Finding longtail keywords for your niche is easy. Finding keywords that you can rank on page 1 of Google search results – trickier. If you are a newer site with few backlinks and content — your job is even more difficult. Your new site lacks authority in the eyes of Google.
Doug Cunnington’s Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) is a great method to simplify selection and validate keywords that you can rank for. It helps you develop content on rankable topics that are in demand.
The goal is to find low competition keywords that yield top 10 Google results.
Go to our affiliate SEO guide for related SEO tips..
What is KGR
The KGR formula is really very simple. That is one of its key benefits — finding search phrases that will rank well on your niche site.
KGR is a data driven system to find lower search volume terms. Higher search volume keywords are usually much more competitive. You can have the best article but if Google puts you on page 3 of the search results you will have little to no traffic.
Another advantage is that unlike most keyword research tools KGR is free. It uses advanced Google search commands to find keyword phrases that are in the title of a document. It is not a keyword tool but a methodology to help you create content that will rank in the top of the search results.
KGR compliant terms are keywords that are below at set value when you divide the existing content with the keyword in the title, by the number of monthly searches. It is as simple as that.
You simply need two pieces of information …
- The number of articles with target keywords in the title.
- The number of monthly searches for that keyword.
These KGR words are in-demand but undeserved. KGR works on the idea that keywords in a post title are a very strong ranking and competitive signal.
A good KGR keyword phrase has two main characteristics:
- A monthly search volume of less than 250
- A quotient of .25 when you divide the number of posts with your keyword in the title by searches per month for that keyword.
Sounds complicated. It’s not.
Let’s take a look at the simple process in detail.
How to Find KGR Keywords
There are only 2 steps in the keyword golden ratio formula …
1) Find topical longtail keywords
You can use AHREF or other premium tools to find keywords that fit your topic. There are also Free tools to find searched for keywords with buying intent for your niche. These tools can help you find relevant keyword ideas for your topic silo and site. At this point you are not looking specifically for a KGR compliant keyword but a search phrase that will resonate with your audience and fits into a blog post core topic.
The best way to find keywords to target though is to look to your competitors. Find what keywords they are ranking for and create better content on the same topic. You can get this data from AHREF SEMrush and other paid tools. A free tool like Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest.
Beyond competitive research there are many tools to give you good keyword ideas. We maintain a full list of keyword search tools for affiliate marketers. Among the free tools are:
Soovle: An autocomplete engine that uses data from Google, Amazon and other search engines
Answer the Public Provides data from Google autocomplete in the form of questions.
2) Evaluate keyword search and intitle: volume
A) Finding Search Volume for your Keyword
You will need to find the search volume for your newly found keywords. Some tools like AHREF, Ubersuggest provide the keyword volumes as you are exploring keyword ideas.
You can also use the Chrome/Firefox extension Keywords Everywhere for this, though they now have a small fee for the tool.. There is als