Everyone wants their site to appear as high in the organic results of any search engine as possible. Especially those that are basing their entire business on selling online. We have all noticed the new changes that came through the application of the latest Google Core Update. And we are all beginning to realize how the implementation of AI can give our websites a tremendous boost. However, there are new terms that we need to understand first. Let’s begin exploring the concept of search intent.
It’s simple. Understand what people need.
It sounds easy but it isn’t. Up to now, there were 4 major categories for classifying what people really wanted when they typed a keyword to search for:
1) Just information
That’s what people want from sites like Wikipedia. A historical account, a research paper, where to find a physical entity, where does a place exist on a map, etc…
2) Guidance
This one does not include just how something works. It also includes tools and techniques on how to advance a learning curve from point A to point B on all sorts of industries and trades.
3) Comparison
Based on what we learned from the guidance step, we are asking for what fits the steps of the guide and then compare the specifications with what we actually need, and the prices of the various products. This classification is actually looking for lists of products.
4) Buying
Or as the people call it «conversions». The end result of the effort. Get the people that want our products to our page and make a sale.
From now, there must be an in-depth analysis of every target keyword to produce a sequence of results. Most of all, this analysis needs to resolve ambiguities that exist with certain searches.
How does the new concept work
First of all, it makes the use of special tools that analyze keywords essential. Let’s explain it with an example. If someone begins a search on the exact topic of keyword research, previously, they would receive first a list of the tools, then a guide and then pages for the tools themselves. That’s because there is a doubt on what the searcher actually means. The new trend understands that the search intent is for the tools themselves and so from now on, it will list the tools first then any relevant list, leaving any guides out.
Each analysis now, including results produced by AI apps, organizes the outcome via the top results of previous searches. Then, to understand what exactly is the concept of search intent, we have to look into the exact purpose that each page satisfies. Once we grasp this correlation, we can optimize our content based on our target audience, their needs and what exactly they want when they visit our page.
Using AI for content optimization
This is the key ingredient of the entire premise. Search engines do not want AI created content. They frown upon such pages and actually rank them lower. This is why they have implemented an AI index indicating how much of what a site contains, is produced through automatic means and not human creativity. However, they will also award higher rankings to ideas that have been optimized through info produced by an AI app.
The premise that we have already described upon the examination of the requirements of the new Google Content Update, is simple. Everything must be useful. No unnecessary bla bla, no impertinent pieces of information, no purple. The use of the AI in this case is to summarize the text, shorten the long paragraphs, add important references and make suggestions on the sort of media to include. All of the above under strict criteria that the authors of the content must provide, so that the tool understands better what the content is intended for.
The point of the exercise is clear: you must give users what they want
Basically, all webmasters should follow the example that Google revealed lately on the patterns of the algorithms that they use. Evaluate the signals that your users send carefully. To be more precise, the information that you receive from statistics like the dwell time, the bounce rates and the click-throughs are the ones that will tell you where you need to focus and optimize your content so that you tell the search engines that you are actually taking steps to give your visitors exactly what it is that they want.
The key point to observe is to reduce what is called «zero-click searches». The term refers to organic results that either did not produce a follow up click (i.e. terminating the session at the browser), or led to another search with a different keyword. The latest stats show an average of 58.5% on bad results versus a 41.5% of successful follow clicks.
Online presence has its own laws and rules. And they are constantly modified to satisfy the needs of those it addresses. The target audiences. It is imperative that those laws and rules are completely understood and put to effect, if we want this online presence of ours to have the desired outcome. And the best way to do that is to either devote time to it (time that we may not have), or to engage the services of professionals in content creation, whose livelihood comes exactly from observing and learning those new laws and rules immediately.