Understanding the search intent to improve your ranking
Talking about SEO we can often hear the expression search intent, one of the fundamental keys to engage users and please search engines, but for almost 20 years now (since the expression was coined the first time) we usually just mention the categories Informational, Transactional, Navigational or Commercial. Yet, the concept cannot be reduced to this simple classification, which offers no practical and useful information to those who want to know how to create a content that has real opportunities to rank, and only by understanding the true meaning of search intent and learning to build content around what users really need can we actually improve the ranking of our pages on Google.
What is the search intent
With the expression search intent we refer to what is behind every search on Google or on any other search engine.
When using a search engine, in fact, people have something specific in mind – answers to their problems, information on the services available, offers or reviews on the product they are interested in and so on – and search intent, also called user intent or audience intent, is just the explanation of why a user ran an online search using that query.
In other words, it is the primary requirement that drove a person to use Google and do a search, it is like a spark, the starting point of the search experience and the search journey, and it also encloses what the person expects to find among results pages. So basically, the search intent gives us an idea of the “why” behind a search query – because our audience needs it, because it’s valuable and because someone is looking for it, but also because we have to build that content (in that way).
SEO search Intent, a fundamental analysis
We can say, by simplifying, that all online searches are aimed at satisfying a real need, which can be linked to the need to find information on current events or on a specific topic, request services, buy products, or simply view a specific website.
Understanding and intercepting the need that drives the action and the interest of online people is essential to be able to present valid content, and in fact the study of the intent of users has become a crucial must for the SEO and positioning, And it’s easy to see why.
Search engines, and in particular Google, are the protagonists and the main tool to intercept users who are interested in specific services and products when they really need them: In summary, search engines rank and prioritize online content according to various ranking criteria, including the ability to understand the intention of users and respond to that need. In practice, therefore, even search engines working to better understand what users are actually looking for, which is then transformed into pages with search results that meet the primary intent.
It is also in their interest, then, to bring out in their SERP pages that are able to present effective, valid and useful content for people, and therefore content that intercepts the search intent, the basic reason that moves the user’s action on the Web.
