What is search intent?

Search intent is what a person wants when they type a query: to learn something, to find a particular site, to compare options, or to buy.

The same topic can carry different intents. "What is a CRM" wants an explanation; "best CRM for freelancers" wants a shortlist; "HubSpot pricing" wants one page on one site.

Search engines rank the kind of page that satisfies the intent. A product page will not rank for a query whose results are all guides, however good the product.

Why it matters for a launch

Before writing a page, look at what already ranks for the phrase. It shows which kind of page the searcher expects, and whether yours is that kind.

Long-tail keywordA long-tail keyword is a longer, more specific search phrase, such as "invoicing app for freelance designers", that few people search but that says exactly what they want.
Programmatic SEOProgrammatic SEO is building many search-targeted pages from one template and a dataset, such as a page for every city, every integration or every "X vs Y" pair, instead of writing each by hand.

Why it matters for a launch

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