Nov 11, 2009
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Keyword research is one of the most important activities to any SEO campaign. There are several keyword research tools available on the market that are both free and paid, however all of these tools cannot tell you the type of keyword it is.
There are several articles online that talk about broad keywords and long tail keywords, but there are very few that talk about understanding the mentality of the user behind the word search.
There are 3 major types of keyword query’s that Google pays attention to and those are Informational, Navigational, and Transactional. When you attach these labels to your keywords you will then have a better understanding of how a user’s mindset is when they are actually performing the search.
One of the main goals in marketing is to give people what they want and this is Google’s mantra 100%. If a user searches within their search results and clicks on a result and goes to that page and hurries and clicks out, then Google takes notice. Lets start to identify these different types of search query’s to help us understand the users mindset.
Informational keywords are words that people use to find information on a particular subject or item. Navigational keywords are those that people use as they are trying to find companies. Transactional keywords are those that people use when they want to spend money.
Types of Informational Keywords:
- Thanksgiving
- Sailing
- Grand Canyon
Types of Navigational Keywords:
- Ebay
- Walmart photo
- Innovation Simple
Types of Transactional Keywords:
- Salomon snowboard boots
- Sony video camera
- Nike basketball shoes
When you know how many informational keywords that you are going after it will help you that your information pages are the ones that people want to find. You can have both information on your site and products and your users will come through your site with different mindsets.
It is important to give your users what they want when they come to your site. If they are searching for information they do not want to blasted with products and prices. If your users want to buy something and are doing some comparison shopping then they do not want to see a bunch of text in front of them.
Optimize your site for all of the different types of keywords and you will get traffic from all types of users mindsets and mentality. Companies that understand their users mentality always win the game.