New Season, New Algorithm: How Can Businesses Leverage User Intent?

A search engine offers answers – however, Google’s ever-expanding model now allows for Search Journeys. Search Journeys are an extension of Google’s strongest, most powerful AI that allows context-driven results to emerge when users search for things using conversational or inexact language. The AI tracks language usage over time to better understand how users communicate and what they ask for when running searches; it also takes into account users’ search histories, successful searches, where they’ve been and what they’re likely to do next.

Predictive search, anyone? The future is upon us in a major way – what this means is that Google Search is getting stronger, more predictive, less error-prone and a more reliable companion for users’ on-the-go needs.

So what does this mean from an SEO perspective? Fortunately, you don’t need access to Google’s AI in order to benefit from Journey-based search practices. The best reaction a company can have is to tap into user intent. Is the user on the hunt for something informational, ie the solution to a problem? Or is the user trying to navigate to something, like reviews for a restaurant or directions to the airport? A third use case is through transactional keywords when a user is making a purchase or finalizing an interaction. Search Engine Journal recommends that you audit all your keywords and categorize them according to these three groups to help you measure conversions over time.

It’s never been more important to meet users where they are – both in the moment, a topic I’ve written on in the past, and throughout their extended journey. If you’re looking for actionable ways to re-organize your SEO strategy to favor customers’ journeys, ASTRALCOM is here to help. Get in touch today.