Search intent is the single most important concept in modern SEO. You can have the best-written page on the internet, but if the intent does not match what the searcher wants, you will not rank, and even if you do, you will not convert.
The Four Types of Search Intent
1. Informational Intent
The searcher wants to learn something. Examples: "how does SEO work", "what is a canonical tag", "wix seo tips". These searches should be answered with blog posts, how-to guides, or pillar content. Do not try to sell to an informational searcher, educate them first.
2. Navigational Intent
The searcher wants to find a specific website or page. Examples: "Wix login", "Google Search Console", "Michael Andrews Wix SEO". These searches are brand-specific. Optimise your branded pages to ensure you own the top results for your own name.
3. Commercial Investigation Intent
The searcher is researching before making a purchase decision. Examples: "best Wix SEO course", "Wix vs WordPress SEO", "wix seo expert reviews". These searchers need comparison content, case studies, and social proof, not a hard sell.
4. Transactional Intent
The searcher is ready to take action. Examples: "hire wix seo expert", "wix seo services price", "buy wix seo course". These should land on your service pages or sales pages with clear calls to action, pricing information, and trust signals.
How to Identify Intent from a Keyword
Determining search intent
- 1Search the keyword in Google and look at the top 10 results
- 2What page types appear? Blog posts = informational. Service pages = transactional. Product pages = transactional.
- 3Look at the People Also Ask questions, they reveal related intent
- 4Notice whether Google shows ads above the results, ads indicate commercial or transactional intent
- 5Check if Google shows a featured snippet, this almost always indicates informational intent
Complete How-To Guide: Classifying Search Intent for Every Keyword on Your List
This guide walks you through the practical process of determining the search intent behind every keyword you are targeting, and matching the right Wix page type to each intent.
Follow these steps to classify search intent for your entire keyword list
- 1Open your keyword research spreadsheet and add a new column labelled Search Intent
- 2For each keyword search it in Google in an incognito window and examine the top 5 results carefully
- 3If the results are primarily blog posts, guides, wikis or educational content label the intent as Informational
- 4If the results show comparison pages, review articles, best-of lists or product roundups label the intent as Commercial Investigation
- 5If the results show product pages, pricing pages, service pages with booking buttons or ecommerce listings label the intent as Transactional
- 6If the results show maps, local business listings, directions or contact pages label the intent as Navigational or Local
- 7Note the content format Google is rewarding for each keyword: is it long-form guides, short answer boxes, video results, or image galleries
- 8For each keyword decide which Wix page type matches the intent: blog post for informational, comparison or pillar page for commercial, service or product page for transactional, location page for local
- 9Flag any keywords where you have the wrong page type targeting them (for example a blog post targeting a transactional keyword) as these need to be reassigned or new pages created
- 10Create a new tab in your spreadsheet called Intent Mismatch listing every keyword where your existing Wix page does not match the intent Google is rewarding
- 11For each mismatched keyword either create a new page of the correct type or re-optimise the existing page to match the intent
- 12Re-check your intent classifications every 6 months as Google can shift what it rewards for certain keywords over time
Final Checkpoint
Every keyword in your spreadsheet should have a clear intent label and a matching Wix page type assigned to it. If more than 20% of your keywords have intent mismatches with your current pages, prioritise fixing the highest-traffic mismatches first.
Essential Resources
Google Search Console
Monitor how Google crawls, indexes, and ranks your Wix site pages
Google Keyword Planner
Free keyword research tool inside Google Ads with official search volume data
Ahrefs
Industry-leading SEO tool for keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitor research
AnswerThePublic
Visual keyword map of questions and phrases people search around any topic
