Why Intent Matters for SEO and AI
Why Intent Matters for SEO and AI. Using keywords in digital marketing seems so easy.
Just take a phrase people are looking for, and then incorporate it into your content- right? If a keyword has a lot of people searching for it, and there isn’t too much competition. surrounding it, then that suggests it’s a good one to target. Couldn’t be easier!
Except smart keywords is use much more nuanced than that.
When using keywords well, means understanding the type of person who searches for those specific terms, why they are looking for them, and what that can tell you about how you should be marketing to them.
One of the biggest ideas to understand here is “intent.” And in a more AI-focused era for Google, this is now more important than ever before.
What is Intent?
Intent essentially refers to the reason someone is looking for something and what action they want to take next Results.
If someone searched for “how to build muscle” it indicates that they are doing their own research and want to learn more about building muscle. But when someone searches for “buy muscle book online” it indicates that they really want to buy the book.
These two people will respond to different types of sales strategies. The first group kindly doesn’t make a website that makes fun of useful content and then force them to buy a book. The second is perfect for a sales page. The conversion rate is likely to be much higher for the latter group.
In many ways, the intent of a search can be more important than the search volume.
Note that the intent can be a very subtle matter and nuanced at times. Search for “fitness apps”, you are probably doing your research. If you’re looking for a “fitness app” you’re probably looking for something to download.
Intent and AI.
The other reason this has become increasingly important is that Google is now more interested in understanding what users are looking for than just looking for matching keywords.
In other words, Google wants users to talk to them instead of typing in static search terms.
At the same time, Google wants to be able to answer questions by crawling the web. Again, this means understanding not only the words and their literal meaning but also the intent that the user has in searching for them.
If you think more about the intent of your articles than just search terms, not only can you potentially improve your conversion rates, but it will also bring your goals in line with Google’s, which can only be a good thing for your SEO.
A bonus concept!
Another point to consider? The type of person and his buyer personality. If the intent is not the primary concern, you need to think about the type of person looking for a particular key phrase. Is this the type of person who fits your target demographic?
