Intent Matters; Not All Keywords Are the Same

It is impossible to get by in the modern age without knowing how to navigate the Internet. Businesses in particular go to great lengths to optimize their usage of the Internet to attract the right site traffic. One of the most important things to understand when building and maintaining a website is keyword intent.

Guy on couch with credit card searching on laptop

Keyword intent refers to an Internet user’s suspected purpose when searching online. Keywords with high intent reflect someone that’s ready to buy, while low intent keywords may be part of purely navigational or informational searches.

Once you understand keyword intent, you can better create product keywords for your website. You don’t want your keywords to be too broad or too narrow, so you should try to use product keywords that reflect the users’ keyword intent. Two people searching for the same term could be looking for two different things, so learning to recognize the different intentions behind certain keywords is crucial.

Research vs. Ready to Buy

When it comes to keyword research, three types of searches have been identified: informational, navigational, and transactional. With informational searches, the user is attempting to acquire information from one or more websites. Navigational searches, however, are conducted with the intent of visiting a specific site. Transactional searches are the type of search that is often of the most interest to business. While someone performing an informational or navigational search may simply be researching products, a transactional search features keywords that express intent to purchase.

Keyword intent can easily be gleaned from users’ search inputs. Once you’ve determined what types of users and searches you’re interested in, you can begin to compile keywords for your product. Since users conducting transactional searches are considered high commercial intent, commercial intent keywords are most effective. Commercial intent keywords are divided into “buy now” keywords and “product” keywords.

Buy now keywords are more related to the pricing and costs of an item, and often aim to offer incentives for purchasing. Mentions of discounts or free shipping are common among buy now keywords. Product keywords achieve the same goal as buy now keywords, but tend to refer more to the product itself or product categories and reviews.

Have a Degree in Psychology?

Those in the field of psychology may have some insight into why people search for certain things, but many businesses are still learning how people search on Google. When building your product website, an understanding of keyword intent will only help increase traffic to your site. Not only that, but using the right keywords could help attract high intent buyers rather than people who are merely browsing. If keyword intent and choosing the qualifying terms for your website is still a struggle for you, you are not alone. You can seek the services of an outside company to optimize your website for attracting the buyers you want. Caroff Communications is a San Diego Search Engine Optimization company that can help you present your product in the most effective way for the digital age.