Avatar photo Alex Thompson
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Jan 24, 2025

Not all keywords drive conversions—high intent keywords do. These are the keywords that prospects search for when they’re ready to take action. And these are the keywords that, once targeted, drive more valuable leads, boost ROI, and turn mediocre campaigns into runaway success stories.

This guide will show you 9 proven strategies to finding and leveraging high intent keywords using both your own data and external tools, helping you optimize for real business growth.

Why High Intent Keywords Matter

The end goal of most marketing initiatives is to generate leads or drive sales. Yet, many SEO strategies prioritize sheer traffic volume without considering whether those visitors are ready to convert. Similarly, many PPC campaigns target low-converting keywords, which may bring in plenty of clicks but few purchases or trial signups.

Ultimately, high intent keywords matter because they are a stronger signal of buyer readiness.

High intent keywords:

  • Target people closer to the bottom of the funnel who have done their research and are ready to make a purchase.
  • Generate higher conversion rates because these searchers are actively seeking a solution.
  • Require fewer resources to convert since they already have higher motivation to make a purchase or request more information.

In short, traffic and clicks don’t pay the bills—conversions do. That’s why optimizing for high intent keywords can have a direct, measurable impact on your revenue.

Understanding Low Intent vs. High Intent Keywords

Graph showing the ad spend and revenue for high-intent keywords vs. low-intent keywords. High-intent keywords have a much better revenue to ad spend ratio.

Low-Intent Keywords

Low-intent keywords are generally broader or exploratory in nature. Users typing these queries might be researching what a product or service does, looking for definitions or basic info on a topic, or exploring whether a service is relevant to their needs.

People looking for these terms are typically early in the buyer’s journey, so while they’re valuable for brand awareness and nurturing, they often require more time and marketing resources before converting.

High Intent Keywords

High intent keywords signal strong readiness to take an action like purchasing a product, scheduling a service, or requesting a quote or demo.

Because these searchers are further along the funnel, they represent your best chance to capture leads and revenue quickly. Optimizing your marketing around these terms helps you minimize costs and reach prospects who are actively looking to make a decision.

Search Intent & Low/High Intent Keywords

To better understand how to find high intent keywords, it’s helpful to have a basic understanding of search intent. While “low” and “high intent” often refer to a prospect’s readiness to convert, search intent is a way to describe why someone is searching for a keyword in the first place.

Here is a table breaking down the four types of search intent.

Note: We will use Search Intent later to single out your most valuable keywords, so take a minute to really understand this table. 

Search IntentDefinitionKeyword Examples (Saas, ecommerce, local services)Low vs High Intent Keywords
Informational IntentUsers are looking for answers, explanations, or general knowledge- What is CRM software?
- How to choose the right running shoes?
- How often should I get an HVAC tune-up
Low Intent Keywords
Navigational IntentUsers are searching for a specific website, brand, or product- HubSpot login page
- Adidas official site
- HVAC King products warranty
Moderate Intent Keywords
Commercial Investigation IntentUsers are researching options before making a purchase- Best CRM for small business
- Nike vs. Adidas running shoes
- Best HVAC companies near me
High Intent Keywords
Transactional IntentUsers are ready to take an action, like purchasing- Buy HubSpot CRM
- Buy Nike Air Force 1 online
- Book HVAC inspection
Highest Intent Keywords

Recommendation: Target Commercial Investigation and Transactional Intent keywords.

Two Ways of Identifying Valuable Keywords for Your Business

Now that we have a better understanding of what high intent keywords are, let’s talk about how to find them so you can incorporate them into your strategy.

There are two ways to find high intent keywords:

  1. Use your own data
  2. Use third-party data

Note: We’ll go through methods for both. However, we recommend starting with your own data. Doing so lets you isolate keywords that actually led to sales, use the language of verified leads/customers, and often don’t require signing up for multiple third-party tools. 

How to Find High Intent Keywords in Your Own Data

1. Mine Paid Search Data

Use WhatConverts to see which keywords brought in leads that actually convert (phone call or form, schedule appointment, purchase, etc.). Here’s how to do it.

