I was convinced there wasn’t a way to pursue search engine optimization (SEO) and keep my integrity at the same time. That world of the internet seemed to be littered with loopholes, lazy marketing, and blogs that were only written for robots. But now, I’ve realized there is a better way to climb the search rankings.
You shouldn’t write for Google robots if you want to climb the search rankings. If you only get one thing out of this article, it’s this:
Don’t write for search engines if you want to win at SEO. Write for PEOPLE.
Here’s the thing, people use search engines.
Without a doubt, Google is in this for the money. They are building a tool that benefits them in the end. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing for you.
Google’s Audacious Goal
Google’s success depends on their ability to do 3 things really well:
- Understand what people are searching for.
- Understand why they are searching for that thing (or information).
- Figure out how to deliver the best piece of content that fits that person’s search intent.
The #1 goal of Google (their BHAG) is understand people so they can gather more people to use their search engine. You and I will never able to learn people better than Google, right? At the end of 2020, Google employed 135,301 highly qualified people.
That’s a lot of manpower dedicated to learning how people think online.
But here’s the thing—they can’t match your experience, expertise, and customer empathy working with your people. They know what words people use to search, but Google doesn’t always know the why. Their educated guess is not as good as your personal certainty.
They are learning search intent—but you’re already there.
What is Search Intent?
Search intent (or searcher’s intent) is simply the why behind a person’s online search habits.
Let’s imagine someone types “runnings shoes” into Google. What are they trying to accomplish? Here are a few scenarios
- Order running shoes online (right now)?
- Find a guide to learn about top-recommended running shoes?
- Find a local store than specializes in running shoes, so they can buy them today?
Not so simple right?
According to Brian Dean at Backlinko,
Search Intent (also known as “User Intent”) is the main goal a user has when typing a query into a search engine. Common types of Search Intent include informational, commercial, navigational and transactional.
Brian Dean (Backlinko)
Search intent has recently become Google’s holy grail, according to their October 2020 search guidelines.
Once they can train their bots to recognize, understand, and react to a person’s true search intent, they will have the world at their fingertips. In a way, they would be able to read our minds.
Scary, right?
I don’t think this is possible on a large scale. But I do think it’s possible for your to learn your ideal customer well enough to predict what words and phrases they will use to find a solution like yours. Or, at least find the right words they will use to describe the problem or question they have.
Categories of Search Intent
No two people are the same, and no two people think the same when searching on Google. However, there are a few categories we can use to organize our thoughts—and find some practical ways to capture more organic traffic.
After all, finding and winning the right new customers is your goal right?
Most people in the SEO world categorize search queries within one of these four categories:
- Informational – “how to choose running shoes”
- Transactional – “buy running shoes”
- Commercial – “best running shoes”
- Navigational – “running shoes near me”
Easy enough to understand, but that doesn’t give you too much insight on what to actually write on your website. What’s the next step from here?
There are other ways to view search intent that will give you a better kickstart in the right direction.
Here are some questions you should ask.
These points come directly from Brendan Hufford at SEO for the Rest of Us, and I don’t think I can improve on them yet (I highly recommend his training and podcast). He approaches SEO strategy with a no-nonsense perspective that is refreshingly simple to start:
- “Are they searching for a solution to a problem? (Problem aware)
- Are they including your solution in the search? (Solution aware)
- Does the search phrasing include your service or product? (Product aware)
- Do they already know your solution is the best option? (Most aware)“
Now that’s information you can act on!
What type of content is winning right now?
Google can’t read a person’s mind, but they are getting really good at finding average data points and delivering a list of mostly relevant pages for every search.
Ahrefs released a video recently that gave 3 helpful content categories to consider. Here they are:
- Content type – Will the reader/viewer prefer a blog post, video, product, or full-length guide? What fits their goal in that moment of typing .
- Content format – Will a list, how-to article, tutorial, or some other format fit their needs?
- Content angle – What’s the dominant selling proposition of the content currently winning the search rankings? Which competitors are winning this keyword phrase right now (e.g. “running shoes”) and what is their promise to the searcher?
Practice noticing these things when you search and the effectiveness of your website content will go through the roof!
Discover Search Intent & Win The Day
You might be able to understand the search intent of every person who uses Google in a day—or even in the next 60 seconds. But you can use your deep customer knowledge to understand the language they use to describe their problem.
Stop guessing what you should be writing, and start answering the questions and concerns your ideal customer is already searching for.
What is their goal when typing XYZ in a search box? That’s what you need to figure out. I’ll bet you already know more than you realize—that’s how you beat Google to the punch.
Treat SEO as part of your research process and keep providing the right value for your clients. Focus on people. They are your guiding light.
That’s why I’m taking SEO seriously this year.
