When it comes to the customer journey online, there are a
few different stages that they go through before making a purchase.
Here are the buying
stages:
- Awareness: The customer becomes aware
of a problem or need
- Interest: They seek out information to
find a solution
- Consideration: They evaluate specific
products or services
- Purchase: They make a decision on what
to buy
Their search queries will be very different depending on which stage of the buying process they’re in. If you want to increase your
chances of getting new customers, you need to make sure that your business and
website are in front of potential customers from the time they start
researching to the point where they’re ready to press the “Buy Now” or “Add to
Cart” button.
So, how do you determine what kind of content you
need to produce to appear at the different stages of the buying cycle?
Using Search Intent
for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When Andrei Broder initially coined the term back in 2002,
search intent was broken down into three distinct types:
- Informative Searches (Know)
- Transactional Searches (Do)
- Navigational Searches (Go)
Informative Searches
Informative searches are likely to be done by people who
want to learn more about a particular subject, but are not ready to convert.
Examples of this type
of search:
“What is SEO?”
“How do I create a Facebook page?”
“Social media cover photo sizes”
Although the likelihood for conversion at this point in the
searcher’s journey is minimal, these are queries that you want to be ranking
for. That’s because this sort of content on your website gives you the
opportunity to introduce your business to the customer at the start of their
journey.
This type of content is also great for showing up in Google’s
featured snippets and gaining extra organic traffic while still helping
potential customers.
Transactional
Searches
Transactional searches are typically done when a user is
close to making a purchase.
Here are some
examples:
“Best [insert product] under $500”
“Orlando internet marketing company”
“Buy [insert brand] car”
Transactional searches are crucial for businesses and should
take precedence over information searches when you’re first starting to
optimize your website.
Navigational Searches
Navigational searches are the simplest to explain and
require little optimization.
These searches are used when there is a destination in mind
(usually a well-known brand or website). There really is only one search term
that they require – your website.
How Does Search
Intent Help With Google?
Knowing how these searches are broken down helps you to create
content that puts you in front of the consumer at all stages of their
purchasing cycle.
Keywords are no longer just simple, one-word searches in
Google. Search terms are now more involved and can sometimes even be full
sentences. By focusing on the search intent, you can narrow down the focus of
your website and ensure your customers have a path to go down that ends with a
sale.
If you’re interested
in learning how Sales & Marketing Technologies can help your business
thrive, call us today at (407) 682-2222 for a free strategy session.