How to Use Search Intent for Keyword Research that Gets Results?


For any marketer out there, the customer should be the king. They must serve their customers come what may and in the best possible way. Google has done this since its inception and its dominance is not unknown. 92 percent of all the searches online, take place on Google. That means no one is even close.

But why is Google a go-to place for everyone?

Why does only Google come to our mind when we think of search engines?

Because Google has done the grind.

Google evolved with the changing times.

It kept on adding features like Google Images, Google Maps, and Google Instant to answer the user’s query most efficiently. With the advent of machine learning, it also integrates AI into its algorithm which refines the search results in real-time and displays what is best for the users. And Google has still not stopped. The latest entry is Google’s MUM (Multitask Unified Model) which helps users with more complex queries. The sole purpose behind all these efforts has remained the same: The user should get whatever he/she intended. So, one thing is very clear: If you want to rank high on the Google result page, you need to match the search intent.

What Actually is Search Intent?

When buyers search for any query on a search engine, they have a purpose. They may be looking to read about something, they may be wanting to buy some stuff, or want to learn how to use something. That purpose is their intent to search. Of course, they would want the results to be aligned with their intent. Imagine someone looking about how to ride a bike and they end up getting the prices of the latest bikes on the result page. They would be pissed off right?

Therefore, creating content that aligns with the search intent or using intent-specific keywords in your content is the only way out in 2022. Otherwise, Google will bury your content to death.

What are the Different Types of Search Intent?

Broadly speaking, there are four types of search intent

Informational Intent

This is when users are trying to learn more about something. Weather, school, a famous personality, or books. Anything. Almost 80 percent of the search queries have informational intent.

Navigational Intent

Searchers with navigational intent want to visit a particular website. For example, ‘Instagram login’

Transactional Intent

When a user, after a thorough analysis of all products, has made up his/her mind to buy a particular product, he/she uses the search engine with transactional intent.

For example, ‘Samsung phones under 12000’.

Commercial Investigation

Those searchers who are in their research phase before they make a purchase decision are the ones who do a commercial investigation. For example, ‘best air conditioner in 2022’.

Intent-Specific Keywords

It is very clear that searchers with different search intents will use different words in their search queries. For example, someone with an informational intent will use modifiers like how to, why, the difference between, etc. Someone with transactional intent will use words like discounts, coupons, or phrases like ‘in the range’. These words are worth including when optimizing your page to match search intent.

An Example to Summarize Everything

Suppose you sell skateboards online and you have a dedicated website for the same. You can optimize your product catalog page or discount offerings for the search term ‘buy skateboards’ or ‘skateboards under 5000’. You must have an article or a blog about why your skateboards are special, be it the material or the wheel’s rotation speed. You can optimize this blog for the search term,’ best skateboards 2022’. Someone may be new to learning skateboarding and may hit Google with the informational intent ‘How to skate?’. You can optimize your article ‘Skateboard for beginners’ for this search intent. You can always check your progress by seeing your rank in the SERP for particular search intent.

A Quick Tip

One way to dig deeper into search intent would have been to ask the searchers themselves about different search terms for different intent. But that could be a lengthy process. You may also come across as an intrusive person to your customers. But there is a way out. Google’s ‘People Also Ask’ section. Why worry when you already have a curated list of popular search queries with different intents prepared by Google itself? Look for the ‘people also ask’ section for keywords you are targeting and try to optimize your content for all those questions. You will shock yourself.

How Keyword Research Tools Can Help You

If you are using Search Engine Marketing to drive traffic, you may want to have a systemic approach to finding keywords that match the search intent instead of some random guessing. Keywords research tools can come in handy here. The majority of them are free of cost. Here’s how you can use them.

  • Think of a few seed keywords related to your business.

  • Include different modifiers for different search intents.

    When, why, how (Informational intent)

    Top, best, review ( Commercial investigation)

    Buy, in the range(Transactional intent)

  • You will be presented with a list of results that includes the seed keywords as well as the modifiers.

  • Consider three things while choosing the phrases

    • They must have a high search demand

    • They must have traffic potential

    • They must have business potential.

  • Create new content around those phrases and optimize your existing ones too.

Conclusion

The key takeaways you can have from this article are as follows −

  • Search intent is the reason why the searcher made the search.

  • Google gives a significant preference to the content that matches the search intent.

  • There are four types of search intent-informational, transactional, navigational, and commercial investigation.

  • One should create content that is tailored to each of these intents.

  • One should look for Google’s SERP to understand how search intent works.

  • One can use the keyword planner tools to come up with keywords that match the search intent.

Ensure you have these pointers noted so that you can implement a successful marketing strategy.

Updated on: 08-Feb-2023

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