Understanding users: the answer we all want to know.
Often, people who are not specialists in the subject confuse SEO with the work of a programmer or with a dark and complex process. Although web positioning has a more technical side, with processes such as editing source codes or the different ways of obtaining metrics, this area of digital marketing is extremely human.
Search intent is proof of that. It is the analysis and understanding of what a user is searching for on the other side of the screen. It is based on the concept that a person comes to Google with a problem or a question to be solved - within marketing and content planning we call this need a pain point . Therefore, they type their query based on a keyword (let's say "why aren't my sales increasing") and click on a result.
However, it is possible that the keyword does not distinguish the actual search intent (think of a person who types “sales”: What are they looking for? To understand how to increase sales? To know historically when the buying and selling system began? Are they looking for companies? Are they looking for digital solutions? Are they looking for specialists? Etc.).
This is where the artificial intelligence of search engines comes into play, gradually croatia phone number understanding and reclassifying all the material on the web. The job of a content creator is the same: to elucidate the real objective of the person behind the keyboard.
Types of search intent
There are mainly three types of intentions, that is, three large groups of queries, needs or problems that people may be trying to resolve using an Internet search engine.
1. Navigational
This group of searches includes all those that are performed when a user already knows what they want, but is looking for a shortcut to get there. This happens a lot with brands; perhaps a person doesn’t remember the domain address or doesn’t have it in their favorites, so they search for the name and expect the site to be the first result. We are talking, for example, about when a person searches for “HubSpot” on Google.
2. Informational
This search group includes all those searches that are done to investigate a topic or a product/service. In general, they occur when a person is looking to make comparisons or opinions on the web. This would also be the case for “sales” or “increase sales”, but many times the term can vary from an “absolute term”: examples of this are “the best CRM”, “HubSpot or SalesForce”, among others.
3. Transactional
This group of searches includes all those that are carried out when the user wants to obtain the necessary data to make a contract or purchase, and then makes an inquiry for that purpose. Examples of this are: “where to buy X”, “ERP system providers”, “marketing agency”, among others. This group and the first, the navigational one, can end up being mixed, because it is possible that a user wants to enter a site that he/she already knows to make the purchase, and even more so with the e-commerce boom that we are witnessing.
It is important for a site to handle all three groups of searches. If a website is not prepared to handle any of these, it may not only lose some traffic, but also potential business.