What is Search Intent?

Why is search intent important?

Search intent is one of those buzzwords that you may have heard and thought nothing of. However, it is one of the most important concepts in digital marketing; especially when it comes to SEO and Google Ads etc.

Let’s start with Keywords or Search Terms

These are terms that anyone loosely related to digital marketing will understand. These are the keywords or search terms that people use when looking for a product or service on Google. A starting point for any SEO or Google Ads campaign is to do keyword research, where you find not only these terms, but how many times a month people search for them.

Here is an example of common keywords (and how many searches a month) you might chase if doing SEO or Google Ads for a Plumber in Brisbane:

• plumbing brisbane - 4.4k searches/month
• plumber brisbane - 2.4k searches/month
• blocked drains brisbane - 390 searches/month
• drainage solutions brisbane - 50 searches/month

So what is Search Intent?

Search intent is what a persons’ intent is when searching a particular keyword. We generally break this intent down into 4 different types:

• Informational
  These are searches to find information about any topic. As a general rule, they are questions like “how do I unblock a drain”; but not always…
• Navigational
  These are searches to find out how to get to a place or find something. For example, “directions to southbank” or “youtube cat videos”.
• Commercial
  Searches with a commercial intent are generally people starting the buyer's journey. They are searches to research a product, service or business to decide which one to buy. For example, “what is the best brand hot water system”.
• Transactional
  These are searches to buy. The people searching here are ready to buy, and are the holy grail of SEO and Google Ads. For example, “plumber in aspley”.

Sounds pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, it isn’t always that obvious, and in many cases, the same search term could have different search intents. Let’s look at a few examples of searches and discuss what the searchers intent may be.

1. Blocked drains
   Are they looking to find out how they can unblock it (informational), or for someone to come and unblock it for them (transactional).
2. Hot water systems
   Are they looking for general info on hot water systems (informational), the best hot water system to buy (commercial) or someone to install one (transactional).
3. Switchboard upgrade
   How to know if they need a switchboard upgrade (commercial), what it entails (informational) or for someone to come and do one (transactional).

Now let’s go a step further and look at some examples where the search term can have different intent within the same type.

1. Plumbing
   Are they looking for a plumber or plumbing supplies
2. Exhaust fan
   Looking to buy an exhaust fan or for someone to come and install one
3. Air Conditioner
   Same as Exhaust Fan. Looking to buy or get one installed. Harvey Norman or a HVAC Tech.

So as you can see, it can often get a bit confusing trying to work out what searchers are looking for when they use a certain keyword. Often times, we can only take an educated guess and may decide to give it a go, to see what happens.

Why not just chase the highest search volume?

Often the keyword with the highest search volume, may have the wrong intent for what you are chasing. Generally with SEO and Google Ads, you are chasing conversions (webforms, phone calls etc) and sales, so it makes sense that you chase search terms with commercial or transactional intent. 

If you go after the keywords with the highest search volume but the wrong intent, you will just spend money driving traffic and no conversions. We see this quite often with Google Ads, where campaigns are set up to chase high volume keywords with no thought to their intent. This can end up being a very costly mistake.

So should we just target commercial and transactional search terms?

This all depends on the channel and your overall objective. 

We believe that if you’re running Google Ads, then at most, you should only chase commercial and transactional keywords, to maximise your conversions and keep your costs down. Our preference is only chase transactional keywords.

However, for a complete SEO strategy, you should definitely be targeting informational (and maybe navigational) keywords. These searches are for people at the top of the “Purchase Funnel” or “Buyer's Journey”. It makes sense to get them familiar with your business at this stage and, if you’re really smart, work out a way to stay in front of them as they move through the funnel.