How To Find Commercial Intent Keywords | A Guide

I want to share a story that still stings a little. Years ago, I pushed “publish” on what I thought was the perfect blog post. Weeks of work. It climbed the ranks, hit page one. The traffic graph went up. I was getting hundreds, then thousands, of new visitors every single month. And you know what?

Crickets.

Nobody was buying a thing. My email list was a ghost town. My contact forms were gathering digital dust. It’s a uniquely painful feeling in this business: you create a piece of content that succeeds by all the common metrics, yet fails completely at the one metric that actually matters. I’ve been there. I’ve pulled my hair out over it.

The culprit is almost always the same. You’re targeting the wrong keywords. You’re bringing in an audience that just wants to learn, not one that’s ready to buy.

This is the entire difference between traffic and profit. It’s the gap between a hobby and a business. The only solution is to stop chasing “vanity” traffic and start strategically targeting the terms that signal a searcher is just about to pull out their wallet.

This guide is my deep dive into that very topic. We’re going to explore, from top to bottom, how to find commercial intent keywords. These are the “money” terms, the phrases people type into Google when they are actively looking to purchase a product or service. Forget the browsers; we’re going after the buyers.

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Key Takeaways

• All Traffic Isn’t Equal: The heart of this strategy is realizing that 10 visits from a “ready-to-buy” searcher are infinitely more valuable than 1,000 visits from someone who’s “just browsing.”
• Master the Four Intents: Search intent is the whole game. We’ll break down the four types: Informational, Navigational, Commercial Investigation, and Transactional.
• “Money” Keywords Have Two Flavors: We’ll focus on the two kinds of commercial intent. Transactional keywords (“buy,” “coupon”) mean “I need to buy now,” while Commercial Investigation keywords (“best,” “vs,” “review”) mean “I plan to buy soon.”
• Modifiers Are Your “Tell”: You can spot a keyword’s intent just by looking at the specific “modifier” words people add to their search, like “best,” “price,” or “alternative.”
• The SERP Never Lies: The most important step is to just Google the keyword. The results page (SERP) tells you exactly what Google believes searchers want. If it’s all blog posts, don’t try to rank a product page.

Why Does My “High Traffic” Blog Post Get Zero Sales?

If you’re asking this, you’ve diagnosed the symptom but not the disease. The disease, almost every single time, is a mismatch of intent.

When a person types something into Google, they have a specific goal. They aren’t just mashing keys. They have a problem to solve, a question to answer, or a task to complete. Google’s entire multi-trillion-dollar business is built on its incredible ability to guess that intent and deliver a relevant result.

If your page gets tons of traffic but zero conversions, it just means you successfully matched the intent of a browser, not a buyer. You answered a “what is” or “how to” question. The visitor got their answer, said “thanks,” and left. They were never in the market to buy in the first place.

Think of it this way: A person searching “what is a p-trap” is probably standing in a hardware store aisle, confused, or just curious. A person searching “emergency plumber near me” has water pouring onto their kitchen floor and a credit card in their hand. Which visitor do you want on your plumbing website?

It’s a simple concept, but mastering it is everything. We have to stop thinking about what we want to sell and start obsessing over what the searcher wants to find.

Are All Keywords Created Equal? (Spoiler: No)

This brings us to the core theory. You’ve likely heard of the “marketing funnel.” It’s that classic model of Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action. Search keywords map perfectly onto this funnel.

Some searchers are at the top, just becoming aware of their problem (“why does my back hurt”). Others are in the middle, comparing solutions (“massage vs. chiropractor”). And some are at the bottom, ready to act (“book chiropractor appointment [my city]”).

A keyword’s “intent” is just a label for where the searcher is in that funnel. As business owners and marketers, our primary goal is to find the keywords that map to the “Decision” and “Action” stages. These are the commercial intent keywords.

They naturally have less search volume. But who cares?

