When you’re researching topics that are vague or hard to understand, the key is to uncover search intent in the data and to seek out a topic expert in the field. Join this presentation for pro tips on uncovering intent and relevance hidden in your search data and in the minds of the people behind the scenes.

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#DigitalPriorities Digital Marketing Priorities 2018 brought to you by
What do people really search for?
Marten Lazarus
Strategic Digital Advisor in Client Success Management UK at Searchmetrics
Digital Marketing Priorities 2020 brought to you by
Hosted by Lewis Dormer, Digital Marketing Executive at Smart Insights

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#DigitalPriorities Digital Marketing Priorities 2018 brought to you by
Before we start… housekeeping
• Slides will be available via Smart Insights Slideshare, or you can download
them from the BrightTalk page.
• Do ask questions at any point via the chat function - we’ll respond either at
the end of the show or afterwards via email.
#DigitalPerformance

4. What Do People Really
Search For?
Ensuring Search Intent Is A Core Consideration
July 2020

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Marten Lazarus
Strategic Digital Advisor – Searchmetrics UK
13 Years In SEO
Wide Range Of Clients Worked With : From Household
Names to SME’s And Everything In Between.
Who I Am

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Agenda
Importance of
grouping keywords
and topics
Understanding Search
Intent
Asking the right
questions to the
business
Example: Using
Search Intent to get
actionable insights
Turning our research
into actions
Q&A
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7. Importance
Of Keyword Grouping

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Importance Of Grouping
Keywords
• A single keyword on its own is no longer a viable target to optimise for or report
on.
• A single webpage can rank for hundreds or even thousands of keywords.
• Put keywords into groups and map these groups of keywords to the various
pages on our website, creating new content where no existing page can be
mapped towards.
• If the search intent veers away from the intended focus, then content
should be split out into standalone pieces.
RELEVANCE IS KEY!
How we do it at
Searchmetrics >

9. Search Intent −
What does the visitor
really want to see?

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Search Intent : The Funnel
Awareness
Interest
Desire
£££

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Search Intent : The Funnel
Informational
Navigational
Transactional
£££

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Search Intent : The Funnel
INFORMATIONAL
TRANSACTIONAL
NAGIVATIONAL
EQUIVOCAL
User is at the top of the funnel and is looking for more
information before making a decision, e.g. ‘laptop’
User is a bit further down the funnel after doing their research
and is now ready to buy, e.g. ‘touch screen hp laptop’
User is aware of the brand and wants to go directly to the
website, e.g. ‘john lewis’
Users who’s search intent is still unclear or ambiguous, e.g.
‘laptop tablet’ could be both informational and transactional

13. Asking The Right
Questions − Asking the
business or your client
the right questions

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Asking The Right Questions
If your client/stakeholder might only know very broad topics that they want to
rank for then find a topic expert. If you can’t find one then try:
• Which other product pages are viewed before the purchase of a product?
• Does your analytics show a disproportionate amount of visitors
reading your FAQ pages?
• Which websites currently refer the most visitors to your site?

15. Using Search Intent To
Find Actionable Insights
− Joining topics and
thinking outside of the
box

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• What does my audience want to buy?
• Longtail is your friend, but it does not mean you have to start there.
• Assume users will only skim your content and design accordingly.
Sometimes it’s better to split out content into new pages if you’re not able to
properly cover the topic when it’s sitting inside a much broader one.
Using Search Intent With
Longtail Keywords

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Our example business is a fairly new eCommerce
Website that sells weights and training equipment.
• The website sells strength training equipment such
as kettlebells.
• The keywords ‘kettlebell’ or ‘buy kettlebell’ are very
competitive and the SERPs are filled with
advertisements.
Using Search Intent With
Longtail Keywords

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Google broadly
understands this
search to be
Transactional, but our
example business is
just starting out so
should they just
optimise for this
keyword?
We should dive
deeper into the data
and also our target
consumer and what
they want, are
interested in and are
trying to achieve with
their search.
Using Search Intent With
Longtail Keywords

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• Broaden out into the longtail and we can find smaller niches to pay attention to
when selecting our groups of keywords and deciding on how to optimise our
existing pages or where we will need to create new content.
Using Search Intent With
Longtail Keywords

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Good starting point but too
generic on it’s own!
Filter down into more specific areas of intent.
‘Best’, ‘workout’ and ‘exercises’ are all largely informational and
require either an article or guide on the topic or in the case of
‘best’ the user is wanting a comparison or review or what’s
available to help them decide.

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INFORMATIONAL
Using Search Intent With
Longtail Keywords

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Using Search Intent With
Longtail Keywords
• Broaden out into the longtail and we can find smaller niches to pay attention to
when selecting our groups of keywords and how we’re going to decide on
optimising our existing page and where we will need to create new content.
• If starting with a very niche topic then reverse the process until you have broader
topics, then use Search Intent as a guide for topic selection, paying attention to
opportunities such as SERPs with images, videos or featured snippets (or
whichever are the most relevant to your industry).

23. Turning Our Research
Into Actions − Building A
Strong Foundation

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Turning Research Into Action
•KW Research
•Explore Topics
•Search Intent
Research
•Map Keywords And
Topics To The Website
•Identify Gaps And Add
These To The Content
Plan
Map •Update Existing
Content
•Publish New Content
•Measure And Report
On Results
Publish

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“
Marten Lazarus
www.searchmetrics.com
Questions?

26. THANK YOU ☺