Andrew Lowdon | 22 Mar 2010

Web page searches display two levels of commercial intent – informational and transactional. Microsoft’s Online Commercial Intent tool can detect if search queries or web pages have a high probability of being informational or commercial in nature based on previous search queries and recently visited web pages. The tool can be used to find keywords that are commercial but have low advertising coverage. Understanding the goals and preferences behind a user’s online activities can greatly assist webmasters decide on what type of web content to place on their sites.
If a customer searches for the keyword ‘Buy DVD player’ it is highly likely that they want to purchase a DVD player, therefore there is a Commercial Intention probability of 0.99. Whereas, the keyword ‘Recruitment’ has Non-Commercial Intention of 0.96, which means that Microsoft believe that users searching for this keyword are searching for information related to recruitment.
If your transactional e-commerce site regularly ranks on page one for a highly competitive search query, such as ‘LCD TVs’, which directs thousands of free clicks to your website each week. If Google changes the way in which they rate the site, all e-commerce sites are removed from page one and are replaced by informational sites offering reviews of LCD TVs. Consequently, all your traffic suddenly drops off and all of your online orders are affected. This in turn affects the overall profitability of the business.
Using Microsoft’s Detecting Online Commercial Intention tool, it is possible in advance to find out how search engines are going to rate your sites keywords, allowing you to structure your content to cater for these preferences. If you search for a keyword which Microsoft rate as highly informational or non-commercial then the online commercial intention score returned is low, and your e-commerce site will need more informational content to achieve a high ranking on the organic SERPs.
From a Search Engine Marketing point of view, the tool is effective at finding these keywords as they have a low bid density (low price) and a high commercial value. For an advertising engine, the tool can help to increase advertisement relevancy by displaying fewer ads if the keyword has a low online commercial intent.
Web pages at the top of the organic rankings need to be informational and transactional. If you want your e-commerce website to rank highly, there are two options. You can pay to rank highly and utilise a Pay per Click (PPC) strategy. If you want to rank highly in organic listings, you need to provide high quality information and have top quality backlinks.
If you need assistance in determining the commercial viability of a keyword, feel free to contact us at Eden Light.

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