Search intent: what it is and how to use it with AI to get found

What is search intent?

It's the goal behind what someone types into Google or asks an AI. The words are what we see; the intent is what that person wants to achieve. Two almost identical searches can ask for very different things.

An example: ‘what is an air fryer’ is about understanding, and ‘air fryer deal’ is about buying. If you answer the first with a product page, or the second with a long explanation, the person leaves. That's why intent decides what kind of page you need to create.

What types of search intent are there?

In SEO they're usually split into four groups. It isn't a Google rule, but it helps organise your thinking:

• Informational: wants to learn something. Example: ‘what is GEO’.
• Navigational: wants to reach a specific site. Example: ‘Search Console login’.
• Commercial: is comparing before deciding. Example: ‘best SEO tools for small businesses’.
• Transactional: wants to buy or hire now. Example: ‘hire SEO agency in Valencia’.

The same person goes through several intents in a few days. First they learn, then they compare and finally they buy. A complete website has a page for each moment.

The same happens with questions to AI, but with longer sentences. Someone asking ChatGPT ‘which SEO tool suits a small clinic on a tight budget’ makes their intent clear: compare and decide. Pages that answer exactly that stand a better chance of being cited.

Why does search intent matter more with AI?

Google asks for content made for people: whoever lands on your page should feel they've solved what they were looking for. If your page doesn't match the intent, that won't happen. And today AI answers cover many informational questions before anyone clicks.

AI also helps you understand intent. In a Keyword.com survey of 97 SEO teams, 68% use AI to find and group keywords. But careful: AI doesn't see Google's data. In a DEJAN test, Gemini only got the search-volume band right in 35% of cases.

At Garcai we think AI is good at understanding the ‘why’ behind a search and poor at measuring the ‘how many’. For the first, ask it. For the second, use Search Console or Google Ads Keyword Planner. We cover it in ChatGPT for SEO.

How do you work out the intent behind a search?

1. Search the phrase on Google and look at what kind of pages rank at the top: guides, comparisons, product pages or a brand's site.
2. Ask an AI: ‘What does someone searching for [search] want to solve? Give me 5 questions they ask before deciding’.
3. Check in Search Console which searches already bring people to your site and which page you show them.
4. Choose the page type: a guide if it's informational, a comparison if commercial, a product or service page if transactional.

Common mistakes with search intent

• Writing a long article for a buying search, where people only want a price and a button.
• Mixing several intents on one page and answering none of them well.
• Trusting the search volumes an AI gives you.
• Choosing keywords only by how many searches they get, without looking at what those people want.

At Garcai we recommend starting every article with the intent, not the keyword. If you want free tools for this data, see our guide to SEO tools for small businesses.