Navigational Vs. Transactional Vs. Informational Search Intent: Understanding The Differences

The ultimate goal of most search engines is to offer the best possible results to user queries. To make that happen, search engines understand what is user intent of the keywords. This is because not all user searches are done for the same purpose. Some people might be looking for answers to their problems, while others might be looking to make a purchase. When it comes to search intent, you might come across terms such as navigational search intent, transactional, informational, etc.

What are these terms exactly and why you should find out the searcher’s intent when targeting a specific keyword? We’ll explain that and a detailed comparison between the Navigational vs. transactional vs. informational search intents in this article.

Importance Of SEO and Search Intent

What is search intent in SEO? This is something you must know before targeting specific keywords. In SEO, search intent is all about understanding the purpose behind each user query. Understanding search intent types makes a big difference in determining your business success. This, in turn, helps you create better content that is more likely to rank in Google and drive traffic to your site.

Google always prefers to figure out the user intent and deliver the exact results. If search engines aren’t able to comprehend what users want, they will move on to other search engines that get the job done. As a brand, what you should do is understand your audience’s intent, create content, and do search intent optimization that aligns with their needs. Some of the long-term benefits of understanding SEO and search intent include the following:

Higher sales

Understanding the keyword’s intent helps create compelling content that attracts the right users and organic traffic to your site. This helps generate higher sales.

Minimal bounce rates

Creating and publishing content for users that matches their search intent gives them a valid reason to stay longer, and engage with other areas of your site, thus reducing bounce rates.

More conversions 

Focusing on keywords with a higher purchase intent helps convert more users into loyal customers.

Get higher rankings

Creating compelling content by understanding user search intent helps Google identify your content as relevant, thereby improving search rankings in the long run.

Decoding The Various Search Intent Types

Now that you are aware of the importance of search intent, it’s time to focus on the various examples of search intent types that are available for your choosing. Search Intent types are primarily categorized into four categories: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional. Here we are doing a Navigational vs. transactional vs. informational

Informational Search Intent

Informational search intent is when users are specifically looking for information. For example, if a user searches for “what is digital marketing”, they are looking for information to learn about that topic. Most of the user queries processed on Google and other search engines comprise keywords of Informational search intent. Since Informational queries cover a wide range of topics, these keywords can be thought of as starting points. Some of the popular informational searches will include the following modifiers:

• What is
• Who is
• How to
• Where did
• Why is

When targeting keywords with an informational search intent, you must know what users are looking for. Once that’s figured out, you can create and optimize content that offers users information, guidance, and value. Some of the content forms include blogs, FAQs, articles, infographics, etc.

Navigational Search Intent

Navigational search Intent is termed when users are looking for a specific website or webpage for navigation purposes. Searchers who already know where to go always use navigational keywords. Their search queries normally contain the name of the brand, product, service, or technology they’re interested in. For example, if a user searches for Wikipedia, they probably want to navigate to that site. 

One of the main highlights of navigational search intent is that you don’t have to do research or optimize for navigational keywords as long as you mention your brand or product name on your webpage, any anywhere else that counts. There are cases however, you may need to target navigational keywords. The first one is if you lack the content that people are searching for about your brand and the second is when you have the same brand name as another competitor company. You can identify navigational queries by referring to Google’s Autocomplete suggestions.

Commercial Search Intent

Whenever users are in the consideration phase, i.e. researching products or services to make a future purchase, that is when they rely on commercial intent keywords. For example, if a user searches for “best laptops under AED 1799”, they haven’t made the decision yet but are still in the research phase. If you are targeting keywords to understand commercial search intent, you should focus on creating content by helping the users make a decision.

This can be in the form of unbiased reviews, detailed product comparisons, and buyer guides. The point is to offer value to the users to help narrow down their options to make the right choice If you are wondering how to find commercial keywords, that is pretty easy by using Google Autocomplete. All you have to do is simply enter the specific keyword/phrase that describes your target product along with the following commercial terms such as:

• Best
• Alternatives
• Top
• Reviews

Transactional Search Intent

If a user is close to making a purchase decision, they will mostly use keyword terms associated with transactional search intent. Therefore, transactional search intent is when users are looking to buy something. An example of this is when users search, “buy laptop for gaming”, they are close to making a purchase. 

If you want to generate more sales, you’ll have to target transactional keywords. This means that you must create content that is focused on selling a product or service and satisfying the commercial intent of the searcher. Some of the common modifiers included in transactional search intent are the following:

• Cheap
• Coupon
• Buy
• Order

The point is to be there when people want to convert as users searching with a transactional search intent are looking to take action. And if they can’t find your brand during this phase, you are missing out on a conversion.

Learn To Optimise Content For Search Intent

Now that you are familiar with the Navigational vs. transactional vs. informational intents, let’s move on to learn how you can effectively optimize your content that matches the specific user intent. Some of the tips include using navigational keywords for website titles and descriptions, including informational keywords in blogs, and articles and transactional keywords in your product & landing pages.

Keyword Research 

Doing keyword research helps uncover the search intent behind the specific keyword you are targeting. You can use Google Keyword Planner or any other keyword research tool to find out the most searched terms or you can just look up Google by entering a query. This will show the different results that come up, allowing you to get an idea of what users are looking for. Once you figure out what kind of terms users are searching for, you can create content optimized for that intent.

Improve existing content

If you have already created web content for your site, you can implement keyword research to identify the relevant keyword intent and improve the content by incorporating the target keywords. You can start by looking at the queries that your content is being ranked for. You should also follow up by checking if any other content types are also being ranked for those queries. If there is, then you should create similar content so that you can rank for those queries as well. This drives more traffic to your website.

Winding Up

Whether it is about navigation, or transactional and informational search intent, understanding the purpose behind each user query is crucial to creating compelling website content and optimizing it so that resonates well with customers. Through this process, you can generate organic traffic to your site from Google and increase business success. 

Achieving such a result takes time and effort, which is why you should hire the top search engine optimization agency in Dubai – GTECH, to get the job done. We provide innovation-driven solutions and cutting-edge technologies that offer next-level performance and propel your business forward.