This was a massive mental shift for me. I used to be obsessed with search volume. I wanted to rank for terms that had 20,000 searches a month. That validation felt great. But my clients weren’t happy. Traffic was up, but sales were flat. I had to learn the hard way that volume is a vanity metric. Conversion rate is sanity.

Your goal is not to get the most traffic. It’s to get the right traffic.

So, What Are the Four Types of Search Intent?

To find the money keywords, you first have to know how to spot their opposites. Almost every search query on earth can be bucketed into one of these four categories.

1. Informational Intent: The searcher wants to learn something. They are looking for information, an answer, or a guide. These queries are packed with words like “how to,” “what is,” “why,” “guide,” “tutorial,” and “tips.” This is the largest bucket of searches on Google. It’s great for building brand awareness and thought leadership, but it’s terrible for direct sales.
2. Navigational Intent: The searcher is trying to get to a specific website. They already know where they want to go, and it’s just faster to type “Amazon” or “Facebook login” into Google than to type the full URL. These keywords are generally useless for marketing unless you are the brand they’re searching for.
3. Transactional Intent: This is our first “money” keyword type. The searcher is ready to buy. Right now. Their intent is to complete a specific transaction. These queries are obvious and high-intent, using words like “buy,” “purchase,” “order,” “coupon,” “discount,” “price,” and “sale.” They are at the very bottom of the funnel.
4. Commercial Investigation Intent: This is our second, and arguably more common, “money” keyword type. The searcher intends to buy, but they’re not quite ready to pull the trigger. They are in the final stages of research, comparing options and looking for the best solution. These queries include words like “best,” “top,” “review,” “vs” (or “versus”), “comparison,” and “alternative.”

For the rest of this guide, when I say “commercial intent keywords,” I’m referring to both Commercial Investigation and Transactional keywords. These are the terms that will build your business.

Is “Commercial Investigation” the Same as “Transactional”?

This is a fantastic question, and the nuance here is critical. No, they are not the same, but they are partners. They represent two different, equally valuable customers.

Think about how you make a significant purchase. Let’s say you need a new laptop.

You probably don’t just wake up and Google “buy laptop.” That’s too broad.

First, you’d start with Commercial Investigation. You’d search:

• “best laptops for video editing”
• “Macbook Pro vs Dell XPS”
• “[Laptop Model] review”

You’re in “research mode,” but it’s not academic research. It’s purchase research. You 100% intend to buy a laptop, and soon. You’re just figuring out which one. The person searching for this is a prime potential customer.

Then, once you’ve made your decision, you shift to Transactional intent. You’d search:

• “buy Dell XPS 15”
• “Macbook Pro coupon”
• “[Laptop Model] price”

Now you’re in “buy mode.” Your credit card is metaphorically (or literally) on the desk.

Why is this distinction so important? Because you create different types of content for each one.

• You target Commercial Investigation keywords with blog posts, comparison articles, and “best of” roundups.
• You target Transactional keywords with your product pages, service pages, and pricing pages.

You can’t rank a product page for “best laptops.” Google knows the searcher wants a list, a review, an article. And you’ll struggle to rank a blog post for “buy Dell XPS 15.” Google knows the searcher wants a product page where they can click “add to cart.”

Understanding this difference is the key to a successful content strategy. You need both. You create the “best of” article to capture the researchers, and you have the product page ready for them when they’ve made their decision.

How Can I Spot a “Money” Keyword Just by Looking at It?

After you’ve done this for a while, you start to see the matrix. You can look at a list of 100 keywords and instantly “feel” the intent behind them. This “Spidey-sense” isn’t magic; it’s just pattern recognition.

The patterns are called “keyword modifiers.” These are the extra words people add to a “head term” that tell you exactly what they’re looking for.

The head term might be “headphones.”

• “how to clean headphones” -> Informational
• “Sony headphones” -> Navigational (or Commercial, depending on the SERP)
• “best noise-canceling headphones” -> Commercial Investigation
• “buy Sony WH-1000XM5” -> Transactional

The modifiers—”how to,” “best,” “buy”—tell you everything. Your job is to become a collector of these modifiers.

