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Glossary · Keywords & intent

search intent

Also called keyword intent, user intent

Reviewed 31 Oct 2026 By Madiha Fatima 4 min read Check it yourself: yes, free

4 min
Definition

Search intent is what the person typing a search wants. The same words can mean 'teach me', 'help me compare', 'take me to a specific site' or 'let me buy this now'. Google guesses the intent and shows the kind of page that fits it, so a page built for the wrong intent will not rank, however well written.

The four usual labels are informational (an answer), navigational (a particular site), commercial (comparing before buying) and transactional (ready to buy or book). Most small business pages are written as transactional while most searches are informational or commercial, which is why so much 'content' never meets a customer.

Short version: what the searcher wants to happen next.
Why it matters for your business

Traffic that was never
going to buy anything.

A Shopify store that ranks for 'how to clean a cast iron pan' gets thousands of visitors and almost no orders, because the people typing it own a pan already. A report that celebrates the traffic is measuring the wrong thing. Matching intent means asking, for every page, what the visitor wanted and whether the page gives them that and then a sensible next step.

Intent also explains why some pages refuse to rank. If every result for 'best accounting software for small business' is a comparison article, Google has decided the intent is commercial research. A product page cannot win that search no matter how many links it earns. The fix is a comparison page, not more SEO on the wrong page.

When you read a keyword list in a proposal, add a column for intent. Informational terms need articles and will bring readers, not buyers, which is fine if that is the plan. Transactional and local terms need service or product pages and bring enquiries. A proposal that promises leads from a list of informational terms has mixed them up.

Example

Three searches about one product,
three different pages.

The searches

'what is a weighted blanket' (informational), 'weighted blanket vs heavy duvet' (commercial), 'buy 7kg weighted blanket uk' (transactional). A Shopify store selling weighted blankets tried to rank its product page for all three.

What fits each one

The first wants a plain explanation, so a short guide page with a link to the shop. The second wants an honest comparison, so an article that gives the duvet its due and says who should pick which. The third wants a product page with the price, sizes, delivery and reviews. The store's product page ranks for the third once the other two stop competing with it, and the two articles send readers to it when they are ready. Same product, three intents, three pages, each doing one job.

How to check it on your site

Four checks to match your pages to intent.

Tick each one as you go. 0 of 4 checked on your site.

  1. Look at what Google already shows

    Search your target phrase in a private window. If the results are guides and videos, the intent is informational. If they are 'best' and 'vs' articles, it is commercial. If they are product or service pages and a map, it is transactional or local. Your page needs to be the same kind of thing.

  2. Read your own page against that

    Does your page give that kind of visitor what they came for in the first screen? A product page for an informational search, or a 2,000-word article for someone trying to book, is the mismatch to fix.

  3. Check the behaviour in GA4

    In GA4, compare engagement time and conversions by landing page. A page with long visits and no conversions is probably answering an informational search well, which is fine if it links to the next step. A page with short visits and nothing else is answering the wrong intent.

  4. Sort your keyword list by intent

    Next to each keyword in your plan or your proposal, write I, C, T or L for informational, commercial, transactional or local. Then check that each has the right kind of page. Gaps are content to create. Doubles are cannibalization waiting to happen.

Related terms

Usually in the same sentence.

Read next

Where this shows up in practice.

Analytics Traffic but no leads

Usually an intent problem: the visitors were never going to buy. Here is how to tell.

 Content Write for the question, not the keyword

Writing to the searcher's intent rather than to a phrase.

 Shopify Shopify store not getting sales

The Shopify version of the intent mismatch, with the fixes.
Related service

Mapping each target search to its intent, and to the right kind of page, is part of the keyword work in month one of the SEO service. Prices are on the price list, not on a call.

See the SEO service
Reviewed by Madiha Fatima, founder of 99creatix

Every entry in this glossary is written and checked by the person who runs the agency, reviewed at least once a quarter and dated. Last reviewed 31 October 2026.

Spotted an error or a term we are missing? Tell us and it is fixed within the week.

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Next step

Getting visits
but not customers?

Fifteen minutes, your Search Console and GA4. We will show you which pages are attracting the wrong intent and what kind of page each search actually needs, before you change anything.

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