User intent refers to the goal a person has in mind when they perform a Google search. Google’s algorithms match the user’s query with the most relevant and helpful results possible. To do this, Google takes into account the user’s intent.
Keep reading to learn more about user intent and how you can use it to improve your CRO (conversion rate optimization) and SEO (search engine optimization) efforts.
Businesses Can Use User Intent to Their Advantage
There are two main ways businesses can use user intent information to their advantage, and those two ways are through SEO and CRO efforts. Let’s start with SEO first.
SEO Efforts:
When it comes to SEO efforts, businesses need to ensure that their website appears as one of the top results for relevant keywords about their business. For this to happen, businesses need to perform keyword research to find out which keywords potential customers use when searching for things related to the business’s products or services.
Once businesses have found relevant keywords, they need to include them throughout their website content in a natural, not forced, way. In addition, businesses need to ensure that their website is mobile-friendly because more and more people are using their phones to access the internet these days as opposed to desktop computers.
CRO Efforts:
Things are a little different when it comes to how businesses can use user intent information via CRO efforts as opposed to SEO efforts because, unlike with SEO, where businesses try to increase web traffic by getting their website ranked higher on search engines, with CRO businesses try to increase web traffic by conversion rate optimization which means making changes/improvements on their website in hopes that those changes will persuade potential customers who visit the site into becoming actual paying customers/clients.
Just like with SEO, though, businesses need to understand what their target audience is looking for before they can make changes aimed at persuading potential customers into becoming actual paying customers/clients because if businesses don’t understand what it is that potential customers want/need, then they won’t be able to offer anything of value which ultimately will lead potential customers going elsewhere instead considering doing business with them.
User Intent for CRO and SEO
There are four main types of user intent: Navigational, Informational, Transactional, and Commercial Investigation.
Navigational Intent:
Navigational queries are searches performed to find a specific website or web page. For example, if someone searches for “Facebook,” they most likely want to go to www.facebook.com. If you have a website with a lot of branded traffic (people searching for your company by name), you don’t need to worry too much about ranking for navigational keywords since these searchers will find your site regardless.
Informational Intent:
Informational queries are searches performed to find information on a particular topic. If you’re running an SEO campaign, most of your targeted keywords will fall into this category since most people do not purchase without first researching.
Transactional Intent:
Transactional queries are searches performed to find a product or service to buy. For example, if someone searches for “Shoes,” they are probably looking to buy a pair of shoes online. Suppose you’re running a paid search campaign. Your targeted keywords should be transactional since these searchers are further along in the buying cycle and more likely to convert into paying customers.
Commercial Investigation Intent:
Commercial Investigation queries are searches performed to compare products or services before making a purchase decision. Therefore, if you sell products or services online, you must rank for commercial investigation keywords to capture these searchers at the beginning of their buying journey and guide them towards becoming paying customers.
For example, consider the following two search queries: “How to make a chocolate cake” and “chocolate cake recipe.” Both of these searches are related to chocolate cake—but notice how the wording of each query is slightly different. On the other hand, the second query uses the word “recipe,” which implies that the person searching is looking for a specific recipe for chocolate cake. And it’s essential to understand the difference between these two types of intent to optimize your website accordingly. Businesses can use user intent information via SEO and CRO efforts to increase web traffic, hopefully resulting in conversions (i.e., potential customers becoming actual paying customers/clients).
As you can see, understanding user intent is essential for both CRO and SEO success. By targeting the right keywords and producing content that meets your audience’s needs, you can improve your website’s visibility in search results and increase the likelihood of conversion. Therefore, user intent is essential in CRO (conversion rate optimization) and SEO (search engine optimization).
By understanding what type of user intentions users have when performing search queries, businesses can create better content that targets those needs and increases the likelihood of conversion. Understanding user intent can help take your business’s digital marketing efforts to the next level!
