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Search Query
A search query is the exact text a user types into a search engine's search box to find information, products, services, or websites. It represents the user's expressed intent and may differ from the keywords a website is technically targeting. Google matches queries to relevant content using semantic understanding, not just exact keyword matching.
Search query data is available in Google Search Console's Performance report, which shows the exact queries triggering impressions and clicks for a site. Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer and SEMrush's Keyword Magic Tool provide search volume, difficulty, and intent data for billions of search queries.
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Related Terms
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Keyword
The words or phrases that most accurately represent the content on a page are called keywords.
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Keyword Research
The process of discovering, analyzing, and prioritizing the words and phrases potential customers type into search engines and AI assistants — combining search volume, intent, and competitive difficulty into a content-strategy plan.
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User Intent (Search Intent)
The underlying purpose behind a search query — typically classified as informational, navigational, commercial, or transactional — and the primary signal modern search algorithms use to decide which page format to surface.
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Informational Intent
User queries that are carried out to gain information about a topic, to get answers to a question, or to satisfy one's curiosity about a topic are called queries with informational intent.