Free tool Search intent tool: classify a keyword list in bulk
Paste a keyword list or a Semrush, Ahrefs or Search Console export and get every keyword labelled with its likely search intent. The rules are plain modifier lists such as "how to", "vs", "pricing" and "calculator", and every row shows which ones matched, so you can see why a keyword got its label and overrule it.
- Five intents, rules shown
- CSV export
- Runs locally
Classify keyword intent
One keyword per line. A volume column is optional: add it after a tab, after a comma at the end of the line, or paste an export with a header row.
Up to 5,000 lines. A first row with a Keyword, Query or 关键词 column is read as a header; the volume comes from a Volume / Search volume column, or Impressions when there is none.
Comma-separated, e.g. your brand and competitors. A brand on its own is navigational; with another modifier ("brand pricing") the modifier decides and navigational is listed under "Also".
Filters the keyword table only. The summary and the CSV export always cover every keyword.
Keywords
19
After removing duplicates.
Matched a rule
89.5%
Share of keywords with at least one rule.
No rule matched
2
Usually broad terms. Check the results page.
Total volume
66,120
Sum of the volume column.
Intent mix
Keywords and volume by primary intent. Volume share is often more useful than keyword share: a few head terms can outweigh dozens of long-tail ones.
| Intent | Keywords | Share | Volume | Volume share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Informational | 3 | 15.8% | 14,800 | 22.4% |
| Commercial | 5 | 26.3% | 20,650 | 31.2% |
| Transactional | 3 | 15.8% | 770 | 1.2% |
| Navigational | 2 | 10.5% | 17,500 | 26.5% |
| Tool / task | 4 | 21.1% | 7,700 | 11.6% |
| No rule matched | 2 | 10.5% | 4,700 | 7.1% |
Notes
- NoteFirst row read as a header: keywords from "keyword", volume from "volume".
- Note3 keywords contain one of your brand terms.
- Check2 keywords match no rule. These are usually broad terms whose intent is mixed; search them and look at what ranks.
- Note"vs" counts as commercial. Between two products it usually is; between two concepts ("correlation vs causation") people want an explanation, so check the results page.
- Note2 keywords match rules from more than one intent. The strongest is the label; the others are under "Also".
Keywords
Intent is the primary label; "Also" lists other intents that matched; the last column shows each rule and the intent it points to.
| # | Keyword | Volume | Intent | Also | Matched rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hotjar | 17,000 | Navigational | — | hotjar → Navigational |
| 2 | hotjar login | 500 | Navigational | — | hotjar → Navigational; login → Navigational |
| 3 | hotjar alternatives | 250 | Commercial | Navigational | hotjar → Navigational; alternative → Commercial |
| 4 | how to check website traffic | 1,400 | Informational | Tool / task | how to → Informational; check → Tool / task |
| 5 | churn meaning | 9,600 | Informational | — | meaning → Informational |
| 6 | what is gtm | 3,800 | Informational | — | what is → Informational |
| 7 | correlation vs causation | 15,000 | Commercial | — | vs → Commercial |
| 8 | best live chat for small business | 1,300 | Commercial | — | for small business → Commercial; best → Commercial |
| 9 | intercom alternatives | 1,300 | Commercial | — | alternative → Commercial |
| 10 | live chat software | 2,800 | Commercial | — | software → Commercial |
| 11 | mixpanel pricing | 600 | Transactional | — | pricing → Transactional |
| 12 | live chat free trial | 100 | Transactional | — | free trial → Transactional |
| 13 | live chat app download | 70 | Transactional | — | download → Transactional |
| 14 | utm generator | 3,600 | Tool / task | — | generator → Tool / task |
| 15 | statistical significance calculator | 2,300 | Tool / task | — | calculator → Tool / task |
| 16 | web traffic checker | 1,300 | Tool / task | — | checker → Tool / task |
| 17 | dashboard templates | 500 | Tool / task | — | template → Tool / task |
| 18 | web analytics | 4,000 | No rule matched | — | — |
| 19 | cookieless tracking | 700 | No rule matched | — | — |
Version v1.0Updated Update history
What each column means
The labels are a first pass for planning, not a verdict. They tell you which keywords to look at together and which page type to check first.
