When it comes to commercial search intent, many brands face a common dilemma: how do you target high-value commercial roundup keywords without inadvertently boosting competitors?
Over time, we’ve developed several proven tactics for navigating this challenge. While they vary in approach and level of risk, the goal remains the same: capturing commercial search traffic.. Below, we’ll break down these strategies and how they can be applied effectively.
1. The “Frenemies” Approach
This is one of the most common strategies we use. Instead of directly listing your closest competitors, you compile a roundup of “frenemies”—brands that may be adjacent to your niche but don’t directly compete with you.
For example, imagine Coke writing a blog post titled, The Best Drinks for a Hot Summer Day. Instead of listing Pepsi, they might highlight Minute Maid juices, craft sodas, or even beer. This keeps them in the conversation without boosting a direct rival.
By identifying and maintaining a list of frenemies, you can confidently include commercial comparisons in your content while reducing the risk of sending customers straight to your competitors.
2. Category Fluidity: Redefining the Competitive Landscape
Sometimes, the best way to enter commercial search results is by slightly shifting how you categorize your product. A great example of this is ClickUp ranking for the term release management tools, despite being a task management and productivity app. While it’s not a traditional fit, ClickUp has positioned itself creatively to capture relevant searches without directly competing against industry giants.
This tactic requires out-of-the-box thinking. How can you frame your product in a way that expands your visibility into high-intent commercial searches? If done effectively, this approach not only sidesteps direct competition but also introduces your brand to a wider audience.
3. Changing the Narrative
In some cases, your best move is to acknowledge the competitive landscape while reframing the conversation in a way that benefits you. This is particularly useful when targeting a keyword that describes an outdated or declining category.
This method ensures that you rank for commercial intent terms, but instead of just listing competitors, you’re shifting the reader’s perspective toward your solution.
4. Mentioning Competitors Without Sending Traffic Away
Another approach is to acknowledge competitors but control how you reference them. You can do this by:
- Mentioning competitors without linking to them.
- Using nofollow links to prevent passing SEO value.
- Setting external links to open in a new tab, keeping visitors on your site.
This approach allows you to provide a comprehensive resource that provides value for readers while ensuring that your content remains the primary touchpoint for potential customers.
5. Just Write the Content
Some brands take a more aggressive stance by creating competitor roundups and simply accepting the risk. The reasoning is that if someone is searching for a list of products, they are likely already aware of most of the competitors. In this case, providing a well-structured, authoritative resource might still be worth the effort.
While this method isn’t ideal for every business, it can work if you:
- Provide a truly unbiased comparison.
- Clearly highlight your own differentiators.
- Ensure your brand is positioned as a strong contender at the end of the article.
6. The Least Effective Approach: Subverting Intent
One tempting but rarely successful strategy is trying to rank for a commercial keyword by writing an informational guide instead.
While this might seem like an easy way to avoid listing competitors, it rarely works. Google understands search intent well, and commercial queries generally require comparison-style content. If your post doesn’t match the intent, it likely won’t rank—or if it does, it won’t convert visitors into customers.
7. The Last Resort: Avoiding Commercial Keywords
The final option is to simply avoid commercial keywords altogether. This should only be considered after exhausting all the above strategies. Commercial searches are high-intent and valuable, so unless you have a compelling reason to avoid them, finding a way to enter these search results is generally the better path forward.
Final Thoughts
Targeting commercial search terms without boosting competitors requires a mix of creativity, SEO strategy, and calculated risk-taking. Whether you’re leveraging frenemies, redefining categories, or controlling how you reference competitors, there are plenty of ways to win in commercial search without giving away the game.
By applying these tactics, you can claim valuable search real estate, position your brand strategically, and ultimately drive more conversions.
Our CEO, Erik, recorded a video for a client on this topic, and we used its transcript with ChatGPT to create this blog post.