Many marketers are guilty of paying too much attention to the keyword volumes and not enough to cover what the content should cover. As a result, they produce large amounts of content that are missing and do not convert. This even applies to well -written pieces.
This happens when marketers ignore the keyword intention, which is the missing element of the puzzle. Not just know What Your audience is looking for it, but also Why You want the information to be able to change your content strategy.
In the following I will share my deep dive in keyword intentions. Here is everything you need to know to do it right.
Table of contents
What is Keyword intent?
Keyword intent – or as others call it, the search intention – reflects what a user wants to find in the search results. Your goal could be to learn a specific topic, make a purchase or compare options.
By understanding the keyword intention, marketer content can create content that meets the expectations of the viewfinder. This should lead to higher ranking lists and more user loyalty.
The importance of keyword intention
In my opinion, the keyword intention does not get the loan it deserves when it affects the SEO. It is one of the must-havees to achieve high search ranking results. How come? Think of the way search engines work.
Google and its counterparts aim to show users relevant content and pages that answer their questions. If you address a specific problem or a specific topic with a keyword that is relevant for the person’s intention, Google can recognize and take it into account in the engine ranking.
Also note that in addition to the “just” search engines, you help to understand the keyword intention to position yourself for phrases that relate to your offer. For example, we want Drift Kings Media to appear in search of “CRM”.
In addition, we would like to optimize for more specific intentions, e.g. B. “How I organize my small company” or “How I can organize my contacts”.
Types of key worts
There are four main categories for the intention:
information
As the name suggests, this type of intention applies to queries that people use in the search bar to obtain information on a topic. You either have a very simple question: “How long does a direct flight from NY take to LA?”
The seeker either wants to go into a simple answer or deeper into a topic. Think of questions such as “advantages of vitamin D” This is a starting point for more research.
navigation
These keywords are often “branded” or moved into with the website of a company or a dedicated website. In fact, I recently seen a contribution by Ahrefs Cmo Tim Soulo, who shared it 36.9% of all US search Add a company name. That’s pretty much!)
For example, a person who wants to log in to their Slack account via a web browser could type in the search bar on “Slack -Login page”. Their intention is to be directed directly at the login temperature instead of going to the commercial website and finding the registration function yourself.
Similarly, someone who bought a dress in Zara but did not fit well could search for “Zara Return Directive”. A person who wants to try on Nike Shoes could google “Nike Store near me”. The goal here is to appear for these brand terms (especially since competitors could try to maneuver for their brand phrases).
Transaction
I recently spent hours looking for a dash cam. I knew exactly which model I wanted to buy, but I wanted to find the best offer.
After visiting a few websites, I went with a dealer who offered the lowest price and bought the camera immediately. My search intent was transactional – I knew what I wanted and I wanted to buy it as soon as possible.
Commercially
The commercial intention resembles transaction intent, except that people are not yet ready to buy so that they rate their options.
Back to the camera example. I am not a specialist for a “car camera”. Before I found the model that I liked, I had to research “a little”. In truth, I spent hours with the camera ranking and reviews until I found the right one. I didn’t buy it back then. I waited a few days until I was absolutely certain that it was the “one”.
How to identify the keyword intention
Analyze the SERP results and immerse yourself in the language of the query.
I always start with search results. If I wrote an article about “Best real estate agencies in Spain”, I would google this sentence before I decide on the content format. Here is what I would get:
We can clearly see that search results contain a list of real estate agencies with which it is worth working. Users who carry out this type of query rate their options – this means that their intention is commercial.
The best type of content to adjust this expression are checks, case studies, testimonials or comparison pages. Everything that could help users make a well -founded decision with which the agency is supposed to work.
If we immerse yourself in any result, we can also find that you contain words like “pros”, “Cons”, “Best” and “Comparison”, which further confirms that the intention is actually commercially commercial.
Use a tool.
If you feel like you need additional help Tools such as Semrush or Ahrefs work miracles in the identification of intentions. Both have functions that automatically assign keywords. If you already use one of these tools, this is definitely the simplest (and fastest) option.
Alternatively, you can also ask Chatgpt for help. It does a good job, language and meaning thanks to the natural language processing (NLP). The chat bot can sort phrases by keyword consideration types.
I did that when I carried out an SEO audit for a customer at the beginning of this year. I provided Chatgpt an export of keywords for which the brand has already classified, together with terms in which they wanted to create content. I provided Chatgpt the four Keyword intent categories that I used to shake in this blog, and asked to add a relevant day to every keyword.
