Another useful signal of search intent is a keyword’s cost per click in Google Ads. Advertisers are willing to pay more for keywords that drive sales. Hence commercial and transactional keywords tend to be more expensive.
Here’s an example Keyword Magic Tool report for the keyword “ecommerce” filtered by informational intent.
- Driving an action,
- Providing answers,
- Helping people navigate to your site (brand queries).
Automated spreadsheets. A site called “Sheets for Marketers” provides tutorials and templates for building spreadsheets.
Semrush launched its intent analysis feature in 2021. Users can filter their entire keyword lists by intent and identify which drives the most traffic to competitors’ sites.
In most cases, identifying search intent is more or less common sense. A query for “affordable running shoes” is likely commercial intent. “How to clean running shoes” is informational. “Road Runner Sports” is navigational.
Keyword-based content optimization requires an understanding of searchers’ intent. Is it to buy, to learn, or to find a specific site? Search engine optimizers call those options “commercial,” “informational,” and “navigational.”
So keep multiple meanings and intent in mind when using automated tools for content optimization. Very often, words have informational and commercial intent. Thus a manual review is essential when inserting keywords based on automated suggestions.
CognitiveSEO assigns search intent to keywords via its “Keyword Explore,” “Ranking Analysis,” and “Content Assistant” tools.
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Keyword Tools for Search Intent
But how can a merchant know the intent of hundreds or thousands of keywords?
Everything else is labeled as “other” for the user to change manually.
The fourth type of intent is “transactional,” reflecting the transition from informational to commercial. Those are queries from folks who don’t intend to buy but may if they receive satisfactory answers.
Optimizing for intent is giving searchers what they seek.
Optimizing for intent is giving searchers what they seek.
Semrush and Cognitive SEO do not disclose how they identify search intent. But a tutorial in Sheets for Marketers does. Titled “How to do a quick search intent analysis using Google Sheets,” the tutorial assumes:
Many keywords have double or even triple intent. For example, a search for “how to buy a laptop” could be from someone researching the process or looking to buy.
- Queries containing question words (what, why, how, where) are informational.
- Queries containing “best” or “versus” are transactional intent (the tutorial calls this “commercial” intent); folks are researching a purchase.
- Queries containing “buy,” “cost,” and “cheap” are commercial (what the tutorial calls “transactional”); searchers are ready to buy.
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It’s a simplistic way to assign search intent, but it’s helpful nonetheless. To use the tool, copy the spreadsheet and then paste your list in the first column. Remove the “Search Volume” column or add your own to store more data in the sheet.
Not Obvious
Semrush integrates search intent in a few of its reports, including “Keyword Magic Tool,” competitive reports, keyword gap analysis, and position tracking.
CognitiveSEO is another tool that assigns search intent to keywords via its “Keyword Explore,” “Ranking Analysis,” and “Content Assistant” tools.
