Google Is Telling You Something About Your Market

If your team is targeting keywords based on volume alone, they’re flying blind.

Not because the keywords are wrong, but because the intent behind them is misunderstood.

That’s how you end up investing in content that will never rank, or worse, that ranks and brings the wrong audience entirely.

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There’s a simple fix: check the live SERP.

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Not the tools.

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Not the spreadsheet.

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The actual Google results.

Search Results Are Market Signals. Not Just Rankings.

Every SERP is a mirror. It shows you how Google interprets the query, the user, and the commercial context behind it.

• If the SERP is full of local results, Google thinks it’s a location-based query
  
  
• If it’s all listicles, it wants comparison
  
  
• If it’s AI snippets or forums, it’s trust and discussion-driven
  
  
• If it’s product pages, Google sees buying intent
  

Get this wrong, and no amount of optimization will help you rank.

You’ll be trying to force a square page into a round result.

Example: “Garage ERP” in the Netherlands

You’re a SaaS ERP tool for car garages.

“Garage ERP” looks like the perfect keyword.

Until you search it... and Google shows local garages in the town of Erp.

Why? Because user behavior trained Google to think “garage ERP” is a local query, not a SaaS one.

So now, you’re not competing with your SaaS competitors.

You’re competing with Google Maps.

This Happens More Than You Think

Keyword tools don’t show you:

• What type of results dominate (directories, forums, local packs, etc.)
  
  
• What intent is winning
  
  
• Whether your page format even fits
  

If your team is chasing search volume without checking how Google frames the intent, you’re building the wrong assets.

And every one of them burns time, budget, and focus.

What to Do Instead

Make SERP validation a core step, not a formality:

1. Manually check commercial SERPs across markets
   
   
2. Match page type to dominant format (don’t put a product page on a listicle SERP)
   
   
3. Kill misaligned content ideas early
   
   
4. Use patterns as market feedback: maybe the category is evolving, or you’re messaging into the wrong frame
   

This isn’t about “being good at SEO.”

It’s about building content your market (and Google) agrees is worth surfacing.

This Is an Executive Problem. Not a Task for Interns.

You own the budget. The goals. The growth targets.

If your SEO effort is built on misread queries, you’re not just missing rankings, you’re missing pipeline.

And no one sees it until it’s too late.

Is Your SEO Team Targeting the Right Intent?

I work with growth and marketing leaders to pressure-test SEO strategy and eliminate waste.

That means looking beyond keywords to understand what Google is actually rewarding, and how that aligns with how buyers search.

Let’s make sure your team isn’t building invisible content.