Search intent: what is someone really looking for?

Module 7: Content that gets found · Reading time: 10 minutes

Learning objective: After this lesson you can recognise the search intent behind a search, use the results page as a clue and decide which page on your site matches it.

Key concepts: search intent, informational, navigational, commercial investigation, transactional, local, mixed intent, the results page as a clue, one page per intent, cannibalisation

Behind every search is a question

Someone types three or four words into a search bar. Those words are not the goal. They are a summary of what the person wants. "rouwboeket" (funeral bouquet) can mean: I want to know what is customary, I want to order one now, or I am looking for a florist near the funeral. What someone actually wants is called the search intent.

Google itself says that for every search it first tries to understand "the intent behind your query", in other words what you mean by your search. Only then does it look for pages that fit. For you this means: a page doesn't rank because the words are on it, but because it fits what the searcher wants. The best flower page in the Netherlands won't reach the top for a question it doesn't answer.

Five types of intent

In practice, many people use a split into four types, with local as a fifth. Note: this is a common model from the industry, not an official Google classification. In the guidelines for its human raters (the Search Quality Rater Guidelines), Google uses a similar split with different names: Know (find something out), Do (do something, such as buy or download), Website (go to a particular site) and Visit-in-person (go somewhere in person). These raters don't decide positions in the search results; Google writes that their ratings "do not directly impact ranking". The model is a thinking aid, not a ranking rule.

Many searches are mixed. With "bloemist amersfoort", one person wants the opening hours, another wants to order something, a third simply wants the address. That's why Google often shows different types of results at the same time.

The results page is your best clue

You don't have to guess. Search for the query yourself, ideally in a private window so your own search history counts for less, and look at what appears:

• A map with businesses: Google sees a local intent. Without a business profile and an address, you won't appear there.
• Online shops and product blocks: transactional. An explanatory article will struggle here.
• Articles, explanation pages and a block of questions people also ask: informational.
• Comparisons, "best ...", reviews: commercial investigation.
• One site at the top with a few of its own pages below it: navigational. Someone was looking for that one site.

If you mostly see online shops while you wanted to write a blog article, you know enough: an article probably won't get far here. Choose a different search for your article, or create an order page if you really sell that product.

Two caveats. Results differ by location, language and device. If you search from Amersfoort, you'll see different florists than someone in Groningen. And results change over time. So look at the pattern, not at one random position.

One intent, one page

Once you know which intents matter to your customers, the structure of your site becomes logical: for each important intent, one page that answers it exactly.

Bloemenatelier Lotte could, for example, have these pages:

• /rouwbloemen for everyone who wants to order funeral flowers (transactional), with a short explanation of the types;
• /blog/tulpen-langer-mooi for the informational question about tulips in a vase;
• /contact with the address, map and opening hours for people looking for the studio (navigational and local).

Things go wrong when you create two or three pages that answer the same question, for example "Rouwboeket bestellen", "Rouwboeketten" and "Rouwbloemen bestellen in Amersfoort", with largely the same text. In the industry this is called cannibalisation: your pages compete with each other. Google usually shows only one of those pages, and not necessarily the best one. Merge such pages into one strong page and redirect the other addresses with a 301 (lesson 3.5 and lesson 8.3). Google itself doesn't call duplicate content a violation of its rules, but it is something you had better clean up yourself, so that you decide which page is shown.

Pitfalls

• Writing for the word instead of the question. Putting "bloemen bezorgen" (flower delivery) on a page ten times doesn't make it better. Google even sees repeating keywords as something that tires readers, and excessive repetition falls under its spam policies (lesson 8.2).
• Everything on the homepage. Your homepage can't be an order page, an explanatory article and a contact page all at once. It links to those pages (lesson 7.4).
• Assuming one person's intent. You know what you mean by a word. Your customer may use other words ("rouwstuk", "grafstuk", "bloemstuk begrafenis"). Lesson 7.2 shows how to find out which words customers really use.

In practice: creating pages per intent

In the AI Builder you create a new page via Pages in the left sidebar; in WordPress via Pages or Posts. A product or service page belongs in the menu; an explanatory article often fits better as a post in your blog or article list. Other website builders work in a similar way. What matters most is not where you create the page, but that each page answers one clear question.

Summary

• Search intent is what someone actually wants with their search. Google tries to understand that first.
• A common model distinguishes informational, navigational, commercial investigation, transactional and local. Google uses a similar split for its raters (Know, Do, Website, Visit-in-person); that is not a ranking rule.
• The results page shows which intent Google sees in a search.
• Give each important intent its own page and merge pages that answer the same question.

Quiz

Exercise

Exercise A7.1: Which intent? Open the sample file with ten searches related to Bloemenatelier Lotte. For each search, choose the main intent (informational, navigational, commercial investigation, transactional or local). Look up at least three of them yourself and check whether the results page confirms your choice. The program compares your answers with the answer key and explains the reasoning for each search.

Further reading

• Google, How Search works: ranking results (the meaning of your query): https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/
• Google, Rigorous testing and raters (ratings don't directly determine ranking): https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/rigorous-testing/
• Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide