Why keywords alone aren’t enough
Ten years ago, you could rank simply by repeating a keyword as often as possible on a page. Those days are over. Google now understands the purpose behind a search query — the search intent — better than most marketers do.
Anyone who wants to rank successfully today needs to know not just what people are searching for, but why they’re searching.
The four types of search intent
1. Informational intent
The searcher wants to learn or understand something.
Examples: “how does SEO work”, “what is a backlink”, “difference between content marketing and SEO”
What works: comprehensive, clear explanations. Structure with headers. Practical examples. No sales pitch.
2. Navigational intent
The searcher wants to find a specific website or page.
Examples: “MS618 contact”, “Google Analytics login”, “LinkedIn company page”
What works: make sure your own brand is easy to find for navigational searches. There’s little to gain from targeting someone else’s navigational queries.
3. Commercial intent (research phase)
The searcher is considering a purchase or partnership and is doing their research.
Examples: “best SEO agencies in the UK”, “HubSpot vs Salesforce”, “digital marketing agency reviews”
What works: comparison pages, reviews, detailed service pages with social proof. Transparency wins here.
4. Transactional intent
The searcher is ready to take action.
Examples: “hire SEO agency”, “digital marketing agency quote”, “Google Ads specialist London”
What works: a clear call-to-action, a simple contact form, a direct value proposition. No distractions.
How to analyse search intent
Step 1: Look at the SERP
The easiest way to understand search intent: Google the term and analyse what appears at the top. Google has already determined which type of content best matches that intent. Lots of blog posts? Google wants informational content. Product pages? Transactional content.
Step 2: Analyse the top 10 pages
What format do the ranking pages use? How long are they? Which sub-questions do they answer? Which words keep appearing?
This gives you a reliable picture of what Google considers the “ideal” page for that search term.
Step 3: Look at ‘people also ask’ and ‘related searches’
Google gives you free insight into related questions and searches. These are the sub-questions your content needs to answer in order to be comprehensive.
The most common mistake
The most frequent mistake: targeting the wrong intent with the wrong page.
An example: a company writes an in-depth blog post about “SEO strategy for B2B” (informational intent) but tries to rank for “B2B SEO agency” (transactional intent). That won’t work. Google matches the intent of the search query with the type of content — and a blog post is not what someone is looking for when they want to hire an agency.
The solution: create separate pages for each intent. The blog for informational queries. The service page for commercial and transactional queries.
Intent-matching in practice
At MS618, we begin every SEO project with an intent analysis of the 50 most valuable search terms in the client’s market. We categorise them by intent, map them to existing or new pages, and build a content architecture that serves every stage of the buyer journey.
The result: content that doesn’t just rank, but converts — because it precisely matches what the searcher needs at that specific moment.
Want to know what search intent your target audience has and how to best serve it? Schedule an introductory call.