Search Intent

What Search Intent means for your business

It's also called user intent. Keyword tools sort searches their own way, into informational, navigational, commercial and transactional, and label each keyword automatically. Some writers call that intent classification. Intent matching is the other half of the job: making sure the page someone lands on fits what they wanted.

For a local business, Visit-in-person is the intent to watch, and it's what people mean by local search intent. The rater guide says some searches, like coffee shops or gas stations, clearly ask for something nearby, and that the searcher's location changes which results help. The guide says people may travel a bit farther for some places, like a doctor's office or a certain kind of restaurant, than for a gas station or a supermarket.

Many searches mix intents. The guide's example is a big store's name: some people want the nearest location, some want to shop online, some want news about the company. We'd give each want a page that fits it, like a location page with your address and hours for the visit, a how-to for the learner and a service page for the person ready to book.

If people searching for directions to you land on a blog post instead of your location page, matching each kind of search to the right page is the first thing we'd sort out.

Last reviewed October 29, 2026. All terms