Understanding search intent in an AI-driven, multi-modal landscape

Search intent, also known as user intent, is no longer just about matching keywords to content.

At its core, search intent is a powerful way to learn more about how people find your website and identify reasons why your SEO content might not be ranking as highly as you would expect. It helps you understand why a user has searched for what they’re looking for, and what types of content you need to offer to help meet that intent.

In the modern search landscape, however, it’s also about understanding how, where, and why users search in an ever-growing ecosystem.

As well as traditional search engines like Google, AI-generated answers, voice assistants, and visual discovery tools are all increasingly popular ways for people to find answers online.

In this blog, we’ll explore what search intent looks like today, looking at the different types of intent and how they shape the search engine results page (SERP), and how to create content that aligns with modern user journeys across search, AI, and beyond.

What is search intent?

Search intent is the reason behind someone searching for something. It determines the type of content your audience hopes to find when they conduct a search.

There are several categories of search intent, including informational, where people are just looking for answers or information, and transactional, when a user is looking to find products and convert.

The type of query someone inputs into a search engine can help determine which of these touchpoints they’re at – or what the intent of their search was.

In traditional search, optimising your content to align with this intent has been a significant ranking factor. Search engines aim to prioritise results that best satisfy the user’s query and reduce the likelihood of them returning to the SERP. So serving the right type of content at the right time is crucial.

However, due to the rise of zero-click search, up to 60% of searches now don’t result in a click, as search engines actively try to answer queries directly in the SERP.

This means optimising for intent is no longer just about getting your pages to rank, but also about earning visibility across multiple SERP features and formats.

The four core types of search intent

User intent can take several different forms, and knowing which type of intent your audience is searching with can play a big part in helping you to decide how to optimise your content.

Search intent still broadly fits into four categories, but how they appear in the SERP has changed significantly. Let’s take a look at each and how they’re served by modern SERPs.

Navigational intent

At its most basic, navigational intent means using a search engine to find a specific website or brand, rather than typing a known URL directly into the address bar of the browser.

These results are likely to consist of a brand or company name, or the name of a public institution, such as a government body.
It’s worth remembering that most browsers allow users to search directly from the address bar, so for many, conducting a search with navigational intent is their equivalent of typing in a URL.

Modern SERP features designed with navigational intent in mind include:

• Sitelinks
• Knowledge panels
• Autofill suggestions

To optimise for navigational intent on modern SERPs, websites need strong brand signals, clear site architecture, and an optimised homepage and meta data to dominate their own branded searches.

Informational intent

Informational intent refers to searches where users want to learn something or answer a question. Searches with informational intent will often include long-tail keyword variants and questions containing words like “how”, “who”, “what”, “why”, “where”, and “when”.

Common types of results that meet informational intent include how-to guides, recipes, news articles and blogs, or tutorials.

Modern SERPs meet informational intent with:

• Featured snippets
• AI overviews
• “People also ask”
• Video carousels.

To optimise for informational searches in the zero-click era, brands require content that is structured clearly, concise, and scannable while being deep enough to demonstrate expertise. This increases the chances of earning featured snippets and placements in AI overviews.

Transactional intent

Transactional searches are conducted by users who are ready to purchase a product or service and are looking for somewhere to make their purchase. These searches may include specific product or retailer names, and associated services like free shipping or next-day delivery.

Modern SERPs meet transactional intent with features such as:

• Shopping ads
• Product listings.

Transactional searches are often dominated by paid results, but for the best chance of appearing in these listings organically, product pages must be fast-loading, trustworthy, and conversion-focused, as well as having the right product schema that highlights key product features.

Locational intent

Finally, locational intent is directly linked to real-world locations, with users typically searching with the aim of visiting them.

Modern SERPs meet locational intent with features like:

• Map packs
• Reviews
• Opening times
• “Near me” optimisation.

To succeed in locational search, brands need strong local SEO signals, accurate listings, and locally relevant content.

How to identify search intent

Understanding search intent still starts with SERP analysis, but today it’s more about interpreting the full search landscape, rather than the keywords alone.

Here are some of the most important ways to identify intent and ensure your content meets user expectations.

Analyse the SERP, not just the keyword

Check which content formats dominate the SERPs and AI overviews for your keywords, such as blogs, product pages, or videos. Note SERP features like snippets, AI overviews, or shopping results, and identify whether results are informational, commercial, or transactional to guide the content you create.

Look for blended intent

Many queries now return mixed results, such as guides alongside product pages or AI summaries with traditional links. This could indicate multiple intents, which may require different content types or hybrid approaches on a single page.

Use first-party data

Your own data will always be the most valuable way of showing what your users actually do. Analysing on-site behaviour, conversion paths, and internal search data helps you you’re your content strategy based on real user actions, rather than more general search predictions.

How AI and multi-modal search are changing intent

We’ve covered the most common types of search intent when it comes to SERPs, but how useful is this when new search features are turning the landscape on its head?

