What is search intent?

I want to buy contact lens solution. I generally buy from a retail specs store but this time online seemed like a better idea. Like anyone else, I open Google search and start typing.

Search intent refers to the reason why the user opened Google.com. Keywords are the words she will type in the search bar to get search results.

The user starts typing

-Contact lens solution

-Lens solution big size

-Solution for colour lens

-Big bottle lens solution

What she types to get the link to websites that sell contact lens solution is entirely dependent on her. These words are called keywords.

Now let's say she needs a small solution bottle for travel. If she doesn't mention small bottle in keywords then the price of each bottle will be way more than she is willing to spend. She might even get discouraged and return to offline shopping.

In this case it is important to understand that lens solution is a price sensitive category. The market sells both branded and non-branded lens solution.

A sponsored text ad which leads to a page with smaller lens solution bottles will have higher chances of conversion. This inference was derived from user search intent and not what she was typing in search bar.

Hope this helps as we keep understanding search dynamics better each day.