Buyer Intent Keywords [How to Identify & Optimise For Them]

In this guide, learn how to identify buyer intent keywords and optimise your content for visitors who are ready to buy a product or service.

In the SEO world, not all types of keywords are created equally.

Buyer intent keywords are the queries used by searchers who are actively looking to make a purchase. As marketers and business owners, optimising our content to capture this type of traffic can be extremely lucrative.

Whether you’re an affiliate marketer looking to increase your conversions, an e-commerce business owner interested in boosting sales, or a newcomer to the field eager to learn, this guide is for you.

We’ll explore what buyer intent keywords are, why they’re important, and how you can effectively optimise your content to attract valuable visitors searching these terms.

What Are Buyer Intent Keywords?

Buyer intent keywords are search queries used by someone who is ready to buy. They signal that the user is ready to purchase a product or service in the near future, instead of merely browsing or searching for general information.

Such queries may include words like “best,” “review,” “buy,” “discount,” or” “vs” that indicate they’re looking for deals, making comparisons, or wanting to make a purchase.

You may already be familiar with the four principle types of user intent:

• Informational: Searchers are seeking knowledge
• Navigational: Searchers want to find a specific page or location 
• Commercial: Searchers want to research products or services 
• Transactional: Searchers are looking make a purchase

Searchers with commercial or transactional intent use buyer intent keywords. Often all they need is one final piece of information before finalising their decision. But users with navigational intent may also use buyer intent keywords.

Some examples will help better illustrate:

• Search: “Benefits of multivitamins” – This user is looking to learn (informational intent)
• Search: “Best multivitamin” – This user wants to see comparisons and is likely to buy soon (buyer intent)
• Search: “Vitamin store near me” – This user is looking to go to a physical location to make a purchase right away (buyer intent)

• Search: “Centrum silver multivitamin for men 50+ review” – This user is interested in a specific product and gathering final information before purchasing (buyer intent)
• Search: “Buy Centrum silver multivitamin for men 50+ online” – This user is interested in a specific product and ready to buy right away (buyer intent)

By targeting buyer intent keywords, you’re more likely to attract customers who are ready to buy your products or services.

Types of Buyer Intent Keywords

Now that we know what a buyer intent keyword is, it can be valuable to understand the various types. Looking at some examples in the previous section, you can see how each sample buyer intent keyword is unique.

Let’s go over two different ways we could categorise buyer intent keywords that help illustrate the differences between them.

Low vs. High Buyer Intent

We can group buyer intent keywords based on how ready the user is to buy.

Low Buyer Intent Keywords (Commercial Intent)

These keywords are used by people in the middle of their buying journey. They’re likely to make a purchase in the near future but are still in the research and comparison phase.

These keywords often include words like “review,” “best,” or “top.”

For instance, low buyer intent keywords might include “best survey software for businesses” or “survey builder reviews”. They’re looking for more information but may not necessarily be ready to buy right at this moment.

High Buyer Intent Keywords (Transactional Intent)

These keywords, on the other hand, are used by people ready to buy right away. They’ve done their research and are looking for a specific product or service to purchase.

These keywords are often more specific than low buyer intent keywords. They may include the word “buy,” “price” or another purchase indicator plus a specific brand or product name.

As an example, high buyer intent keywords would include “Typeform reviews” or “Qualtrics pricing.”

Stages of Buyer Awareness

Buyer intent can also be categorised based on how aware or informed a user is of their options.

The following are three stages of buyer awareness:

1. Problem-Aware: User knows they have a problem but are not aware of solutions (informational intent)
2. Solution-Aware: User knows there is a solution to their problem but not aware of any specific product that can solve it (buyer intent)
3. Product-Aware: User is familiar with specific products or solutions and is close to making a buying decision (buyer intent)

By viewing buyer intent from this perspective, we can see how intent can change as a user becomes more aware of their potential options.

Let’s take a look at the types of keywords a user in each stage might use.

Problem-Aware Keywords (Informational Intent)

Problem-aware buyer intent keywords are used by potential buyers who recognize they have a problem but are unsure about the specific solution.

These keywords may include the words “how to,” “ways to,” and “tips.” They may also include questions or terms related to common issues, symptoms or pain points.

For example:

• Search: “Ways to reduce back pain” – This user knows they have a problem (back pain) and are exploring solutions
• Search: “Tips for low energy” – This user is indicating they have a problem (low energy) and want to know what solutions there are

Solution-Aware Keywords (Buyer Intent)

Solution-aware buyer intent keywords are used by potential buyers who understand they have a problem and are aware of potential solutions.

They’ve already gone through the information-gathering stage and are now doing further research about the potential solutions. They’re closer to buying, though may still want more information or proof before making a final decision.

These keywords typically include words like “best,” or “top”. But users may also be doing active comparisons, using terms like “vs,” “alternatives,” or “differences.” 

For example:

• Search: “Top survey software for businesses”
• Search: “Best ginseng supplement” 

These users have found a potential solution but are not yet aware of specific products, so they’re conducting research.

Product-Aware Buyer Intent Keywords (Buyer Intent)

Product-aware buyer intent keywords are used by potential buyers who are now familiar with specific products or services.

These users are likely to purchase in the near future, and may just be looking for pricing, discounts, deals and coupons or looking for one final piece of information before making a buying decision.

They may search keywords that include the words “review,” “rating,” “price,” or “discount,” “coupon” combined with brand names or specific product models.

For example:

• Search: “TypeForm pricing”
• Search: “Centrum Silver multivitamin review” 

These users are now aware of a potential solution and may be ready to make a final decision.

