Segmenting Search Intent

Today I'd like to take a deep look inside the minds of the billion worldwide search engine users and share a more comprehensive understanding of their motivations. This pseudo-psychological perspective can help us gain perspective on targeting, click-through rates, ad-serving and even relative value.

First off, we need to realize that search engines are a tool - a resource driven by intent. The search box is fundamentally different than a visit to a bookmark like IHT.com or Reddit.com or moz.com; it's unique from a click on the "stumble" button in your StumbleUpon toolbar or a visit to your favorite blog - searches have a direct intent behind them; the user wants to find... something. That "something" is what I've segmented below:

Navigational Queries

Navigational searches are performed with the intent of surfing directly to a specific website. In some cases, the user may not know the exact URL, and the search engine serves as the "White Pages," passing along the (hopefully) correct location.

Informational Queries

Informational searches involve a huge range of queries from finding out the local weather to getting a map & directions to finding the name of Segey Brin's new bride or checking on just how long that trip to Mars really takes. The common thread here is that the searches are primarily non-commercial and non-transaction-oriented in nature; the information itself is the goal and no interaction beyond clicking and reading is required.

Commercial Investigation Queries

A commercial investigation search straddles the line between pure research and commercial intent. For example, sourcing potential partners for distribution of your new t-shirts in Albuquerque, determining what companies make laptop bags for sale in the United Kingdom or researching the best brand of digital cameras for an upcoming purchase all qualify. They're not directly transactional, and may never result in an exchange of goods, services or monies, but they're not purely informational either.

Transactional Queries

Transactional searches don't necessarily involve a credit card or wire transfer. Signing up for a free trial account at Cook's Illustrated, creating a Gmail account, paying a parking ticket from the city of San Francisco (I got one on my way out of town after getting robbed) or finding the best local Mexican cuisine (Carta de Oaxaca in case you're wondering) for dinner tonight are all transactional queries.

From the above segmentation, we can make a few determinations about the nature and value of the traffic driven by these various searches. Each presents opportunity, but not all are of the same quality or ROI for targeting purposes.

Navigational Queries:

• Opportunities - Pull searcher away from destination; get ancillary or investigatory traffic
• Average Value - Generally Low

Informational Queries:

• Opportunities - Brand searchers with positive impression of your site, information, company, etc; Attract inbound links; Receive attention from journalists/researchers; Potentially convert to sign-up or purchase
• Average Value - Middling

Commercial Investigation Queries:

• Opportunities - Convert to member/sign-up; Sway purchase decision; Collect email; Get user feedback/participation
• Average Value - High

Transactional Queries:

• Opportunities - Achieve transaction (financial or other)
• Average Value - Very High

When you're building keyword research charts for clients or on your own sites, it can be incredibly valuable to determine the intent of each of your primary keywords. For example:

This type of analysis can help to determine where to place ads and where to concentrate content and links.

Hopefully, this excursion into the minds of searchers can help you to concentrate your efforts in the best possible places and think carefully about how to serve different kinds of searchers based on their individual intents.

BTW - I don't have data for it, but experience & intuition are telling me that Google & Ask skew to "informational" and "commercial investigation" searches while Yahoo! & MSN skew "navigational" and "transactional."