What is a Informational Search Query?

Informational Search Query: For All the Information You Need

Broadly speaking information refers to “Knowledge conveyed by means of representation of any kind.” When users issue an informational search query on the search engine home page, they want detailed information about that query. Such information may contain text, graphics and videos

By definition “An informational search query is a Know Query that shares knowledge to the user about anything relevant to him.”

Broad Classification of Informational Queries

Informational queries can be broadly classified as below:  

• Know simple queries: Provide a very specific answer, like a fact, diagram, etc. Information has to be simple, correct and complete. Queries like: “capital of South Africa,” such as “largest city in the world,” etc.
• How-to queries: Provide information on how to perform a set of actions to complete a task such as “how to calculate body mass index,” or ‘how to lose 10 Kgs in 10 weeks, etc.”
• Do queries: Do an action such as calculate distance between two longitudes or two cities, or convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, etc.
• Broad queries: Queries as broad as FIFA, or Wal-Mart, or Coffee, which can have various intents including to gain information about a topic. They can be transactional and navigational as well.

SEO Experts and Informational Queries

Can you tame informational queries for your benefit? Yes, to a great deal. A lot of search queries on Google, Bing and other search engines are informational queries. They can be tamed so all the companies are working on them, so you should join the band wagon as well.

Best way to optimize informational search queries is to generate quality content that may include but is not limited to:

• A blog post full of tips to buy a useful present for a friend
• A how-to video to decorate a house from waste material
• An infographic on best states of a country, India, U.S., etc.

Ultimate objective is to create trustworthy, reliable, and authoritative content in a really presentable fashion. Wherever possible use citations to gain that credibility.

Here’s how you can optimize your online property for informational search queries:

• Focus on topics relevant to the work-area of your brand. For example if your website is related to car accessories, provide tips on how to select a stereo for your car or get a car dry-cleaned.
• Think of how you can provide relevant information to the user so that they get convinced to come back for more in the future.
• Identify long-tail keywords (best gyms near me or cheap and best hotels near me) with medium competition and use them organically in your content.
• Your content should never bombard the users with your products. The time is to promote your brand as a whole to install positivity about it among them.
• Feed your users with informative content pieces in the form of e-books, infographics, knowledge guides, videos, and blog posts.

Consider all the online enclyopedia websites, most notably Wikipedia. It provides authoritative, trustworthy and meaningful content, which people refer to and believe to a large extent. In addition, it also has certain guidelines at place, which its contributors have to adhere to.

However, websites like these are text-rich but are not content rich. That’s where you can work upon. Think of ways to present content in a way that is quick to read or easy to view and understand. Also ensure that it’s presented in a way that is appealing to the readers.

Conclusion

By following all these tips your brand will start ranking at decent positions on SERPs of informational queries relevant to your business.