Searchers who already know where they want to go use navigation keywords. These search queries contain the name of the brand, product, service or technology that interests them.
For example, if users want to read the Ahrefs blog, all they have to do is search for “Ahrefs blog”.
Navigation intent
When search engine users select keywords that include a company brand name or a specific company description, they are likely to want to browse to the company’s website, they are also likely already familiar with the company.
This is an example of starting a navigation search. What is keyword intent?
The keyword intent represents the user’s goal for the search. the user is likely to do when searching for a particular phrase. Or, to be more precise, that’s what we think the user is likely to do, because we can’t always be sure.
Arguably, keyword intent is the most important concept when researching keywords. It helps you better meet user needs and tailor your content and landing pages to their intent. Therefore, analyzing keywords by intent is the first step in diagnosing conversion issues when it comes to search referrals.
General keywords
Many people consider general keywords to be the default keyword type. There is no punctuation around keywords when you insert them into a campaign. Google and Bing often use broad keywords in conjunction with their “smart bidding” campaigns and artificial intelligence so they can identify user intent and show them their ads. In general, broad keywords are best because they tend to have the lowest cost per click and will give you the widest reach. However, it is possible that you are using these keywords for an unrelated purpose.
Keep an eye on your campaigns and build a negative keyword list on the fly. These keywords will be matched against misspellings, synonyms, related searches, jumbled words, and anything Google’s AI deems relevant. However, it would help if you were careful when choosing broad keywords. It would be better if you were careful not to get irrelevant clicks as they can help you get a lot of clicks.
Long-Tail Keywords
Finally, long-tail keywords are 5-8 words long and are much more specific in terms of searcher intent. For example, compared to just “real estate,” the phrase “how to become a real estate agent” is much clearer about what information a searcher wants.
In many cases, there are far fewer websites targeting long tail keywords than short or medium tail keywords. Less competition can mean a higher chance of ranking (when your SEO writing measures up).