Internal Linking and Site Architecture: How to Distribute Authority
Internal linking explained: how to design site architecture, choose anchor text, find orphan pages, and direct authority toward the pages that bring revenue.
Key takeaways
- Search intent is the goal behind a query: what the person wants to learn, compare, find or buy.
- The most reliable source of truth is the live results in Google: the page types, formats and features shown reveal what Google believes satisfies the search.
- Each type of intent calls for a different kind of page: guide, comparison, category, product page, contact page or city page.
- Intent can change over time and can be mixed. Recheck the results periodically instead of assuming a keyword means the same thing forever.
Contents
- The four types of intent, with examples
- How to identify intent in 5 steps
- Hints from language: modifier words
- From intent to page: what to build for each type
- A full example, from query to page
- Mixed intent and intent that shifts
- Intent in AI-assisted search
- Common mistakes
- When the method falls short, and limits
- Conclusion and next steps
Search intent is the real goal behind a query: what the person wants to learn, compare, find or buy. Two searches with the same words can ask for different things, and Google tries to show the pages that best match the likely goal. That is why a well-optimized page of the wrong type often struggles to rank.
This article shows you how to read intent from live results, how to turn it into a suitable page, and where the method falls short. It is the foundation under on-page SEO: before titles and keywords, you decide what kind of page should exist.
The four types of intent, with examples
The most widely used classification has four categories. It is not an official Google rule, just a working tool:
| Type | What the person wants | Example | Typical format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Informational | To learn or understand | "how to choose an ergonomic chair" | Guide, article, FAQ, video |
| Navigational | To reach a specific place | "my Amazon account," "Bank X website" | The brand's official page |
| Commercial investigation | To compare before deciding | "best ergonomic chairs" | Comparisons, roundups, reviews |
| Transactional | To act now | "buy ergonomic chair online" | Category, product page, offer page |
On top of these comes local intent ("dentist near me"), which leads to the map and local pages. And many queries are mixed: the same search can satisfy someone who wants to learn and someone who is ready to buy.
The examples show something important: intent does not depend on a single word but on the whole situation. "Ergonomic chair" alone may be commercial, while "ergonomic chair back pain" may be informational or commercial, depending on what Google shows.
How to identify intent in 5 steps
- Search the query in Google. Use an incognito window and, if you target a country, the right language and location settings.
- Classify the top 10 results. Are they guides, product pages, categories, roundups, forums, videos? Note what dominates.
- Read the features on the results page. Question boxes, maps, images, product carousels, summaries: each points to a type of need.
- Read your competitors' titles and subheadings. What questions do they cover? In what order? What do they leave out?
- Check the real queries of your page. In Search Console, open the Performance report, filter by the page and see which terms bring impressions. Are they the expected ones, or does the page appear for a different intent?
A small note-taking exercise keeps you from working from memory:
| Query | What dominates the results | Inferred intent | Your page |
|---|---|---|---|
| ergonomic chair | Store categories, roundups | Commercial/transactional | Category page |
| how to choose an ergonomic chair | Guides, criteria lists | Informational | Guide article |
| ergonomic chair lumbar support adjustment | Guides, product pages | Mixed | Article or product page, depending on results |
If you have many queries to check, the question generator helps you see how people phrase the need, and the SERP simulator lets you compare how your title looks next to others.
Hints from language: modifier words
The wording of a query gives quick hints before you even look at the results. The table is not a rule but a first hypothesis that you check on the results page:
| Hint in the query | Likely intent | Watch out |
|---|---|---|
| "how," "what is," "why," "steps," "guide" | Informational | Sometimes Google shows video or short pages, not long articles |
| "best," "top," "vs," "alternative," "reviews" | Commercial | The winning format is often the comparison, not the product page |
| "price," "deal," "order," "buy," "shipping" | Transactional | Check whether stores or price comparison sites dominate |
| "near me," "in [city]," "hours" | Local | The map and local profiles may matter more than the site |
| a brand or product name | Navigational or commercial | Depends on whether the person wants the official site or opinions |
The exceptions are many. "Price" in a query like "oil price" is informational, while "ergonomic chair" with no modifier can be a buying query. That is why the final authority is the real results.
