Getting traffic to your website is a ubiquitous goal among website owners. Yet too many stop short of converting that traffic. Understanding user intent will help you boost conversions and lower your bounce rate.

Attempting to attract the right visitors and satisfy their needs is more effective than simply increasing your traffic. If people visit your site but can not fulfill the intent their intent, they will click away. This is no good for your bottom line. The accompanying feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction may even hurt your brand.

User intent is the bedrock of excellent content creation. Let’s start digging. Here is how to find user intent and understand it.

What is user intent?

User intent is the term that helps us understand what is behind a user’s search. Rather than only looking at the words, it considers the purpose of the search. User intent asks why the user was searching for a keyword and what they hope to do.

The search “orange” will mean different things to different people. Are we talking about the fruit, the color, a type of alert, or are we just trying to log in to the telecommunications company portal, as Google believes most people are? By creating content that not only contains the right keywords but also understands what the searcher wants to do, you can create content that is more engaging, more useful, more shareable, and more likely to convert visitors to customers.

Modern marketing is customer-focused. Content creation should be no exception. It’s not about selling the business; it’s about providing value for the consumer. Accordingly, content creators must understand what customers want and make sure the content satisfies those needs.

User intent and SEO 

An understanding of user intent should inform every part of on-page SEO. When optimizing a site for user intent, it’s helpful to break down user intent into three or four types.

The types of search intent

• Navigational – Navigational searching takes place when the user seeks a specific website. Rather than typing the exact URL into the address bar, the user searches for the business. This might be because they don’t know the precise web address or for convenience. Either way, their goal is to find and visit a specific, known website.

• Informational – According to research, 80% of searches are informational. Most informational searches begin with phrases and words such as the following:

  • How to

  • What is

  • Pros and cons of

  • Guide to

  • Tips on

  • Tutorial

Someone performing an informational search wants to learn something. They may be seeking information with which to make a decision, choose between options, or perform an action. Such a search might be about the cost of products or services, but the goal is information-gathering. The user simply wants to learn something.

• Transactional – a transactional search is about purchasing a product or service. The customer seeks specific information about how and where to buy a product or service. Searches for comparing the prices of a good in various stores could be considered transactional.

• Commercial – this is aligned with transactional searches. Sometimes called commercial investigation, commercial intent refers to when a customer is on the point of buying something. He or she has decided to buy and is looking for the right deal. If you are looking for someone to take your money, you are searching with commercial intent.

Most content creation focuses on informational searches. It provides useful information to help its users learn more about particular topics. Through this content, businesses increase their digital footprint and make it more likely that they will appear on search engine results pages.

User intent and UX

It is critical to align your UX with user intent. If your website is not easy to use, with the information or facility that your searchers are seeking, they will bounce back to the SERP.  Then they will visit another website and may never return to yours.

By optimizing the user experience, you will provide a more satisfying website, succeed in engaging more of your visitors, have more success with your calls to action, and generate more traffic as a result of shares. All of this will earn the attention of Google and other search engines.

It’s not enough to focus on getting traffic. You have to know what users want and how to direct traffic when it arrives. Make sure you are on top of three areas:

Site architecture

Image source: https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/architecture

This refers to the navigation and structure of your website. Rather than blindly using a standard template, it’s vital to consider the unique needs of your visitors. Then you can provide a tailored experience that demonstrates how well you know them and gives them what they want.

Your navigation bar must be clearly visible and understandable. This will help users move around your site quickly. Whether they want your contact information or to make a transaction, you should understand user intent and help them get what they want in as few clicks as possible. To achieve this, ensure that some element of your navigation bar will help your users, whatever their search intent. Navigation design normally starts with things to generate interest on the left and transactional intent content on the right.

Buyers journey

Image source: https://www.aira.net/blog/what-is-the-buyers-journey/

By understanding search intent and what that says about where your users are in terms of their buyers journeys, you can tailor pages to create the right mood and deliver the right information. For example, if someone finds a page through a keyword with commercial intent, this may not be the place for lengthy text explaining the pros and cons of various products. This user has already made their decision and just wants to pay to receive their product or service. If someone lands on your page through a keyword that demonstrates informational intent, a list of prices misses the mark; rather, this is an opportunity to explain the service or product to the user and develop your brand awareness and authority.

Conversion optimization

By understanding search intent and tailoring your content to match users’ needs, you can maximize conversions. With a strong CTA and the right amount of information, you grease the sales funnel. This helps your business and your customers.

You need to meet your visitors’ needs head-on. Deliver what they want, fast. This is the key to your website’s success and boosting your bottom line.

Finding user intent  

To find user intent for a topic, it’s a good idea to perform a Google search and check out the top, organic results. Use the top results to learn what most people want when they perform that search. For example, the SERP for “black shoes” tells us that this search will most likely be transactional. Google has responded to its data - including bounce rates and time spent on sites - by serving commercial websites and links to shops at the top of the SERP.

Note that the SERP may contain results that cater to various searches. Typically, however, one type of search will dominate. It is important to understand how websites Google lists on the SERP tell you what users want and how you can help them.

While interrogating SERPs, don’t omit paid ads. The organic listings will be telling, but the paid ads will also give you an excellent idea of the user intent behind the keyword in question.

Another good way to find user intent is to ask users. A brief survey following a website video can lead to very useful insights. You could ask users if they found what they were looking for. A short drop-down menu could help explain what they need and why they landed on your webpage. You can also ask for this information via social media pages and polls. 

Understanding user intent

When you really understand user intent, your pages will look different depending on the user intent that got people there. Using the right keywords can get people to your site. Engaging with their user intent will allow you to deliver high-quality content that gets them to stay and/or to act.

When measuring metrics, it’s not enough to measure traffic. Your conversions and time spent on site are more likely to tell how well your site is engaging your visitors. Improving your UX is increasingly important.

Predicting user intent 

With AI’s help, we can predict what users want to do on websites. Then we can use our expertise to fulfill those desires. Various online tools help us understand what keywords people are using. Using hard data, it is possible to predict users’ intent, whether informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial.

By adding user intent to your considerations, you can sharpen up your website content. Your website is a salesperson, guide, and brand ambassador. Understanding user intent allows your website to say the right thing at the right time to the right people. This can greatly increase your conversions and make your brand more effective. 

If the customer is the basis of any business (it is),  then learning about your customer can help you increase your bottom line. Understanding your customer means understanding their user intent. And by incorporating user intent into your SEO and UX design, you can create tailored experiences and a more engaging website.