One intent for every line.
Each keyword gets one of the four intents, in the order you pasted them, with duplicates removed.
- Up to 200 keywords at once
- Your brand words count as navigational
What it checks
What does a keyword intent checker do?
A keyword intent checker reads each keyword you paste and labels what the searcher most likely wants: to learn something (informational), to reach a particular site (navigational), to compare options before buying (commercial) or to buy, book or sign up now (transactional).
Search intent decides what kind of page can rank. A guide rarely ranks for a search that wants a price list, and a product page rarely ranks for a “how to” question, however well each is written. Labelling a keyword list by intent before you plan pages keeps each keyword matched with the kind of page that can win it.
This checker applies MrKeyword’s own intent rules, the same ones the app uses in Keyword Research and rank tracking, to the wording of each keyword. It runs in your browser: the keywords are never sent anywhere, so a list of 200 is labelled the moment you press the button.
Clear answers,
with the reason shown.
Counts and a CSV.
See how the list splits across the four intents, then copy the table as CSV into a sheet or your content plan.
- Count per intent
- Copy as CSV
Worked example
Twelve keywords for a plumber, labelled.
The fictional northwind-plumbing.example collected twelve keywords for its blog and service pages and entered its brand word, northwind. Run through the checker, the list comes out like this:
12 keywords classified
4 informational2 navigational3 commercial3 transactional
| Keyword | Intent |
|---|---|
| how to bleed a radiator | Informational |
| why is my boiler losing pressure | Informational |
| what is a combi boiler | Informational |
| best combi boiler | Commercial |
| combi boiler reviews | Commercial |
| worcester bosch vs vaillant | Commercial |
| boiler service cost | Transactional |
| how much does a new boiler cost | Transactional |
| boiler repair near me | Transactional |
| northwind plumbing | Navigational |
| northwind plumbing login | Navigational |
| emergency plumber leeds | Informational |
Example result for a fictional plumbing business (brand word: northwind). It is produced by the checker's own rules from the list above, at build time; paste your own keywords to check them.
Three keywords are questions, so they are informational: each is a blog post. Three are comparisons, so they are commercial: one buying guide could cover all three. “Boiler service cost” is transactional because cost is a buying word, and so is “how much does a new boiler cost”: a buying word beats a question word, because the searcher wants a price, not a lesson. The brand on its own and the brand with login are navigational, because the searcher is looking for Northwind’s own site. The last line shows the limit: “emergency plumber leeds” has no buying word, so the rules call it informational, yet Google answers it with a map of local plumbers. That is the keyword to check by hand. Our guide to grouping keywords shows how to turn labels like these into one page per cluster.
Reading the result
How do you read the keyword intent checker result?
- The counts
- How many of the keywords fall into each of the four intents. A list that is mostly informational points at guides and articles; a list heavy in commercial and transactional keywords points at comparison, service and product pages.
- The table
- Every keyword in the order you pasted it, with its intent. Duplicate lines are removed and extra spaces are tidied, so the count is the number of different keywords.
- Copy as CSV
- Copies the table with a keyword,intent header, ready to paste into a spreadsheet next to your volumes and the page each keyword belongs to.
- Which rule won
- The rules run in a fixed order: navigational words first (login, account, contact, official, and your brand on its own), then buying words (price, cost, buy, book, near me), then comparison words (best, review, vs, alternative). Anything left, including most questions, is informational.
Common errors
Where do intent labels most often go wrong, and what do you do about it?
A local search labelled informational
Short “service + town” searches, such as “emergency plumber leeds”, carry no buying word. Google shows local results for them, so treat them as transactional and give them a service page.
A question labelled transactional
“How much does a boiler cost” is a question with a buying word. The rules call it transactional because the searcher wants a price; a page with clear prices, not a long guide, usually ranks.
Your brand labelled informational
Add your brand word in the brand field. Without it the checker cannot know that “northwind plumbing” is a company and not a topic.
A product category labelled commercial
Words such as software, tool or service count as comparison words, because those searches usually return lists of providers. If Google shows a single site’s pages, the search is closer to navigational.
Mixed intent in one search
Some keywords really mean two things, and Google shows both kinds of page. The checker gives one label; when the results are mixed, the page that ranks best is usually the one that answers both.
When to check
When should you check keyword intent?
Check intent whenever you decide which page a keyword belongs to, because a page built for the wrong intent rarely ranks however good it is.
- Before writing a new page
- Label the keywords you plan to target. If they split across intents, they belong on more than one page.
- When grouping a keyword list
- Split every group whose keywords carry different intents, so a guide and a price page are not forced into one.
- When a page ranks on page two and stalls
- Compare the page type with the intent of its main keyword. A guide aimed at a transactional keyword often stalls behind service and product pages.
- When planning paid and organic together
- Transactional and commercial keywords are where ads and sales pages earn their keep; informational ones usually suit articles.
- When a client asks what a keyword list is for
- A count per intent shows at a glance whether the list will bring readers, comparers or buyers.
Go further
Guides for this check.
More free checkers
Other quick checks.
Questions
About the keyword intent checker.
What are the four types of search intent?
Informational (the searcher wants to learn, such as “how to bleed a radiator”), navigational (they want a particular site or page, such as a brand name or “brand login”), commercial (they are comparing before buying, such as “best combi boiler”) and transactional (they are ready to act, such as “boiler service cost” or “plumber near me”).
How does the checker decide the intent?
From the words in the keyword. Login and account words, or your own brand on its own, make it navigational; buying words such as price, cost, buy or near me make it transactional; comparison words such as best, review or vs make it commercial; everything else, including questions, is informational.
Is the intent always right?
No. The label comes from the wording only, and Google’s results can disagree: a short phrase like “emergency plumber leeds” has no buying word, so it is labelled informational, while Google shows local businesses for it. For keywords that matter, search them and look at what ranks.
Are my keywords sent to MrKeyword?
No. The rules run in your browser, so the keywords never leave the page and no account is needed. You can check this in your browser’s network tab: pressing the button makes no request.
What are brand words for?
Type your brand, or a competitor’s, and a short search for that brand on its own, such as “northwind plumbing”, is labelled navigational: the searcher is looking for that site. Longer searches that include the brand keep the intent of their other words.
Can I check more than 200 keywords?
Only the first 200 lines are labelled at a time. Split a longer list into batches, or use Keyword Research in a free MrKeyword account, which labels the intent of every keyword idea it finds.