Search intent is the goal behind a search, the reason someone typed it. Two searches can share most of their words and want completely different things, and two very different searches can want the same thing. Getting the intent right decides what kind of page you write. This page is part of our guide to question keywords, where intent is the first thing to check about every question you collect.
How Google talks about intent
Google’s own explainer on ranking says that to return relevant results, it first needs to “establish what you’re looking for – the intent behind your query.” It lists some of the ways it does that: correcting spelling, using synonyms so it can “find relevant documents even if they don’t contain the exact words you used,” and spotting when a search has a local intent or wants a certain type of result. A search with the word “pictures” in it, for example, probably wants images.
Google also writes intent into the guidelines it gives its search quality raters. In the overview of those guidelines, Google says how useful a result is “concerns the intent of the user, as interpreted from the query, and how fully the result satisfies this intent.” Raters don’t rank pages. Google says “no single rating can directly impact how a particular webpage, website, or result appears in Google Search.” Their ratings are used to judge how well Google’s systems work. But the guidelines are the clearest public description of how Google thinks about intent.
The types of search intent
There are two common ways to split intent up. They overlap more than they differ.
Google’s rater guidelines: Know, Do, Website, Visit-in-person
The September 2025 guidelines say “it can be helpful to think of queries as having one or more of the following intents”:
- Know. “The intent of a Know query is to find information or explore a topic.” A special kind, Know Simple, wants one fact: the guidelines say that if most people would agree on a correct answer and it fits “in 1-2 sentences or a short list of items,” it is Know Simple. Their example is [how tall is barack obama], and they note that [barack obama height] has the same intent without a question word.
- Do. “The intent of a Do query is to accomplish a goal or engage in an activity,” such as to download, to buy, to obtain, to be entertained, or to use a website or app.
- Website. “The intent of a Website query is to locate a specific website or webpage that users have requested.”
- Visit-in-person. Searches for places nearby, such as coffee shops, gas stations, ATMs and restaurants.
The guidelines are relaxed about the edges. They say the line between Do and Know “is sometimes blurry,” and that “many queries do not fit neatly into one and only one of these categories.”
The SEO version: four types
Most SEO guides use four types instead. When we checked Google’s US results for “search intent” on 4 November 2026, the top pages almost all used this set:
| SEO type | The searcher wants to | Closest rater-guideline intent | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Informational | Learn something | Know | what is search intent |
| Navigational | Get to a specific site or page | Website | search console login |
| Commercial | Compare options before deciding | Know or Do | best keyword research tools |
| Transactional | Buy, sign up or download now | Do | buy coffee grinder |
The mapping is ours, and it is loose. The useful point is the same in both systems: a page has to match the job the searcher came to do.
When a search means more than one thing
Plenty of searches have several possible meanings. The rater guidelines use [apple], which “might refer to the computer brand or the fruit.” They sort meanings into three kinds:
- Dominant interpretation: “what most users mean when they type the query.” Not every search has one.
- Common interpretation: “what many or some users mean.” A search can have several.
- Minor interpretation: meanings that “fewer users have in mind.”
Location changes intent too. The overview’s example: someone in London searching “coffee shops” most likely wants coffee shops in London. And intent moves over time. The guidelines note that people searching [iphone] when the first model came out wanted that phone, while most people now want the latest one.
For question research this matters a lot. The questions Google shows tell you which meaning it thinks is dominant. On our page about how to find what people are searching for, the search “how to find what people are searching for” split three ways: demand research, trending searches, and people wondering who has searched for them.
How to work out the intent of a search
- Search it and read the page. Look at what kind of pages rank: guides, product pages, tools, local listings, videos. Look at the features too. A map means local intent. Shopping results mean buying intent. A People Also Ask box full of “what is” and “how do” questions means people want to learn.
- Read the People Also Ask questions. They show what Google expects the searcher to ask next. When we checked “search intent” on 4 November 2026, the box showed “What are the different types of search intent?”, then “Is SEO still relevant in 2026?”, “Can a beginner do SEO?” and “What are the 5 best SEO tools?”. That says a lot about who is searching: people fairly new to SEO. A page for them should define terms and keep jargon down.
- Look at the words. Question words point to Know. “Buy”, “price” and “download” point to Do. A brand or site name points to Website. “Near me” or a place name points to Visit-in-person.
- Check your own data. In Search Console, a query where you get impressions but few clicks often means your page doesn’t match what people wanted from that search.
Matching your page to the intent
Once you know the intent, the page mostly writes its own brief.
- Know Simple: answer in the first sentence or two. The guidelines’ own test for Know Simple is an answer that fits in one or two sentences, so give it that and then add context.
- Know: a fuller explanation with headings, examples and the questions people ask next.
- Do: steps, the tool or the action, with as little in the way as possible.
- Website: usually not worth targeting unless the site is yours.
- Visit-in-person: a local page with the details people need to turn up.
The goal is a page that ends the search. The guidelines define their top rating, Fully Meets, as a result where “a user would be immediately and fully satisfied by the result and would not need to view other results to satisfy their need.” Google’s helpful content guidance asks the same thing from the other side: “Does your content leave readers feeling like they need to search again to get better information from other sources?”
Search intent and question keywords
Questions are the easiest searches to read for intent, because the searcher has told you what they want. “How much coffee for a 12 cup coffee maker” is Know Simple. “How to make cold brew” is Know, with a lot of Do in it. That is one reason question research is such a good starting point for a content plan.
Intent is also what decides which questions share a page. Two questions with the same intent belong together, even if they share no words. Two with different intents belong apart, even if they look alike. That grouping step has a page of its own: keyword clustering. If you are using People Also Ask as your source, the full method is on people also ask keyword research.
Common mistakes
- Guessing instead of looking. The results page is free and current. Check it before you write.
- One page for two intents. A guide that also tries to be a product page usually does neither well.
- Ignoring the minor meanings. If your audience wants the less common meaning, say so in your first line.
- Assuming intent never changes. Re-check important searches every so often. The [iphone] example is a reminder that the dominant meaning can move.