Would you rather have one thousand visitors come to your website and spend a total of $500, or 500 visitors come to your website and spend $2,000?

The answer should be obvious for any business. At the end of the day, it’s all about generating revenue, and while increased traffic is certainly an important factor in that process, it is also critical to focus on what kind of traffic you’re bringing in.

Today’s focus is identifying, and capitalizing on, keywords more likely to bring in customers who are ready to spend money and/or make a purchase — keywords with commercial intent.

People use search engines A LOT — Google reports 3.5 billion queries per day — and they do so for a wide variety of reasons. Often, folks are simply searching for information about a particular topic. But in many cases they are researching a purchase decision, or even preparing to make a purchase with credit card in hand. These are the searchers that businesses want to heavily target through their search engine marketing initiatives. And accomplishing this task is all about choosing the right keywords.

As the name suggests, keywords with commercial intent are those that indicate an intention to engage in a commercial transaction. These are the most valuable types of keywords for a business because they correlate very strongly with purchase behavior. They tend to be a more expensive, from a cost-per-click standpoint, because engines and competitors all know how powerful they can be, but that shouldn’t stop you from finding creative ways to deploy them and generate sales.

10 Examples of Commercial Intent Keywords

1. Buy [keyword]
2. Cheap [keyword]
3. Inexpensive [keyword]
4. Best [keyword]
5. Top [keyword]
6. [Keyword] review
7. [Keyword] comparison
8. Affordable [keyword]
9. [Keyword] for small business
10. [Keyword] discount

Commercial Intent Keyword Tips

• One good way to identify high-value commercial intent keywords is to use Google’s Keyword Planner in AdWords, type in a keyword and click “Get Ideas” then search for suggestions with the highest Suggested Bid. When advertisers are willing to pay more for a query term on average, chances are good that it lines up with revenue.

• Be very careful when trying to work commercial intent keywords into your website copy or a blog post. Although this can be a savvy method for drawing in web visitors with intent to buy, going overboard can cheapen the quality of your content, making it appear far too salesy and promotional. Be subtle with your usage.

• Don’t be scared off by search terms like “cheap” and “inexpensive.” You might think that these searches will bring in only bargain-hunters who are searching for rock-bottom prices, but the fact of the matter is that they are likely interested in a particular product category and ready to buy. We would recommend staying away from terms like “free.”

Want to bulk up your keywords and draw in more customers who are ready to buy? Send us a message and tell us a little about your business, so we can help show you the way.