We have a purpose for which we search online. It may be to know the match scores, price of the latest iPhone model, visit a specific website, or to know how to lose 10 pounds in 10 days. This very purpose is known as keyword intent (search intent or audience intent).

Knowing about the search intent of the user is the very first thing you will have to think about before publishing content. Google has really worked hard to determine search intent and improved its algorithm.

The 4 types of Keyword Intent

Let us see the types of search intent followed by how to optimize your webpage for each one of them.

1. Informational Intent

A vast majority of people have an intention of getting information. Typical queries with informational intent answer the interrogative terms like ‘how, what, where, and why.’ The search query need not contain these terms because Google is intelligent enough to understand your intent.

For example, when you search ‘Jeff Bezos’, Google knows that you want to know about ‘Who is Jeff Bezos’ and will show results accordingly.

2. Transactional Intent

When people search with the intention of making a conversion, it is known as transactional intent. Some of the conversions may be to signup for an email newsletter, visiting a store (by searching for the directions), or even buying something.

For example, ‘Netflix premium price’, ‘iPhone 12 pro price in the USA.’

3. Navigational Intent

People with navigational intent already know which website they want to visit like, the brands that you want to visit. This type of intent is good for organic traffic. You tell me when you want to buy something from Amazon, do you type the entire URL or just type ‘Amazon’ in the search bar?

Some other examples are: ‘GetKeywords Dashboard’, ‘Facebook Login’.

4. Commercial Investigation

Before purchasing something, we search on the internet for the ‘perfect’ product that fits into our needs as well as our budget because we want the best product or service available in the market. This search or rather ‘investigation’ is what we call a commercial investigation. 

Some of the examples are: ‘best mobile phone under $500’, ‘best school in Michigan’.

How to optimize for Keyword Intent

Let us understand keyword modifiers. Each intent type has its own set of keyword modifiers, using which you will be able to drive your target audience.

Although it is important to use the right keywords according to the intent to attract the right audience, it is equally important to not use keywords of other intents if you are not solving the purpose. If you have posted a review article on ‘best tomato sauce’, you would not want to drive traffic of people who were looking for ‘how to make tomato sauce at home.’

Here is a cheatsheet of keyword modifiers based on the four types of intent that we saw in the previous section:

1. Informational: what, who, were, why, how, guide, resource, tips, examples
2. Transactional: coupon code, order, buy, cheap, purchase, price
3. Navigational: website names, name of service, name of the product, name of the brand
4. Commercial: review, comparison, top, best, cheapest, attribute of the product

You may use GetKeywords to use the feature of keyword intent available in the ‘Keyword Filter’ option. Here is how:

Step 1: Decide the keyword intent that you want to serve.

Step 2: Type your title in the search bar of the tool.

Step 3: Copy the keyword modifiers according to the intent that you want to serve in the ‘Include’ section by clicking on the filter icon.

Step 4: You are done! Really. Just copy-paste the results somewhere and use them.

Benefits of Keyword Intent in SEO

It is no rocket science that when we get what we want, we tend to make conversions and trust the brand more. Similarly, when your audience will get what they are looking for, chances are high that the conversion rate of your website will increase. So, is search intent helpful for transactional and commercial intent only?

A simple answer: NO. In fact, every brand and organization post some informational posts for the following reasons:

1. More audience: let us say that you created a guide on ‘how to dice tomatoes using the best knife’. This guide will appear when people will search for ‘how to dice tomatoes’ and related terms, and also when people will search for ‘best knife to dice tomatoes’. So you hit two birds with one stone: solve the purpose of two audience bases.
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2. Appear on answer boxes: has your website appeared on the answer boxes? If not, now it can. By creating content for solving the intent of the audience, Google will feature it in snippets, making it highly clickable by your audience as it will appear at the top. Having various featured snippets will show results that will blow your mind. 
   
   If you don’t know what answer boxes are, search ‘how to water plants’ and the first thing that appears on search results is a featured snippet. People are more likely to click on the featured snippets.
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3. More views: we started off this section with the same question that will you not make a conversion on a website that meets your intent. Your on-page time will increase and people are more likely to share your blogs in their social circles. 
   
   For example, let us say you are a fitness trainer and you posted an article on ‘how to maintain a calorie deficit.’ Not only the people who are on a weight-loss journey but also those who know someone on a weight-loss journey will also see your article. 
   
   Sometimes, your already existing content may need a little tweak to solve the intent of people.

Conclusion

We have seen search intent meaning and examples, and what is search intent in SEO. As a business owner, your worst nightmare will be that your website doesn’t rank. Try to incorporate what we said in this blog on your existing websites and let the magic begin! 

Remember that you can’t fool Google. Even if your website ranks today, and it is not worth it, your page will rank down eventually. So, if you want to be a long-term player, make sure to create content based on the user’s intent. Also, don’t forget to check out our tool GetKeywords and avail the benefits without even signing up.

Comment down below your thoughts on search intent, experiences, and issues that you are facing and we will get back to you!