SEO is the process of bringing a website in the first position and it should be done based on search intent. As an SEO expert, it is important to understand the searches and intents, you should optimize your content and choose keywords according to the search intent.
Usually, there are 3 types of searches where a user searches in Google and it is considered as an SEO strategy to optimize your website and content according to the type of search. In this article, we will discuss the 3 types of searches and how to target them to increase your website traffic.
3 Types of Searches
- Navigational
- Transactional
- Informational
Navigational
Navigational search is one where the users search for a specific product or website, that they already knew where they need to land on.
For example, if a user searches for “amazon” it is a navigational search and not only a brand is navigational, but there are also some navigational searches like “Education Loan Wikipedia”.
The above search clearly shows that the user is searching for educational loan definition in Wikipedia.
Transactional
Transactional searches are ones where the user search for any product to buy but not decided where they need to buy.
For example, if the search is “men’s casual shoes”, Google clearly understands that user is not searching for the information, and they are planning to buy or explore the product.
In this case, Google will display the category page of the eCommerce sites that contain “men’s casual shoes”. Any product that is searched without any lead is considered a transactional search.
Informational
The name defines the type of search, this type of search comes in when the user searches for any information.
For example, “What is SEO or How to book a cab”, for this type of search Google not only displays the search results but also it displays the definition in the snippet if the information is available.
How to identify each type of search?
It is important to understand how experienced SEO professionals identify the type of searches. SEO professionals are better at Google searches, and they would come across many keywords and searches, so it is easy for them to identify the type of search.
There is a small identifier tip to find the type of search called keyword modifiers. Keyword modifiers are the words that a keyword contains. Below are the keyword modifiers for all three types of searches,
Informational – who, what, when, where, why, how, guide, tutorial, tips, definition
Transactional – brand name, product name, service name
Navigational – buy, coupon, order, purchase, cheap, price
If you are using any keyword research tools like Ahrefs, then it is easy for you to identify a greater number of keywords with these three types of searches.
Go to Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, type your keyword in the search box and use the filter ‘Include’ and add the modifiers listed above. You can find thousands of keywords like this,
It is one of the methods to identify the type of search, but it is also important to search for the keyword in Google and analyze the search results, it is the only and easy way to clearly identify the type and intent of the search.
For example, if the keyword is “ideal protein”, how can one understand that the search is informational, transactional, or informational. It can be a brand or user may search for the ideal proteins to take in a day or whether the user is searching to buy an ideal protein.
You can clearly understand this type of search through the SERP results.
How to Target Each type of Search?
Many SEO professionals will group their keywords according to these 3 types of searches to improve the website traffic. All they do is, they will create,
- A blog post for informational search
- Product page for transactional search
- Usually, they will work to rank their brand name that is navigational
It is not easy to target a keyword with only the type of searches, it is important to find the search results to target a keyword for users.
For example, ‘best laptops’ can be transactional or informational, you cannot conclude that this is a transactional keyword that contains a product. Analyze the search results for ‘best laptops’,
The first two results are the branded websites that show their laptops category page because they are the paid campaigns, other than paid campaigns all the below results are the blog posts that contains the list of best laptops.
If are trying to improve your ranking organically, then it is important to publish a blog post based on the best laptops list, but it will be changing, and you need to update your content according to the best products available in shops.
Best Way to Classify Keywords
It is not easy to classify the keywords by screening them, it is important to analyze the search results for a targeted keyword this helps you to understand the intent of the search or query.
3C’s are the first things that will come to mind while talking about the keyword classification and they are,
- Content Type
- Content Format
- Content Angle
Content Type
It is important to find what type of content needs to display for a specific keyword and the SERP will contain the below listed content types,
- Blog Post
- Category Page
- Landing Page
- Product Page
For example, if you search for “shoes” Google will display the category pages of eCommerce sites and if the search is “men’s shoes or branded shoes” Google will display the landing page that contains the exact product.
Content Format
Content format always refers to the blog posts where the search results will be a guide, information, or answer to a particular search. The format may be,
- Step-by-step guide
- List
- Comparison
- Review
- How to guide
For example, the search results for “SEO tips” will always be the blog posts that contains a number of tips as a list.
Content Angle
Content angle always refers to the main selling point of the content and it will be changing according to the time and season. For example, the results for ‘best laptops’ will always be displayed with the current year.
Conclusion
It is not easy to identify the type of search, you should clearly understand the intent behind every search to group your keywords and to display the exact content for a query. These 3 types of searches will be useful for you to group your keywords by analyzing the SERPs, start targeting your keywords with perfect content for relevant search.
