Search Intent

Search intent (also called 'user intent') is the underlying goal behind a search query. The same words can express different intents depending on context. 'AI website builder' is commercial (researching options); 'best AI website builder' is commercial-investigation (close to buying); 'Website Killer pricing' is transactional (likely to convert); 'what is an AI website builder' is informational.

The four classical intent types: (1) Informational — 'how does X work', 'what is Y'. (2) Navigational — 'GitHub login', 'Stripe docs'. (3) Commercial investigation — 'best X', 'X vs Y', 'X reviews'. (4) Transactional — 'buy X', 'X pricing', 'X coupon code'. Modern SEO has added micro-intents like 'visual search' (looking for an image), 'how-to-do-X' (procedural), and 'who is X' (entity research).

Matching content to intent is more important than matching to keywords. A page targeting 'AI website builder' as a keyword but written as a 'what is' explainer won't rank — Google sees commercial intent on that SERP (the top 10 are mostly product pages and listicles) and will surface other commercial pages. Conversely, an explainer can rank #1 for 'what is an AI website builder' even with weak link profile, because the SERP is informational and quality content wins.

How to identify intent: search the query yourself and look at the SERP. The page types ranking in the top 10 reveal the intent Google has assigned. If top 10 is mostly product pages, intent is commercial. If top 10 is mostly long-form guides, intent is informational. Build content that matches the dominant intent — don't try to fight Google's intent classification by ranking a sales page for an informational query.

Intent can shift over time. 'Best AI website builder' was 60% informational ('I'm researching the category') in 2023; by 2026 it's 90% commercial-investigation ('I'm buying soon, which one'). Re-check intent every 6-12 months on your top target queries.