Regardless of whether you use dedicated keyword software or chatt, I would like to share some advice. Since neither Ahrefs, Semrush nor Chatgpt are human, they are could Make mistakes in identifying the intention. So whenever possible, check out the output.
Tips for optimization for keyword intention
Here you will find some practical tips for creating a content and SEO strategy that contains keyword intentions.
Select the right content format.
The best way to check which formats work is to carry out a search for the expression you want to aim in Google. What kind of content dominates the top 10 results? If most sources have a list of a list of a list or how-to-resource, do the same.
This means that readers deal with this type of content and find them useful. Google quickly takes note of this and is increased the ranks for what has proven. Bonus points: If you follow the same article or the same side structure, make sure that it is also more revealing than your competitors.
As a rule of thumb, there are certain formats that are particularly suitable for certain keyword intentions. For example:
- Instructions or blog posts – Informative keywords in which you present a visitor on a topic and build your expert picture.
- Goal sites and product lists – Transaction keywords. These pages do not necessarily have to be very short; You can mainly optimize them for transaction phrases and use additional keywords in the description or in the FAQs.
- Comparison pages, articles or reviews – Commercial keywords.
The most popular type is probably “(tool a) vs (tool B)” rarand pages on which users who are familiar with two brands receive an overview of both. These pages can convince users to select one solution via another. Just make sure that you stay objective and are not too sold.
Use an intent -oriented language.
If you use the intent -oriented language, you can adapt your vocabulary, your tone and request to the goals to your searcher’s goals. It will help you achieve a better SEO ranking and hopefully improve conversions.
Let’s take a look at the type of language that you should use based on the type of intention:
- For informative intent, Go with clear, teaching phrases such as “Learn how to learn” or discover “tips for”. As far as the CTAs are concerned, you can consider “read the complete guidelines” or “Explain similar topics”, which both promote further exploration of the topics.
- For navigation intentions, Use fire -specific terms, navigation instructions or direct links such as “Register (brand name).”. For CTAs you should “go to the homepage or access your account”.
- For transaction intentionsFocus on action -oriented terms such as “buy now”, “Register today” or “Start.”
- For commercial intentions, Use comparative and trust-built phrases such as “Compare the best”, “Why choose” or “Top-rated options for”. Your CTAs may contain terms such as “see how it compensates” or “check customer reviews”.
Optimize Meta Days.
Don’t forget meta titles and descriptions. If you do this, Google simply generates you automatically from the page content. However, it could not match what you want to say. Here are some tips on how you can optimize meta tags:
- Make sure you reflect the search intent.
- Promise the value by focusing on important advantages and solutions that offer your content.
- Use an action-oriented language to use users into guidelines for guidelines, which is next to do.
Here is an example of Meta -Days for a goal -Kord with an intention to provide information: “How to create a progressive web app”.
- Meta title “How to create a progressive web app (PWA)-a step-by-step instructions”
- Meta description -“Create a progressive web app (PWA) with this comprehensive guide. Discover important tools, service worker setup and caching strategies to create a robust offline app. “
Creating a meta tag for every content format has a positive effect on your click rate, as visitors know before you enter the website when the content meets your requirements. This should also reduce your bounce rate.
Add structured data.
Google, Bing, Yandex and Yahoo use all structured data to understand what is one side, and to learn about the brand, the people, products and companies mentioned in the description. A popular type includes the Scheme Markup, which is often hidden in the code as supplementary information.
While structured data is not seen by the site visitor, you can still use it to create useful information (packed with relevant keywords).
Let us think as an example of frequently placed question modules. This has put together a software agency with which I recently worked together for their new target pages. I helped our customer to write the new website copy that contained a FAQ section.
With this approach, brands can not only use relevant keywords, but also answer frequent questions from potential customers. Here is an example.
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Concentrate on user experience.
Last but not least, the optimization of your website for keyword intentions also means to adapt your layout to the type of information you want to convey.
This means selecting the correct formatting or visuals in order to create complex or comprehensive information as digestible as possible.
For example, the comparison pages I already mentioned are great candidates for a diagram or a table. Instead of expecting your reader to go through a paragraph, make the information skaned and reduce the efforts of the user.
Checking the keyword intention is a must for your SEO strategy
I hope that the keyword intention will no longer be an outsider for content marketing and that more brands understand how much it can do to optimize the SEO.
It is worth taking the time to check the search intent of a user if you consider to write an article or publish a target page.
Ask yourself – what goals do my interested parties have when typing the keyword in Google? And how can I make it worth your while when you land on my side? If you can answer these two questions, you already have a lead. Good luck!