Use These 3 Strategies to Get 'Search Intent' Right

Photo by Margarita Cherniak on Unsplash

Anyone can place keywords on a blog post.

What’s more, is anyone can apply all the on-page SEO best practices that are out there on a blog post. In other words: Get a bunch of high-quality links and a crushing technical SEO. But still not rank higher for the keyword they want to or not getting traffic from the right audience.

This happens because aside from, apparently, doing everything right, you’re forgetting about search intent.

People think the secret to rank is in the keywords they choose, and that’s true to a certain point. But the “secret” is targeting the correct search intent or keyword intent. That’s why content writers, SEOs, and copywriters say the number one advice when writing content is to know your audience.

In this post, I’ll go over some strategies you can use to get the search intent right, so you know how to target your audience. And also, level up your keyword research process.

Let’s get into it.

What is Search Intent?

Search intent, audience intent, or keyword intent, any of these terms, refer to the goal a user has when typing a query in a search intent like Google.

Meaning when you type something on Google, you have a clear purpose of what you expect to find. Let’s say you type “jackets for women” into Google. You would expect the results to be… yes, jackets for women from various stores, colors, and styles.

The last thing you would expect to find is swimwear for men as it has nothing to do with your search query.

By looking through the results on Google, you see that some of the options you liked the most are from the brand Columbia. So, now you don’t want any jackets. You want jackets from Columbia. And that’s when you refine your search by typing “Columbia jackets for women”.

Now the results are only from Columbia.

This is a clear and simple example of how results on Google can change according to the intent.

But the thing is, you can have different search intents for the same couple of keywords. So, you have to understand how to use long-tail keywords or the right mix of keywords to type in Google.

This leads us to the types of search intent.

Types of Search Intent

When you type search queries into Google, you can categorize your purpose in the following intents:

Informational Intent

You have an informational intent when you want to learn or know specific information about something. These queries are easy to recognize as they usually start with the 5 Ws and H (“what”, “where”, “who”, “when”, “why”, and “how”). But not all these queries are questions, they can also be terms like “Colombia” or “president of “president of the united states”.

Some examples of informational intent are:

• Grams to ounces
• How to cut your dog's nails
• How to appear in featured snippets?
• Types of clouds

Those examples can give you an idea of what an informational intent is — as well as some good reads.

Commercial Intent

Commercial intent is when you want to “research” about different products that you have the intent to buy. When you type queries with this intent, you’re not sure what brand you want to buy from and are looking for options or comparisons.

Some examples of commercial intent are:

• Apple vs Dell
• Jackets for women
• Software for payments
• Best PCs to work out of the office

These can be general searches to give you some ideas about what you need and the brands you can get it from.

Transactional Intent

Transactional intent is when you already know what you're looking for and from what brand. Meaning your buyer’s persona already went through all the processes of awareness of a need, the search for options, and now wants X item from Y brand.

Some examples of transactional intent are:

• Columbia jackets for women

• Under Armour shirts

• AMC tickets Las Vegas

• Sephora coupons

  
  

Very to-the-point searches.

Navigational Intent

The navigational intent is when you want to land on a specific domain or page. For example, when you type Facebook in your browser, it’s not because you want to know the story of Facebook or how many employees it has. What you want is to see your Facebook feed. So the first result is the login screen for Facebook.

Some other examples of navigational intent are:

• Whole foods order online

• Gmail sign in

• Youtube

• Amazon

  
  

Think about a page you already know and specifically want to land on.

Why Is Search Intent Important in SEO?

Search intent is important on SEO because it helps make sure every query or question you have gets a satisfying response. Which is the ultimate goal of Google, giving its users answers to their questions with one click. Or sometimes just at first glance because of the featured snippets.

See it like this:

You’re with a friend and you ask her “hey, remember that nice coffee shop we were in last time in the Art District? What was it called?” and then you get this response “yes, it’s the Art District”. Your friend knows what you’re talking about, but still, that doesn’t answer your question. And it leaves you feeling dissatisfied and like you weren’t heard.

Google doesn’t want this. They want to be the best user-friendly search engine that is out there. And as of today, it is.

Why is Search Intent Important to Rank Higher on Google?

Search intent is important to rank higher because if you satisfy your user’s intent with your content, they’ll remain on that page, reading or learning more. This will tell Google your content solves this query and you should be placed higher on the SERP.

Thanks to that, more people will land on your website, elevating your authority. Some visitors will get curious and explore your website. If the software of service you offer matches one of their needs, this simple visit to your page can generate some sales.

On the other hand, if people keep pogo-sticking. This means going back to the SERP clicking from position one to two, and then three, and so on. This means the search intent isn’t being satisfied with the first results on the SERP. And the results should be placed lower.

How to Get the Search Intent Right?

