What are commercial investigation queries in SEO, & how do they differ from informational or transactional queries?

Commercial investigation queries are the types of searches where a user is actively researching and comparing products, services or businesses - but they aren't quite ready to make an actual purchase yet.

These sit in between pure informational queries (where someone is just looking for knowledge/facts) and transactional queries (where the user wants to take a specific action like buying something right then).

Some examples of commercial investigation queries would be:

"Best laptops for students"

"Top accounting firms in Los Angeles"

"Reviews for Honda Civic 2022"

In these cases, the user is clearly in that consideration/evaluation phase before pulling the trigger on a purchase or investment. They're gathering all the info and doing comparisons to make the best decision.

The key difference from informational queries is that commercial investigation queries have an underlying purchase intent driving them - even if the user isn't ready to transact immediately. Standard info queries are just seeking knowledge with no purchase motivation.

And unlike transactional queries, commercial investigators aren't ready to go straight to checkout yet. Transactional searches indicate someone wants to take a specific action like buying a product or service they already have in mind.

From an SEO perspective, you want to make sure your content strategy accounts for commercial investigation queries with things like:

- Detailed product/service information and specs

- Pricing and cost analysis

- Comparisons against competitors

- Expert reviews and customer testimonials

- Educational guides about that product category

Getting in front of users with this type of commercial investigation content helps establish your brand as a trusted, authoritative resource. That way, when they are finally ready to purchase, you'll ideally be at the top of their consideration set.