What are the main kinds of intent?
Google's own Search Quality Rater Guidelines, the handbook it gives the people who assess its results, sort searches into four kinds. Know searches want information ("how to fix a bike puncture"). Do searches want to get something done, often buy ("buy bike lights"). Website searches want a particular site ("fremantle bike shop instagram"). Visit-in-person searches want a place nearby ("bike shop near me").
The marketing world uses its own four words for much the same split: informational, transactional, navigational, and commercial, the last being people comparing options before they buy ("best commuter bike under $1,000"). Either set of labels does the job. What matters is asking the question before you write the ad or the page.
How can you tell a search's intent before spending on it?
Search it yourself and look at what Google already shows. The results page is Google's best guess at what most people typing those words want. Videos and how-to articles mean people want to learn. A map with three businesses means they want somewhere nearby. Shopping ads with prices mean they want to buy. Reviews and "best of" lists mean they are comparing.
Then match it. A learn search wants a clear answer, and an ad for a service is an interruption. A visit search wants your address, hours and phone number in the first screen. A buy search wants the price and the button.
What does intent look like for a Fremantle bike shop? (example figures)
A bike shop in Fremantle, two mechanics and a small showroom, looked at its Google Ads search terms and its Search Console queries for a month:
| Search | Intent | What Google showed | What the shop did |
|---|---|---|---|
| bike service fremantle | Visit, buy a service | Map pack, then shops | Ads to the booking page, $3.10 a click |
| how to fix a bike puncture | Know | Videos, how-to articles | Stopped ads, wrote a help page |
| best commuter bike perth | Compare | Reviews, lists, shops | A buying guide naming the bikes in stock |
| the shop's name plus opening hours | Website, visit | The shop's own profile | Fixed the holiday hours on the profile |
The puncture search had cost $240 in ad clicks that month, with no bookings: people who wanted to fix their own tyre found an ad for a $90 service. As a free help page with a line at the bottom ("or drop it in and we'll do it while you wait"), it costs nothing per visit and puts the shop's name in front of local riders. The service searches got the money instead, and at the same $3.10 a click the $240 bought about 77 more clicks from people looking for a booking.
How does search intent shape a CoraVision plan?
CoraVision uses intent to decide which tactic goes where in your plan. A strategy to win more bookings splits by intent: ads and a booking page for the people ready to buy, and pages that answer questions for the people still learning. Because CoraVision reads Google Ads and Google Analytics 4 every night, paid clicks and organic visits can each be judged against the job they were meant to do. You write the pages and change the ads, with Cora teaching each step on your own screen.
Questions
Can one search have more than one intent?
Yes. "Bike service" might mean a person wanting a booking today or one wanting to know what a service includes. Google's rater guidelines talk about a search's most likely meaning and its less likely ones, and the results page usually mixes answers for both. Serve the most likely one first.
Is search intent the same thing as a keyword?
No. The keyword is the words typed; the intent is the reason they were typed. Two keywords with different words can share an intent ("bike repair fremantle" and "bike mechanic near me"), and one keyword can carry two.