects of search intent and how you can create content that can reflect the search intent of the audience. The main reason for discussing this topic today is because of the importance it gets in content marketing nowadays. I am going to give you a clear idea about search intent and implementing this theory into your content.

What is Search Intent?

Search intent is a popular word in content marketing that mainly deals with the reason for conducting search results on the internet. People search for content with various intents or they may have different types of questions. Search intent is the answer to this.

Google became smarter now and trying to find the search intent of the audience using various methods. It could be anything. Based on the search query they can decide what is the search intent of that particular person. Technology has become that much advanced. You will learn

  • How to identify search intent
  •  How to satisfy search intent through your contents. 
  • Types of search intent

There are various types of search intent when it comes to creating content. Content marketers should be familiar with the type of content they want before creating one.

The main 4 types of search intents are;

  • Informational
  • Transactional
  • Navigational 
  • Commercial 

Informational Search Intent:

This is nothing but creating content for information. There are contents that are created just to provide information the audience wanted. It could be about the weather, SEO, steps to do something, and many more. Most people search for information in Google which can later be converted as leads. It can be used to create awareness among the audience, establishing brand authority, and even make the audience follow your brand. 

The main keywords that can be used in informational types of content could be like How to, what is, Tips to, how to, where, ideas, ask, highest rated, etc. These are keywords that can help you to generate an informational type of content.

Mainly audience uses these keywords to get such types of content from search engines. By knowing these keywords you can create your content more informational and make it more relevant to the search engine as well as internet users at the same time. 

Transactional Search Intent:

Transactional contents are mainly to sell a thing or to get conversion from the audience. People search on the internet to buy stuff online. To make content transactional you need to invest a lot of time researching some keywords that can attract the audience to the content. 

People who want to buy something will search only for the transactional type of content.  It could be anything from buying stuff online to signing up for a newsletter. You should design your landing page which can be reflected as transactional type one using keywords such as join now, sign up, Buy, get, discount, etc. 

You can try different keywords to make the audience do something on your page. The search engine gives more preference to pages that are more active with audience involvement.

To make them do any action on your page you should try to give them something interesting. This can help you to make your page more active and get a good ranking also. So, the transactional type of search is more popular nowadays, and if you can provide what they exactly want you can win the race. 

Navigational Search Intent:

People who search with navigational search intent will mainly be looking for a website they want. for example, if they are looking for Facebook that is navigational search intent. The reason is that they know what they want from the search engine. Another example of navigational search intent is Kindle books in Amazon.

As you know Amazon sells a lot of products and Kindle books are one of them. When audiences search for that specific product they are searching with navigational intent. Your brand name is the keyword for this type of content. When people specifically look for a brand name this is the best way to tell them about your brand. Brand name customer care, brand name events, the brand name offers, etc are some keywords that can be used.

When someone uses the brand name with whatever subcategories they have it will help you to get listed under top search results. 

Commercial Search Intent:

Commercial search intent is exclusively for the website which wants to sell something to the audience. Brands need to publish content that can help the audience to know more about the product and to impress the audience about your business.   You can use your brand with popular keywords such as comparison, better than, best, category, etc.

Content that publishes which contains the comparison with a similar type of product can also be helpful to create commercial intent. Webmasters should know how to make the audience purchase a product using words like the limited offer, order now, etc. 

In addition to the above 4 categories, I included one more category which is called the job to be done.

Job to be done Search Intent:

For this category, the main attraction is that it offers some important things that can be done to complete a task. There are many contents that can help the audience to do complex tasks simply. If you are selling some product you can offer a webinar that can help them to understand more about the product. The most popular keyword in this category could be certification, webinar, checklist, quiz, survey, etc.

These types of content will help the audience to check their knowledge or to do something useful from a website. There are many websites that offer such types of content. To attract more audience, they need to understand the importance of these keywords and should use them in the content as needed. 

Search Intent is more important in Content and SEO

How can you identify Search Intent using SERP 

Identifying search intent is not easy from SERP. How you can find what users search for just with a word? You can do that based on the keywords they use to search for something. Search engine ranks pages that are more relevant to search queries. When someone searches for a topic the best way to find is to know the search engine result because Google only shows the most relevant type of content on the result page.  Here are some points you need to look for to know more about search intent

  • Search snippets

When you read the search, the engine results in the best way to identify useful content is by analyzing search snippets. Reading some tops search snippets will help you to know the search intent of that particular content easily. Try to understand the problem which is trying to solve by the search engine result 

  • Top ranking pages that help with findings

What is the intent of these pages? how they are proving particular search intent to the audience using particular keywords? What user stage is specified on the content? Is the page offers some value to search intent? These are some questions that can help you to get proper answers

  • Pages that rank well and pages that are not

All pages will not rank equally when it comes to SERP. Google looks for the most relevant pages to search and then ranks the page. If your page is not relevant to a user query, then it might not get a better ranking position.  

  • Use Google analytics 

The best way to analyze search intent is to use Google analytics. You can get a detailed report on data queries if you want. this can help you to create the type of content your audience wants that can react to the search intent exactly. There are many ways to get each search intent based on location, devices, etc. also it will show you so many related queries that you expect to get when search a keyword and many more.

  • Use a better keyword research tool

The keyword research tool is important because it can help you to provide better keywords that suit the search intent. You can use a popular keyword research tool to get a clear list of keywords that can help you to get a better ranking position also. You can filter keywords based on location, country, and even the intent you are looking for from certain keyword research tools.

I also included the most suitable keywords for each type of search intent in the image. You can use those keywords while creating content or create content based on those keywords to get the search intent audience looks for in content. It should be mainly based on your intent while creating content. Each type of content has its own intent and if you can get the conversion you are looking for then it means that you became successful in your venture. 

  • User interviews

User interviews will help a lot to identify the search intent. If you can conduct a survey on real users on what they want it will help you to create content as they want. this can make your content more popular and relevant to search queries also. 

Conclusion

If you can follow the above options and give proper content to your audience your website will be more successful. If you can satisfy user intent by following keywords and the type of content the ranking of your content will be better. Use appropriate keywords that can reflect search intent to get more relevant traffic.

When the audience for content and if they can find what they looked for without many difficulties it will be more useful for your website reputation also. Analyze the search intent based on the above details and create your content that can help the audience to find the solution.

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