Why Buyer Intent Keywords Are Important

Buyer intent keywords can be incredibly valuable for businesses.

Here are some of the reasons why they’re important:

They Inform Content Strategy

By understanding buyer intent keywords, you’ll be better able to strategize about what types of content to create.

The right mix for you will come down to your unique business and strategy.

For example, if you were an affiliate marketer who wanted to target the users most ready to buy, you might write buyer’s guides or reviews mentioning specific brands or products:

• “Siteground hosting review”
• “Siteground vs Bluehost”

Another business owner might choose to target users with lower buyer intent. Strategically, this might make sense if the keywords are less competitive or you’re looking to target users earlier in their journey.

For instance, if you’re a VPN review website already ranking for all of the branded review keywords, you might zoom out and write an article on the “best hosting options for WordPress” to capture more solution-aware searchers.

Increased Efficiency

Targeting buyer keywords can help you be more efficient with your time and money.

Instead of casting a wide net and trying to reach anyone and everyone, you can create a content strategy targeted specifically toward users who are closer to making a purchase decision.

For example, say these two pieces of content required the same amount of resources to make:

• How to Collect Customer Feedback For Your Business (informational intent)
• TypeForm Review for Business Owners (buyer intent)

The second is much more likely to result in sales.

If you’re a sales-focused business running paid ads or creating organic content, part of your strategy will likely be to target these “low-hanging fruit” keywords (i.e., the customers who are ripe and ready to buy).

Boosted Conversions

If you’re selling any type of product or service online, aligning your content with buyer intent can help increase conversions.

The further along the user is in the purchasing process, the more likely they are to make a purchase (or convert).

Imagine you had perfectly-optimised pages for the following keywords:

1. “buy iPhone 16 phone case (high buyer intent)
2. “best iPhone 16 cases” (low buyer intent)
3. “what to look for in an iPhone case”  (informational intent)

Targeting the keyword with high buyer intent would give you more conversions for the same amount of traffic.

These high buyer intent keywords may be more expensive to bid on or more competitive to rank for, but have the potential to bring a high return on investment.

How to Identify Buyer Intent Keywords 

You can identify buyer intent keywords in a number of ways. Let’s cover how you can determine buyer intent both manually and using tools.

Manual Methods

You can manually identify potential buyer intent keywords by brainstorming a list of words and brands related to your industry, then adding the common modifiers.

You can look above at our examples for inspiration.

These might be included in your list If you’re selling bicycles, for example:

• “best bicycles for teens”
• “Huffy Spectre review”
• “Schwinn vs Trek”

If you aren’t sure if the keyword has buyer intent, you can type it into a search engine and examine the results.

Look for clues that hint they are buyer intent keywords:

1. There are ads showing for the keywords: This shows there is at least some transactional interest in the keyword.
2.  The majority of results are product pages or listings: This shows that users are looking to make a purchase when searching that keyword.

The ‘People Also Ask’ section in Google can often reveal potential buyer intent keywords you might not have thought of:

Keyword Insights

Manually brainstorming and identifying buyer intent keywords can be time-intensive, and there are times when intent is not so obvious.

You can speed up the process by using a tool like Keyword Insights .

By flicking on “Get search intent” when creating a new project, the tool groups together related keywords and allows you to toggle by intent.

Not only does this help you understand the intent of your list of keywords, but it also informs you which keywords you should target on the same page.

You can select “Transactional” or “Commercial” to view only potential buyer intent keywords:

How to Optimise Content for Buyer Intent

Now that you understand buyer intent and how to identify relevant keywords, let’s touch on how you can optimise your content to align with these queries.

You’ll craft your content slightly differently depending on the user intent. 

For instance, a piece of content targeting a keyword with informational intent would have a different tone, format and style than a page targeting a buyer intent keyword.

You’d want an informational article to be in-depth, educational and have a friendly tone. You’d give examples and break things down using clear language.

But for a product page, you’d use more persuasive language. You’d want your page to be simple and free from distractions. Your focus would be on guiding the visitor toward conversion.

It can also be helpful to look at things from the perspective of customer awareness.

Understanding where the user is at in their journey can help you make decisions about how to format or optimise your content.

For instance:

• Problem-Aware Keywords: Create comprehensive guides that address common questions, add tables that differentiate potential solutions side-by-side, and share actionable tips and strategies that help users with their challenges.
• Solution-Aware Keywords: Create detailed product comparisons that highlight features and benefits that apply to the searcher’s problems, adding clear visuals, insightful information and a unique perspective.
• Product-Aware Keywords: Ensure product pages are visually appealing, informative, and have minimal friction. Review articles should include testimonials or customer feedback and make it easy for the user to click through and make a purchase.

By aligning your content with each stage of customer awareness, you guide users toward making informed purchase decisions and help increase your conversion rates.

Final Words

Understanding buyer intent keywords is crucial to aligning your content with visitors who are ready to buy.

As we’ve learned:

• Buyer intent keywords signal that a user is close to making a purchase decision.
• There are different types of buyer intent keywords, ranging from low to high intent and varying by stages of buyer awareness.
• Targeting buyer intent keywords can inform your content strategy, increase efficiency, and boost conversions.

A well-rounded SEO strategy involves targeting users at different stages in the buying journey. Remember not to focus solely on buyer intent keywords. By creating a range of content that speaks to users in different stages of awareness, you can help guide them to making a decision.

By implementing the strategies in this guide, not only can you attract more qualified traffic to your website, but you can also grow conversion rates, boost sales, and increase your business’ overall revenue.