  1. Run a Leads by Keyword report.Graphic showing how to run a "Leads by Keyword" report from the Lead Manager in WhatConverts.
  2. Now you can see a full breakdown of how many leads each keyword brought in and which channels they came from (Source and Medium). Graphic showing how the "Lead by Keywords" report in WhatConverts shows a clear breakdown of how many leads a keyword brought in, making it simple to find high-intent keywords.
  3. If you want to see keywords by value earned, just switch to Quote or Sales Value. Screenshot of a "Leads by Keyword" report in WhatConverts that shows how easy it is to switch the report from measuring leads to measuring Quote or Sales Value.
  4. Now you can see that same keyword breakdown by revenue, not lead count. Screenshot of a WhatConverts measuring total value earned per keyword and source/medium.

With this data, you can clearly see which of your keywords are the most effective at driving real, quantitative value for your clients.

Resource: 9 Best Marketing Reporting Software for Agencies in 2025

2. Mine Paid Search Data (Google Ads)

Use built-in tools on your ad platform of choice to find high intent keywords. For example, you can use Google Ads to mine for keywords by:

  1. Go to CampaignsInsights and reportsSearch terms. Screenshot of the Google Ads interface that leads to the Search terms report for finding high-intent keywords.
  2. Look at the search terms that converted the best. You can sort terms by conversion count or conversion rate. Remember, it’s easy to have a deceptively high conversion rate if your conversion count is low, so always consider both metrics. Screenshot of the Google Ads interface showing how to sort the Search terms report by conversion count.

Warning: Be sure you’re tracking meaningful conversions for these keywords, not just clicks, impressions, etc. Some keywords may bring in tons of clicks but few purchases, meaning they have little value. You can set up conversion tracking using Google Tag Manager or lead tracking tools.

Resource: The Best Way to Track Calls from Google Ads

3. Work Backwards from High-Converting Pages

You can use Google Search Console to find queries that led to your highest converting pages. Though you can’t see exactly which terms led to those conversions (Google made tying keywords to individual organic leads practically impossible more than a decade ago), you can get a sense for which keywords are driving the most traffic to these pages.

Here’s how to do it. First, find your highest converting pages.

You can do this through GA4: ReportsEngagementLanding page → Sort by Session key event rate (remember to consider conversion count!) Screenshot of Google Analytics (GA4) showing how to find the Landing page report. This makes it easy to find high-converting landing pages so you can mine high-intent keywords.

Or by running a Leads or Quote/Sales Value by Landing Page report in WhatConverts. Screenshot of WhatConverts Landing Page by Sales Value report so you can find the most valuable landing pages and you can mine for high-intent keywords.

Next, head to Search Console and look at the queries for those pages.

  1. Go to PerformanceSearch results.
  2. Filter results to only show one of your high-converting pages. Screenshot of Search Console interface showing how to filter results by a particular page.
  3. Scroll down to see the top queries people searched to reach that page.
  4. Repeat for your other high-converting pages.

What’s great about this method is it uncovers keywords you may not already be targeting with PPC.

Resource: PPC vs. SEO Gap Analysis Playbook

4. Use Voice of Customer Data

Finally, you can uncover a gold mine of high intent keyword opportunities by following the age-old marketing adage: listen to your customers. Call recordings, form field values, emails, chats—in all of these is a wealth of keywords that your customers are actually using. And if you can tap into them, you can uncover some valuable keywords worth targeting.

Tapping into voice of customer data is simple with lead tracking tools like WhatConverts:

  1. Log in to the Lead Manager. Screenshot of WhatConverts showing how to get to the Lead Manager.
  2. Sort your leads by most valuable. For example, you can filter your view to only see leads worth a sales value between $1,000 and $5,000. The click View Lead to see their conversion data. Screenshot of the WhatConverts Lead Manager showing how to filter leads by a specific value, e.g., by Sales Value of $1,000 to $5,000 only.
  3. This is the Lead Details sceen. Here you can listen to call recordings, read transcriptions, view form data, and more. There’s even a “Spotted Keywords”. Screenshot of the WhatConverts Lead Details page showing Spotted Keywords and Call Recordings, making it easy to mine high-intent keywords from voice of customer data.
  4. You can also switch over to the Lead Analysis tab to view an AI generated summary and keywords picked up from the conversation. Screenshot of Lead Details page in WhatConverts showing the Lead Analysis tab. Lead Analysis includes an AI generated call summary as well as detected keywords, great for finding high-intent keywords from voice of customer data.

