This guide will teach you search intent keywords, where to find them, and how to use them. A buyer intent keyword is a term used for a keyword phrase used on the search engine for a potential customer.
The goal behind focusing on these keywords is that by targeting these terms, your site could get high rankings in the organic search results when people are looking for products/services related to your product search with their queries.
Focus on buyer intent instead of broad or generic phrases. By focusing on specific terms instead of general ones, you’ll have better luck getting organic rankings and delighting customers with higher conversion rates from traffic sent from those keywords.
The more specific the keyword, the less competition you’ll have on the search engines when you target them.
The top of the funnel, as you sometimes hear called TOFU, is where you find the most traffic, but they are generally looking for answers and don’t want to complete a purchase.
You might get some sales from this group, but they won’t be as high quality as leads in most cases. Middle-of-the-funnel keywords tend to have more commercial intent and potential customers who are still exploring their options and deciding if your product or service is right for them.
If you’re not ranking for terms they will use to search, you aren’t going to get these people on your site. The bottom of the funnel (BOFU) has the highest commercial intent phrases with the best chances of converting more visitors into sales.
These queries include specific features, prices, models, or even brands. Again, the goal is to get these people on your site and turn them into customers.
Keyword Research for Buyer Intent Keywords
You must use the right keywords when trying to build your business.
Using buyer intent keywords, you’ll focus on specific phrases and terms to help companies uncover their true potential in search engine rankings and customer conversions.
Since there’s such high competition in online search results, it can be hard for a website to get targeted traffic from Google and other major websites/applications without the proper keyword research beforehand.
Instead of brainstorming random ideas and guesses at what people would search regarding your products or services, you must conduct thorough keyword research before diving into any SEO efforts.
By conducting proper keyword research with buyer intent keywords, you’ll have a better idea of what phrases and terms people search for when they’re looking to buy what you have to offer.
Using these will ultimately help your website rank higher in search results related to your products or services.
When it comes time to build up a site, focus on buyer intent keywords because “if you can use them in blog posts, online ads, and social sharing,” then people will be more likely to trust that you know how to meet their needs.
They’ll see that you’ve done ample research into their pain points and problems so that they can feel better about purchasing from your company.
Buyer Intent KW vs. Informational Keywords
Buyer (or selling) intent keywords have a high intention to buy or sell a product or service, similar to commercial intent keywords. They are both terms usually described as keywords attracting ready-to-buy visitors at the bottom of the funnel.
Informational keywords are queries used to find answers to a question, a how-to guide, or other information not related to making a purchase today.
Buyer intent keywords are what you should try to focus on to capture targeted traffic from those who want to buy what it is your company has to offer. In contrast, informational intent keywords have a low intention to purchase since people searching with these terms usually aren’t ready yet for purchase.
For example, if you were to sell sheets for home beds, you might want to focus on keywords like “purchase bedsheets” or “buy bedsheets online.” These are phrases that indicate the user is ready to purchase.
On the other hand, someone searching for “how long do cotton sheets last” (an example of informational content) probably isn’t looking to buy just yet.
They’re still researching and looking for information before they’re ready to put their money down.
It pays off to do the proper research and find buyer intent keywords so that you can get more traffic to your website.
Then, when people are looking for information related to products or services, they’ll be looking for information that will help them make a better buying decision.
Both types of visitors are necessary to attract. Google prefers a blend of informational and buyer intent content when ranking website pages.
What Can You Do with Buyer Intent Keywords?
There are several things websites can do when using buyer intent keywords to get more traffic and conversions online.
For example, Google’s AdWords tool will show the number of people searching for terms related to products or services each month.
With this information, you can then use keyword tools like SEMrush and JAAXY to find out which words and phrases have been searched most over time.
You can then use these to place ads with Google AdWords that appear alongside search engine results pages (SERPs).
Using this strategy at scale is a great way to attract more traffic to your website for free. However, if you want some help getting started, consider hiring an expert PPC campaign manager to assist with things like keyword research and helping you find the best keywords related to your products or services.
My brothers Jeff and Paul Helvin at Ballen Brands can help with that.
How to Find Buyer Intent Keywords
The best way to find these buyer intent keywords is by finding the common words that your target audience uses when talking about their industry or business. You can do this by looking through forums, Q & A sites like Quora, LinkedIn conversations, Twitter feeds, blogs in your niche, etc.
There’s no one specific place you need to look; what’ll be most effective for your market will vary depending on factors like how popular it is, how small of a population it has, the types of products vs. services they offer, etc.
Once you’ve done all of the research to find the terms that are used by potential buyers (and not just people who are doing information gathering), you can then use keyword tools like SEMrush and Spyfu to find out how many people are searching each month for different terms related to your business.
Then, it’ll be up to you and your marketing team to decide which terms (or a combination of them) will work best for your business at the current time.
Note: As competition heats up by other companies trying to get in front of those same prospective buyers, you might need to change what keywords you’re targeting if they stop producing results.
Targeting Buyer Intent Keywords
You might think, “Why should I target buyer intent keywords when informational keywords are getting more traffic?”
The answer to that is simple.
Targeting the right buyer intent keywords can help you get more conversions (not just clicks) since people looking with these search terms are closer to purchasing than someone searching for an informational term.
People searching with informational keywords usually aren’t ready yet for any purchase.
Also, if your website isn’t optimized with information your prospective buyers find valuable in the buying process, they’ll probably leave and look for another site that does.
These consumers might have purchased something from you if given great content or product examples during their research phase before actually buying.
With people searching for buyer intent keywords, they already know what they want to buy.
They are looking for websites that can help them make the right buying decision based on their needs, preferences, or other criteria they might have set beforehand.
If your site is optimized with these terms, you’ll likely get more traffic (and conversions) than you would by ranking highly for informational keywords.
You should also ensure your website contains information about the specific terms you’re targeting since this will further show Google that it’s relevant to someone ready to purchase.
Examples of Buyer Intent Keywords
1. “Clothing boutique in San Diego vs. “How to dress for a job interview.”
2. “High-end baby stroller” vs. “How to Take a Baby Stroller on a Trip.”
3. “Financial advisor in Las Vegas” vs. “What is financial planning?”
4. “Vintage clothing” vs. “How to dress for a vintage party.”
5. “Trip to Europe in October” vs. “Best places to visit in Europe.”
6. “Yoga studios near Carmel” vs. “Types of yoga classes offered at Carmel yoga studios.”
7. “Luxury car dealership in Los Angeles” vs. “Top used luxury cars to buy this year.”
8. “Solar panel installation company near me” vs. “Which type of solar panels are the best for your home?”
Summary
No matter what terms you decide to target, it will be up to you to create the content that people are looking for when they type these buyer intent keywords into Google.
The best way to do this is by creating your buyer personas so you know who you’re targeting before starting any content marketing work.
That way, you can have relevant information ready ahead of time and send it straight to pages on your site where they’ll convert faster than someone just searching for general informational terms without any clear goal.
