In time past, many writers ignore user intent in SEO and solely create content based on the keywords they want to rank for. Their efforts directly focus on how to rank highly for keywords to get traffic and generate leads. As a result, their content strategy largely focuses on how to build pages that revolve around specific search queries relevant to their site. They learned the game and eventually achieved this.
However, the SEO game changed thanks to various algorithmic updates. In recent times, search engines are more focused on creating a better user experience. This implies that they are constantly evolving to display the most relevant result to searchers when they input their queries.
Simply put, they focus more on why someone searched for something rather than what the user typed in the search query. The goal of SEO content writing and strategy is to create content that attracts the ideal prospects. But you can’t only depend on keyword research to achieve this goal.
That is where user intent appears in the picture. In this article, you will learn about what user intent means and how to leverage keyword research and user intent for successful SEO content.
What is User Intent?
User intent, also known as search intent, is the motive behind an online search. It is the reason why your audience entered the search query in the first place.
“Are they trying to get more information about something, buy a product, or navigate through a website?”
Having answers to this question enables you to understand the user’s intent, know the reason why they are searching for something, and devise plans to effectively help them.
The purpose of user intent is to predict what your audience is after when they consult the search engine. Aside from this, search engines also focus on the user intent behind every search query and utilize it to display the relevant search results that meet the intent. This helps users to achieve their goals.
In the next section, we will take a look at the different types of user intent and why it is important for SEO.
Types of User Intent in SEO
There are four types of user intent, and this includes:
Informational intent
Imagine having a discussion with your friends about some past music concerts, and suddenly there is an argument about when the musician with the highest Grammy Awards. Do you know? This argument can go on for hours until someone pulls out the phone and searches.
This type of search is informational intent. In other words, the reason for searching is because you want information. An information intent helps users to discover answers to their questions, research a particular topic, or learn something new.
Answering informational intent is a great way to prove to Google’s algorithm that your website is relevant and authoritative. If your website provides lots of information, you may want to create a strategy for targeting informational intent searches.
For instance, if you run a blog about food, many people will want to improve their knowledge in the field and search the web for new recipes, hacks, or other updates. Due to this, you want to target these keywords and provide relevant content that answers their questions. This attracts visitors to your site and improves your ranking.
So, have you discovered the musician with the highest Grammy Awards? Let’s search for that.
Commercial Intent
When someone plans to buy something, they may visit the Internet to conduct some online search before they purchase the product or service. This is known as commercial intent.
They are looking for a product or service but are yet to decide if they want to buy it or not. Instead, they investigate their options to make the best purchasing decision. Their searches are always aimed at product information, comparison, and reviews.
For example, searchers may google “best washing machine” or “Whirlpool vs Haier.” They may want to compare the quality, prices, and delivery times before making a purchase. This intent may also be location-specific when a user searches for the best hotel or restaurant near them.
Here is what the search engine result page (SERP) shows when we search for “Whirlpool vs Haier washing machine.”
Navigational intent
Navigational intent shows when a user searches for a specific website or app. Here, the search engine understands that the user is trying to navigate to a specific location.
For instance, if someone wants to find the website of a particular brand but doesn’t know the URL, they can input the name of the brand (Apple, Samsung, or Netflix) in the search query and Google will show them the brand’s website.
This type of search is useful when someone wants to find the official website, without having to go through different hassles. However, it is essential to note that navigational searches only work for popular brands or brands that offer unique services. They are not looking for their competitors and may navigate there for specific reasons (such as filing a complaint to their customer service about a purchase.)
Here is what a navigational intent looks like in the SERP.
Transactional Intent
When a user is ready to buy, it is called transactional intent. Here, the user is looking for a place to conduct a transaction – purchase a product, hire a service, or exchange funds. As a result, the search engine displays the best opportunities where they can carry out the transactions straight away.
Even though people are ready to buy, they still want their money to get the best deal. The search term may slightly differ from someone that is checking the market. They could input a specific brand or feature into the query to get answers.
This type of search often ends up in a conversion or purchase. However, your site needs to be authoritative and trustworthy before this can happen.
Here is how a transactional intent looks like in the SERP
Why is User Intent Important for SEO?
Here are five reasons why user intent is valuable for SEO.
User Intent Tells You What Your Audience Is Searching for
When you start to focus on user intent, you begin to look at live examples of what people are looking for in the search engine. This isn’t just tied to how keywords are used. Instead, it is tied to the questions users have for Google.
For instance, “laptop case reviews” and “laptop case under $50” are different keywords. “Laptop case reviews,” tells you that users are looking for reviews for any laptops. It isn’t clear what type of laptop case the user is searching for. Generic content will fit the needs of the users, as there isn’t a focus on a particular laptop case.
On the other hand, “laptop cases under $50 ” are more specific. You know what the user’s intent is. He isn’t only looking for a laptop case, but also one that is inexpensive. In this case, it must be less than $50. Knowing this, you can create content that fits this price point.
It Suggests Unique Keyword Suggestions
Oftentimes, many SEO experts fail to capture high-value long-tail keywords with strong user intent when conducting keyword research. They get caught up by “keyword popularity” and limit their thoughts beyond the “search volume” count. When you focus on user intent, you can highlight what users are inputting in the search query. In other words, you think more like a user instead of an SEO expert.
