When a person searches for something on the Internet he needs to enter search terms in a search engine. Based on the keywords entered by a person, the search engine gives an answer.

Types of queries in search engines

Do not think that the analysis of search queries, you need only if you’re working with the promotion of the site in Yandex and Google.

In its essence, a search query is a literal expression of the needs of the user. And with the needs of potential customers, should be able to work every marketer. One of the stages of such work is the division of queries into categories.

There are seven basic classifications of search queries:

• Frequency – how many times per month they are entered;
• Informational – the search for information;
• Transactional (or commercial) – search for goods, online shopping;
• Multimedia – search for music, movies, videos and photos;
  By competition – the number of sites that are competing for in the top 10;
• By geo-dependence – depending on the country or city;
• Situational – the demand for seasonal products, the latest news.

Types of search queries by frequency

This classification involves the division of search queries based on frequency. That is, how often certain queries are entered during a month. Statistics are usually looked at using Wordstat.

The division by frequency looks as follows:

• High-frequency – entered very often (more than 500 queries per month);
• Medium – entered not very often (100-500 queries per month);
• low-frequency – entered very rarely (less than 100 requests per month).

For which ones should be promoted? By all. But if you have a young site, we advise you to start with the promotion of low-frequency queries.

Informational queries

Such queries express the intention of the user to do something himself or find out the necessary information. Informational queries are usually used in SEO promotion of content sites and in content marketing.

Examples of queries:

• how to design an instagram profile;
• tiles in the bathroom with his hands;
• what is calltracking;

Transactional or commercial queries

This is the main type of queries for which companies are promoted. Such queries contain an explicit motive to perform a transaction: buy, order, price.

People who enter these queries are going to buy or order goods/services now or in the near future. These are the highest priority queries for promotion.

Examples of queries:

• electronics store;
• buy, order an iPhone;
• the cost of plastic windows;
• discounts, promotions.

Multimedia queries

These are queries for which users are looking for music, movies, pictures, books, and so on.

If your site contains media files, we recommend adding the appropriate queries to their descriptions: [watch online, listen, download]. It can also be the exact name of songs or artists.

Examples of queries:

• watch terminator online;
• download eminem album;
• wallpaper on your phone.

By competition

Most often, this type of query evaluation is used to determine the cost of promotion in a particular niche. He does not imply specific evaluation criteria, but in general terms, we can say that there are:

• highly competitive niches;
• medium-competitive niches;
• low-competitive niches.

An example of a request from the highly competitive niche: [plastic windows in Moscow]. In this segment, the sites are in the top 30 are well optimized and will make serious competition for the promotion.

Geo-dependency

Just as important for the promotion of geo-dependence. In the formation of search results for each query, the search engine takes into account the current location of the user, as well as whether the query contains the name of the city, country or locality. If the system considers that people at a given query most often seek sites in their region or city, then this request is considered as geo-

Situational and seasonal

These are requests that are important in a particular season or related to a particular newsbreak. Also, this can include queries with which users are looking for relevant information for the current year.

Examples of queries:

• latest instagram updates;
• changes in the civil code 2021;
• vacation summer 2021;
• to buy skis/sleds/icebreakers.

Conclusion

Before you start search engine promotion, we recommend making a detailed analysis of search queries according to the classification above.

At the same time, when compiling the semantic core of the site, you need to consider the entire list of queries. For example, if you have an online store, this is not an excuse to exclude information queries. In addition, in order to get the most accurate picture of the queries used, we recommend using not only the Wordstat data, but also the statistics queries Google Adwords.

Also, it is worth taking into account that keywords may have different characteristics and may belong to different categories of search queries at the same time.