Google Search Console · Dimension
What is Search intent?
Search intent is the purpose behind a search query: informational (wants to learn), navigational (wants a specific site), commercial (comparing before buying) or transactional (ready to buy). It is inferred from the wording of the query, not reported by Google.
- Informational52%
- Commercial24%
- Transactional15%
- Navigational9%
Every query classified by what the searcher wants.
- Data source
- Google Search Console
- Type
- Dimension
- API field
- search_intent
Why it matters
Two queries with the same volume can be worth very different amounts. "what is a keyword ranking report" and "buy keyword ranking report template" bring different visitors to the same page, and only one of them is close to paying.
How to read it
Classification is by pattern: question words and "how to" point to informational, brand and product names to navigational, "best", "vs" and "review" to commercial, "buy", "price" and "template" to transactional. It is a heuristic, so read the buckets as tendencies, and check the queries inside a bucket before acting on it.
In a Data Studio report
In a Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio) report search intent is a computed dimension over Search Console queries: four scorecards with the keyword count per intent, a distribution donut, a trend of each intent over time, and a page per intent listing its queries with impressions, clicks, CTR and position.
Where to find it in Google Search Console
Not in Search Console: the intent is inferred from the query wording in the report; the raw queries under Performance, then Search results, then Queries.