Intent
The intent with the highest rule score. Informational: wants to learn. Commercial: comparing options before choosing. Transactional: ready to buy, sign up or download. Navigational: looking for one site or page. Tool / task: wants to calculate, generate, convert or look something up right now.
Also
Other intents that matched. "Hotjar alternatives" is commercial with a brand in it; "毛利率计算公式" (gross margin formula) wants the formula and often a calculator. Mixed keywords are where one page has to serve two needs.
Matched rules
The modifiers that fired, each with the intent it points to. If a rule is wrong for your market, you can see it at once and overrule the label in the spreadsheet.
No rule matched
Short, broad terms such as "web analytics" carry no modifier. Their intent is decided by what Google or Baidu shows, which is usually a mix. Search them before planning a page.
Search engines decide intent from how people behave on the results, not from the words alone. Treat every label as a hypothesis and confirm the important ones on a real results page, in the market and language you target.
Sort a keyword list in three steps
Works with lists you type, keyword tool exports and Search Console query exports.
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1
Paste the list
One keyword per line, or a whole export with its header row. Semrush, Ahrefs and Search Console exports work as they are; the volume column is picked up automatically.
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2
Add brand terms
Your brand and your competitors' brands. Brand keywords behave differently from the rest: people searching them already know where they want to go.
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3
Check, then export
Search the keywords with the most volume and see whether the results match the label. Export CSV and add your own decisions next to the rule-based ones.
Modifier rules, weights and ties
Each rule is a word or phrase with an intent and a weight. A keyword's score for an intent is the sum of the weights of the rules it matches; the highest score is the label.
- Four intents follow Semrush's definitions, which grew out of Andrei Broder's 2002 taxonomy of web search (informational, navigational, transactional). The fifth, tool / task, is this tool's own: Google's quality rater guidelines put these queries under "Do"
- Strong signals score 2, weak ones 1. A brand term scores 0.5, so it only labels a keyword navigational when nothing else matches
- Ties go to navigational, then tool, transactional, commercial, informational. "roi calculator download" scores tool 2 and transactional 2, so it is a tool keyword
- English rules match whole words and consecutive phrases, ignoring case; a rule such as "review" also matches "reviews". Chinese rules match characters. Longer rules match first and use up their words, so "多少钱" (how much does it cost) is not counted again as "多少" (how many), and "how to" is not counted again as "how"
- Domains such as example.com count as navigational, a question mark as informational. Each rule counts once per keyword
| Intent | Strong signals (2) | Weak signals (1) |
|---|---|---|
| Informational | how to, what is, why, meaning, definition, guide, formula; 怎么, 如何, 是什么, 区别, 公式 | how, what, where, examples, tips; 方法, 步骤, 原因, 大全 |
| Commercial | best, vs, compare, review, alternative; 哪个好, 推荐, 对比, 测评, 怎么样 | top, software, tools, platform; 软件, 工具, 平台, 系统 |
| Transactional | buy, order, coupon, near me, free trial, sign up, download; 购买, 多少钱, 优惠券, 试用, 下载 | price, pricing, cost, cheap, free; 价格, 报价, 费用, 免费 |
| Navigational | login, sign in, official site, homepage; 官网, 登录, 入口, 首页 | phone number; 客服电话, 联系方式 |
| Tool / task | calculator, generator, converter, checker, template; 计算器, 生成器, 在线转换, 模板 | online, calculate, convert, check; 在线, 计算, 查询, 检测 |
Nineteen analytics and live chat keywords
The default list: 19 keywords with US monthly volume from an Ahrefs export (November 2026), brand term "hotjar". 17 match at least one rule; the two that don't, "web analytics" and "cookieless tracking", are exactly the broad terms that need a look at the results page.
| Keyword | Volume | Intent | Matched rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| hotjar alternatives | 250 | Commercial, also navigational | hotjar → navigational; alternative → commercial |
| how to check website traffic | 1,400 | Informational, also tool | how to → informational; check → tool |
| mixpanel pricing | 600 | Transactional | pricing → transactional |
| statistical significance calculator | 2,300 | Tool / task | calculator → tool |
| correlation vs causation | 15,000 | Commercial (wrong) | vs → commercial |
| web analytics | 4,000 | No rule matched | — |
"correlation vs causation" shows the limit of word rules: "vs" between two concepts means "explain the difference", and its results are articles, not product comparisons. By volume the list is 31% commercial, 26% navigational, 22% informational, 12% tool and 1% transactional; the 7% with no rule is the part to check by hand.
