FEATURED ARTICLE — April 22nd, 2019

How Users Search – The Basics of SEO and What Intent Means for Your Strategy

By Adriana Tica

Do you remember the days when you had to go to the library to look for information? Or ask a friend or relative?

While both these options still exist, they are widely surpassed by internet searches. Sure, you may still call your mom to get her mouth-watering cookie recipe or get a friend’s recommendation for a hip burger bar. 

But when you need to know something now or when your needs aren’t dictated by nostalgia, you simply search for it online. 

Which brings us to some of the two most relevant (but sadly often overlooked) questions in the SEO game:

How do people search online?

What gets the most clicks?

Let’s answer them one at a time.

User Intent and SEO: Understanding the Million Dollar Connection

When you plan your next piece of content, what dictates its optimization? 

I was surprised to learn that most of my agency’s customers placed too much importance on keyword search volume. They wanted to rank for high-volume keywords so they can get more traffic to their websites.

In a way, it’s understandable.

But this doesn’t make it profitable.

What most marketers and business usually overlook is user intent.

A 2006 study by the University of Hong Kong found that you can segment search intent into two primary goals: general information about the topic in the keyword and more specific information.

This tells us a lot about the scope of the user. For example, someone searching for SEO typically needs to understand the basics of the term. On the other hand, if someone searches for on-page SEO tools, we can assume that they have already covered the basics of SEO, perhaps even that they are experts in the field looking for tools for their next project.

However,... Read More