For example, it is quite easy to figure out that the keyword “pest control” is popular. It’s got a great search volume but that is where many SEO experts end their keyword journey. But what if the user wants to figure out how to get rid of pests without any aid from a company? What if they want to use home remedies? The user could search for “how to control pests through home remedies.” You could craft an article that is valuable and meets the needs of your users.
It Helps to Craft an Overall Content Strategy
Content quality and relevance have always been essential to a successful SEO strategy. However, what matters the most is to create content that addresses the specific need, problems, and interests of your audience. You can achieve this by crafting a content strategy that your target audience is looking for.
Identify the long-tail keywords they are looking for and try to obtain more information from them. Then, craft a content strategy that meets the user intent and appeals to your audience. Although creating an effective content strategy may be a bit difficult, you must put in the effort to make your focus sharper.
It Highlights clearer demographics
In the world of local and mobile search, catering to a specific demographic is often lucrative. Users often search for information based on location-specific keywords. For instance, “best hotel in Texas” is a clear user intent that is tagged with a location. This type of information makes it easy to design content that aligns with that particular demographic.
The Role of Keywords in SEO Content Writing
It is no doubt that keyword ranking plays a huge role in SEO. Let’s take a look at some of its benefits in SEO.
Niche and Competitive Targeting
Targeting keywords with high search volume isn’t always the best thing to do. Niches can be more lucrative as it allows you to focus on products and services that bring high margins. Doing keyword research around these niches can help you to identify areas that are less optimized but are also profitable.
It can also help to inform your content strategy. For instance, if you work in the movie production industry, keyword research can show you that there are hardly any searches for the term “CD”. This implies that the demand is weak and that you shouldn’t offer the service.
Staying ahead of the curve
The world of SEO is ever-changing. Search terms don’t trend forever. This means that what worked this month may not work in the next. Google Analytics and other keyword research tools can provide historic data to show the fluctuations in the popularity of keywords.
It helps you to identify the trendy keywords at that moment, know when it falls, and identify other seasonal patterns. All these enable you to plan and stay ahead of the curve.
It gives you direction
Keywords always give a sense of direction to every SEO expert. How? It enables you to discover what people are interested in. Then, you can build content and blogs around it. Writing about trendy topics will not only offer relevant content to your visitors but also help your website to rank.
The Limitations of Keyword Rankings
Despite these benefits, keyword rankings have some limitations as it doesn’t solely focus on the users. Here are some drawbacks to watch out for when trying to rank for a particular keyword.
Focuses on Search Engines instead of Users
Although keyword research is an essential factor of SEO, it isn’t the crux that offers a great experience for users. The over-reliance on keyword research for your content strategy can lead you to start designing, writing, and optimizing content for search engines.
When you go down this path, you can end up having a site that ranks quite well but doesn’t offer much for the user. Visitors can discover and visit your site but they will promptly leave if your content isn’t relevant to their needs. Thus, user experience should be a bigger priority when crafting content, as it often correlates to conversion and retention rates.
Keyword Stuffing
If you aren’t careful, you could end up allowing keyword research to dictate the type of content you must produce. Overdoing this could result in keyword stuffing. Even though you have found the right keyword that isn’t too competitive and remains relevant, you may end up overusing it.
This will enable the web crawlers to interpret it as “keyword stuffing” and let you get penalized. Aside from the ranking penalty, you could also wash your users off to other sites as well.
Narrow Focus
Keyword research can provide you with valuable information relating to current keyword ranking standings and search volume. However, rankings vary based on how users access Google search, whether it is through mobile devices, geographic locations, or specific browsers.
Besides, relying on keywords and the search volume can only make you focus on the quantitative data. Other metrics such as organic traffic, and how long visitors stay on your side may be ignored. These metrics are great indicators of bounce rate, quality, overall visibility, conversion rates, and more.
So, is keyword ranking obsolete? Of course not! Although it is a powerful tool that gives you great insights into your content, it doesn’t put users at the heart of any SEO strategy. Completing turning your back on keywords can usurp your content strategy, but the over-reliance on keywords can make you too focused on a single approach.
So, what’s the solution? That takes us to the next section.
User Intent vs Keyword Ranking: Finding a balance
When it comes to creating a successful SEO strategy, neither keyword nor user intent can survive on its own without the support of the other.
Keyword research is the bedrock on which you build your SEO strategy. You need to understand what people are interested in and what they search for on the Internet. However, focusing on monthly search volume, keyword difficulty, and competitive density may not take you far.
The next step to take is to consider the user intent over those keywords. Google remains the best tool to use to understand the user intent behind these keywords. When you have insights about the category each keyword falls into, you can understand the type of content you need to create to rank well.
In addition, you should search the keyword string in Google and see the results that are already ranking. This can give you a good idea of what is relevant to both the searchers and Google. What matters the most is that Google wants to provide the most relevant results to users. To do this, you must focus on three factors as an SEO expert:
- The keywords that have a relative volume
- The search intent behind the query
- The structure of the content that Google deems relevant.
Understanding and implementing these three elements is crucial to knowing the right keywords to target, the type of content to create, and how to produce the right content that is relevant to the users and search engine.
Conclusion
It is not enough that you perform keyword research for your SEO strategy. You must also put the user at the center of your SEO strategy. That is where user intent plays a key role. Focusing on the user intent enables you to understand what people are looking for.
It makes you think beyond the popular keywords and focus on producing content that fits the needs of the users. With this, search engines such as Google will deem your content relevant and increase its ranking status.
