Someone types a few words into Google. Behind those words, however, there is usually a much bigger question: what are they actually trying to achieve?

They might want a quick answer, compare several products, find a particular website or make a purchase. Understanding that goal is what we call search intent, and it plays an important role in both SEO and paid search.

You can target the right keyword and create a well-optimised page, but if your content doesn’t give searchers what they expected to find, getting strong results becomes much harder.

So, how do you identify search intent and use it to create better content? Let’s break it down.

1. What is search intent?

Search intent is the reason behind a search query. It describes what someone hopes to find or accomplish when they enter something into a search engine.

For example, someone searching for “how to clean running shoes” probably wants instructions. Someone searching for “best running shoes for beginners” is more likely comparing options, while “buy Nike Pegasus 41” suggests they are much closer to making a purchase.

The keywords are different, but more importantly, so are the expectations behind them. Understanding those expectations helps you create a page that actually answers the search.

This is particularly important for SEO because Google aims to provide results that are relevant and useful for a person’s query. Google’s own guidance recommends creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, rather than content primarily created to manipulate search rankings.

2. The four main types of search intent

Most searches can broadly be grouped into four types of search intent. The boundaries aren’t always perfect, but these categories provide a useful starting point when analysing keywords.

Informational intent means someone wants to learn something. Searches such as “what is SEO”, “how to make cold brew” or “why is my website slow” usually fall into this category. Blog posts, guides and tutorials are common results.

Navigational intent occurs when someone already knows where they want to go. A search for “LinkedIn login” or “Semrush” is primarily being used to reach a particular website or page.

Commercial intent appears when someone is considering a purchase but still researching their options. Searches such as “best email marketing software for small businesses” or “Semrush vs Ahrefs” suggest that the user wants information that will help them make a decision.

Transactional intent indicates that someone wants to take an action, often a purchase or sign-up. Searches such as “buy running shoes online” or “Omnisend pricing” are much closer to conversion.

These categories also show why search volume alone doesn’t tell you how valuable a keyword might be. A lower-volume commercial or transactional keyword can sometimes be much more relevant to a business than a broad informational keyword attracting thousands of searches.

3. Search the keyword before creating content

One of the simplest ways to understand search intent doesn’t require a complicated SEO tool. Search the keyword yourself and study what Google already shows.

Pay attention to the pages dominating the results. If nearly every result is a detailed guide, creating a short product page for the same keyword probably won’t match what people are looking for. If Google mainly shows category or product pages, a long educational article may have the opposite problem.

Look beyond the traditional organic results too. Videos, images, local results, shopping listings and other search features can provide additional clues about what people expect from that particular query.

SEO tools can make this process easier too. SEMrush, for example, categorises keywords by search intent, making it easier to understand what people are looking for.

The goal isn’t to copy the pages already ranking. Instead, use the search results to understand what kind of answer Google currently considers relevant, then think about how your own page can provide a genuinely useful answer.

4. Look at content type, format and angle

Once you’ve looked at the results, you can analyse them a little more systematically.

Ahrefs describes this using the three Cs of search intent: content type, content format and content angle. It’s a simple framework that can make patterns in the search results much easier to spot.

Content type is the broad type of page ranking, such as a blog post, product page, category page or landing page. If most of the first-page results are blog posts, that’s a strong indication that searchers expect informational content.

Content format goes one step further. Among blog posts, for example, you might find mostly how-to guides, comparisons, list posts or step-by-step tutorials.

Finally, content angle looks at the perspective the top results are taking. Words such as “for beginners”, “affordable”, “2026” or “quick and easy” can reveal which characteristics appear particularly important for that search.

You don’t necessarily need to follow every pattern exactly. But understanding them gives you a much stronger starting point than choosing a keyword and immediately beginning to write.

5. Similar keywords can have very different intent

Small changes to a search query can completely change what someone expects to find.

Take email marketing as an example:

Search	Likely intent
What is email marketing?	Informational
How to create an email campaign	Informational
Best email marketing platforms	Commercial
Omnisend vs Mailchimp	Commercial
Omnisend pricing	Transactional
Omnisend login	Navigational

All of these searches revolve around the same broad topic, but creating one page and trying to rank it for every variation wouldn’t make much sense.

Instead, different intentions can become different pieces of content across your website. An educational guide can answer informational searches, while a comparison article can help someone evaluating their options and a service or product page can target people closer to taking action.

This is how keyword research starts becoming a content strategy, rather than simply a spreadsheet full of search terms.

6. Search intent can change over time

Search intent isn’t necessarily permanent. The way people search for a topic can change, and the results Google displays can change with it.

This is one reason why an article that ranked well in the past can gradually lose visibility even if nothing technically changed on the page. The content may still be good, but it might no longer match what searchers are currently looking for.

Revisit important pages occasionally and search their primary keywords again. If the results now look significantly different, consider whether your content needs to be updated, expanded or repositioned.

This is also why SEO shouldn’t end when you press publish. Monitoring and improving existing content is an important part of building sustainable organic visibility.

7. Use search intent beyond SEO

Search intent isn’t useful only when you’re trying to rank organically. It can influence Google Ads, content marketing and the wider customer journey too.

In Google Ads, understanding intent can help you decide which searches are actually worth paying for. Someone searching for a broad informational term may be much further from becoming a customer than someone actively comparing providers or looking for a specific service.

The same principle applies to content marketing. Informational content can introduce someone to your business, commercial content can help them evaluate their options and transactional pages can make it easier to take the next step.

Instead of treating every visitor in exactly the same way, search intent helps you understand where they might be in their journey and what they need from you at that moment.

Good content starts with understanding the search

SEO isn’t simply about getting a keyword onto a page. You need to understand the person behind that keyword and create something that matches what they came looking for.

Before creating your next article or landing page, search the keyword yourself. Look at the type of pages appearing, how they answer the query and what the results tell you about the searcher’s expectations.

Once you understand the intent behind the keyword, deciding what content to create becomes much easier.

If you’re building a wider SEO strategy, continue with our SEO Deep Dive: How to Create Content That Actually Ranks, where we explore keyword research, content structure, internal linking and optimisation in more detail.

Want to turn searches into business growth?

From keyword research and SEO content to website optimisation, Ria Digital can help you create content built around what your audience is actually searching for.

Let’s talk about your SEO strategy.