When attracting traffic to your business’ website, some search traffic holds more value than others. There’s a big difference between search-based traffic and intent-based traffic. Knowing the difference and how to attract one over the other will help you generate more substantial leads. Let’s get into it!
What’s the difference between intent-based traffic and search-based traffic?
Intent-based traffic
Search-based and intent-based searches will bring two completely different types of traffic to your website. When drawing traffic to your website, you want to focus on bringing in intent-based traffic. Intent-based traffic is full of solid leads – a.k.a. people ready to make a purchase. Essentially, this kind of traffic has the buyer’s intent.
To better understand intent-based traffic, let’s use shoes as an example. When someone searches “shoe stores near me,” – there’s an excellent chance they want to shop for shoes. So, when they find a shoe store’s listing, they’ll head to the shop to get shoes! It’s a quick process that could result in an instant purchase.
Search-based traffic
On the other hand, we have search-based traffic, which is interest-based.
Let’s use shoes as an example again. Someone that loves shoes will likely search for shoe and fashion content. A savvy shoe store marketer can use this information to create ads that’ll entice this person to order shoes from them.
While this kind of traffic holds some value – it doesn’t provide that instant conversion that intent-based traffic does. Because while the search-based people may take notice of your shoe content, they might not need shoes right that second. Whereas intent-based traffic probably needs shoes at that very moment, you’re more likely to convert this kind of traffic.
Understanding this key traffic difference will allow you to leverage your business listing better. Having a listing strategy that attracts those high–intent people will help you convert those searches into purchases – and grow your business much faster.
Attracting the correct traffic with an intent-based strategy
So, how do you attract traffic that’s ready to buy over traffic that’s simply interested? The magic is in the keywords. Keyword intent is critical in differentiating people searching just to search from people searching to buy.
When it comes to keyword intent, there are high-intent and low-intent keywords. Low-intent keywords are going to bring in that search-based, interest-only traffic. These keywords are usually informational or navigational. They often help people get answers to specific information or help them find a particular site. Low-intent keywords could include “how, why, or what” and are often a part of a long-tail informational search phrase. While these low-intent keywords can bring traffic to your website, it’s probably not traffic that’s ready to convert.
What you want are high-intent keywords. These keywords are commercial or transactional—for example, people who are getting ready to buy or are ready to buy use high-intent keywords.
The two main types of high-intent keywords are “buy now” keywords and “product” keywords. Some “buy now” keywords are:
- “Buy”
- “Discount”
- “Coupon”
- “Deals”
- “Free Shipping.”
“Product” keywords are also extremely valuable. Here are a few examples:
- Brand-names
- Specific Produce
- Product Categories (women’s sneakers, winter jackets, touch-screen laptops)
- “Cheap”
- “Top”
- “Best”
For local traffic, high-intent keywords may consist of:
- “Near me”
- Name of town, city, area
Be sure to keep these keywords in mind when you’re coming up with an SEO keyword strategy. Learning to incorporate high-intent keywords into your business listing will help you bring in traffic that is ready to convert!
Bring in intent-based traffic
Targeting intent-based web traffic is a marketing strategy that’ll help you bring in more solid, sustainable leads. Feel free to reach out if you need extra help drawing in the right traffic. Our team of experienced digital marketers specializes in bringing in traffic with buyers’ intent. So if you’re ready to grow your business, contact us today for a free consultation!