4 Types of Keywords in SEO, With Examples and Click Data

The short answer: there are 4 types of keywords in SEO, grouped by search intent: informational (the searcher wants to learn: “how to fix a leaky faucet”), navigational (they want a specific site or brand: “Home Depot faucets”), commercial (they’re comparing options: “best kitchen faucets 2026”) and transactional (they’re ready to act: “buy Moen faucet” or “plumber near me”). Beyond intent, keywords are also grouped by length (short-tail and long-tail), by brand (branded and non-branded) and by location (local keywords).

Understanding the different types of keywords in SEO is key to creating content that matches user intent. From searches focused on research to those ready to convert, each keyword type plays a specific role, needs a different kind of page, and gets clicked at a very different rate. We measured that last part across the websites we manage, and the gap is bigger than most people expect.

The 4 types of keywords (by search intent)

Informational keywords

Informational keywords are used when people want to learn something, solve a problem, or explore a topic. These searches come from users who are gathering knowledge rather than looking to buy. Content that ranks for these terms often includes how-to articles, guides, and educational blogs.

Searches like “how to improve posture”, “benefits of chiropractic care” or “what causes back pain” fall into this category. These keywords attract users at the awareness stage, which gives your brand an opportunity to educate and build credibility early in the process. Google often answers them with featured snippets, “People also ask” boxes and AI Overviews, so a clear, direct answer near the top of the page matters.

Navigational keywords

Navigational keywords help users find a specific website, page, or brand they already have in mind. These searches reflect intent to locate rather than discover. Brands often appear in these queries, and optimizing for them can increase direct visits to your site.

Examples include “WebMD back pain article”, “SmartSites SEO services” or “YouTube login”. Users searching for these terms already trust a source and are trying to reach it more quickly. Your own navigational keywords are usually the easiest you’ll rank for, and as the data below shows, by far the most clicked.

Commercial keywords

Commercial keywords are used when someone is researching options and comparing products or services. These users are not yet making a purchase, but they are close. They want to weigh features, read reviews, or explore benefits before making a final decision.

Search phrases like “best ergonomic office chairs”, “top rated chiropractors” or “standing desk reviews” suggest that users are evaluating before deciding. These keywords work well for comparison content, listicles, buying guides, and expert reviews that position your offering as a top choice. Targeting them lets you engage high-intent users during a critical phase of the decision, in both organic SEO and paid campaigns.

Transactional keywords

Transactional keywords are used when someone is ready to take action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service. These searches show high intent, making them valuable for landing pages and paid ads. A good strategy includes using these keywords on product or service pages.

For instance, phrases like “buy running shoes online”, “subscribe to streaming service” or “get insurance quote” are transactional in nature. They often include verbs like “buy”, “get”, “book” or “hire”, or words like “price”, “cost” and “near me”. These keywords help capture users who are ready to engage or convert, and they’re the ones businesses most often bid on in paid search too. See what those clicks cost by industry.

How many types of keywords are there in SEO?

You’ll see lists of 4, 7, 9, even 27 types of keywords. They aren’t contradicting each other. The long lists mix different ways of sorting the same keyword: by intent, by length, by brand, by location, by funnel stage. A single search like “affordable dentist near me” is transactional, long-tail, non-branded and local all at once.

The model we use is 4 + 4: the 4 intent types above tell you what page to build, and 4 more labels tell you how to prioritise and measure:

• Short-tail vs long-tail: how specific the search is.
• Branded vs non-branded: whether it names your brand.
• Local: whether it names a place or says “near me”.
• Match type (paid search only): broad, phrase or exact. That’s a Google Ads setting, not a type of keyword, and it often gets confused with keyword types. Our guide to broad match explains the difference.

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Which keyword types get clicked? Data from the websites we manage

We sorted 90 days of Google Search Console queries from the websites we manage into the four intent types, using simple word rules, then worked out each site’s click-through rate for each type. The median site’s click-through rate was 16.6% for navigational (brand) searches. For transactional searches it was 0.29%, and for commercial and informational searches 0.16%.

