Types of Positive Search Results
The type of search results that you want to attract to your website will depend on the content that you are providing. A successful website content will be specifically crafted to attract the right type of search results.
Understanding how your content will be used will help you create useful content for your target audience. A search engine will try to best match a search enquiry to a website that fulfils the criteria required. It is important to understand if your website content will be useful to create a purchase, provide information, fix a problem or provide a place to learn something.
Transactional searches
A transactional search is the result of finding a local business and taking a positive action such as making a purchase online. Other positive actions include creating an account, agreeing to a free trial or identifying a preferred product.
Navigational Searches
A navigational search allows users to find a website that they already know exists but do not know the exact address or do not have a direct link to it. The search engine will try to identify the correct webpage based on the information in the search enquiry such as company name or specific product or service.
Informational Searches
An informational search is not intended to necessarily result in a cash purchase of a product or service. Whether the search is for directions, weather predictions or general knowledge, the goal of the search is to gain knowledge.
The interaction between a search enquiry and an informational result will be limited to reading and acquiring information and is of a non-transactional nature.