Search intent is what a person wants when they type a search: to learn something, compare options, find a specific site, or hire and buy. The same topic can carry different intents, such as "how to clean gutters" and "gutter cleaning near me". Sorting a client's searches by intent shows which traffic can turn into customers.
What it doesn't do: Intent is inferred from the words in the search. It's a strong signal, not a certainty about any one person.
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RankUpside sorts every named search into one class by the words in it. These are the word lists for local service businesses; online stores and software companies get their own.
| Class | Trigger words (examples) | Example search | Buyer search? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transactional | near me, quote, estimate, hire, book, schedule, emergency, call, buy | gutter repair near me | Yes |
| Commercial | cost, price, company, contractor, installation, repair, service, best, reviews | gutter guard installation | Yes |
| Informational | how, what, why, guide, tips, vs | how to clean gutters | No |
| Navigational | login, phone number, address, hours, website | a business's opening hours | No |
| Brand | the client's own name | copperline gutters reviews | Counted apart |
| Bot-like | search operators and tool queries | site: and similar | Filtered out |
Transactional and commercial searches count as buyer searches. They drive buyer clicks, the striking distance finding and the Losing rank finding on buyer pages. Informational searches drive the AI answer finding, because Google often answers them with an AI Overview.
The services, areas and brand terms set in each client's settings sharpen the sort, so "gutter guard" reads as a service and the client's own name reads as brand.
Sample data: Copperline Gutters, a fictional business on a reserved .example domain. "gutter cleaning fairview" is a commercial search with a place in it. "catch basin vs pop up emitter" is informational, even though it's about drainage products the client installs.
The first report builds from 13 weeks of Search Console history as soon as you connect. Start with 3 client sites.
Weekly search report · Copperline Gutters
Sep 14 – Oct 11, 2026 vs the 4 weeks before
Copperline Gutters got 27 clicks from named buyer searches in the last 4 weeks, up 23% from the 4 weeks before. Google hides the search terms behind 84% of all 289 search clicks. Rankings rose across the site: pages that steadily show up are up about 2.4 positions.