Search engine optimisation (or SEO) is hugely important for your website – and when writing blog posts. Get it right and the traffic will flood in – and so will leads and sales. Hurray!
Unfortunately, SEO isn’t easy to master and there are lots of concepts to grasp. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. Break things down and learn the theories one-by-one. Build your knowledge base brick-by-brick and you’ll soon get there.
In the current climate, “search intent” one of the most valuable aspects of SEO you can learn about. Also known as “keyword intent”, it’s a way of understanding why users make the searches they do, and how Google responds to this.
If you can get inside your target audience’s head and anticipate what their ultimate goal is when using a search engine, then you can tailor your content and blog posts accordingly.
Providing people with what they want to find – what could be more valuable than that?
So, to begin…
What is search intent?
To start, let’s define the categories of search intent. Search intent is a way of understanding what users on search engines – such as Google – are looking to do when they type in a set of search terms. That can be broken down into 3 categories:
1. Transactional Search Intent
This type is the most directly commercial and covers those searches which are specifically designed to result in a purchase. For example, somebody searching for “hire a van” or “buy a sofa”.
2. Navigational Search Intent
Navigational refers to searches by users who know what website they want to access. They are just using Google as a navigational shortcut to get there. For example, “where is the library”. Wouldn’t it be nice if more people were searching for that?!
3. Informational Search Intent
Finally, the third category, informational, covers those search queries which provide the as-yet unknown answers to the searcher’s question. All Google search results serve information, of course. But this category focuses on those which are primarily motivated by information-seeking.
For example, “what happened to the Tiger King?”
So, how do these different intentions relate to blog posts?
Let’s say a user is searching for restaurants in Manchester and its potential variants. Searching for “reserve table Manchester restaurant” is clearly transactional.
“Wagamama St Peter’s Square” is navigational, because the searcher clearly wants to reach a specific business’ website.
Finally, “which is the best restaurant in Manchester?” is informational because the searcher is at the other end of the funnel. They haven’t quite worked out what they want to buy or where they will buy it.
When it comes to blog posts, aligning them to the right sort of search intent is essential for building organic traffic – and informational intent can be your friend here.
Loving this blog post? Hire Wrise to write great content for your website! [Get a quote in under 60 seconds]
Changing to an intent-driven strategy content
The next step is tailoring your content to that intent.
Let’s take another example – “TV stand”. Given that searching for this produces product pages from firms like Curry’s, targeting this with a blog post focused around this keyword is unwise. Even if you’re the owner of the relevant business website, blogs rarely appear highly in these sorts of results. There are far too many ecommerce landing pages out there for that to happen!
But shifting from a focus on transactional intent to a focus on informational intent could help you rank instead. Type “living room design ideas” into Google, for example, and you get plenty of blog-based results.
If your blog post targets a keyword with that sort of structure and intent, then you’re more likely to accurately meet the needs of those with informational search intent.
Here’s another example. Let’s say you’re an accountant in London. Yes, you’ll definitely want to rank for the search term “Accountant London”. With 3,600 searches on Google in the UK per month, who wouldn’t?
Unfortunately, the competition is going to be tough. It could takes years to get a top page position on Google. You might never mange it. Sorry – the truth hurts.
But, you have other options. Instead, let’s say your firm primarily helps small businesses with their VAT returns. A quick search on Google for “VAT threshold” and you’ll see – in the section called “People Also Ask” – lots of frequently asked questions in this area, such as…
Here are the types of things people are looking for related to VAT. Google literally tells you. And your blog posts can answer these questions! Your blog posts could even rank for the search terms.
“Do i need to be vat registered?” is searched for 320 times per month in the UK. People want to know this information and you can provide the answers.
Best of all, you can expand the results and see even more questions, like this…
So, next time, if you’re not sure what to blog about – start with your target customer. What are they trying to find on Google – and how can you give it to them? Become the go-to information source for your target customers and you have an infinitely better chance of becoming their go-to service provider.
Give this a shot on your next blog post and tell us how it goes in the comments below…
Blogging the easy way
If you’re building traffic through organic search, it’s clearly vital to align your blogs with search intent. By focusing on informational intent, you can significantly boost your chances of success.
Fortunately, you don’t have to spend hours doing it. Wrise supercharges websites with engaging content that’s tailored to your requirements. Our helpful team can produce intent-aligned blog posts for you – saving you time, effort and a lot of hassle.
Take a look at our blog writing services to find out more.
Are you searching for a blog writer?
If you want to promote your website and attract new customers, blogging is the business. Leading brands from across the UK and worldwide count on our talented team of bloggers. And you can too!