Where rule-based intent goes wrong
Rules are fast and transparent. They are also blind to context, so use them to sort, then judge.
Taking the label as final
The same words can mean different things: "vs" between products is commercial, between concepts informational. Search engines show what people actually want; check the keywords that matter.
Mixing markets in one list
The same keyword can have different intent in another country or language, and Baidu often shows different page types from Google. Classify each market separately.
Forgetting competitor brands
Without brand terms, "hotjar heatmap" looks like an opportunity. Add competitors' names so brand searches stand out; people typing them want that brand's site.
Counting keywords, not volume
Fifty long-tail informational keywords can add up to less traffic than one tool keyword. Compare volume shares before deciding what to build.
Classify the queries you already rank for
Keyword tools estimate demand. Your own search data shows what people typed before landing on your pages.
Search queries
Connect Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster to see queries with clicks, impressions, CTR and position. Export the query table as CSV and paste it here: impressions are used as the volume.
Learn moreBranded and non-branded
Add brand terms to the Search Console connection and the search report splits branded from non-branded queries, the same split the brand terms field makes here.
Learn moreSite search
What visitors type into your own search box, reported with your page data. Those words show what people could not find from navigation.
Learn moreSearch intent questions
Still have a question?
Chat with the team behind TapCub — we usually reply within a few hours on business days.
What is search intent?
The goal behind a search: learning something, finding a particular site, comparing options or doing something such as buying or signing up. Andrei Broder's 2002 paper "A taxonomy of web search" described three types (informational, navigational, transactional); SEO tools such as Semrush now use four, splitting commercial investigation from transactional.
How does this classifier decide?
With modifier rules. Each rule is a word or phrase ("how to", "best", "pricing", "login", "calculator", and Chinese ones such as 怎么, 哪个好, 多少钱, 官网, 生成器) with an intent and a weight of 1 or 2. Scores are added per intent and the highest wins. Every row lists the rules it matched.
What is the "tool / task" intent?
Searches from people who want to do something on the spot: calculate, generate, convert, check or look something up. It is not one of Semrush's four types; this tool adds it because those keywords need a working tool on the page, not an article. Google's quality rater guidelines group them under "Do" queries.
Can a keyword have more than one intent?
Yes. Semrush gives "make coffee at home" (informational and commercial) as an example, and Google's rater guidelines discuss queries with several likely intents. Here the strongest intent is the label and the rest are listed under "Also", and the CSV export includes every intent's score.
How accurate are the labels?
They are an approximation. Rules read words, while search engines learn intent from what people click. Expect most keywords with a clear modifier to be right and broad terms to be unlabelled or arguable. Check the important ones on a real results page.
Which export formats does it read?
Anything with one keyword per line, plus exports with a header row: a column called Keyword, Query, Top queries, 关键词 or 查询词 is read as the keyword, and Volume, Search volume or 搜索量 as the volume (Impressions when there is no volume column). Comma, tab and semicolon separated files all work.
How is this different from the other SEO tools here?
The keyword clustering tool groups keywords that share words; this tool labels why people search. The keyword density checker looks at your page text, and SERP preview shows how your title and description will look once you have picked the page type.
Is my keyword list uploaded?
No. Classification runs in your browser. The list is not saved, not added to the page address and not sent to TapCub.
Update history
New features, fixes and data refreshes for this tool, newest first.
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· v1.0
LaunchedFirst release.
Missing something or found an error? Tell us — requests that come up often go into the next update. All tool updates
See which queries bring real visitors
TapCub puts Search Console and Bing queries next to the visits, sources and conversions they lead to, so you can tell which intent actually turns into customers.