Strategy
Our team analysed thousands of Google Malaysia’s monthly search queries related to Penang’s food industry and classified them based on different types of user intentions and search characteristics. Below is a breakdown of how we arrived at the scores.
This strategy can be used to analyse data from social media, monthly Google searches, etc., to identify commercial/business/marketing opportunities for brands, products, and services.
Results
Intent Breakdown
- Informational Intent (85.75): This high score shows that most users in this search dataset are primarily looking for information. Queries such as “best food in Penang” or “Penang famous food” demonstrate that users are looking to learn about a topic or place rather than immediately making a purchase. These types of searches are typical in the early stages of customer research, focusing on discovery and understanding.
- Navigational Intent (47.34): A medium score for navigational intent indicates that some users are trying to locate specific websites or places. For example, searches like “Penang restaurant” or “Penang airport food” suggest users are looking to navigate to a location or service. Still, there isn’t as strong of a desire to take immediate action as seen with transactional intent.
- Transactional Intent (27.87): The relatively lower score for transactional intent implies that fewer users are ready to make a purchase or take direct action. Although there are queries like “best restaurant in Georgetown Penang,” they aren’t as transactional as, for instance, searches like “buy Penang street food tour,” which are more action-oriented.
- Commercial Investigation Intent (53.56): This score, sitting between informational and transactional, reflects the users’ research phase before a purchase. Queries like “best street food in Penang” or “Penang seafood restaurant” suggest they are weighing options and comparing products or services but haven’t decided to make a purchase yet.
Search Query Characteristics
- Specificity (79.06): This high score means many queries were specific and detailed, indicating focused intent. For instance, “Penang Chinese Muslim restaurant” or “best seafood restaurant in Georgetown, Penang” show that users know exactly what they want, implying a more targeted and refined intention.
- Length of Query (49.96): This moderate score suggests that while some queries were longer and more detailed (e.g., “what to eat in Georgetown, Penang”), others were shorter and more general (e.g., “Penang food”). In general, longer queries are associated with higher intent, as they usually reflect users putting more thought into their searches.
- Modifiers in Query (30.49): The lower score here shows that fewer users used specific action-oriented modifiers such as “buy,” “best price,” or “near me.” Modifiers like these often indicate higher intent to take action, which would raise the transactional intent score.
Conclusion
Think of these scores as a way to understand how serious people are about their searches.
If they’re just looking for general information, the score is higher (like the 85.75 for informational intent). If they’re ready to act or buy, the score for transactional intent would be higher, but in this case, it’s lower because people are still exploring their options.
The specificity score is high because many people were asking precise questions, showing they know what they want.
However, few used direct action words like “buy” or “near me,” so the modifiers score is low.