My “Aha!” Moment with a Failing Client

I learned this lesson the hard way. Years ago, I was working with a local plumbing contractor. His company was his life, and he was struggling to get leads online. His site was brand new.

I, in my infinite (and naive) wisdom, decided to go after a high-volume keyword: “how to fix a leaky faucet.”

We spent weeks creating the ultimate guide. It had custom diagrams, a step-by-step video, a “tools needed” checklist… the works. It was a masterpiece of informational content. And after a lot of effort, it started to rank. Traffic ticked up. We were getting hundreds of visitors.

And his phone? Silent. Crickets.

He was (politely) confused. I was panicking. I had spent his money and my time on a complete failure. Why?

Because the person searching “how to fix a leaky faucet” is a DIYer. They are actively trying to avoid calling a plumber. We were attracting the one audience that would never hire him.

The “aha!” moment came when I looked at a competitor’s site who was crushing it. He wasn’t targeting any “how to” terms. His entire site was built around terms like:

• “emergency plumber [his city]”
• “leaky faucet repair service”
• “water heater installation price”
• “24-hour plumber near me”

The first term, “how to,” had 10,000 searches a month. The other terms had 50-200. I’d take those 200-search keywords every single day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

That’s the difference between a reader and a customer. We immediately pivoted the strategy, built out service pages for these transactional terms, and his phone finally started to ring. It was a painful, expensive, and vital lesson.

What Are the “Buy Now” Transactional Modifiers?

These are your primary “buy now” signals. When you see these, you should think product pages, service pages, or pricing pages. These searchers have their wallets out.

• Buy: The most obvious. “buy [product name]”
• Coupon: “[product name] coupon”
• Discount: “[brand name] discount code”
• Sale: “laptops for sale”
• Deal / Deals: “best [product] deals”
• Price / Pricing: “[service] pricing”
• Cost: “how much does [service] cost”
• Shop: “shop [brand] shoes”
• Order: “order [product] online”
• For Sale: “used cars for sale”
• Cheap / Affordable: (Can be both) “cheap [product]”
• Quote: “landscaping quote”
• Service: “[problem] service” (e.g., “roof cleaning service”)
• Hire: “hire a copywriter”

This list isn’t exhaustive. Your specific industry will have its own. For a SaaS business, “pricing” is a huge one. For a local service, “quote” and “service” are gold.

What About the “Almost Ready to Buy” Commercial Modifiers?

These are my personal favorites. This is where you build trust and become the helpful expert that guides the user to a decision. These searchers are actively comparing. Your job is to create the best comparison.

When you see these, think blog posts, roundup articles, and review pages.

• Best: The king of commercial modifiers. “best [product type]”
• Top: “top 10 [product]”
• Review / Reviews: “[product name] review”
• Vs / Versus: “[product A] vs [product B]”
• Comparison: “[software] comparison”
• Alternative / Alternatives: “[competitor name] alternatives”
• Affordable: “affordable [product type]” (shows price sensitivity)
• Premium / High-end / Luxury: “premium [product type]” (shows the opposite)
• [Problem] Solution: “best [problem] solution”
• [Product] for [Audience]: “best [product] for small businesses”

When you create a piece of content titled “Best [Product Type] of 2025,” you are intercepting a searcher at the perfect moment. You have the power to help them, build authority, and (ethically) recommend your own product or an affiliate product as the best solution.

Are “Near Me” Keywords the Ultimate Local Money Term?

Yes. Absolutely. 100%.

If you run a local business—a plumber, a restaurant, a dentist, a salon—the modifier “near me” (and its geographic-specific cousin, “[service] in [city name]”) is the single most valuable keyword type you can target.

Think about the intent behind “pizza near me.” Is that person looking for a history of pizza? Are they looking for a recipe?

No. They are hungry, and they want to give someone money in exchange for food. Now.

The “near me” search is inherently transactional. It’s a “local transactional” keyword. It combines the urgency of “buy” with the qualification of “local.”

