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Keyword research is a very important topic in planning your content and if you want to look at it from an SEO perspective. Many people advise taking a long-tail approach, targeting low-volume keywords with simple audiences that you can start building rankings and getting traffic.
How do you do that exactly? Based on the records, internet users and bloggers came up with an interesting technique called the golden ratio. We will explain what it is, how to do it, and if we think it works well.
What is the Keyword Golden Ratio?
The golden keyword ratio is the number of Google searches for a phrase with the Allintitle search modifier divided by the number of average monthly searches (i.e., Monthly Search Volume, or MSV). It is also a data-driven strategy that helps in finding long-tail keywords that are under-served on the internet (i.e. more demand for content than supply).
Doug Cunnington's Golden Keyword Ratio (KGR) is a great way to make it easy to choose and validate keywords that you can rank for. It helps you develop content on classified topics that are in demand and its aim is to find keywords that are below the maximum Keyword Golden Ratio value of 0.25 when you divide searches with the keyword in the title by the number of monthly searches. It is important to know that Keyword Golden Ratio is working on the idea that keywords in the title of an article represent a very good ranking and a competitive signal.
Here's why you need to implement Keyword Golden Ratio on your invisible site.
Stay motivated
Creating a successful niche site doesn't happen overnight, but new website owners need to see small wins early to stay motivated. Seeing site visitors and sales early proves that all your hard work can pay off.
Prioritize effort
Instead of throwing arrows blindfolded at thousands of keywords, you can prioritize which keywords and content to publish first. Keyword Golden Ratio will help you narrow down your list and find easy-to-use fruit phrases that you are really competitive on.
Be objective
Trusting your instincts is good for many things, but keyword research is not one of them. (At least not at first.) Using a consistent, data-driven formula will give you realistic expectations about how well each keyword you target will perform.
Stand-out
Since calculating the keyword golden ratio is a manual process, most users (including your competition) don't care. They have access to a vast amount of data that they cannot easily access in minutes using a free web tool.
Leapfrog competitors
Few things are more motivational than seeing your site rank above big-name competitors in Google's SERP results.
Good Keyword research has two main characteristics
- Less than 250 searches per month.
- A quotient of .25 when you divide the number of posts with your keyword in the title by searches per month for that keyword.
How to Find KGR Keywords
There are only 2 steps to finding good KGR keywords.
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Find topical longtail keywords
You can use the Ahrefs keyword tool to find keywords that fit your topic or perhaps, try other premium tools that are available in the market as well as some free tools to find buy-intent keywords for your niche. There are many tools out there that can help you get great keyword ideas. We maintain a comprehensive list of keyword research tools for affiliate marketers. Free tools include:
Answer the Public: This provides data from Google autocomplete in the form of questions.
Soovie: An autocomplete engine that uses data from Google, Amazon, and other search engines.
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Evaluate the keyword search and intitle: volume.
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Finding Search Volume for your Keyword
You need to find the search volume for your newly found keywords, tools such as ahrefs and Ubbersuggest provides keyword volumes when you are researching keyword ideas.
You can use the Chrome / Firefox Keywords Everywhere extension for this, although it now has a little extra for the tool. Another keyword tool to consider is Keyword Surfer, which is a new free keyword tool that is also a browser plugin.
Select the keywords you want with fewer than 250 monthly searches. Note that keyword volume can vary slightly from tool to tool. Some display the USA and World separately, others combine the information.
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Finding the posts with the keyword in the title.
Google offers its users a large number of search operators that you can prefix any search with a modifier followed by a colon. Users can always use the Google search modifier allintitle to determine the number of pages with the keyword in their title. Just enter allintitle, “your keyword”. Google gives the number of matching pages under the search box. Google search is a very useful tool for content marketers.
Calculating Keyword research.
The easiest way to do the calculations is to just create a spreadsheet with 4 columns:
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- KEYWORD
- SEARCHES PER MONTH
- Allintitle
- KGR
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Then add/replicate a formula in the KGR column which divides the two columns.
allintitle /Â searches per month.
