In the early days of Google, the search engine giant used to rely on text, metadata, and backlinks in order to establish website rankings in this search result pages. 

Over the last decade, Google has become increasingly sophisticated in the way that it reads and understands on-page content. A whole host of algorithm changes were introduced to expose users to content that would vastly improve their experience while using Google. The biggest catalyst for this change was the Google Penguin update.

One thing that has remained consistent with SEO professionals are the metrics that are used to measure success. Some of the most important metrics they will be used across all SEO campaigns to measure its effectiveness and grow it will be:

• Organic traffic

• Search volume

• Conversion rate

• Bounce rate

These are the metrics that SEO professionals use when discussing the success of a campaign with a client. Clients believe that when website traffic improves, then the quality of leads and business revenue will also improve as a result. It's important to remember that increased web traffic is not mutually exclusive with an increase in revenue.

When beginning an SEO campaign, it's important to identify keywords that are going to drive a business forward, instead of artificially inflating traffic figures in a way that is going to exaggerate the success of a campaign. the key component of getting this equation right is to understand that not all keywords are created =. It's not always the highest volume keywords that are going to yield the greatest return on your investment. A keyword that attracts 1000 visitors to your website per month may not be as valuable as the one which attracts only 5.

2016 study by the University of Hong Kong revealed that search intent can be broken down into two specific areas. Firstly, there are users who are specifically looking to find information related to certain keywords. And secondly, there are users who are searching for more general information about a topic. How businesses who are looking to promote their goods or services online it goes without saying that the first of these two examples is far more valuable in terms of driving conversion.

Hobart based search marketing agency Safari Digital revealed that they break keywords up into three distinct categories when working clients. Those three categories are:

Navigational Intent

Navigational Intent search queries related to those where the user is looking for more information to support a potential purchase. For instance, let's say a user heard about a movie in a radio ad. The next step in their quest for information is to conduct a Google search that is going to reveal further details about the release date of the movie, where the movie is playing, and other information such as movie trailers.

Informational Intent

Informational intent is the most common kind of search query that is conducted on Google. when you think about the last search they conducted on Google, chances are you were seeking information in the form of directions, recipes, or simply seeking further information about a topic that was discussed in other conversation. informational intent makes up the majority of internet searches and play an important role in the content marketing strategy of larger businesses.

Transactional Intent

For SEO and digital marketing professionals, transactional intent keywords are the most valuable keywords that you can win for a client. Often referred to as "buy keywords", these keywords have an extremely high conversion rate and can be attributed to driving the majority of online conversions. transactional intent keywords are most commonly used by those who are ready to make a purchase. as a result, putting your client in front of these users is the most important thing you can do when driving online conversions.