Why User Intent Matters So Much for SEO

In Digital Marketing, the term SEO is thrown around a lot, and for all the right reasons. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a Digital Marketing tool without which your website will have no place in search engine result pages (SERPs). Search Engine Optimization refers to a standard set of rules designed to improve the visibility of a website/webpage to achieve higher rankings in organic results of search engines.
SEO in Digital Marketing —
The cut-throat competition of today has made SEO as one of the most important aspects of Digital Marketing. This has further increased the demand for SEO Specialists, as a result of which young aspirants are seeking SEO training online.

Search Engine Optimization is a complex and multifaceted framework since it involves multiple elements, stages, and controls. Thus, to leverage SEO to the fullest, one must first understand its individual components such as keyword optimization; site construction and errors; mobile optimization; backlinks; meta title and description, search engine marketing (SEM), among other things.

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CTR Per SEO Ranking Positions

As the competition keeps getting tougher, SEO becomes even more crucial for your Digital Marketing campaigns. Since there is no shortage of websites and pages offering information or selling products/services, SEO can be the distinguishing factor separating you from the crowd. By optimizing your site/page with SEO techniques, you can ensure a high rank for the same on SERPs.

SEO enhances the visibility of your website, thereby making it easier for people to find you online. Apart from driving traffic to your site through organic searches, SEO also helps improve the quality of your website by making it user-friendly and easier to navigate. Today, SEO has become an essential tool for creating brand awareness, building lasting customer-brand relationships, and improving brand credibility.

What Is 'user Intent' and Why It Matters so Much to Your SEO?

According to marketing guru Neil Patel, user intent is “the goal someone has in mind when typing in a query into Google.”

As the name suggests, user intent refers to the “intent’ of a user behind a particular search in a search engine, be it Google, Bing, Yahoo, or any other search engine. However, it is not just limited to indicating what a user is searching for through a search query, but also the context of the search query.

User intent can be categorized into three types:

• Informational - When a user is looking for information on a particular keyword or a question.
• Navigational - When a user is looking for a specific website or page.
• Transactional - When a user wants to purchase a product/service or perform any other kind of transaction.

This is precisely why understanding user intent and leveraging it correctly is pivotal for creating a solid SEO strategy. By understanding the purpose behind the searches of your target audience, you can create tailor-made content for them, which in turn will improve the relevance of your site and pages. Ultimately, this contributes to higher search engine rankings.

How Can You Incorporate User Intent Into Your Content Marketing Strategy?

The simplest way to identify the user intent is to look at the various keywords and combinations of keywords they are incorporating in their search engine queries. While the intent varies from person to person, you will find it easier to understand the intent of your target audience as you begin to monitor their searches regularly. Once you know what kind of content your target audience is looking for from you, you can use the user intent insights to enhance your content marketing strategy. The better your users find your content to be, the better will be your search rankings.

Here’s how you can incorporate user intent into your content marketing strategy:

1. Understand the different types of user intent.

As we said earlier, not all search queries are created equal - it differs from person to person. Keeping in mind the three types of user intent we mentioned before, you must dig deep into each to understand the connotations of a user’s search query.

For instance, an informational search query is where a user tries to gather detailed information about a topic or a product/service, without having any intentions of purchasing. These basically point to blog posts, tutorials, and other informative articles. These content pieces are devoid of ads.

Navigational search queries, on the other hand, point to users searching for specific topics or products/services. These queries also put forth a list of comparisons of particular products or services, helping users decide as to which could be the better option. Although these pages have ads, they aren’t overbearing.

Transactional search queries are when users come with a straightforward intent to buy a product/service. As usual, the result pages are replete with ads relevant to the search query.

By understanding the intent of the search queries of your customers on these three lines, you can segment your content accordingly. User intent helps you identify and choose search-specific keywords/phrases for optimizing your content.

2. Assess and evaluate the status of your existing content.

The next step is to evaluate and check how well your existing content goes with the user intent of your target audience base. Google Analytics is just the tool you need for this. Google Analytics allows you to check the top-performing keywords for your site/page.

Let’s say, for instance, your top-performing keyword is the informative type, like “how to make soaps at home.” However, user searches lead them to a product page for buying your soaps, your content is not search optimized according to the user intent. In this way, you can find you which of your content is in line with the user intent and which aren’t, and tweak them accordingly.

3. Get into the user’s mindset.

Since you are creating content for your users, it is best if you can get into the user mindset and walk in their shoes.

Evaluate your website and pages to find out whether or not:

• Your site loads fast - Slower response times lead to higher page abandonment by users. Kissmetrics maintains that 47% of the users expect a website to load in less than 2 seconds.
• Your site is easy to navigate - A smooth and user-friendly navigation experience is what makes users come back to your site time and again.
• Your site is responsive enough - Make sure your website is optimized both for desktop and mobile platforms. Use and implement the responsive and intuitive design in all the pages of your website.
• Your content is relevant and of good quality - Your content should be of high quality, informative, visually rich, and comprehensive to address to the needs of a user.

Bottom Line

To conclude, though it is not possible to always understand the exact intent of users behind search queries, it is possible to diversify your content marketing strategy to cover potential search scenarios to guide your customers better.