Reference
What is Commercial intent?
Commercial intent describes a query where the searcher is close to spending — "hire", "cost", "pricing", "best", "near me", "vs". These terms have lower volume than informational ones and convert at a far higher rate.
Also called: buyer intent · transactional keywords
The markers
- Price words: cost, pricing, how much, cheap, affordable
- Purchase words: buy, hire, book, order, quote
- Comparison words: best, top, vs, alternative to, review
- Local words: near me, plus a place name
- Urgency words: same day, emergency, today
Why they are worth targeting first
A page ranking for "how much does an EICR cost" reaches someone about to book one. A page ranking for "what is an EICR" reaches someone who may never buy. The second has more volume and the first pays the bills.
The mistake
Publishing informational content exclusively because the volume looks better, then concluding that SEO does not generate leads. It generated readers, which is what informational content is for.
Where this is covered in depth
A definition can only go so far. The 35 types of SEO, explained without the padding covers this properly — 6 minutes, free, no email required.
Who wrote this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan. These definitions come from client work rather than from a content brief — where an entry describes a mistake, it is usually one found on a real site. More about how I work.