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Query Types - Figuring out Keyword Intent

This is part 3 of my series on Comprehensive Research for Bloggers, if you missed the first two I suggest you have a quick skim through Defining your Keyword Research Goals and 8 Tools for Keyword Research that should be a Part of your Arsenal.

When a user enters some keywords into a search box, they usually have an end goal in mind… they know what they want, they’re just trying to find it.

This shouldn’t be an Earth shattering concept, after all, the whole idea behind searching for something is to find it (whatever ‘it’ is) and if you’re going to get the most out of your keyword research, then the intent behind the search is a critical piece of information in your analysis.

About a week ago, a revised copy of the Google Quality Raters Guidelines was leaked to the Internet and while it mostly contained info on how Google views site content from a spam point of view, it also contained some interesting information about keyword intent. Search Engine Land posted their review of the quality raters guidelines and start off by highlighting the three query types that Google categorises search with:

• Navigational: Someone searching for a particular site (eg. IBM)
• Informational: A search for more information on a topic (eg. Keyword Research Strategy)
• Transactional: A search with intent to purchase a product or service (either online or off, eg. buy iPod)

Now, for our Keyword Analysis purposes, I’m going to introduce a 4th category Pre-Transactional (eg. iPod Reviews), it fits neatly between Informational and Transactional in the hierarchy, but it has a  very specific purpose as you will soon see.

Categorising your Keywords

It’s a good idea to categorise as many keywords on your list as possible… yes I know it can be tedious, but it’ll really help you reach your goals as it puts each keyword into perspective and gives your pages targeting those words a distinct purpose - so put the effort in now, and it will pay off later (I promise).

Choosing a category for each keyword is a subjective process - many will clearly fit into one category over another, but some will be a little hazy - just do your best and sort them as well as you can, the more experience you get the easier it’ll be. Here are a few tips to help you sort out keyword intent:

• Create a spreadsheet with your keywords in one column and keyword intent in another (I find colour coding the keyword intent categories makes it easier to visualise).
• Sort your keywords alphabetically, it’ll make the process quicker as groups of similar keywords often fit into the same category.
• Concentrate first on the category that is most important to your site, do one category at a time.

Navigational

Most of these keywords are pretty easy to spot, they are usually brand names, model numbers or events etc. and don’t usually have any additional keywords - if you think running a search on that keyword should result in you going straight to the ‘official’ site, then that’s a navigational keyword.

Navigational keywords that represent your brands (or maybe even your competitors brands), are ones that you want to take note of. Anything else can usually be deleted from your list (unless you can see a specific purpose for it).

Informational

Informational keywords are those pointing to information. It’s unlikely the searcher is going to buy anything, all they are looking for is information on a subject. Some things to look out for here are generalised product descriptions (eg. digital camera), or brands that have additional keywords (but don’t mention specific product numbers - eg. iPod hacks).

For many bloggers, these keywords will be an important part of their strategy, if your content comprehensively answers their need for information, then there’s a good chance the reader may subscribe to your RSS feed.

Pre-Transactional

These are sometimes hard to distinguish between Informational and Transactional, but do your best if a key part of your web strategy is to sell affiliate products or provide extensive content on products that you sell. A common way to identify them are by looking for brand names, model numbers etc. as you would for the navigational category, but with additional keyword modifiers. Examples can range from confirmation-type descriptors: ‘review’, ‘compare’, ‘comparison’, ‘experience’ etc. to negative descriptos: ‘bugs’, ‘recall’, ‘errors’, ‘problems’ etc.

The whole point behind pre-transactional keywords are those where it is likely the person running the search will be ready to buy ’soon’, but is looking for some more information before they take the final action to purchase. If you want to target pre-transactional keywords, the aim is to pre-sell… you need to convince the customer that their search for information is over, and it’s time for them to make a purchase. You do this by providing comprehensive content, answering any concerns they may have and pre-selling the product.

Transactional

Transactional keywords are those where the consumer is ready to buy now (or at least very soon). Anything that contains the words ‘buy’, ‘price’, ‘purchase’, ‘cheapest’ etc. are prime candidates here. Some keywords such as specific model numbers could fit into either the informational or transactional category, in which case it is usually a good idea to either categorise them with both, or choose the category most important to your business.

Searchers for transactional keywords already have the information they need, they have made up their mind to purchase, they need somewhere to buy. Your landing page for these keywords should emphasise factors such as trust, reliability, quality and price (if your competitive) etc. but most of all it should accurately describe the product.. don’t bother with all the fluff and marketing pitch (they have already decided to buy), you need to quickly convince them that what you’re selling is what they’re looking for… pictures, model numbers etc. are all good.

The next part of this series deals with themes and grouping of keywords - looking at ways of making your lists more manageable from a site structure point of view rather than keyword intent which we covered today. Until then, I’d love to hear your comments on keyword intent - are there other categories you think we should be using? do you have other tips you’d like to share to make the process easier?

Technorati Tags: Keyword Analysis, Keyword Intent

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