Keyword Intent Classifier
Classify keywords heuristically as informational, commercial, transactional or navigational using recognisable signal words.
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Results
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About this tool
Intent is the difference between a page that converts and a page that confuses. Someone searching how to clean running shoes wants instructions; someone searching buy running shoes online wants a checkout. This classifier sorts a keyword list into four familiar intent buckets so you can match each phrase to the right kind of page before you write anything.
How it works
Each keyword is scanned for signal words in a fixed priority order. Transactional signals such as buy, price and coupon are checked first because they are the strongest commercial indicator. Commercial-investigation signals such as best, review and versus come next, followed by navigational signals such as login and official. Anything left over, and anything containing question or guide language, is classified as informational. The matched signal word is shown alongside each verdict so you can audit the reasoning.
- 1Paste your keyword list, one phrase per line.
- 2Generate to classify every phrase.
- 3Read the signal column to see why each verdict was given.
- 4Export the table and plan page types per intent group.
Example
Input
buy running shoes online
Output
Transactional — signal: buy
When to use it
- Deciding which keywords deserve a product page versus a blog post.
- Splitting a keyword export between an editorial team and an ecommerce team.
- Finding transactional phrases hiding in a list you assumed was educational.
- Explaining content recommendations to a client with evidence attached.
Tips
- Review the transactional bucket by hand; it is the one that costs money to get wrong.
- Keywords with no signal default to informational, so a large informational bucket is expected.
- Group first, then classify — patterns are easier to correct in clusters.
Limitations
This is a heuristic, not a model of what searchers want. Signal words can mislead — best friend gift ideas is not commercial investigation in the usual sense — and ambiguous phrases will be misfiled. Search results themselves are the authoritative signal, and Hashly cannot see them.
Frequently asked questions
- How accurate is the classification?
- It is as accurate as its signal words allow, which is useful for triage and unreliable for edge cases. Always spot-check before acting on it.
- Why is everything informational?
- Informational is the fallback when no commercial, transactional or navigational signal is found. Lists of plain topics will naturally land there.
- Can I add my own signal words?
- Not in this tool. As a workaround, prefix keywords with your own marker before classifying, or use the Keyword Grouping Tool to cluster around your custom terms.