The better your SEO, the better your business.
It’s a simple fact in our modern world of digital that your business needs SEO just like you need air to breathe. You can’t avoid the importance of SEO and how it enables you to rank higher and gain more customers.
But just what are people searching for? – and how do you discover which keywords you SHOULD be focusing your SEO on?
These are two of the biggest questions that plague anyone who wants to do well in Google.
The key to answering these questions comes down to two words – search intent.
What is Search Intent?
The term search intent, or user intent as it’s often called, is about the purpose of someone’s online search.
The dictionary defines intention as ‘an aim or plan’. So behind every search in Google, we want to know what a person’s plan is, or what they’re trying to find.
Is this person searching because they have a question and want an answer?
Are they searching for a specific product or object?
Or are they searching for a particular brand or business?
These all form parts of people’s search intent.
Why Does Search Intent Help?
You might be thinking, it’s all good knowing why people are searching but how’s it going to help my business?
Well that’s where the magic happens. Search intent provides you with a wealth of knowledge about what people are searching for in your industry, or around your product, and why!
The more information you have on your audience, and the type of ‘intentions’ they have, you can not only cater your website to support them in finding their answer, but you can create a wealth of informational content to support them.
Let’s take the keyword ‘chocolate cream’ for example.
At first glance, the intention behind this keyword is difficult. People might be searching for recipes for chocolate cream, or to purchase a product of chocolate cream. Or there could even be a film or brand out there called chocolate cream – we just don’t know!
How do we get to the bottom of what they’re really searching for? – we use Google.
Google has a wealth of data on us as users – yes it really is watching us. Which means when it comes to searches it already has an idea of what we might need. So for example, when we type in chocolate cream, from all it’s data, Google knows we’re most probably looking for chocolate cream recipes!
Search Intent & The Algorithm
Before you begin worrying how on earth you’re going to find these juicy keywords that help you discover more of your audience’s search intentions, Google has already started to help us with this job.
Over the years, Google has continued to improve its algorithm. In an intelligent way, trying to understand more about how we all use the internet, and what we really mean when we type in a search query.
After all Google’s number one goal is to satisfy us as a user experience. Google is very much in the customer satisfaction business, we just sometimes don’t realise it.
Much of search intent is currently done through machine-learning. Google is picking up our habits, and what we ‘really’ want to get back when we type in a search. This has a generic algorithm but can also be personalised to your particular needs.
This algorithm all works in Googles favour, because the more it knows what we need, and the better the results, the more we keep going back to Google. This is one of the reasons Google is the number one search engine on the planet – because it knows how to deliver results that engage us and keep us searchers coming back for more.
Therefore, in Google’s eyes, they not only want your website page to fit the search term, but also the search intent. This is why it’s vital you make your blog post or webpage fit the search intention of your audience. The better the content for that search intention, the higher up you are likely to rank that landing page.
If you want to get super nerdy about how important this is to Google, just read their Search Quality Factors, and you’ll see how much they want YOU to know your audience.
How we sum up search intent
Search intent, also known as user intent, is the underlying reason why someone types a specific query into a search engine. It represents the user’s goal, whether that’s finding information, purchasing a product, navigating to a specific website, or something else entirely.
As a webmaster or business owner, understanding search intent is crucial for search engine optimisation (SEO) because it allows you to create content that is truly relevant to the user’s needs. By aligning your content with search intent, you can increase your chances of ranking higher in search results pages, attracting more qualified traffic to your website, and ultimately achieving your SEO goals.
If you wish to speak with an SEO Consultant to find out how we can help improve your search intent, contact us on 01223 914007 or send us an email using our contact form.