From intent to page: what to build for each type
Once the intent is identified, the page structure follows almost on its own:
| Intent | The first screen should offer | Useful elements | Call to action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Informational | The direct answer, in a few sentences | Question subheadings, definitions, numbered steps, a table, FAQ | Related resource, subscribe |
| Commercial | Selection criteria and a clear recommendation | Comparison table, pros and cons, alternatives | To the product or category page |
| Transactional | The product or service, price, availability | Benefits, guarantees, reviews, delivery, questions | Buy, request a quote |
| Navigational | The quick path to the destination | Clear title, contact details, main links | To the account, page or location sought |
| Local | Address, hours, map, phone | Service area, reviews, services | Call, visit, book |
For guides, structure and headings matter a lot, and heading structure H1–H6 shows you how. For the title and description, the guide is title tags and meta descriptions. For stores, see what commercial intent looks like on category pages.
How the first paragraph changes with intent
The first paragraph of the page is where intent is clearest. A few variations in the same domain:
- Informational: "A good ergonomic chair is chosen by three things: height adjustment, lumbar support and how long you sit." The answer comes immediately, with no preamble.
- Commercial: "For a home office, the best ergonomic chairs in this roundup differ in adjustments, warranty and weight capacity." The promise is the comparison, followed by its criteria.
- Transactional: "Chair X, height adjustable with lumbar support, delivered in 2–3 days." It is immediately clear what it is, what it costs and how to order.
Notice that none of them starts with the history of chairs or a filler sentence. A reader who arrived with a precise intent wants to see within seconds that they landed in the right place.
A full example, from query to page
Suppose you run an office furniture store and want traffic for "how to choose an ergonomic chair."
- You search the query. The results: guides with criteria (adjustable height, lumbar support, material) and a few roundups.
- Conclusion: informational intent with a commercial component. The person wants to learn, then compare.
- You build a guide page: the answer in the first lines ("choose based on height, backrest adjustment, lumbar support and how long you sit"), a table of criteria, a common-mistakes section and a questions section.
- At the end, you link to the category page with a descriptive anchor, not to a product picked at random.
- You do not try to sell on the guide. Commercial intent stays on the category, which has a different purpose.
- After a few weeks you check in Search Console whether the page gets impressions for the expected phrasings and whether the category page does not appear for the same queries.
When two of your pages begin to appear for the same query, you have an intent overlap; the diagnosis and remedies are in keyword cannibalization. And the starting list of terms is built following keyword research.
Mixed intent and intent that shifts
Google's results are not static. A term that showed product pages two years ago may show guides today, or the reverse. The reasons are many: changes in user behavior, events, new products, seasons.
What to do in practice:
- Recheck the results for important pages at least once a quarter.
- Watch the decline pattern: if a page loses clicks for no technical reason, compare the page types in the results with yours.
- Accept mixed intent: if the results combine guides and products, use the page for the dominant one and link it to the second.
- Update the page when the intent has moved. The method is in updating old articles.
Intent in AI-assisted search
Queries are getting longer and more conversational: people ask full questions with context. For you the principle stays the same: a direct answer followed by context, clear definitions, steps and limits. AI assistants may find it easier to extract information from well-structured pages, but there is no guaranteed recipe for being cited. The practical details are in GEO: how to appear in ChatGPT and AI search answers.
Common mistakes
- Assuming intent from the keyword without looking at the results.
- Writing articles for transactional queries (or the reverse, commercial pages for what-is questions).
- Mixing all intents on one page, which then serves none well.
- Copying the competition without seeing what their answers lack.
- Ignoring format: if the results are lists and you write an essay, you lose.
- Not rechecking after changes in the results.
- Forgetting the next step: a guide with no logical continuation loses the reader.
When the method falls short, and limits
The four-type classification simplifies. Reality includes needs that are hard to categorize, and you never know an individual user's intent; you only have the statistical pattern in the results. Results can differ by location, device or history, so what you see is not identical to what others see.
On new or very rare queries, results can be sparse or inconclusive. Then you rely on the logic of the need and on the real queries in Search Console after the page is published.
Finally, a page that fits the intent does not rise on its own. It needs quality, authority and a healthy technical structure.
Conclusion and next steps
Intent is the first filter: before you write, you find out what kind of page the query asks for. Concrete steps:
- Pick 10 important queries and classify them from the live results.
- Compare the page type in the results with your current pages.
- Mark the mismatches: a guide where a category is expected, or the reverse.
- Rebuild or create the missing pages, with the right structure.
- Recheck the results for important pages every quarter.
If you want a specialist to walk through your site's intent map, see on-page SEO or reach us through the contact page.