Rule-based intent labels mismatch the SERP 29% of the time

Rule-based intent labels mismatch the SERP 29% of the time
Classifying intent by keyword modifiers ('buy', 'best', 'how') is fast but wrong often. We compared rule labels against actual page-one result types on 1,000 queries.
— 'best X' tagged commercial, but SERP was 70% informational listicles: ▇▇▇▇ common miss
— 'X reviews' tagged commercial, confirmed by SERP: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ rules held
— Bare nouns (no modifier) defaulted informational, SERP showed mixed/transactional: ▇▇▇ 17% miss
— SERP-based labeling needs result data; rules need nothing
So what: trust modifier rules for the obvious 71%, but read the SERP for any term you're building a money page around. The modifier tells you what the searcher typed, not what Google decided they wanted.
Benchmark of the week: 'best' and 'top' queries serve informational content 65% of the time despite reading as commercial.