That’s a gap of about 100 times between branded and non-branded searches. Part of it is ranking: a site usually ranks at or near the top for its own name, while its impressions for “best” and “how to” searches include many at position 20 or 50. But it also shows how different the jobs are. Navigational searchers have already chosen you. Everyone else is still choosing.

The same pattern shows up in totals. Across all the sites, brand searches were only 7% of the impressions we could classify, but 81% of the clicks. Informational searches were 58% of impressions and 8% of clicks.

Two limits to keep in mind. The rules are simple (a “how” or “what” question is informational, “best” or “vs” is commercial, “price”, “buy” or “near me” is transactional, the site’s own name is navigational), and about three-quarters of impressions don’t match any rule. Most of those are bare service-plus-city searches like “roofer boston”, which can be commercial or transactional depending on the searcher. And a low click-through rate isn’t a bad keyword: informational content builds the audience that later searches for your brand.

Branded vs non-branded keywords

Branded keywords include your business name or product names (“SmartSites reviews”, “Nike Pegasus”). Non-branded keywords don’t (“running shoes”, “digital marketing agency”). The data above is why you should always report them separately: brand clicks are so easy that they hide how the rest of your SEO is doing. A site can grow its total clicks every month on brand searches alone while its non-brand traffic is flat.

In Search Console, add a query filter that excludes your brand name (and its misspellings) to see non-brand performance on its own. That’s the number to judge your SEO by. For the paid side of brand search, see our post on the benefits of branded keywords.

Local keywords

Local keywords name a place (“dentist in Paramus”, “Chicago roofing company”) or imply one (“plumber near me”, “open now”). Google treats them differently: many show a map pack of Google Business Profiles above the regular results. Ranking for them depends on your Business Profile, reviews and location pages as much as on your website. Our local SEO team works on exactly that, and our guide to local SEO for dentists walks through it for one industry.

Short-tail vs long-tail keywords, with examples

Short-tail keywords are one or two broad words with lots of searches and lots of competition. Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific. Each one has fewer searches, but together they add up to a lot of demand, and the searcher knows more precisely what they want.

For a small or new site, long-tail keywords are usually where rankings start. They’re easier to rank for, and a page that answers one specific question well can pick up dozens of related long-tail searches. More in our guide to finding long-tail keywords.

SEO keyword examples by industry

Here’s what the four intent types look like for four kinds of business. These are illustrations, not data.

How to find the intent of a keyword

The quickest test is to search it and look at what Google shows. Google has already decided what intent it thinks the search carries:

1. Look at the page types that rank. Guides and articles mean informational. Comparison lists and reviews mean commercial. Product, service and booking pages mean transactional.
2. Look at the SERP features. A featured snippet or “People also ask” box points to informational intent. Shopping ads and a map pack point to transactional or local intent.
3. Look at the modifiers. How, what and why; best, top and vs; buy, price and near me. They’re the same words our classifier used.

Then give each intent one page. If two of your pages chase the same intent, they compete with each other, which is keyword cannibalization. A keyword map that assigns one primary keyword to each URL prevents it. More on this approach in optimizing for intent instead of keywords.

Which type of keyword should you target first?

It depends on where your site is today. This is the order we usually work in:

1. Make sure you win your own brand. Check that your homepage, reviews and contact details come up for your name. It’s usually the cheapest traffic you’ll get.
2. Cover your transactional keywords. One service or product page for each thing you sell, with the local version if you serve an area. These are the searches closest to revenue.
3. Add commercial pages where buyers compare. Comparisons, pricing pages and case studies help searchers who haven’t decided yet.
4. Build informational content around your customers’ questions. It’s the slowest to pay off in clicks, but it earns links, feeds AI answers and builds the audience that later searches for your brand.

Whatever the order, measure each type on its own. Blending brand and non-brand clicks into one number is a common way SEO reports hide what’s working.

Turn search intent into strategy

Understanding the types of keywords in SEO helps shape your content for better visibility and stronger engagement. Here’s how intent maps to the page and the call to action:

At SmartSites, we help businesses use the right keyword types for each stage of the customer journey, with SEO that matches each search to the right page and SEO copywriting that answers it. See what clients say in our reviews, or contact us to learn how we can tailor SEO and PPC campaigns to your goals.

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