This is why a robust Google Business Profile is non-negotiable for local businesses. When someone searches “plumber near me,” Google isn’t just showing web pages; it’s showing the “Map Pack.” Getting your business in that 3-pack is a direct line to customers.

My plumber client? His “Aha!” moment and mine were simultaneous. His new leads weren’t just coming from his service pages for “emergency plumber [his city].” They were coming from his Google Business Profile, which we optimized for those same terms.

The “near me” searcher is the hottest lead a local business can get.

Where Do I Even Start Looking for These Keywords?

You have the theory. You know the modifiers. Now, where do you actually go to find these keywords? How do you build your list?

You don’t need to spend a dime to get started. The best tools are the ones you use every day. You just have to learn to look at them differently.

Let’s start with the free methods before we get into the expensive, powerful “pro” tools.

Can I Really Find Money Keywords Using Just Google?

You absolutely can. Google itself is a goldmine, and it’s free. It’s constantly trying to predict what you’re looking for. Use that to your advantage.

Here are three ways to use Google for commercial keyword research.

1. Google Autocomplete (The “Alphabet Soup” Method): Go to https://www.google.com/search?q=Google.com in an incognito window. Type in a commercial modifier + your seed keyword.
   • “best [your product]…”
   • “buy [your brand]…”
   • “[your competitor] vs…” Now, press space and type the letter “a.” See what Google suggests. Then “b,” then “c,” and so on. You’ll uncover dozens of long-tail variations that real people are searching for. For example, “best running shoes…”
   • … for flat feet
   • … for beginners
   • … under $100
   • … on Amazon These are all distinct “commercial investigation” keywords you can target.
2. The “People Also Ask” (PAA) Box: Search for one of your commercial keywords, like “best running shoes.” Scroll down, and you’ll see a “People Also Ask” box. These are the next questions people ask.
   • “What is the #1 running shoe brand?”
   • “Is Hoka or Brooks better?”
   • “What shoes do marathon runners wear?” That “Hoka or Brooks” question? That’s a pure “vs” keyword. Gold.
3. “Related Searches” (The Bottom-of-the-Page Goldmine): This is my favorite. At the very bottom of the search results page, Google gives you a list of “Related Searches.” This is Google’s B-list. These are other common queries related to your original one. You’ll find incredible commercial and transactional variations here. I’ve found entire product categories for e-commerce clients just by looking at the related searches for their main competitors.

What About My Competitors? How Do I “Steal” Their Best Terms?

Your competitors have already done most of the hard work. They’ve spent the time and money to figure out what keywords convert. All you have to do is look at what they’re doing.

This is a manual, but highly effective, way to find proven money keywords.

Go to your top competitor’s website. Now, put on your “commercial intent” glasses and analyze their site structure.

• What’s in their main navigation? Don’t just look at the design. Read the words. Are they targeting “Solutions”? “Products”? “Services”? Those are their main “money” pages. The H1 titles on those pages are their target transactional keywords.
• What are they writing about on their blog? Don’t just skim. Look at the titles of their recent posts. I guarantee you they are not just writing “what is” articles. You will see a long list of “Best [product]…” and “[Feature A] vs [Feature B]” and “[Competitor] Alternative” posts.
• What do they call their products? Pay attention to their product and service page URLs and titles. If they’re selling “Men’s Waterproof Hiking Boots,” that’s their target keyword. They’re not just calling it “The Mountain-Smasher 5000.” They are using the exact language their customers search for.

By spending 30 minutes dissecting a competitor’s site, you can build a powerful list of commercial keywords that you know are valuable, because someone else is already betting their business on them.

What Are the Paid Tools That Make This 10x Faster?

The free methods are great. But they are slow.

If you are serious about this, you will eventually want to invest in a professional SEO tool. The most popular ones are Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz.

These tools are like giving yourself superpowers. They have massive databases of keywords, and they let you spy on your competitors at a scale that is impossible to do manually. They let you see every single keyword a website ranks for, how much traffic it gets, and how hard it would be for you to rank for it.

