What is the Importance of User Intent in SEO?
Any digital marketer will tell you that they always want to know what customers are looking for. When they have this information, it is easier to provide the right product, service, or information, increasing the chances of a conversion. Search engines are also looking at what consumers are looking for, as a result, understanding user intent plays a vital role in SEO, increasing the quality of your keyword research.
It is not important to understand the intentions behind a user's search, as everyone is unique and thinks differently, asking different questions from different angles. Search engines rely on complex algorithms using artificial intelligence (AI) to fully understand the search intent through queries and behavioural analysis.
User intent is a technique that allows you to understand the purpose of the customer, based on their query. It is sometimes called keyword intent or search intent. With Google's algorithm constantly evolving, along with the internet also evolving, it is important to focus on semantic search, combined with keywords, helping you understand user intent and provide a good user experience (UX).
Applying user intent to your SEO strategy requires identifying which search queries are driving quality traffic to your website. Once you grasp this, you can look at the user intent behind each search query. User queries usually fall into one of three categories:
This is where users are searching for specific information, they do not want to make a purchase. Informational queries relating to your business means providing the information that your users are searching for. This educates users on your products or services, helping them resolve a problem. When you provide information, you engage with your potential customers, boosting your website traffic.
This is when users are searching for a specific website. This means they use your brand name to help users find a specific website or page. In order to ensure your users get to where they need to go, you need to create a website, brimming with high quality and unique content. Use branded keywords to increase organic SEO rankings and conversions.
This is when a user is ready to do a transaction, this can be make a purchase, sign up for your newsletter, or subscribe to a service. The most common terms use in transactional intent is:
Using these in your keyword selection can be essential to our SEO strategy, as Google understands these words as transactional.
Google has the ability to understand user intent, using different algorithms and ranking systems to identify the purpose of every query. It analyses website pages, finding keywords that match the search and user intent, adding them to the SERPs. This is why content must align with user intent in order to boost your ranking in SERPs and drive quality traffic to your website.
User intent gives you an insight into the reasons why your audience search the internet. Are they looking for information, are they looking for a specific website page, or are they looking to make a purchase? When you have a good understanding of user intent, you can use it in your SEO strategy to improve user experience (UX), while helping you direct search engines, encouraging them to crawl, index and rank your website pages.
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