Glossary
Search intent
Search intent is what a person actually wants when they type a search, such as a nearby business to call, a price, or a way to fix something themselves. The name is the industry's; Google's own pages talk about the meaning of a query.
How Google reads what a searcher wants
Google says its ranking systems look at many factors, among them the words of the query, the relevance and usability of pages, the expertise of sources and the searcher's location and settings, and that the weight of each depends on the kind of query (Google Search).
Part of that work is figuring out the meaning of the query. Google gives everyday examples. Words like "cooking" or "pictures" suggest that recipes or images may be the best match. Many searches carry a local intent, so a search for "pizza" brings back nearby businesses that deliver (Google Search).
Search intent is the marketing name for the want behind the words. For each of your pages, ask what the person whose search led there hoped to find.
The wants a local business meets
For a local business, searchers tend to fall into a few groups. Someone ready to hire has a problem today. They want a number to call and a sign that you cover their street.
Someone comparing has a few days. They want to know what the job involves and how you price it, and they may read several sites before calling one.
Someone learning wants to do the job without you. They are after steps, and a page that only asks them to book will lose them.
The words usually give the group away. A search for "emergency plumber" comes from the first, "water heater cost" from the second and "how to relight a pilot light" from the third.
Matching a page to the want
Google treats a page containing the same words as the search, in its headings or body, as the most basic sign of relevance, and says its systems look for relevant content beyond those words (Google Search). Repeating "water heater repair" down a page gives it the words and little else. Saying which heaters you work on, how soon you can come and what the visit involves gives it the rest.
Google's guidance on helpful content backs this up. It asks for content made for people, and counts content made mainly to attract visits from search engines as a warning sign (Google Search Central).
On a service page, meeting the want means answering the buyer near the top: what is included, where you work and how to book.
Local intent on your own pages
When a search has a local intent, your pages should make the place obvious. The free scan checks two parts of that. C3 flags a homepage whose title and main heading leave out the town your structured data names. C2 flags service pages too short to answer what a buyer needs to know.
The scan cannot tell what your customers want, only whether those two basics are in place.
When a page cannot serve a want
Some searches are not yours to answer. An emergency repair page will not satisfy someone who wants to fix the leak on their own, and that is fine. Write each page for the searcher it can help, and let the others find pages written for them.
What the free scan checks
Questions
Should I write pages for people who want to fix it themselves?
Yes, if the fix is safe for an owner and you can explain it well. A clear page on a small job can earn the trust of someone who calls you for the bigger one later. If the job is unsafe without training, say so, explain why, and leave the steps out.
How do I find out what people search before they call me?
Open the Performance report in Search Console and group it by query. It lists the searches that showed your site and the clicks each one brought (Search Console Help). Set that list beside the questions customers ask you on the phone. A search that turns up in both is a page worth writing or improving.
Should two of my pages go after the same search?
No. Two pages chasing the same words split what you have to say, and a visitor has to guess which one to read. Merge them into one fuller page, or give each a different want to serve and link one to the other.
Where this fits in our work
We handle this as part of Content: Service pages, local pages and articles that answer what your buyers ask, with every statistic linked to its source.
Related reading
Related terms
- Title tag: The page title Google often shows as the link in results, and how to write one for each page.
- Meta description: The short summary in a page's code that Google sometimes shows under a result, and how to write one for every page.
- Internal links: Links from one page of your site to another, how they help people and Google find pages, and how to choose the words you link.
- Alt text: The words that describe an image for people who cannot see it and for search engines, and how to write them for each kind of image.
Sources
- Google Search: How Search works: automatically generating and ranking results. Checked September 26, 2026.
- Google Search Central: Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, updated December 10, 2025. Checked September 26, 2026.
- Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results): Overview and basic setup. Checked September 26, 2026.