{{Short description|A user's goal in making a search query}} {{EngvarB|date=May 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}} '''User intent''', also known as '''query intent''' or '''search intent''', is the identification and categorization of what a user online intended or wanted to find when they typed their search terms into an online web search engine for the purpose of search engine optimisation or conversion rate optimisation.<ref name="Understanding Sponsored Search: Core Elements of Keyword Advertising">{{cite book|last1=Jansen|first1=Jim|title=Understanding Sponsored Search: Core Elements of Keyword Advertising|date=July 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York, NY, USA|isbn=9781107011977|page=44|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L4LIGyLOwDoC&dq=what+is+user+intent&pg=PA44}}</ref> Examples of user intent are fact-checking, comparison shopping or navigating to other websites.
== Optimizing For User Intent == To increase ranking on search engines, marketers need to create content that best satisfies queries entered by users on their smartphones or desktops. Creating content with user intent in mind helps increase the value of the information being showcased.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Balkhi |first1=Syed |url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/320539|title=How to Create a User-Intent SEO Strategy|work=Entrepreneur |date=28 September 2018 }}</ref> Keyword research can help determine user intent. The search terms a user enters into a web search engine to find content, services, or products are the words that should be used on the webpage to optimize for user intent.<ref>{{Cite book|last=L.|first=Ledford, Jerri|title=Search engine optimization bible, 2nd ed.|date=2015|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-1-118-08081-8|oclc=933401063}}</ref>
Google can show SERP features such as featured snippets, knowledge cards or knowledge panels for queries where the search intent is clear. SEO practitioners take this into account because Google can often satisfy the user intent without having the user leave Google SERP. The better Google gets in figuring out user intent, the less users are going to click on search results. {{Citation needed span|date=May 2022|{{As of|2019|post=,}} less than half of Google searches result in clicks.}}
==Types== Though there are various ways of classifying the categories of user intent, overall, they tend to follow the same clusters. Until 2017, there were three broad categories: informational, transactional, and navigational.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Broder|first1=Andrei|title=A Taxonomy of Web Search|journal=SIGIR Forum|date=Fall 2002|volume=36|issue=2|pages=5–6|doi=10.1145/792550.792552|s2cid=207602540|url=http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~nenkova/Courses/cis430/p3-broder.pdf|access-date=27 December 2016|archive-date=10 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610093619/https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~nenkova/Courses/cis430/p3-broder.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, after the rise<ref name="The Rise of Mobile Search: From 2012 to 2015">{{cite web|url=http://www.texodesign.com.au/the-rise-of-mobile-search/|title=The Rise of Mobile Search: From 2012 to 2015|website=Texo Design|access-date=26 December 2016|archive-date=6 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706075221/http://www.texodesign.com.au/the-rise-of-mobile-search/|url-status=dead}}</ref> of mobile search, other categories have appeared or have segmented into more specific categorisation.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=KhudaBukhsh|first1=Ashiqur|last2=Bennett|first2=Paul|last3=White|first3=Ryen|title=Building Effective Query Classifiers: A Case Study in Self-harm Intent Detection|journal=CIKM '15 Proceedings of the 24th ACM International on Conference on Information and Knowledge Management|date=2015|pages=1735–1738|url=http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/pauben/papers/cikm-2015-KhudaBukhsh-et-al.pdf|access-date=26 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines|date=28 March 2016|pages=61–74|url=http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//insidesearch/howsearchworks/assets/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf|access-date=26 December 2016}}</ref> For example, as mobile users may want to find directions or information about a specific physical location, some marketers have proposed categories such as "local intent," as in searches like "XY near me." Additionally, there is commercial search intent, which is when someone searches for a product or service to know more about it or compare other alternatives before finalizing their purchase.{{cn|date=November 2022}}
Some notable types with examples below include:
'''Informational Intent''': Donald Trump, Who is Maradona?, How to lose weight?
'''Navigational Intent''': Facebook login, Wikipedia contribution page
'''Transactional Intent:''' Latest iPhone, Amazon coupons, cheap dell laptop, fence installers
'''Commercial Intent''': top headphones, best marketing agency, x protein powder review,
'''Local Search Intent:''' restaurants near me, nearest gas station,
Many search queries also have mixed search intent. For example, when someone searches "Best iPhone repair shop near me" is transactional and local search intent. Mixed search intent can easily happen with homonyms and such SERPs tend to be volatile because user signals differ.{{cn|date=November 2022}}
User intent is often misinterpreted, and thinking that there are just a few user intent types is not giving the complete picture of the user behavior.
It is also a term to describe what type of activity, business or services users are searching for (not only the user behavior after the search).
Example: when you write 'Spanish games' in the search engine (your browser settings in English) you have results for learning Spanish methods, not a real games with Spanish origin. In this example, the user intent is to learn Spanish language, not to play typical games. This intent is reflected by Google and the other search engines, and they strive to display their SERP results based on the user interest.
==See also== * {{annotated link|Keyword research}} * {{annotated link|Intent marketing}} * {{annotated link|Search engine results page}} * {{annotated link|Principle of least astonishment}} * {{annotated link|Mobile marketing}}
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Internet search Category:Search engine optimization