You will be able to work out intent from the pages that currently rank and the features shown on the results page.
Pick the one search that matters most to your business, sign out of your Google account, and type it into Google on a Singapore connection. Look at the first page of results before you read any further. What you see there is the most direct evidence you have of what people typing that search want.
Google's systems try to rank pages that satisfy the people searching. The pages that rank today are Google's current best guess at what those searchers want. You cannot see inside Google's systems, but you can see their output, and that output is evidence you can use to check the intent label you gave each search in lesson 2.1, "Search intent: what the searcher is trying to do".
Priya runs a tuition centre (an invented example) that offers P5 maths classes, and she has a class page for them. She was sure "P5 maths tuition Tampines" was a transactional search, meaning a buying search. She reasoned that parents typing it wanted a centre, so her class page was the right answer.
She searched it herself on her phone, signed out. First she saw a map with three centres pinned. Below it were two tuition centre pages, a directory listing fifteen centres with ratings, and a forum thread where parents argued about which centres were worth the money. Her label was half right: people did want centres, but they also wanted to compare them.
Looking again, she noticed that every centre page in the results covered one level in one area, and none was a general homepage. Google appeared to prefer pages that matched both the level and the place. The results were showing her the format Google prefers as well as the intent.
Her note read: map pack, two level-specific centre pages, one directory, one forum thread, no AI Overview. Intent: commercial with a local element. She changed the label from transactional to commercial, the label for searchers who are comparing before they buy, with a local element added. The note took two minutes to write and changed what she planned to build. The results page took about ten seconds to show her the real intent, something that could otherwise have taken weeks to learn.
Start with the top five results and note what type of page each one is: a how-to guide, a list of options, a product or service page, a local business listing, a video, a forum thread or a news article. One or two page types usually dominate.
Compare "how to make kaya" with "buy kaya online Singapore". The first returns recipes and videos. The second returns shops. The two searches share a word but want different things, and the results show the difference.
A results page has more than ten blue links, and each extra feature is a signal about what searchers want.
A local pack, also called a map pack, is a map with local business listings. It means Google thinks the searcher wants a place nearby. Module 7 covers how to appear in it. A People also ask box shows related questions people search. It suggests at least part of the audience is still learning. Video results mean people want to watch something being done. Shopping results and product listings point to buying intent. An AI Overview is a summary Google sometimes shows at the top of the results. It appears for many informational and comparison searches, and when one appears, people are asking a question that can be answered in a few sentences. The links in it show which pages Google treated as supporting sources. Module 8 looks at AI Overviews properly.
When the top results are nearly all the same kind of page, you usually have to match that format to compete at all. Google has in effect settled what that search is for, and your aim becomes being the best page of that type. "PSLE maths heuristics" might return only guides with worked examples. "kueh lapis delivery" might return only shop pages with prices and an order button. A sales page will struggle to get into a list of guides, and a guide will struggle among shop pages.
Mixed results, such as three guides, two service pages, a directory and a map, suggest either that Google is less sure or that searchers want different things. Mixed results give you more room, and you can choose the format you do best.
Results depend on where the search is made. A search from Singapore shows Singapore businesses and pages Google thinks fit Singapore readers. Checking from overseas, or through a tool set to another country, may show a completely different picture. Always check on a Singapore connection, signed out, the same way you did the baseline check in lesson 1.5, "Check how Google sees your site today".
Results also change over time. Google updates its systems, competitors publish new pages, and features like AI Overviews come and go for particular searches. Recheck the labels for your most important searches every few months, and whenever you see a sudden change in your Search Console figures. Module 9 covers those figures, including how to spot sudden changes.
Now pick five searches from your list of 20, choosing the ones that matter most to your business, and give each the same treatment. Search each one from a Singapore connection, signed out. Record the page type of each of the top five results, and the features on the page: map pack, People also ask, video results, shopping or product listings, AI Overview. Decide whether one format dominates or the results are mixed, then compare what you see with the intent label you gave the search in lesson 2.1. Confirm the label or change it, and write down the format of page you will build for that search.
Take five of your 20 searches. For each, note the format of the top five results and the features on the page, then keep or change your intent label.
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