the categories

informational

Search queries that are asking a question and are looking to learn something. Usually categorised as being in the research phase of the buyer journey.

navigational

Searching for a specific website or brand.

transactional

Search queries with the intent to buy something or enquire about a product or service.
With any PPC campaign, you to want to find these transactional keywords and target them with highly specific ads. These keywords have commercial intent which indicates that the searcher is ready to buy and just needs to find somewhere to do so. Using these keywords in your PPC campaigns will save you a lot of money and stop irrelevant or low intent users reaching your site.

Understanding paid keyword intent and what keywords to use to drive the correct traffic to your landing pages is important for a successful PPC campaign. There are three main categories of keyword intent; Informational, Navigational & Transactional.

how to identify commercial intent keywords

Targeting high intent keywords in your campaigns will boost your campaign performance and ultimately increase conversions so it is important to identify them. There are a few different types of commercial intent keywords and it depends, business to business which ones are more valuable.

e-commerce keywords

For any e-commerce business ‘Buy Now’ commercial intent keywords are most valuable. These keywords feature terms like; Buy Now, Buy, Deals, Coupons, Free Shipping & Discount Codes. A searcher using these terms in their search query is ready to buy something and it is in your best interest, as an e-commerce business, to be at the top of these types of searches.
Another category of commercial intent keywords that are valuable to e-commerce businesses is ‘Product’ commercial intent keywords. These are valuable as the searcher has a product in mind that they want to buy and so just as mentioned above, you will want to show your ad at the top of these searches. Terms used in ‘Product’ commercial intent keywords are; Product-specific terms (e.g Mobile Phone), Branded terms (e.g Samsung S10), Product categories (e.g smart mobile phones) and terms such as; cheapest, affordable, best & reviews.
The value of each keyword will vary depending on the business but usually, the most valuable terms will be product-specific or branded.

service keywords

For a business offering a service, the same rules apply but the terms used will be slightly different. If you offer a service then you are looking for keywords that indicate that the searcher is ready to enquire or book. These terms include; hire, book, book now & near me.
Service & Service Category terms will also be valuable and have high intent, e.g Cleaning company, Lawyer Firms & IT Services. These keywords indicate that the searcher knows what they want and again, just needs to find somewhere that they like and trust, to do it.

getting it right

It can be difficult to identify your most valuable keywords straight away and as your campaign runs you are likely to come across some search terms that have really high intent and also some that have a low intent. The trick is to limit the number of low intent searches that your ads will appear for, increase the number of high intent searches that you show up for and impress these searches enough that they convert with you.