The way we use search engines has changed drastically in recent years due to improvements in technology and a better understanding of how humans search. In the early days of search optimisation, it was all about keyword research for SEO, which involved searching for the phrases people were searching for and ensuring the content on your website contained those keywords.
Nowadays, search engines are more focused on understanding searcher intent, which is what people want, rather than just matching words to phrases. This has created the need for understanding and leveraging search intent in SEO as a foundational strategy in a brand’s overall digital marketing strategy.
Businesses that continue to use only keyword-based strategies find it increasingly difficult to maintain visibility online. Therefore, it is essential to understand why users perform searches, what they anticipate discovering in the results, and what actions they will take once they visit your site to effectively develop a successful SEO strategy for brands.
What Is Search Intent in SEO?
The first step in adapting your digital marketing strategy to incorporate current SEO trends is to understand what search intent is. The basic definition of search intent is the reason behind a user performing a query in a search engine. When someone uses a search engine, they are looking for answers to questions, comparing products or services, visiting a specific website, or taking an action.
When they perform a search, the search engine treats these actions as its highest priority in serving up results that best match a user’s intent. Therefore, when developing a content and SEO strategy, keyword intent in SEO is as critical to success as keyword volume alone.
The Evolution of Keyword Research for SEO
Keyword research for SEO was traditionally conducted by finding the most popular keywords to use on each page. Historically, these words were used as a way of driving traffic to your site. Today, keyword research has evolved to incorporate more than just terms and phrases and has moved toward intent-based SEO.
However, keywords still play a key role in SEO, but today’s keyword research incorporates additional data such as context, user intent, and query patterns. Instead of just targeting one word on each page, businesses and brands are looking for multiple phrases that relate to each other. This change corresponds with SEO trends to create valuable content for users instead of merely for the search engines.
How Search Engines Interpret Searcher Intent
As search engines develop their ability to translate user intent, the use of machine learning and behavioural data will be an increasing part of search engines. As search engines become aware of user intent through the analysis of emotional and other behavioural signals, it will enable search engines to help deliver higher quality, relevant, and useful content to users.
If users are consistently returning to search engine results after clicking, this indicates unmet user intent. As a result, user intent in SEO strategies will continue to dictate how websites are developed, ensuring that users receive value and satisfaction when interacting with a site.
Types of Keyword Intent in SEO
The four primary types of keyword intent in SEO are:
- Informational, i.e. searching to learn or find out information
- Navigational, i.e. searching to get to a particular brand or page
- Commercial, i.e. comparing products and services
- Transactional, i.e. ready to make a purchase.
By understanding the difference between these types of intent, you can effectively tailor your content to match the expectations of the searcher. This insight will also help modern SEO strategies deliver the right solution to the right part of the user’s journey.
Intent-Based SEO and Content Creation
When developing content for an intent-based SEO approach, the focus should shift away from which keywords to target, and instead ask: What problem is the user trying to solve? Your content should properly demonstrate your experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness based on the EEAT Guidelines. Providing clear, concise explanations and factual, useful information helps build credibility. Content that truly helps users naturally coincides with search intent in SEO, increasing chances of higher placement in search result pages.
User Intent SEO Strategy for Modern Brands
To create a strong user intent-based SEO strategy for your modern-day brand, you must first start by mapping users to their respective intent at various points along the customer journey. Once you understand the intent associated with the various phases, i.e. awareness, consideration and purchase, you can then define the type of content that is appropriate for them in depth and tone.
Additionally, by aligning your website pages to user intent, your website will remain relevant and remain on your competitors’ radar, as it will effectively boost engagement both in terms of links and social shares, and deliver long-term SEO success.
SEO Trends Driving the Shift Toward Intent
The reason for these changes is due to the many emerging SEO trends, one of which is a move toward intent-driven searches, voice and mobile search, conversational queries, longer, more natural search phrases, and, therefore, with regard to intent, clarity for search engines.
The changes in competition will create a differentiator for companies that quickly adapt to search engine and potential customer intent and are able to capture greater amounts of qualified traffic as well as enhance their search engine ranking position.
Final Thoughts: Building Future-Ready Modern SEO Strategies
The change from keyword-driven SEO to intent-based SEO represents a significant evolution in the field. While keywords are still an important part of the overall strategy, they are simply an initial point of reference. Businesses must understand search intent, leverage intent-driven methodology when developing their websites, adhere to the principles of SEO, and focus on what is most helpful to their target audience and aligned to the EEAT guidelines in order to build a sustainable brand presence.
The most successful modern SEO strategies today focus on delivering value to their users and creating a meaningful experience for them. Therefore, rather than just targeting keywords, your strategy should be about developing high-quality content that supports searcher intent in addition to providing solutions and benefits to users.
