Introduction
Great marketers show empathy, understanding that savvy SEO professionals align with search engines to deliver pertinent results to users. Therefore, a crucial aspect of crafting an online marketing strategy around SEO and organic search visibility is comprehending your audience—how they think, discuss, and search for your offerings.
It’s vital for search engine marketers to grasp that search engines are tools driven by user intent towards specific content destinations. Unlike typing a URL or clicking bookmarks, searches are purposeful—users seek specific information, not mere chance encounters. Search is distinct from passive browsing or random link-clicking.
Now, let’s explore different search query types, their categories, traits, and processes.
Navigational Queries
Users conduct navigational searches to reach specific websites directly. Sometimes, they don’t know the exact URL, relying on search engines as modern phone directories.
To gauge the value of ranking for a navigational query related to a competitor’s brand, consider:
- Opportunities: Redirecting users from their intended destination, gaining ancillary or investigative traffic.
However, a September 2019 study by Eric Enge published by Perficient revealed that nearly 70% of all clicks go to the first search result for branded queries.
- Average Traffic Value: Extremely high for searches related to the publisher’s own brand.
These searches often boast high conversion rates. However, since searchers are already familiar with the brand, not all queries represent new customers. For other brands, click-through rates are typically low, presenting an opportunity to divert customers from competitors.
Informational Queries
Informational searches span a broad spectrum, from local weather to disease symptoms, career advice, and more. These queries are non-transactional—the goal is information, often requiring no interaction beyond clicking and reading.
Informational queries generally have lower conversion rates but are valuable for brand building and link attraction. To assess an informational query’s worth:
- Opportunities: Creating positive brand impressions, attracting inbound links, garnering attention from journalists/researchers, potentially converting users to sign up or purchase.
- Average Traffic Value: Medium, as many searchers may not be ready to make a purchase immediately.
Transactional Queries
Transactional queries, meanwhile, drive the highest conversions, whether financial or otherwise. Evaluating a query’s value involves assessing opportunities to achieve a desired transaction and understanding the potential traffic’s high value.
Conclusion
Understanding searcher intent is key to keyword research. By discerning intent, marketers can tailor content and link strategies effectively, concentrating efforts where they matter most.
While informational queries may not directly convert into immediate sales, pursuing rankings on these queries is valuable. Informative content engages users and builds relationships, increasing the likelihood of future conversions or valuable interactions like content sharing.