Validating Intent

The final step before we dive head-first into building our campaign is validating intent.

Intent is what people are trying to do when they search for specific terms. For example, if someone searches for ‘Car dealerships near me’, we can assume they’re probably looking to buy a car.

If they search for ‘Best cars 2024’, their intent is slightly different: they’re looking for information, not somewhere to make a purchase immediately.

We can use this to our advantage in pSEO. If we’re a car dealership, for example, we can create articles comparing the latest car models to capture people looking for information and then build funnels to direct them to us when they decide to make a purchase.

But if they’re looking for information and we pitch a sale right away, they’ll probably go elsewhere while they’re still researching.

The easiest way to validate intent is to imagine what someone would expect to find if they click on your link.

Keywords like ‘best’ or ‘top 10’ are usually informational—providing comparisons is a good idea.

Instead, people looking for a service in a location are most likely looking to transact. In these cases, you should capture the lead with whatever you have on your page. But remember, you need to be able to provide that service in that location for this to work.