The core of my workflow, and the workflow of pretty much every SEO professional I know, lives inside these tools.

How Do I Use Ahrefs or Semrush to Find Commercial Intent?

While these tools have hundreds of features, the entire process of finding money keywords comes down to two main reports: The Keyword Explorer and the Site Explorer (or “Organic Research”).

Method 1: The Keyword Explorer This is where you “brainstorm with data.”

1. Go to the “Keyword Explorer” tool.
2. Type in a seed keyword, like “running shoes.”
3. Go to the “Matching Terms” or “Keyword Variations” report. This will give you thousands of related keywords.
4. Now, use the “Include” filter. This is the magic button. In the “Include” box, type in your commercial modifiers, separated by commas: “best, vs, review, buy, price, cheap, affordable, top.”

In one click, the tool will sift through 100,000 keywords and show you the 2,000 that have commercial intent. You can then sort this list by search volume or “Keyword Difficulty” (KD) to find your best opportunities.

Method 2: The Competitor “Theft” Method (My Favorite) This is how you “steal” what’s already working.

1. Go to the “Site Explorer” (Ahrefs) or “Organic Research” (Semrush) tool.
2. Type in your competitor’s domain.
3. Go to their “Organic Keywords” report. This shows you every keyword they rank for. It’ll be a huge list.
4. Use the “Include” filter again. Just like before, plug in your list of money modifiers: “best, vs, review, buy, price,” etc.
5. Bonus Step: Filter by “Position” 1-10. This shows you the commercial keywords they are successfully ranking for on page one.

This is your roadmap. It’s a to-do list handed to you by your competition. Your job is to go down that list and create a piece of content that is better than theirs for each of those high-value terms.

Is “Keyword Difficulty” More Important Than Intent?

No. No. A thousand times, no.

This is the biggest trap new SEOs fall into. They’ll be using a tool like Ahrefs, and they’ll sort by Keyword Difficulty (KD), looking for the “0-5 KD” keywords. They find a bunch of low-competition informational terms, write articles, and then wonder why they’re not making money.

Intent trumps difficulty. Every time.

I would rather target a “KD 50” keyword with clear transactional intent than a “KD 5” keyword with vague informational intent.

Why? Because the 10 people I get from the high-intent, high-difficulty term might all convert. The 200 people I get from the low-intent, low-difficulty term will all bounce.

Don’t be afraid of competition when the intent is right. It’s competitive for a reason: because that keyword is valuable. It makes money. Your job isn’t to find the easiest keyword; it’s to find the most profitable one and then create content so good that you deserve to rank for it.

What If My Product is New? How Do I Find Keywords for Something No One is Searching For?

This is an expert-level question. What if you’ve invented a brand-new product category? What if you’re a SaaS tool that does something no one else does? People can’t search for a solution they don’t know exists.

This is a common, and tough, problem. You have two main paths.

1. Target the Problem, Not the Solution: Your audience isn’t “solution-aware,” but they are “problem-aware.” They know what hurts. They are searching for their problem. You have to find the keywords they use to describe their pain point. Instead of “buy [your new product],” you target “how to solve [the problem]” or “best way to [complete the task].” Then, you create informational or “commercial investigation” content that answers their question and introduces your product as the new, better solution.
2. Target Your Competitors’ Keywords: You may be new, but you’re probably displacing an old, worse way of doing things. What were people using before your product? A competitor? A spreadsheet? A manual process? Target those keywords. The most powerful keyword for a new SaaS tool is often “[Competitor Name] alternatives.” The person searching that is actively unhappy with the old solution and is looking for a replacement. That is a red-hot lead.

How Can I Use Amazon or Reddit to Find What People Actually Want to Buy?

The SEO tools are great, but they’re pulling from Google data. To get an unfiltered look into the mind of a buyer, you need to go where people do their buying and complaining.