With the rise of AI overviews, large language models, multi-modal search, and zero-click results, search platforms are increasingly acting as answer engines rather than discovery tools. However, this arguably makes search intent more important than ever.

Here are some of the key ways these changes are reshaping how we understand and respond to user intent.

Fewer clicks, higher expectations

Users now expect immediate, accurate answers from the moment they search. With AI overviews and enhanced SERP features providing instant information, content that doesn’t clearly and quickly satisfy intent may never be surfaced.

This raises the bar for content quality, making it essential to deliver instant value rather than relying on users exploring your page in depth.

Content summaries prioritised over rankings

In modern search, content is often re-interpreted, extracted, and repurposed before being ranked. Your content might be quoted in an AI overview, pulled into a featured snippet, or used to inform large language model responses.

This means that how you structure and present information is just as important as the information itself. Clear formatting, concise explanations, and strong signals of expertise and authority all help search engines and LLMs decide whether your content is selected and surfaced.

Fragmented user journeys

User journeys are becoming less linear and predictable. A user might begin with a simple informational query, move on to an AI-assisted comparison, and eventually complete a branded transactional search at a later stage, switching between devices or platforms along the way.

Because of this, understanding search intent now requires a broader, more strategic view. Instead of optimising individual pages in isolation, brands need to consider how their content as a whole supports users across their entire journey.

Multi-modal search reshapes intent

Search is no longer limited to text, with users increasingly turning to voice queries, images, video, and AI chat interfaces to find information. This changes how intent is expressed, with short, keyword-led searches evolving into more conversational, contextual, and visual interactions.

For example, a typed query might be “best running shoes”, while a voice query could be “what running shoes should I buy for marathon training”, and an image search might involve finding similar trainers based on a photo.

Each of these reflects a different nuance of intent and requires a tailored content approach, making optimised visual and multimedia assets as important as structured written answers.

How to match content to search intent

Understanding search intent is only valuable if you can translate it into results for your own site. Here’s how to get started with optimising your content for intent in the modern search landscape.

Align content format with intent

It may sound obvious, but choosing the right content format is one of the most important steps in aligning with search intent, as it directly influences how both users and search engines interpret the relevance of your page. Here’s how to optimise your pages for each intent type:

• Informational (guides, blogs, explainers): Optimise for informational search by exploring topics in depth and providing clear, structured answers to user questions.
• Transactional (product/category pages): These pages should focus on driving action, with clear calls to action, product details, and trust signals that make it easy for users to convert.
• Navigational (landing pages): Landing pages should be optimised to help users quickly find the specific brand, product, or service they are searching for.
• Locational (store finders, location-specific content): Locational-focused pages should be tailored to users looking for nearby solutions, incorporating local keywords, accurate business information, and strong local SEO signals.

If a page is optimised for the wrong intent, the page will struggle to rank regardless of quality, as it won’t meet the expectations set by the SERP.

Structure content for AI and SERP features

In a landscape increasingly dominated by AI overviews and enhanced SERP features, ensuring your content is easy for search engines and LLMs to easily extract and interpret is crucial. Make sure to:

• Answer key questions early: Providing clear answers at the top of your content increases the likelihood of being featured in snippets or AI-generated summaries.
• Use clear heading structures and hierarchies: Well-structured headings make your content easier to scan for users and easier to understand for search engines.
• Include concise summaries: Summaries help distil complex information into digestible insights, improving both user experience and visibility in SERP features.
• Add schema markup where relevant: Structured data helps search engines better understand your content and can enhance how it appears in search results.

By ensuring your content is clear, well-structured, and properly marked up, you can increase the chances it will be surfaced across AI-driven and enhanced SERP features as well as traditional rankings.

Build intent-focused content journeys

Rather than creating isolated pieces of content, brands should think in terms of connected journeys that guide users from discovery through to conversion.

• Top-of-funnel guides: These attract users at the research stage, building awareness and introducing them to your brand.
• Mid-funnel comparisons: These help users evaluate options and move closer to making a decision.
• Bottom-of-funnel landing pages: These are designed to convert, capturing users who are ready to take action.

Considering how your content flows as a whole helps users move naturally through their journey while strengthening your overall SEO performance.

Continuously refine based on performance

Search intent is always evolving, so ongoing optimisation is essential to maintaining and improving performance over time. Look for:

• Rankings and SERP feature changes: Understanding how your pages appear (or don’t appear) in the SERP helps you identify opportunities to improve visibility.
• Click-through rates: Low click-through rates can indicate a mismatch between your content and user expectations at the point of search.
• Engagement and conversions: Analysing how users interact with your content reveals whether it’s truly meeting their needs.

If a page ranks but doesn’t convert, it’s likely an intent mismatch, and a sign that the content needs to be refined to better align with user expectations.

Let SALT transform your search intent strategy

In a world of AI answers and zero-click searches, being seen is just as important as being clicked.

At SALT.agency, we help brands navigate modern search by combining technical SEO, content strategy, and intent-led optimisation.

Get in touch to find out how we can help you turn search intent into measurable performance.