Paid media
Sort a keyword list into transactional vs. research intent, and where to spend.
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How do you classify keywords by search intent?
Sort each keyword into three tiers by the words it contains. Transactional terms (buy, price, demo, near me) signal readiness to act. Commercial terms (best, vs, review, agency, software) signal comparison. Anything else is informational research. Fund transactional first, test commercial, and send informational queries to content rather than paid search.
| buy crm software | Transactional |
| best project management tool | Commercial |
| hubspot vs salesforce | Commercial |
| what is a fractional cmo | Informational |
| marketing agency near me | Transactional |
| how to reduce cac | Informational |
| enterprise seo pricing | Transactional |
A healthy, bottom-of-funnel-weighted list. Keep transactional terms on exact/phrase match and cap spend on informational modifiers.
A first-pass heuristic, validate borderline terms against real search-term reports and conversion data before cutting them.
About this calculator
Not every keyword in a paid search account deserves the same budget, "buy crm software" and "what is a fractional cmo" are worlds apart in how close they sit to a purchase decision. This tool grades a pasted keyword list into transactional, commercial or informational intent tiers, so you can see at a glance how much budget is funding research queries instead of ready-to-convert searches.
How to use it
- Paste your keyword list into the textarea, one keyword or phrase per line.
- Each keyword is automatically graded as you type, no separate submit step.
- Review the tier counts and the wasted-intent share, the percentage of your list that fell into the informational tier.
- Scan the per-keyword table to see exactly which terms landed in which tier.
Methodology
Each keyword is checked against two word lists: transactional signals (buy, price, demo, trial, coupon, near me, and similar) and commercial signals (best, vs, compare, review, alternative, tool, agency, and similar).
A keyword matching any transactional term is graded transactional; failing that, a match against any commercial term grades it commercial; anything matching neither defaults to informational.
Wasted-intent share is the informational count ÷ total keywords, flagged above 30% as worth reviewing, since informational queries are typically expensive to convert directly on paid search and better served by organic content.
This is a keyword-text heuristic based on word matching, not a machine-learned intent classifier. It will correctly catch obvious signals ("buy," "pricing," "vs") but can misjudge ambiguous or highly specific industry phrasing, always validate borderline terms against your actual search-term report and conversion data.
How the grader assigns a tier
If the keyword contains a transactional word → Transactional Else if it contains a commercial word → Commercial Else → Informational Wasted-intent share = Informational keywords ÷ All keywords
- Transactional words
- buy, price, pricing, cost, quote, demo, trial, coupon, discount, hire, order, sign up, subscribe, near me, for sale.
- Commercial words
- best, top, vs, versus, compare, comparison, review, alternative, software, tool, agency, service, company, solution.
- Wasted-intent share
- Share of the list made of research queries; the tool flags above 30%.
This is word matching, not a trained classifier. Transactional words win over commercial ones, so "HubSpot pricing vs Salesforce" grades transactional. Words inside other words also match: "cost" matches "costume". Check borderline terms against your search terms report and conversion data, which show real intent better than wording.
Worked example: the seven default keywords
A marketer pastes seven keywords from a planned B2B campaign: buy crm software, best project management tool, hubspot vs salesforce, what is a fractional cmo, marketing agency near me, how to reduce cac, enterprise seo pricing.
- Transactional: "buy crm software" (buy), "marketing agency near me" (near me), "enterprise seo pricing" (pricing). Three keywords.
- Commercial: "best project management tool" (best), "hubspot vs salesforce" (vs). Two keywords.
- Informational: "what is a fractional cmo", "how to reduce cac". Two keywords.
- Wasted-intent share = 2 ÷ 7 = 29%, just under the 30% flag.
Put most budget on the three transactional terms, run the two comparison terms with landing pages built for comparison, and move the two "what is" and "how to" terms to articles. The organic traffic value monetizer shows what those informational terms are worth when you win them organically.
What is a good intent mix for a search campaign?
For a campaign judged on leads or sales, most spend should sit on transactional and commercial terms. A practical guide:
- Transactional: the core. Highest bids, tightest match types, landing pages with a clear offer.
- Commercial: worth testing with pages that answer the comparison honestly, because these buyers are choosing now.
- Informational: under 30% of the list, and only where you have a useful next step, such as a calculator or template.
The 30% flag is the tool's working threshold, not a benchmark. Your conversion data by tier is the real test.
Search intent in India vs the US
Indian searches often mix English with Hindi or other languages ("crm software price kya hai") and use words such as "rate", "charges" or "fees" for price. Add those to your own review, because the grader's word list is English. "Near me" and city names carry strong local intent. For price-led searches in India, see HubSpot price in India as an example of a page built for transactional intent.
US B2B searches use comparison terms heavily ("vs", "alternatives", "reviews"), and these often convert well because buyers search them late in a decision. Build dedicated comparison pages rather than sending these clicks to the home page; the landing page vs ad match auditor checks the fit.
Common search intent mistakes
- Trusting the word list over conversion data for your own keywords.
- Bidding on "what is" and "how to" terms with a demo-request landing page.
- Sending comparison searches to the home page instead of a comparison page.
- Grading keywords once and never reviewing the search terms they actually trigger.
- Excluding all informational terms when some lead to valuable tools or templates.
FAQ
Commercial-intent queries (comparisons, reviews, "best X") show someone is evaluating options but hasn't committed to buying yet, they convert at a real but lower rate than transactional queries and are worth nurturing rather than pushing hard toward an immediate purchase CTA.
Move them off paid search budget entirely and target them with SEO content instead, they rarely convert efficiently on paid because the searcher isn't yet close to a purchase decision. Where you do keep them, cap spend tightly and monitor conversion rate closely.
It matches against fixed word lists rather than understanding full context, so a keyword using unusual phrasing or industry jargon that doesn't contain any of the flagged terms will default to informational even if it's actually high-intent. Treat this as a fast first pass, not a final verdict.
A common approach is exact or phrase match on transactional terms to control spend tightly, and broader match with careful monitoring on commercial terms where you're still learning which specific phrasings convert.
The common split is informational (learning), commercial (comparing options), transactional (ready to act) and navigational (looking for a specific site). This grader groups navigational searches with informational unless they contain a commercial or transactional word.
Grade them separately. Searches for your own brand are navigational but usually convert well, so they deserve their own campaign regardless of tier.
The calculator uses a fixed list, but you can apply the same method in a spreadsheet with your own words, such as local-language price terms.
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