Understanding the Search Intent of your Audience

If you are creating content for your website, make sure you are spending some time researching “Know,” Do” and “Go” queries, this can help you create content that puts your website in front of the users at any stage of their buying cycle.

But how do you know what kind of keywords to target and the type of content that needs to be produced to appear at different stages of the purchasing cycle? This is where search intent comes to play!

What is search intent in SEO?

The term was first coined in 2002 by Andrei Broder. Search intent is a crucial element for a successful SEO campaign. It is broken down into three types.

• “Know” – informational searches
• “Do” – transactional searches
• “Go” – navigational searches

To understand the different types of search intent let us consider a fictional e-commerce store that sells home appliances.

Know” – informational searches

These are generic keywords search with the intent to know or learn more about the products or a particular subject. These users are not expected to convert yet.

Examples for our factious e-commerce store, the queries might be:

• What Is A Sub Zero Refrigerator?
• How Long Is A Refrigerator Supposed To Last?
• Is Microwave Oven Safe?

Although the possibility of conversion for these kinds of searchers intent is very minimal, these are the queries you need to be ranking for. This sort of content provides you an opportunity to build the relation at the start of their journey.

When your website is consistently ranking for these types of queries, you are placing yourself ahead of the competitors. This can help serve your potential customers needs and also increase your organic footprint.

“Do” – transactional searches

These searches are made when the user is ready to purchase the product. These can be related to the products or the categories on your website.

Examples for our factious e-commerce store, the queries might be:

• Buy microwave oven
• Best Sub Zero Refrigerator
• Best Stoves to Buy

“Go” – navigational searches

These searches are very easy to understand. The search intent of the user is very clear and premeditated. There is only one search term that is likely entered, usually a website or a well-known brand.

Put the things to action

There are many tools which can come in handy allowing you to break down the research into buckets for different categories and the products you sell.