SEO practitioners, such as myself, and search engines have a common goal to provide searchers with results that are relevant to their queries. Therefore it is crucial to understand your audience. Then you can target market searches for your services, products or resources you offer.
Users perform searches with INTENT. The user wants to find something in particular, rather than just aimlessly surfing. This is why it is so important to have relevant information on your web page that will relevant to the users search. Knowing what type of queries will be performed helps in determining some of the SEO tactics that needs to be performed.
Navigation Queries – Navigation searches are performed with the intent of locating a specific website. The user may not know the exact URL so they type in the name of the business and use the search engine to locate it. For instance someone that may be looking for “panama airlines”; the search may pull up websites such as www.panamaairlines.com, www.panamaairlinetickets.com, www.cheappanamatickets.com, etc.. The “value” of these type of queries are LOW.
Informational Queries – Informational searches are the largest and involve an enormous range of queries. From weather, maps, directions, how long do you have to brush my teeth, why is my transmission making a crunch sound, and just about anything else users search for. Most informational queries are non-transactional however many include searching for a product or services that is then purchase at a later date. This is where a blog can make a huge impact. A blog is a great way to create content for “informational queries”. If you are able to build a relationship with users who find your site after an “informational query”, they are more likely to come to you to make the related purchase at a later date. They also see you as an authority in your field because of the information you have provided them. The “value” of these type of queries are medium to high.
Transactional Queries – Transaction searches don’t always involve a credit card. Many transactions searches are in the form of becoming a subscriber to a website, signing up for a free trial, creating a gmail account, looking for a great french restaurant in the area (that turns into an off-line transaction), etc. These are all considered transactional queries. The “value” of these type of queries are very high.
According to research by Pennsylvania State University and the Queensland University of Technology, these queries are as follows; 80% information and only about 10% transactional and navigational. http://ist.psu.edu/faculty/jjansen/academic/pubs/jansen_user_intent.pdf
As an SEO practitioner it is important to understand what type of audience and search queries will be performed in order to optimize the website to focus on those areas. However, keep in mind that anytime you can increase “informational search landings” by creating valuable content that consumers appreciate, you will have a better chance in ranking for “informational queries” and eventually turning that information query into a conversion! (sale!)