User intent is an incredibly important concept to understand.

SEO expert Neil Patel performed a test with user intent. His traffic dropped by 31% yet his sales increased by 73%. It demonstrates just how powerful a strong understanding of user intent can be.

There are multiple types of intent, including people who want to purchase something, others who are looking for a specific resource, and those who want to be informed.

Understanding user intent is key, and we are going to show you what you need to know.

The Difference in Intent: Social vs. AdWords

The way you tailor your marketing will change based on whether you’re using Google AdWords or social media.

With Google AdWords, you’re using SEO keywords and keyphrases. You’re matching search phrases directly. Arguably, this is easier because you have more control over who you target.

Social media advertising, on the other hand, is based on the target audience in question. You can only target by demographics and interests, rather than SEO keywords.

So what does that mean for user intent?

With Google AdWords, it’s just a matter of figuring out the SEO keywords and phrases. There are plenty of external tools to help you with that.

For social media, you have to be smarter to understand user intent. Smart digital marketers need to craft their group of interests to direct their ads towards what people actually want. This is why Facebook’s AND/OR feature is useful because you can avoid targeting people who aren’t interested in what you have to sell.

Difference Between Photographer & Photography

What’s the difference between the two for digital marketing purposes?

Someone looking for a photographer may want to purchase a service. They may also want to be inspired.

Another user searching for ‘photography’ may be looking to be inspired, or they could be looking for stock images for a website.

As you can see, the user intent is entirely different, despite these two terms being extremely close to each other.

These are the differences you need to be able to notice. Don’t assume that your audience will find you either way. You need to be extremely specific when incorporating intent into your digital marketing plans.

High-Value Keywords – Buy, For Sale, Training

What is a high-value keyword?

It’s the type of keyword that could be expensive to target or extremely competitive. It could also be the keyword that’s most relevant to your target market. These are typically not keywords but key phrases because they define user intent, which makes the traffic more targeted.

Identify the most valuable keywords and balance it out against how much you want to spend. That’s the key to effective digital marketing.

Conclusion – Why You Should Focus on Intent

Stop focusing on the quantity of traffic alone and start to focus on the quality of that traffic. Give people what they want and you will fly up the Google search rankings with less traffic than you had before.

Have you tried to incorporate user intent into your digital marketing strategy yet?