Isn’t it time we evolved the list of search intent classifiers to now include instructional intent?
Sure, this is a variation of informational search intent, but isn’t the intent behind the use of generative AI such that it now deserves its own category?
What is Search Intent?
Off the back of Andrei Broder’s 2005 research paper at IBM entitled “Determining the User Intent of Web Searches”, user intent was classified into a number of types.
Broder’s classification included:
- Informational: Users seeking information or knowledge on a particular topic.
- Navigational: Users looking for a specific website or web page.
- Transactional: Users intending to complete a specific action, such as making a purchase or downloading something.
This later evolved over time to include an additional classifier – commercial.
- Informational: Users seeking information or knowledge on a particular topic.
- Navigational: Users looking for a specific website or web page.
- Commercial: Users actively researching products or services before making a purchase decision.
- Transactional: Users intending to complete a specific action, such as making a purchase or downloading something.
These are all clearly organised and well-defined types of user intent.
But doesn’t the fact that we now use the likes of ChatGPT to ask the generative engines to “create me an illustration” or “write me some code” warrant its own category?
Now I’m no researcher or academic, nor do I have access to massive data sets to test this theory. I’m just throwing it out there as a wild hypothesis. Because I feel that the uptake of the likes of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools is adding another dimension to user intent.
I regularly ask Microsoft Copilot to quickly create me illustrations for this blog. That’s not informational, it’s not navigational, nor does it quite fit the realms of the commercial or transactional search intent.
But then is it even search?
It’s more of a command, right?
However these new instructional prompts fit into the existing hierarchy, within it, outside it, I don’t mind – just raising this thought for discussion.