You can add yes, no, and maybe identifiers or color code based on the final Keyword Golden Ratio result.
Let's look at an example of calculating the KGR. Note that this is defined as the number of online articles that contain the exact search term divided by the monthly local search volume, assuming the search volume is less than 250.
To find all articles online with the exact search term you are interested in, edit your Google search with allintitle: followed by the phrase. This will return all of the pages on the internet that contain the exact phrase. Take note of the result and write it down and it is important to know that this is the first part of your formula.
Second, you need to determine the search volume for a particular phrase using a keyword research tool. Many freebies are available, such as Keywords Everywhere is an easy-to-use browser and adds a tool that tracks search volumes.
Features
When you search for something in a browser where the tool is installed, it shows the monthly local search volume for that term. This is your second digit as long as it is less than 250.
Divide the number of results by the monthly search volume to get the Keyword Golden Ratio and example of this is; if “Best Golf Clubs Under ÂŁ 50 in the UK” has 20 pages with that exact title and the local monthly search volume is 200, your KGR is 0.10 which suggests that you should write the article as it is less than 0.25 golden number is.
If the KGR is less than 0.25, it is considered a high potential search term that may be quick and easy to rank. The KGR is between 0.25 and 1 the rate is more competitive but could still rank over time. A KGR of 1 or higher indicates a competitive search term that may be more difficult to evaluate.
In conclusion, if you are looking for a ratio of a quarter or less between the number of articles online with the exact phrase and the local monthly search volume for that phrase, Keyword Golden Ratio is designed to help you prioritize which search terms have the best chance of ranking quickly, and therefore which articles to use when writing a new blog.
A Potential problem associated with the Keyword research
There is one big potential problem with using KGR, however, mainly in that the data that half of the formula is based on is Search Volume Numbers that are not always accurate and reliable. We covered this in more detail in our article on Keyword Research Tools.
Listed below are some other issues related to the accuracy of the golden ratio of keywords, as well as the inaccuracy of the keyword research tool's search volume estimates mentioned earlier:
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- The aspect of the KGR formula (i.e. allintitle) is based on the idea that an exact keyword match is required for an article to rank on Google. This has not been the case for over a decade, as Google is now very capable of telling whether an article answers a particular question, even if the title uses words that are different from the search term entered into Google (semantic search) / Word equivalent).
- KGR ignores the quality of search results, which are currently in the top 3 for a specific search term. Even if the KGR is low, ranking problems can still arise if the articles that already exist for that search term are long, high-quality articles from authoritative websites.
- If you have a somewhat established website, then you can actually test and review the KGR by choosing the articles that you know are number 1 on google for and therefore know the traffic you are getting on that page, and compare your actual traffic to estimate looking for the volumes a keyword tool offers you. You will often find that this is a long way off, and therefore any KGR figure based on these research numbers is a long way off too.
- See the second half of the video just above for an excellent discussion of the KGR.
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FAQs Keyword research
What is the Keyword Gold Ratio (KGR)?
The KGR method can help you find underserved and more easily rated keywords on page 1 of Google search results.
How does Keyword Golden Ratio work?
The KGR method assumes that low-volume keywords that contain only a few articles with the keyword in the page title are undersupplied.
If the keyword research tool shows different search volumes, is it good?
That's good, the KGR is still working well. You have to choose a tool and stick with it.
It is likely that keyword research tools will provide different search volumes for the same keyword phrase. That's a good thing because the KGR is a very aggressive formula that takes this fact into account.
All keyword research tools use different algorithms for the data. Sometimes it's a proprietary algorithm with some mysterious factors.
Are there any exceptions to the KGR?
It depends on what you are asking for. If you've just created a new website and want to target long-tail, low-competition keywords, you need to keep a close eye on the keyword's golden ratio.
Thank you for reading!