How people search on Google: search intent explained for local businesses

People search by the town they live in, so somebody in Heswall types “Heswall” into Google rather than “North West”, and if your website never mentions the places you cover, Google has no good reason to show you to the people living there. That one idea sits underneath nearly everything I do for local businesses, but there’s a second half to it that matters just as much, which is that the words people type change depending on what has just happened to them and what they want to get out of the search.

In this post I’ll walk you through how real people around Merseyside search on Google, what they’re hoping to find each time, and how Google now lays out the results for each kind of search, from the sponsored ads at the top to the map with its Call buttons and the AI answer that now sits above everything else.

What does search intent actually mean?

Search intent is simply the reason behind a search, the thing the person is trying to get done when they pick up their phone and start typing. Somebody with a flat tyre on the side of the road wants a garage that can sort it within the hour, while somebody renewing their van insurance in a quiet moment at home wants to compare a few brokers and understand what they’re paying for before they ring anyone. Both are searching on Google, and both are potential customers for a local business, but they behave completely differently and Google shows them very different results.

Google spends a fortune working out what each searcher wants, and it explains a fair bit of its thinking in its own guide to how Search works. The short version is that it tries to match the layout of the results page to the job the person is trying to do, which is why the same business can be front and centre for one search and nowhere to be seen for another that sounds almost the same.

What happens when someone needs help right now?

Picture somebody heading out of Maghull towards the M58 when the tyre pressure light comes on and the car starts pulling to one side, so they pull into a side street, get their phone out and type “tyre garage Maghull” or “mobile tyre fitting near me”. They’re not reading blog posts or comparing prices in any detail, because what they want is somebody close by who’s open, has decent reviews and will answer the phone, and they’ll usually ring the first business that ticks those boxes.

For that kind of search Google normally shows a row of sponsored ads at the top, then the map with three local businesses underneath it, each with a Call button, star rating and opening hours right there on the screen. Most people in a hurry never scroll past the map, so the businesses that win these jobs are the ones with a complete, well looked after Google Business Profile, plenty of recent reviews and, quite often, a Google Ads campaign sitting at the very top for the busiest searches. The same goes for the boiler that packs in on a Sunday night in Crosby or the locked-out homeowner in Bootle, because urgent searches all follow the same pattern.

What happens when someone is weighing things up?

Now picture somebody sat at the kitchen table with a brew, renewing their business insurance and typing “cheapest independent insurance broker in Liverpool”. There’s no emergency here, they’ve got time to read, and what they really want is to understand their options, see roughly what things cost and work out who they can trust before they pick up the phone to anyone at all.

For searches like that Google now very often puts its AI Overview right at the top, a written answer that pulls together information from several websites and sometimes names businesses directly, and plenty of people read that answer before they look at anything else on the page. The same thing happens when people ask ChatGPT or Claude the question instead of Google, which more and more of your customers are doing. The businesses that get picked up in those answers are the ones whose websites explain clearly what they do, where they work and what it costs, and Google sets out how this works in its guide to AI features and your website. This is exactly the side of things my AI optimisation work is built around.

How does Google show results for different kinds of search?

Here are seven everyday searches from around Merseyside, what the person is really after each time, what Google tends to put in front of them first, and what usually wins the job. On a phone you can swipe the table sideways to see every column.

What stands out from that table is that no single thing wins every search. Urgent searches are won on the map and in the ads, research searches are now often won in the AI answer and on well written websites, and the searches where somebody already knows your name are won by having your Business Profile and your website in good order so that nothing puts them off at the last minute.

Why does the town name matter so much?

Almost every local search has a place in it, whether the person types it themselves or Google adds it quietly from their phone’s location, so a site that only ever says “Merseyside” or “the North West” misses most of the searches that matter. Someone in Wallasey types “Wallasey”, someone in Allerton types “Allerton” and someone in Wrexham types “Wrexham”, so I build a page for each town you genuinely cover and mention the local streets, landmarks and postcodes people recognise. Google explains in its guide to how local results are ranked that relevance, distance and how well known you are all count, and town pages help with the first two in a way nothing else does. You can see how I’ve done this on my own area pages, and I go into more detail in how to get into the Google Maps top 3.

What does this mean for your business?

The first thing I do with any new client is sit down and work out which kinds of search bring them their best jobs, because a mobile mechanic and a solicitor need completely different things from Google. If most of your work comes from people in a hurry, your Business Profile, your reviews and possibly some Google Ads matter more than anything else. If your customers take their time and compare, then your website pages, your answers to the questions people ask and your chances of being named by Google’s AI, ChatGPT and Claude are where the effort should go, and I explain how I pick the searches worth chasing in how to choose the right SEO keywords.

Most local businesses get a mix of both, which is why I agree ten target searches with every client at the start, made up of the urgent ones that ring the phone and the research ones that bring in the bigger, more considered jobs. Then the weekly work goes into those ten, and you can watch every one of them move in your live reporting portal whenever you fancy a look.

How can hiPete help you get found for the right searches?

I’ve spent over 20 years helping local businesses get found for the searches that matter to them, and these days my team and I do it from Boundary Street for firms right across Merseyside and beyond. My SEO campaigns are £125 a week on a 30 day rolling basis, and that covers getting your website found on Google, getting your business named by AI tools and keeping your website looked after, with everything set up in your name. If you need calls this week rather than in a few months, I can set up Google Ads alongside it for around £150 depending on the size of the campaign.

If your website is part of the problem, I build new WordPress sites from £1,000 that are fully SEO-ready from the first day, through my website development service, and if the site is fine but the words on it aren’t pulling their weight, a content overhaul rewrites your pages so they answer what customers are searching for. If you’re not sure where you stand yet, a hand-checked SEO audit will show you exactly what’s holding you back, or you can start with the free website check below and I’ll take a look myself.

Questions people ask me

Keep reading

If you’d like to go deeper on the AI side of things, AI search for Liverpool businesses explains how ChatGPT, Claude and Google’s AI decide who to recommend, and if you’re weighing up ads against SEO, paid vs organic traffic sets out the trade-off in plain terms.

Related posts

ResourceHow to choose the right SEO keywords, step by stepSEO basicsHow to get more clicks from GoogleSEO basicsWhy content matters for SEOSEO basicsOn-page SEO basics for small businesses

Hi, I’m Pete

Want to be found for the searches that ring your phone?

Tell me what you do and where you work, and I’ll show you which searches your customers are making and how Google is laying them out for your trade.

WhatsApp meSEO campaigns