How to analyze searcher intent to create better content

In today’s technological climate, marketers and businesses alike face the constant challenge of trying to get their content seen by and seem appealing to a wide audience.

With varying degrees of information scattered online, it’s difficult to come up with the best strategies for creating compelling content that consumers can find useful. One way to tap into the minds of your potential customers is to analyze searcher intent and craft your blog posts and content in relation to this.

Traditionally, marketers focused on understanding user intent in relation to keyword density. Now, it’s much more complicated than that. Luckily, we’re here to help you understand how to analyze searcher intent to drive your content.

Analyzing searcher intent to create better content

What is user Intent?

Search engines are used by billions of people on a daily basis for a variety of reasons. Google is in charge of processing thousands and thousands of questions and queries. Right now, that amounts to 3.5 billion questions. In a nutshell, searcher intent looks at why someone may be searching for something as well as what they’re hoping to achieve when they find the results, whether that be gathering information or for a specific purchase. 

Since users are searching for things with different intentions and for different reasons, SEO strategists have compiled the necessary data and concluded that people use search engines in three distinct ways and these are transactional, informational and navigational.

Transactional

These are generally action-oriented, with questions focused around the user looking for information on a business or service does or can do.  In most cases, it’s a comparison between other businesses or services within the same market, and looking up specifics regarding what that business does.

Informational

This type of questions will come from someone looking for specific information on a specific subject. Most times their questions will start with “How to..” or “what is..” An example of this would be “What’s the best place to get Indian food in Montreal?”.

Navigational

When someone is searching with intention, this will be a navigational question. This is generally a user who is familiar with your brand or business.  Usually, they will be searching for your name specifically.

Now that we have defined each search type, you can begin to think about the needs of the user in a different light and the ways in which you can best engage with them through your content.

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The value of your content

Your content being valuable to the user is the most important strategy to focus time and attention on. With every piece of content that you create, you should be asking yourself if your content offers valuable information or services to the user. When reflecting on the core mandate of your business, take into account how you can be useful to the user and ask yourself if you can complete the journey that the user is taking.

If you’re providing the solution that a customer is looking for, you’ll have a much stronger chance at engagement. Furthermore, the user should come before keyword-focused content. As we mentioned, overpacking your blog posts with keywords is not appealing in the eyes of Google. Thus, writing with the search engine in mind runs the risk of lowering the quality of your content.

SEO strategy for user intent

How to target transactional searches

It’s obvious that search terms with transactional intent are going to bring in revenue. In order to best optimize your content to comply with transactional search terms, focus your SEO strategy around the value for the user. Some tips to keep in mind are as follows:

• How can you make their purchase streamline and simple?
• Are your calls to action clear?
• Does the user have all the required information to complete the transaction?

If a user types in a purchase based inquiry, then it’s necessary to follow these tips so that your page appears first in search engines.

How to target informational searches

Informational questions are a bit more difficult to target and tackle, but with some brainstorming and some tact, you can definitely find a method that works for your business. Aligning yourself with user intent in this regard will come down to the quality of information you are offering about your business.

The more compelling information you offer, the more people will be invested with your brand or business. Further, even if you can't break a sale with your informational content, it’s still a positive outcome to have your content linked. Having users reference your content within their networks works to offer your business visibility and thus helps your search engine ranking.

Another point to mention is that it’s important to pay attention to all marketing channels, including web design. Your website should have several points that encourage the user to continue to hunt for information or funnel them towards buying your products or using your services. Further, consider your overall online appearance in the search engine itself and how you can align this with user intent.

This is why your title tag, as well as your meta-description, are so important. Make sure your metadata is engaging and entices the user towards a purchase. Regarding the meta-description, it should always hint towards how the information in your blog post will directly target the question or problem of the user.

It is important to adjust these basic steps to your specific needs, as some businesses may focus their attention on impulse buys while others will benefit from the informative approach. Do what feels right but make sure that you are always focusing on the user and how your business can directly benefit them.