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Buyer intent keywords: what they are and how to read them
Buyer intent keywords are searches typed by people who are ready to hire, book or buy, not just to read. They go by other names too: high intent, commercial intent, transactional and buying intent keywords. Together they draw about 90 US searches a month as a topic. What matters more is the buyer groups inside your own market, and this page shows how to read them.
This page belongs to search intent, which explains all four types of intent.
Buyer groups, not buyer words
A buyer intent keyword is rarely a single phrase. It is a group of wordings that ask for the same thing at the point of buying. "Movers quote", "book movers for Saturday" and "moving company price" are three wordings of one group. Count the group, not the phrases, and do not add the three counts together.
Words hint at a buyer group but never prove it. A price, a place or an action tends to sit in buyer phrases. A definition tends to sit in learning phrases. A hint is a reason to look, not a label.
A finished buyer table
Here is what the buyer part of a market looks like when it is written down. The market is a moving company, and the groups, phrases and stages are invented for illustration.
| Buyer group | Example phrases | Stage | The page it needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ask for a price | movers quote, book movers for Saturday | Ready to hire | A quote page with a short form |
| Special jobs | piano movers, long distance movers | Ready to hire, narrower | One page for each job type |
| Choose a company | best movers reviews, movers compared by price | Choosing | A comparison page with reviews |
Each row is one need with its own page. The special jobs row is narrow, and narrow is the point: fewer people type it, and more of them can be close to a decision.
Now set the table against the competitors. Say the leading competitors each have a quote page and a reviews page, and none has a page for piano movers. The special jobs row is then a gap: small, but cheap to take, because nobody else answers it. A buyer table that shows the gap beside the count tells you where to build first.
Small pools are normal
Buyer groups can be small. Two real counts show the scale for a phrase that names a trade: "moving company leads" draws about 170 US searches a month, and "electrician leads" about 90. The search demand by trade page lists the other trades.
What matters is what one buyer is worth. Say a moving job pays $1,200 and 1 in 5 enquiries books. Each enquiry is worth up to about $240. Say a quote group has 150 searches a month and 15 of them end as enquiries. That group is worth up to about $3,600 a month in jobs.
Mistakes with buyer intent keywords
- Treating high intent as a promise. A buyer group sizes the pool of people close to buying. It does not count sales.
- Spreading one need over many pages. Three wordings of one group belong on one page, not three.
- Sending a buyer group to a long guide. A person close to buying wants the price, the place and the next step.
- Judging a group by its count alone. A group with fewer searches and a higher-value customer can beat a larger one that sells little.
What to do with it
- Build for buyers first. One page for each buyer group where you lack one.
- Fill the gaps your competitors left. A buyer group no leading competitor covers is the best kind of competitor gap.
- Bid on buyer groups. Keep the ad budget on them, and see negative keywords for the searches that should stay out.
- Know what a lead is worth. Buyer phrases only pay if the value of a lead covers the cost of reaching it.
- Ask for the link. Whatever you buy, each buyer group should show its monthly searches and the competitor page behind it.
Questions people ask
Are transactional keywords the same as commercial intent keywords?
Close, not identical. Transactional phrases show a person ready to act, such as a quote request. Commercial phrases show a person comparing. Both count as buyer intent, and both should have a page.
Are high intent keywords always low volume?
No. Buyer phrases can be smaller than learning phrases, though. The more exactly a phrase names a service, the fewer people type it and the more of them mean it.
Should I ignore informational keywords?
No. Learners become buyers later. Give them a guide that links to the page that sells, but keep the ad budget on buyers.
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To see buyer groups next to their competitors, open the free samples. If you run paid search for clients, the paid search page shows how the list reaches an ad account.
Checked by a person and delivered within 24 hours, with a link and a search number behind every row.