The Art of SEO, 2nd Edition

The Human Goals of Searching

The basic goal of a human searcher is to obtain information relevant to an inquiry. However, searcher inquiries can take many different forms. One of the most important elements to building an online marketing strategy for a website around SEO and search rankings is developing a thorough understanding of the psychology of your target audience. Once you understand how the average searcher—and, more specifically, your target market—uses search engines, you can more effectively reach and keep those users.

Search engine usage has evolved over the years, but the primary principles of conducting a search remain largely unchanged. Most search processes comprise the following steps:

1. Experience the need for an answer, solution, or piece of information. For example, the user may be looking for a website (navigational query) to buy something (transactional query) or to learn something (informational query). We will discuss this in more detail in the following section.

2. Formulate that need in a string of words and phrases (the query). Most people formulate their queries in one to three words. Table 1-1 gives a more detailed look at the percentages of searches per query length.

3. Execute the query, check the results, see whether you got what you wanted, and if not, try a refined query.

Table 1-1. Searches by query length (comScore, August 2011 data)

Words	Percent of searches
1	25.8%
2	22.8%
3	18.7%
4	13.2%
5+	19.5%

When this process results in the satisfactory completion of a task, a ...