Definition

In the AI era, search intent is expanding from the traditional four categories (informational, navigational, transactional, commercial) toward conversational, multi-turn, and agent-delegation intents.

Intent Differences: Traditional Search vs. AI Search

Item	Traditional Search	AI Search
Input format	Short keywords	Natural-language sentences/questions
Intent complexity	Single intent	Complex intent (conditions + comparison + recommendation)
Conversation	One-off	Multi-turn (follow-up questions)
Expected result	List of links	Direct answer
Agent delegation	None	"Do X for me" (action requests)

New Types of Search Intent in the AI Era

Conversational Exploration

Users explore a topic in depth through a series of questions, such as "What is AEO? → Then how is it different from SEO? → How do you apply it in Korea?"

Multi-condition Query

Users present several conditions at once, such as "Jeju Island accommodation under 3 million won, for a family of five, suitable for a July trip."

Agent Delegation

Users delegate the task itself to the AI, such as "Analyze this site's technical SEO issues" or "Compare the keywords of competitors A, B, and C."

Directions for Content Optimization

Natural-language question H2s: "What is AEO?" → matches the AI's query fan-out
Segmentation by condition: Provide answers segmented by budget, scale, and industry
Comparison and recommendation structure: "A vs. B" comparison tables, "recommendations by situation" lists
In-depth series: Comprehensive content that covers even the follow-up questions in a multi-turn conversation

References

Aggarwal, S., et al. (2024). GEO: Generative Engine Optimization. KDD 2024. https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735

How Search Intent Is Changing in the AI Era