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Not all keywords are created equal, and certainly, that’s why I do keyword research. But beyond the word, I also have to look at the search intent (also sometimes called keyword search intent). Why are people even searching for a specific thing? What unique and helpful content can I create to show up in their searches? To master this, or at least try, it’s good to understand the following:
It all matters because bringing the wrong people to your site won’t bring the business and revenue that you are looking for. But that can be overcome by understanding the audience and creating content that answers the questions behind their keyword searches and the intent behind the phrasing.
What is search intent?
At the most basic level, keyword search intent is whatever it is the user is trying to accomplish. They are trying to get answers for
At a high level, the types of search intent are:
- Informational – Users seeking knowledge/details in discovery stage
- Commercial – Users exploring options and evaluating solutions
- Transactional – Users ready to take a specific action/purchase
- Navigational – Users looking for a specific website/destination. Also referred to as branded search.
It used to be that 80 percent of searches were informational, and many still are, but this is the current breakdown:
Search intent distribution has shifted significantly since 2008, when it 80 percent informational.
Current 2024-2025 data shows a more nuanced breakdown: informational searches lead at 52.65%, followed by navigational at 32.16%. The rise in navigational searches also shows the importance of building a brand – as those often include brand or product names.
Commercial searches, a newer category measuring product research and comparison, account for 14.5%. Pure transactional searches make up just 0.69% of total searches.
This evolution reflects both improved tracking capabilities and changes in how people use search engines, with a notable rise in navigational (branded) searches.
Single intent vs. dual intent
Many searches have more than one intent. Let’s take this example of people searching for “Christoph Trappe website.”
According to the new Search Intent funnel in Ubersuggest, the main intent here is navigational. In other words, it’s branded search and they are specifically looking for my website. The secondary intent, per Ubersuggest, is commercial. The assumption here is that they are looking for something to purchase from me or perhaps they want to pitch a sponsored article or insert a relevant link in an existing article. Or perhaps they heard about my podcast and want to be a guest.
How to optimize for search intent
Probably the most important way to optimize for intent starts with audience understanding. For example, let’s take the related search phrases “does content marketing work” (informational) and “does content marketing software work?” (commercial).
Somebody new to marketing or the wider marketing field might search for if content marketing works.
Someone who is deeply involved in content marketing strategies but needs better software solutions is more likely to search for the question, “Does content marketing software work?”
So understanding your audience matters. Data also matters. Use software like Ubersugest and SEOwind to look at the metrics to make even better decisions. For example, SEOwind looks at:
- current Search Engine Result Pages and what’s listed. That reveals what content is already being produced and shows what searchers currently find.
- real-time SEO data. It’s good to know what’s trending up, down, and the search volume matters. Transactional content won’t lead to any transactions if nobody is searching for that topic.
- subject matter expertise – what are the experts in the topical field saying?
Then, create strategic, informational, and useful content. Yes, commercial content should be informational, too. Of course the trick is to create enough content for all the types of search intent. It likely doesn’t mean it all has to completely align to the percentages of searches, but keep in mind that a good amount of informational content will also help your commercial and transactional pages rank.
And as the brand grows so will navigational searches.
Read next: Podcast SEO: How podcasts help you rank in search
The role of AI
With AI co-pilots, Google AI Search Results and Perplexity – just to name a few – optimizing for search intent will evolve even further. Even longer tail keywords will become more and more crucial as people flock to those tools and ask very specific questions to very specific problems. In turn those AI tools will then spit out very specific answers that are personalized to the query.
Hitting those phrases with your content will become more and more important.
As you are putting your ongoing content calendar together, look at where the brand can make the biggest impact, drive the most interest – short-and long-term – and can drive results with a smart SEO strategy that includes looking at topical authority. Once you’ve brainstormed ideas, do keyword research, cluster keywords and build a content brief based on data. From there, create content that can make a difference.
