58.8% of US business searches on Google come from people comparing options or ready to buy, and the share runs from 88.5% for moving companies to 17.3% for plastic surgery, where most searchers are still researching.
Analysis of 10,000 US business keywords across 24 industries · search intent and Google search results, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.58.8% of US business searches on Google have buying intent: 35.1% come from people comparing options and 23.6% from people ready to buy or book now.
- 2.30.6% of US business searches on Google are informational, from people looking for an answer rather than a provider, and 10.6% look for a specific brand or website.
- 3.88.5% of moving company searches on Google have buying intent, the highest of 24 industries, against 17.3% for plastic surgery searches.
- 4.Google shows a local map pack on 42.7% of searches from people comparing options, against 23.2% of informational searches.
- 5.Searches from people ready to buy are the easiest to rank for, with a median keyword difficulty of 7 out of 100, against 21 for comparison searches and 22 for informational searches.
Summary
Someone types "movers near me" into Google. Another person types "how long does a facelift take to heal". The first is ready to hire this week; the second may be months from booking a consultation. Both searches belong to a business category, but they call for completely different pages, and a business that answers one with the page built for the other loses the visitor.
That difference is search intent: what the person searching actually wants. SEO tools sort every keyword into four types. Commercial searches compare options ("best moving company"), transactional searches are ready to act ("book movers"), informational searches want an answer, and navigational searches look for a specific brand. The first two are buying intent, the traffic that turns into calls, bookings and sales.
Most business searches are buying searches. 58.8% of US business keywords carry buying intent, 35.1% commercial and 23.6% transactional. The mix swings widely by industry, from almost nine in ten moving searches to fewer than one in five plastic surgery searches, and Google builds a different results page for each kind.
What we measured
In September 2026 we classified the search intent of 10,000 US keywords from 24 industry keyword sets, including moving, insurance, real estate, plumbing, dental, accounting and plastic surgery. Each keyword got one primary intent: informational, navigational, commercial or transactional. We then matched each keyword to its Google results page, to see which features Google showed, and to its keyword difficulty score.
Buying intent is commercial plus transactional. A local map pack is the block of Google Maps listings shown near the top of the results. An AI Overview is the AI-written summary Google places above the regular results. Keyword difficulty is a 0 to 100 score SEO tools use to estimate how hard it is to reach Google's top 10; the median is the middle keyword, with half scoring higher and half lower.
Six in ten business searches come from buyers
Commercial searches are the single largest group at 35.1%. These are people weighing providers, prices and reviews before they choose. Transactional searches, 23.6%, are further along: they want to book, call or order now. Informational searches make up 30.6% and navigational searches 10.6%.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 10,000 US business keywords across 24 industries · search intent and Google search results, September 2026
For a business, this means the majority of the searches in its category are made by people who could become customers soon. They are the searches worth building service pages, product pages and location pages for, because the visitor arrives already looking for someone to hire.
Moving and insurance searches are almost all buyers
Moving companies lead, followed by insurance (78.8%), real estate (77.2%), personal injury law (74.1%), SaaS (72%) and plumbing (70.5%). In these industries almost every search is someone choosing a provider. Real estate stands out for how close to action its searchers are: 57.6% of real estate searches are transactional, the highest of any industry, as buyers and renters search for listings and agents.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 10,000 US business keywords across 24 industries · search intent and Google search results, September 2026
At the other end, plastic surgery (17.3%), accounting (26.2%), higher education (32.6%) and dental (33.6%) searches are mostly research. 81.3% of plastic surgery searches are informational, as are 63.2% of accounting searches and 58.2% of wedding searches. People considering surgery, a tax question or a degree read a lot before they contact anyone, so in these industries the business that answers their questions first is often the one they call later.
Intent changes what Google shows
Google builds a different results page for each kind of search. Commercial searches show a local map pack 42.7% of the time and a People Also Ask box, the expandable list of related questions, 92.2% of the time. Informational searches show a map pack 23.2% of the time, and navigational searches 17.5%.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 10,000 US business keywords across 24 industries · search intent and Google search results, September 2026
| Search intent | Local map pack | AI Overview | Median keyword difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial | 42.7% | 53.3% | 21 |
| Transactional | 32.4% | 63.1% | 7 |
| Informational | 23.2% | 58.8% | 22 |
| Navigational | 17.5% | 35.6% | 18 |
AI Overviews appear most often on transactional searches, at 63.1%, and least on navigational searches, at 35.6%. Transactional keywords are also the easiest to rank for, with a median keyword difficulty of 7 out of 100, a third of the 21 for commercial searches and 22 for informational searches. The searches closest to a sale are the ones a small business has the best chance of winning, and for comparison searches the map pack is often where that win happens.
What this means for business owners and marketers
Sort your keyword list by intent before you plan any content. Commercial and transactional keywords belong on service, product and location pages with clear prices, proof such as reviews and case studies, and an obvious way to call or book. Informational keywords belong in guides and FAQ pages that answer the question fully and link to the service page for the reader who is ready.
Then weight the plan by your industry. In moving, insurance or plumbing, where seven or more searches in ten are buyers, put the effort into service pages and your Google Business Profile, since comparison searches bring up the map pack. In plastic surgery, accounting or dental, where most searchers are researching, a library of clear answers earns the trust that brings them back. Our seo copywriting services map the intent of every target keyword before a single page is written.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/search-intent-buying-share">59% of Business Searches on Google Come From People Looking to Buy - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). 59% of Business Searches on Google Come From People Looking to Buy. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/search-intent-buying-share
59% of Business Searches on Google Come From People Looking to Buy - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/search-intent-buying-share