Query
The exact string, typed or spoken, that a person hands to the search box.
Analogy Mental model
The first sentence a customer says at the counter. It sounds casual, but it usually leaks budget, urgency and how much they already know.
In practice What you actually do
Export the real query list from the Search Console performance report once a month. The phrasing will surprise you: people type "how to fix a leaking pipe without tools", not "plumbing repair services". That gap between your assumption and their wording is where content opportunities live.
Where people get burned Pitfalls
Keep keyword and query separate in your head. A keyword is what you decided to target; a query is what someone actually said. In a semantic index, one well-built page can satisfy tens of thousands of queries you never thought to list.
This entry was written in English from the Chinese original, not machine-translated. Read the Chinese version →