The days of gaming search engines with technical tactics are long gone. As search engines become more sophisticated, marketers and their SEO tactics are falling behind.
Today, success in search requires a strategic mindset that can adapt to constant change and deliver real value.
Over the past two decades, Google’s algorithm has evolved significantly, driven by advancements in generative AI and large language models that better understand content and keywords. However, many marketers continue to rely on the same checklist-SEO tactics from the early 2000s.
In December 2024, Dale Bertrand delivered a presentation urging marketers to move beyond rigid, old-school SEO practices and adopt a smarter, more intuitive approach to traditional keyword research.
Why Traditional Keyword Research is Failing
Traditional keyword research prioritizes high search volume and low competition keywords through direct, on-page keyword targeting. While this may have worked for the simpler, lexical-based Google algorithm of the early 2000s, traditional keyword research is failing today.
One major issue is that traditional keyword research fails to account for the context behind searches, focusing too much on search volume rather than the intent. For example, a keyword like “solar panels” yields a high search volume, but it is impossible to tell whether users are seeking tips, products, or information.
Additionally, traditional keyword research overlooks low-volume keywords. Typical keyword research tools often miss highly relevant long-tail keywords with low search volume, but strong purchase intent. In high-consideration or niche markets, even a single right-fit customer can have a significant revenue impact. By disregarding low-volume keywords that may yield right-fit customers, traditional keyword research prioritizes search volume over conversion potential.
Although these failures of traditional keyword research have always existed, Dale emphasizes how changes in Google’s algorithm have exacerbated these issues.
Google’s Evolving Search Capabilities
Over the last decade, Google has transformed into a semantic AI search engine, meaning its algorithm can now understand the intent behind specific keywords.
This development has manifested in a few key changes:
- Google has improved its keyword and content understanding.
- There is a strong emphasis on user experience, with Google prioritizing content that is easy for users to consume. Google’s new AI Overviews are a perfect example of this—nothing is easier for users to consume than summarized answers directly in the search results.
- Google ranks pages based on relevance to intent, even if the exact keywords are missing. For example, imagine searching for “math practice books for adults.” In the past, you’d only see titles that matched “math practice books”. Now, Google delivers results like “Technical Math for Dummies” and “Math for Grownups” because it understands what you’re looking for.
Google’s evolving capabilities require an SEO strategy that adapts to these changes, instead of staying stuck in the past.
Strategies to Uncover Keyword Intent
To determine the search intent behind keywords in your space, Dale suggests a few key tactics for marketers to follow:
1. Analyze Search Results
Review the types of pages ranking for a keyword to determine intent. If the top-ranking pages for a keyword are mostly collection pages, product pages, or conversion-focused landing pages, it’s clear that most users searching for that keyword intend to convert.
For example, we worked with a company that produced and sold biscotti cookies online. However, we found that the search result pages for high-volume keywords, like “chocolate biscotti” were saturated with recipe results:
Despite the high search volume and relevance to their business, we knew there was a mismatch of intent. Instead, we opted for targeting stronger purchase-intent keywords like “individually wrapped biscotti”.
2. Leverage AI Tools
Use tools like Gemini, trained on web and Google data, to understand the search intent behind certain keywords.
3. Talk to Customers
When you talk to your customers about what they’re searching for, how they search, and which search platforms they use, you will develop a more nuanced understanding of how users search for products and services like yours.
Understanding search intent provides the foundation for a smarter, modern approach to keyword research.
A Next Generation Approach to Keyword Research
As Google’s algorithm has evolved to prioritize search intent, keyword research must evolve to do the same. Dale lays out a three-step process to align keyword research with search intent, helping marketers target users ready to convert.
1. Identify Target Intents
Before you begin your keyword research, develop 5-10 actionable search intents that align with your business goals, such as:
- Apply for a mortgage
- Find a college for art majors
- Schedule a consultation with a hairstylist
2. Filter Keywords by Intent
Select keywords with reasonable search volume, acceptable competition, and clear purchase intent. It is important to filter keywords based on how well they align with your target intents, making search volume and competition secondary considerations.
The goal here is to deprioritize traditional keyword research methodology that focuses solely on high search volume, low competition keywords.
3. Choose Content Formats for Intent
Shift from relying solely on blog articles to using diverse formats, including:
- Mid-funnel content like comparisons and niche buying guides.
- Interactive tools, videos, and Q&A content that meet the needs of users with purchase intent.
This three-step process shifts the focus from outdated keyword metrics to a strategy built around search intent, enabling marketers to create content that directly addresses user needs and drives meaningful conversions.
Conclusion
Now is the time to evolve your SEO. Focusing less on keyword choice and more on customer intent allows you to create content that meets your users’ needs — leading to a greater conversion rate.
Moving beyond traditional keyword criteria, like high search volume, repositions your focus from keywords to customers. The result will be a site crafted to answer your customers’ conversion questions and help them make a purchase decision.
Intent targeting is the best path to success.
Want to learn how your website can benefit from search intent targeting?
Let Fire&Spark help you adapt to evolving search trends…
- Schedule an SEO strategy session: Talk to a strategist at Fire&Spark about your organic customer acquisition campaigns and how to optimize for search intent, rather than keywords. Schedule a strategy session.
- Dive deeper into our SEO for Revenue methodology: Fire&Spark’s SEO for Revenue Guide explains how to update your SEO strategies to optimize for sales and conversions, not just rankings and traffic. This mindset shift is crucial for adapting to changing search trends. Download the free guide.
