The Keyword Golden Ratio

Both veteran site owners and beginners are after less competitive keyword phrases to help bolster traffic and capture those clicks. Typically, long-tail keyword phrases are most suitable for capitalizing on less competitive search terms. 

The KGR (keyword golden ratio) theory is designed to use a data-driven method to identify the most suitable long-tail keyword phrases for landing in the top 100 results in a few days. Target the right traffic, and you’re making easy money. Some sites using the KGR theory have managed to get the top 10 results in less than 24 hours. 

Since it was released, the keyword golden ratio theory has been extremely popular and has benefited quite a few site owners. 

What is KGR? 

You know that KGR stands for “keyword golden ratio.” The ratio essentially stands for a technique used to select keyword phrases to boost organic site traffic and, in turn, generate more revenue for site owners. The ratio works by identifying long-tail keyword phrases that are not as competitive as other search terms. This not only helps site owners achieve rankings to drive traffic, but they achieve those rankings at a much faster pace. 

The KGR theory, however, is not just about long-tail keyword phrases. This method helps site owners with medium-tale keyword phrases and fat-tail keyword phrases too. 

KGR identifies search terms with a monthly search volume of less than 250. The quantitative method for identifying competition for various keyword phrases is quite simple. After identifying a keyword phrase, the KGR formula takes the number of search results featuring the keyword phrase and divides it by the number of times the term has been searched in a month.

  • Keywords that are overlooked by the competition
  • The KGR is a simple formula that’s expressed as the number of Google search results with a keyword in the title divided by the keyword monthly search volume (where search volume is 250 or less).
  • A KGR of less than 0.25 is considered the sweet spot and indicates an underutilized word or keyword phrase with low competition in Google

The Keyword Golden Ratio Measurement

After performing calculations, you can assess the competition for keyword phrases using the KGR scale, which ranges from 0 to 1. Keyword phrases fall into three ranges on the KGR scale. Keyword phrases registering under 0.25 will be the least competitive and are considered the sweet spot. 

The sweet spot means you have found a keyword phrase that doesn’t have much competition. Advocates of KGR theory say that these less competitive keyword phrases can rank in as little as 24 hours. 

Keyword phrases with a KGR between 0.25 and 1.00 are a little more competitive, but they aren’t the most competitive keyword phrases. This means a site owner could rank one of these keyword phrases in the top 250 results quite quickly. If the KGR is above 1.00, however, this means a site owner is going to have a much more difficult time ranking that specific keyword phrase. There are more results than there is monthly search volume. People searching those terms are going to be flooded with results.  

KGR Example

Let’s say that a particular search term features a total of 40 results. Imagine the monthly search volume is 200. This would give the keyword phrase a KGR of 0.2. Considering the KGR is less than 0.25, that keyword phrase is ideal and ready to be used. When a keyword phrase features a KGR of 0.2, this means that any group of five people searching the term are going to be seeing the same results. Those could be your results!

There are also common tools site owners use to help them discover keyword phrases and utilize the KGR ratio to their advantage. 

Potential Problems

Figures related to search volume are not always accurate. The other half of the KGR data is going to be spot on, but search volume can be more difficult to pin down. It pays to look more closely at this con when utilizing tools for keyword research and taking advantage of KGR theory. 

Keyword Research Using KGR

Search volume figures for all the various keyword research tools aren’t always reliable. There is a video below that sheds more light on the problem and what can be done. It is crucial that a site owner have accurate data when assessing the competitiveness of medium and long-tail keyword phrases. 

When the numbers for search volume are wrong, the ratios are going to be wrong as well. The data provided is misleading at that point, and site owners are not going to get the traffic results they had hoped for after using KGR Theory. 

Occasionally, search volume numbers are accurate, but they are most often incorrect and therefore cause a problem right out of the gate. The search engine companies themselves are the only ones that truly know accurate search volumes for specific terms. Since companies do not make this information public, site owners are left doing the guesswork.

The Flip Side

While KGR Theory is far from perfect, many site owners have had success using the formula to help rank articles. Doug Cunnington, the founder of KGR, uses the ratio himself and reports good results. There is a video of Cunnington discussing KGR at the top of this page. 