Using Amazon: Amazon’s search bar is not like Google’s. It’s not trying to find information. It’s 100% designed to find products. The suggestions it gives you are pure commercial gold. Go to Amazon and type in your seed keyword. The autocomplete suggestions are all commercial keywords. Also, look at the “Categories” on the left-hand side. Those are your main keywords. Look at the product titles themselves. They are stuffed with long-tail keywords that real people search for, like “insulated,” “BPA-free,” “with straw,” etc.

Using Reddit: Reddit is my secret weapon for understanding human language. People don’t use “marketing speak” on Reddit. They are raw, honest, and specific. Go to Reddit and search for “best [your product type] reddit” or “thoughts on [your brand] reddit.” You will find threads where real people are agonizing over a purchase.

• “Is the [product] really worth the money?”
• “I’m torn between [Product A] and [Product B]. Help!”
• “What’s the best [product] that isn’t [famous brand]?” The language in these threads is the exact language you should use in your own headlines and copy. You’ll find pain points, feature requests, and the “vs” keywords that matter most to your audience.

I Have a Huge List of Keywords… Now What?

This is the final step. You’ve done your research. You have a spreadsheet with hundreds of high-intent keywords. You can’t just make one page and stuff them all in.

You need a plan. You need to map your keywords to a content strategy.

This is called “keyword mapping,” and it’s simply the process of assigning one primary keyword (and a few secondary ones) to a specific page on your site.

How Do I Match the Right Keyword to the Right Page?

This is where we tie everything together. You match the keyword’s intent to the page type.

• Transactional Keywords:
  • What they are: “buy…” “price…” “coupon…” “service…”
  • Where they go: These map directly to your Product Pages or Service Pages. The H1 title of your product page for a blue widget should be “Buy Blue Widget,” not “Our Awesome Widget.” Be direct.
• Commercial Investigation Keywords:
  • What they are: “best…” “vs…” “review…” “alternative…”
  • Where they go: These map to your Blog Posts or Content Hub. You’ll create:
    • A “Best [product type]” roundup article.
    • A “[Product A] vs [Product B]” comparison post.
    • A “Deep-Dive [Your Product] Review” article.
• Informational Keywords:
  • What they are: “how to…” “what is…” “why…”
  • Where they go: These map to your Blog or Knowledge Base. These are your “top of funnel” posts, designed to attract new audiences and build trust.

This plan is your content calendar. You now know exactly what pages to create and what to call them.

How Can I Check the SERP to Be 100% Sure About Intent?

This is the last, and most important, step. The ultimate “truth-teller.”

The SERP never lies.

Before you ever write a single word, you must Google your target keyword. Forget your assumptions. Forget what you think the intent is. Look at what Google is actually ranking on page one.

Google has billions of dollars and a decade of user data on its side. It knows what people want.

• If you search “best [product]” and the entire first page is 10 “best of” listicles, then you must create a listicle. You cannot rank a product page there.
• If you search “buy [product]” and the entire page is e-commerce product pages, then you must target that keyword with your product page. A blog post will never rank.
• If you search “how to [task]” and the page is full of video carousels and step-by-step guides, that is pure informational intent.

This is your final check. It validates all your research. This practice of “analyzing the SERP” is what separates amateurs from professionals. This isn’t just my opinion; studies from research centers like Northwestern’s Spiegel Research Center have confirmed just how heavily modern buyers rely on reviews and comparisons (like those “best of” articles) before making a purchase, which is why Google prioritizes them.

Don’t fight Google. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. See what’s working and do it better.

Look, finding the right keywords isn’t a “one-and-done” checkbox. It’s a complete shift in how you think about marketing. It’s about stopping the chase for vanity traffic and starting the hunt for actual customers.

The methods we covered—understanding the four intents, collecting modifiers, using free tools, spying on competitors, and, above all, analyzing the SERP—are the exact steps to do that. This is the playbook. This is how you find the “money” terms.

This is how you turn a website from a “cost center” that just sits there, into a lead-generation machine that actively grows your business.

So, go open that spreadsheet. Start typing. Find your money terms.

FAQ