Transactional query
A transactional query is a search from someone ready to act, usually to buy, like "order coffee beans online."
A transactional query is a search from someone who's ready to do something, usually buy. "Order decaf coffee beans," "Fernhill Coffee discount code" and "buy oak dining table" are all transactional. The person has mostly made up their mind and wants somewhere to do it.
These searches sit closest to the sale, so they're often the most valuable to win. They're also where ads, shopping listings and big retailers crowd the results.
How it differs from other intents
An informational query wants to learn, like "what makes coffee decaf." A commercial query compares, like "best decaf coffee beans." A transactional query wants to act. The line between commercial and transactional is blurry, and many people use the words for each other. The test is whether the person still needs to choose or just needs a place to buy.
For example, Kestrel Roasters wants product and category pages to win transactional queries: clear prices, stock, delivery times and a buy button. A long blog post won't, because the person searching wants to check out.
Transactional prompts in AI search
People now ask AI platforms to buy for them too. "Find me a coffee grinder under £100 that ships tomorrow" can get product cards with prices and links to shops on ChatGPT. Some platforms are adding checkout inside the chat.
That means product data matters as much as pages. Clear prices, stock and descriptions in your shop feed, on your product pages and with the retailers who sell your products give the platform what it needs to put you in that answer.
In AnswerOrbit
When you Generate prompts in Topics, you choose the mix of learning, comparing and buying questions. Shopping shows which products appear in ChatGPT's product cards for your prompts and how often yours come first. If you filter its Prompts tab by a topic whose prompts don't ask about buying anything, you'll see a button to Add buying prompts.