So, you’ve launched a website. You’re excited. You tell friends to Google you… and nothing shows up. Not on page one, not on page two, not even in the top 10 pages.
Don’t panic. This is where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes in.
SEO is the art of making your website visible on Google. Done right, it can put you in front of customers exactly when they’re searching for what you offer. Let me break it down to you in a simple way. I will be writing this guide in 12 sections, maybe 1 per week, so please bear with me.
Step 1: Understanding Search Intent
Before we talk about keywords, backlinks, or technical stuff, let’s get one thing clear: Google only ranks sites that give users what they want. If your content doesn’t match intent, you won’t rank no matter how many keywords you stuff in, worse, Google would penalized your site for spammy content.
Like you and me and any other internet users out there, we use search engines like Google to search something that we need. We have initial reason when we search something, right? In SEO, this is called Search Intent.
There are here are four main types of search intent:
1. Informational Intent
Informational Intent is when users are simply looking for knowledge. The user just wants to learn something. Be it a guide, how-to, facts, information or data.
For example, you came here maybe by searching for “how to do seo myself?” or “what is seo?” because you wanted to learn more about SEO and how to do it yourself.
The best page type for informational intent is to do Blog posts, how-to guides, tutorials, or explainer videos. If someone is only looking for info, don’t try to sell them yet. Put them in your shoes, when you are looking for an honest knowledge or contents and the site you clicked just only promote their product or service, you might just leave right? So, give them helpful content exactly what they’re searching for, and they’ll trust you more. Trust is a very powerful negotiator.
“Give them helpful content exactly what they’re searching for, and they’ll trust you more. Trust is a very powerful negotiator.“
2. Navigational Intent
Navigational Intent is when the users are looking for a specific brand or site. The user already knows where they want to go. This intent is closely related to branded keywords, where you put your own brand name into the keywords. For example, your brand is selling phones, so you might use “brand” + phone as your primary keyword.
These searches are about brand recognition. If people search for your brand, you should make sure your site and socials appear first, otherwise competitors might steal that traffic.
Make sure your brand name isn’t overlap with other common word or you will have a harder time to outrank the literal meaning of the word, possible but more resources needed to do it, easiest way to do it is to use longer tail keyword to associate your product’s name to your product or services. There’s a cool story about branded keywords such as Apple case study where it outranks the Apple (fruit) in Search engine result, it’s so hard to do it but they pull it off. I wrote about it; you can read it here “How Apple manage to outrank Apple”.
Best content type for this intent is for building Homepage, Landing page, about us, or brand page.
3. Transactional Intent
Transactional Intent is when the user wants to act now, either buy, sign up, book, or download. The user already gathered info and they’re ready to act.
This is money time. If your product or service page isn’t optimized with clear pricing, CTAs, and trust signals, you’ll lose customers who are already ready to buy. Make sure your conversion page is optimized and shorten the action needed for them to convert. A clear path of CTAs (reduce the clicking path to the checkout) and reviews from other customers are two of the main pushing factors that will lead to a healthy conversion for your product or service.
Best content type for the conversion are the Product pages, pricing pages, checkout pages, sign-up forms.
4. Commercial Intent
Commercial Intent is when the user wants to research options before deciding or basically comparing before buying or taking any action.
People here are almost ready to buy, but they’re still deciding who or what. If you create comparison content (and show why you’re the better choice), you can guide them toward choosing you.
Best content type for this is the Reviews, comparison guides, listicles, or case studies.
Summary
- Informational – People want knowledge. Best with blogs, how-tos, tutorials.
- Navigational – People want a specific site or brand. Best with homepages and brand pages.
- Transactional – People are ready to buy or act. Best with product, checkout, or sign-up pages.
Commercial – People are comparing options before buying. Best with reviews, comparisons, and case studies.
Every search has a purpose. If your content doesn’t align with that purpose, Google won’t rank you no matter how good your keywords are. The secret is simple: match your page type with the search intent. When your content truly satisfies what users are looking for, they’ll stay longer, engage more, and Google will reward you with higher rankings.