Keyword research tools do not have access to search term volumes. These tools estimate volumes using their own data. Additionally, other factors contribute to how quickly an article ranks. Sites rank quickly when high-quality content is produced, and this could also skew the numbers when it comes to identifying the effectiveness of KGR theory. 

The Keyword Golden Ratio or KGR also comes with other problems associated with providing site owners with accurate data. The ratio subscribes to the idea that exact keyword phrases matches are required when that hasn’t been the norm for over ten years. Search engines can relay information that answers certain questions without prioritizing keyword specificity. In other words, search engines have gotten much smarter. 

Another con to using KGR is that it fails to identify the quality of results with top 3 rankings. Furthermore, low KGR scores do not guarantee rank. While there is less competition, high-quality articles can prevent your content from ranking if not taking other measures. It also matters where the content comes from too. Search engines favor authoritative sites. 

Testing a well-established site is another way to test KGR. Choose articles that already rank #1 and gather the traffic data. Compare your personal data to the search volumes provided by the KGR tool. Most often, the numbers will be off, and by default, that means KGR is often inaccurate at best. 

Workable Strategies

Inaccurate search volume data is hard to ignore. Considering KGR is highly dependent on this data, what is the right approach to take? Many experts suggest that while KGR has its inaccuracies, using it as a rough guide is ideal. KGR might not be as definitive as you would like, but it can loosely indicate whether or not you should jump on certain keyword phrases. 

While KGR does not provide site owners with a clear picture of the quality of the content for any given search term, it does provide valuable insight. Furthermore, site owners can use this data as a guide while making common-sense business decisions about which keyword phrases to use in their articles. KGR might not be your one-stop shop for keyword research, but it can be a helpful guide. 

Think in terms of using the KGR ratio to quickly identify some keyword phrases that you can use in articles ranging between 1000 and 1500 words in length. Keep an eye out for those terms that produce insufficient results and appear less competitive. 

That low-hanging fruit can make your day by producing traffic quickly. As a site owner, you always want to be focused on on-site authority. Ranking your posts quickly will help you gain traction with the search engines, and it will motivate you to keep producing high-quality content after identifying the right keyword phrases using KGR. 

Why Use KGR?

There are five key reasons why site owners should use KGR.

Motivation

While successful sites aren’t created overnight, small wins build up quickly. Additionally, those small wins can keep you motivated, especially when those wins translate to increased traffic and sales. All that hard work can pay off in the long run. 

Priorities

Prioritizing the right keywords after using a research tool is much better than selecting search terms at random. KGR provides site owners with the ability to narrow down the results. You can identify certain keyword phrases that beg your attention due to them being less competitive. Remember, it’s about that low-hanging fruit. 

Objectivity

Going with your gut isn’t going to help you much when it comes to keyword research. Staying objective is key, and KGR helps you do just that. The KGR formula is data-driven and produces realistic expectations concerning specific keyword phrases.

Manual Success

KGR data is produced manually, which means high-volume competitors aren’t going to have access to this data. They will opt out of manual labor and focus on free web tools. Unfortunately, those tools aren’t going to provide them with the same valuable data. Given that, the manual KGR formula provides you with an advantage. 

Beat The Competition

Outranking your top competitors is truly motivating. Beat the competition using the KGR formula, and watch your site climb the rankings. If you pass a big-name competitor, that’s a win. 

KGR Tips

KGR is designed to identify less competitive search terms. Therefore, it is imperative to remember that the limit is 250 searches per month. 

The KGR technique works better for long-tail keywords. This means that the more words featured in a keyword phrase, the better. Remember to make use of those keyword modifiers. 

KGR keywords often sound unnatural because they are long-tail keyword phrases. Do not force keywords, and do not overuse them. Ideally, the long-tail keyword should be in the title of the article, and it should be found once in the body of the article as well.  

Be on the lookout for those keyword phrases with much less than 250 monthly searches. A term with 70 or fewer monthly searches is a great candidate for an article.

KGR keywords tied to information are much more common than KGR keywords tied to products. Naturally, you can build up information-based pages that work as feeder sites for your product pages. This helps make your product pages more authoritative.