Search intent
Search intent is the goal behind a search query, what the person actually wants, whether that's to learn something, find a specific site, compare options, or make a purchase.
Last updated: June 9, 2026
Search intent usually falls into four buckets: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional. Getting it right matters because ranking for a keyword only pays off if the page answers what the searcher was actually after. Send a ready-to-buy shopper to a how-to article and they'll bounce, no matter how high it ranks.
Take two related searches. how to clean leather boots is informational and calls for a blog guide, while buy waterproof leather boots is transactional and should drop a Shopify shopper straight onto a product or collection page. Same boots, completely different page.
Matching each page to the intent behind its keyword is what turns keyword research into content that performs. A quick way to check: search the term yourself and see what Google already ranks. If the first page is all buying guides, that's the intent you need to meet.
Related terms
Alt text
Alt text is a short written description of an image, added in the HTML, that screen readers read aloud to people who can't see the image and that search engines use to understand what the picture shows.
Backlink
A backlink is a link from another website that points to a page on yours. Search engines read backlinks from trusted sites as a signal that your content is credible, which can lift your rankings.
Canonical URL
A canonical URL is the version of a page you tell search engines to treat as the main one when the same or similar content can be reached through several different URLs. It points them to the copy you want indexed and ranked.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are three Google metrics that measure how a page actually feels to use: how fast the main content loads, how quickly the page responds when you interact with it, and how much the layout jumps around while loading.
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