Once again, while doing research for Search engine Optimization, I found more information regarding creating a well-rounded SEO. This time it was an article by News Drum describing four different types of search that consumers may embark upon. These four types are customer servant, librarian, journalist, and teacher.
- Customer Servant- Customer Servants are those that perform task that they directly specify their “servant” to do. Customer Servant requests are direct and rigid, and do not question the searchers’ intent. They give what the searcher asks for, nothing more and nothing less. Customer Servant searches and replies are very basic, and do not require a lot of SEO input or output.
- Librarian- Librarian searchers are after a specific phrase, and may require guidance to get there, but they want whatever they say taken at face value. They aren’t as basic as customer servant searchers, but they are still quite simple to satisfy. These searchers just want a list of results of what they want, a stack of “resources” if you will.
- Journalist- Journalists take the step of the librarian a bit further, creating a list of resources for the searcher to use, but being sure to take out any misinformation that the searcher may stumble across. The journalist wants to inform people more, not just with useless knowledge, but with pertinent facts that the searcher need immediately. The journalist provides a bipartisan view of the searchers intent without their own bias.
- Finally, we have the Teacher- The teacher is much like the journalist, but a bit more opinionated. The teacher wants to give information to the searcher, but will carefully curate the results to fit their opinion that they deem fit. They will immediately discard any information with a dissenting opinion, so that makes these the pickiest searchers.
In conclusion, there is no one type of “searcher” that is the best. Each searcher will want different results, and because of this, companies must know search intent when it comes to their consumers. The balance between these four types of searchers is vital, and could lead to an explosion of new consumers or the death of your company. Whatever a company chooses to do, it is important to have the consumer first, and realize that not all consumers are the same.
2 Responses
This breakdown of searcher types is really insightful! It would be interesting to see examples of how different industries might optimize for each type of searcher.
This post gives a great explanation of different types of searchers and how they impact SEO. It’s a helpful way to understand user intent and improve search strategies.