The best advice to conquer search intent is to understand what your audience is asking or looking for. What are their fears? What are their doubts? The usual stuff.

For example, let's say you want to buy protein powder. But you heard from a friend that most protein powder contains heavy metals like cadmium and mercury (super bad for your health). So, you want to buy protein that doesn’t have heavy metals in it and you type “protein powder without heavy metals.''

The results are either options with prices for protein powder or the following blog posts on “vegan protein powder without heavy metals” and “the best & worst protein powders”. The first blog post option satisfies the intent, its content educates visitors about heavy metals in protein powder. And gives visitors their brand as an option of a clear label protein named Drink Wholesome. The next option is a list of bests and worsts, so it may or may not contain what we’re looking for.

Now, just to add a little more noise. Let’s say that instead, you typed “protein that doesn't have heavy metals” on Google.

Note that you had the same intent, but some of the results changed. The options with protein to buy with prices changed, the Drink Wholesome brand kept its spot, and the bests and worsts list was replaced. The new option “best protein powder without heavy metals” can clearly satisfy the intent more. It's still a list, but a list of protein powder with no heavy metals.

All this to say that the search results change easily with different keywords, but pages can keep their spot if the search intent is satisfied.

Strategies to Get Search Intent Right

What I’m about to show you isn’t definite. There are a lot of ways you can type a search intent on your browser. But what’s important is to satisfy that single goal your audience has. Even if you don’t address the exact keywords, in the exact order.

So, let’s see three of these strategies.

(and will keep using the protein powder example)

1. Use Tools to Know the Search Intent

Let's say you want to look for the search intent of a long-tail keyword like "protein powder without heavy metals". You can use a tool like SEMrush to verify its intent.

For this example, we're going to omit the word "without" so you can see a wider overview of the different search queries with the words "protein powder heavy metals". And get more ideas for your content.

In SEMrush, the search intent is differentiated like this:

• N for navigational (purple)
• T transactional (green)
• I informational (Blue)
• C commercial (yellow)

Having this in mind you can see that people that type "heavy metals in protein powder" have an informational intent. Meaning users probably want to know:

• If there is actually heavy metals in protein powder
• Why are there heavy metals in protein powder?
• Are heavy metals in protein powder bad for you?

The next keyword is also informational but is a longer variation with the word "list". When typing "heavy metals in protein powder list" people want to know what heavy metals are in protein powder, not how many, but what heavy metals.

And now, to finish the explanation. If we're talking about the "protein powder without heavy metals" its search intent is commercial, so your audience is looking to buy a product that fulfills these characteristics. And that's when you step in with this intent on your sales page or a blog post promoting your product.

So, SEMrush is a good option for you to understand the intent behind some keywords. What’s more, it can give you some ideas about what to write next.

2. Brainstorm Search Intent Ideas

This is where you have to seriously think like your audience. Ask yourself what would you be worried about when buying protein. Or what is important to know about protein powder? But not all of us can change hats and our mindset that easily, right?

According to David Garfinkel, there are seven main reasons people buy. Or, as I would like to put it in this case, your audience looks for a solution that solves one of these seven problems:

• Making money
• Saving money
• Improving health
• Increase pleasure
• Saving effort
• Saving time
• And eliminate pain

So, going back to our example. If your audience is looking for the keywords “protein powder”, some of the intents you can have in mind are the ones that you just saw. For example, if they want to make money, search queries would be something like “how do you make protein powder”, “ingredients for protein powder” or “do you need a special machine to do protein powder”.

Now, for the others, search queries would look something like this:

• Saving money: “cheap protein powder” “is protein powder expensive”
• Improving health: “is it bad to take protein powder every day” “what are the healthiest protein powders” “organic protein powder”
• Increase pleasure: “tasty protein powder” “chocolate-flavored protein powder” “protein powders with good taste”

And this list can go on and on.

The thing is that with this list, you can think of a lot of ideas surrounding a single keyword. So you know what long-tail keywords address and satisfy your audience's intent with the information you’re giving.

3. Use Google Ads to Look for Commercial Search Intent

Another way you can check commercial intent. Specifically, is by using Google Ads. You can go to the keyword planner section and type some of the keywords on the topic you want to address. I typed the keywords “protein powder”, “vegan protein” and “organic protein”.

The low and high page bids show that there’s someone paying for this set of keywords on ads. So, it’s safe to say these keywords have a commercial intent.

Your Audience’s Experience Is Important…

…in fact, the user’s experience is the foundation of Google.

Just remember that feeling you get when you type something on the big G and the first result is everything you needed to know. Yeah, artificial instant satisfaction!

Give your audience the answer to what they’re looking for, not what you think they want. There’s a big difference. If you can provide this from the beginning SEO isn’t going to be a hard topic to understand.

Do you know any other strategies to get the search intent right? I’d love to hear.