Use this comprehensive lead data—especially the Keyword Detector section—to see the exact language your customers are using to refer to your services.

How to Find High Intent Keywords in Third-Party Data

Once you’ve exhausted your high intent keyword opportunities from your own data, you can start using third-party data to mine for more. Here are the top five ways to find these keyword types using tools’ data.

5. Use a Competitor Analysis Tool (Paid)

There are lots of paid options out there to help you find competitor keywords (a great source for high intent keywords). Some of the most popular are:

6. Use Google Search Auto-Suggestions (Free)

Google’s auto-suggestions reveal real-time high intent queries.

  1. Start typing a relevant keyword in Google (e.g., best CRM for).
  2. Look at suggestions—Google predicts common searches. Screenshot of Google search with the term "best crm for". This shows autocomplete suggestions.
  3. Identify high intent modifiers like buy, pricing, near me, vs. (Commercial Investigation and Transactional Search Intent)
  4. Check People also ask and Related searches for more ideas. Screenshot of Google Search showing the People also ask section.

7. Analyze Competitor Google Ads (Free)

Competitors bid on high intent keywords. Their paid ads often reveal which terms convert best.

  1. Search for a core keyword (e.g., best lead tracking software).
  2. Look at the top paid results—these ads target high-converting terms. Screenshot of Google Search showing Sponsored results.
  3. Analyze ad copy for transactional language like free trial or get started. Screenshot of Google Search with Sponsored results. To find high-intent keywords, look for ads with Transactional search intent.
  4. Click ads and check landing pages for additional keyword insights.

8. Explore Industry-Specific Forums & Reddit (Free)

Forums reveal real user questions—many of which show buying intent.

  1. Search forums like Reddit using Google (e.g., site:reddit.com best CRM). Screenshot of Google Search with a search query looking for "best CRM" and filtering by only results from reddit.com.
  2. Identify repeated questions that indicate strong interest. Screenshot of Google Search results showing possible high-intent keywords from common Reddit questions regarding the searched topic. This is a great way to find high-intent keywords.
  3. Look for commercial phrases like best software for or CRM recommendations. (Commercial Investigation and Transactional Search Intent)
  4. Analyze replies for additional keyword insights.
  5. Extract common high intent phrases and verify search volume (e.g., "best simple CRM").Screenshot of high-intent keywords being mined from the Sponsored results of a Reddit post.
  6. Search these terms in Google to check if they trigger paid ads.

9. Use Google’s “Allintitle” Operator for Competitive Analysis (Free)

This method finds high intent keywords competitors use in their content.

  1. Search Google using allintitle:“best CRM software”. Screenshot of Google Search using the "allintitle" search function.
  2. Check the number of search results—fewer results mean lower competition (click "Tools"). Screenshot of Google Search results showing a lot of search results for a specific term. When looking for high-intent keywords, look for search terms with fewer search results and thus less competition.
  3. Experiment with variations like best CRM for contractors. 
  4. Find keywords with low competition but ads in search results. Screenshot of Google Search results showing a few search results and some Sponsored results. When looking for high-intent keywords, look for search terms with fewer search results.
  5. Look for content gaps—if few sites target a high intent keyword, it’s a strong opportunity.

Wrapping Up

Prioritizing high intent keywords maximizes conversions and revenue by focusing on searchers ready to act. Start with your own data—paid search reports, landing pages, and customer insights—then expand using Google search features and competitor analysis.

By optimizing for high intent terms, you reduce wasted spend and attract qualified leads.

Ready to uncover your high intent keywords and better optimize your marketing? Get started today with a free 14-day WhatConverts trial!

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Avatar photo
Alex Thompson

Alex Thompson is a professional copywriter and content writer with a passion for turning complex ideas into digestible, educational content that keeps readers engaged. He specializes in content marketing, SEO, and B2B marketing.

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