Most queries fall into one of four categories. Informational intent means the searcher wants to learn something or find an answer (the largest share of searches), navigational means they want to reach a specific site or page they already have in mind, commercial investigation means they’re comparing options before deciding, and transactional means they’re ready to complete an action like buying or signing up. Matching content to the dominant intent is the single highest-leverage move in on-page SEO — a mismatch fails no matter how polished the page. The most reliable way to read intent is to analyze the live SERP, since its ranking pages and features are the engine’s own verdict on what the query means.
Full guide → Understanding Search Intent
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