The Keyword Golden Ratio is a fairly common keyword research technique. It follows a simple formula and an action that can be easily replicated. When combined with a spreadsheet and a few crafty formulas, you can easily import hundreds or even thousands of keywords to start checking for low competition keywords.
This method is heavily dependent on doing manual google searches using a special search modifier. The allintitle search modifier on google will allow you to see how many pages are actively targeting a specific long-tail keyword.
There is lots of speculation on whether or not this technique actually works. The technique is very simple to understand and that’s what makes it so attractive. The truth is, most people don’t follow through on the few extra steps required to make it work.
Make sure to save your own copy of the simple Google Sheet containing the formula for calculating Keyword Golden Ratio. It can be downloaded from this shared google sheet.
Continue reading to see the 7 step process for how to properly execute the keyword golden ratio technique.
Update (Before you continue): Since the time I originally wrote this article, I modified my approach to be more lenient towards accepting numbers slightly outside of the keyword golden ratio. I still highly recommend using KGR to learn why it works. Some keywords outside of the ideal search volume range are obtainable, but require the use of topical relevance.
Step 1: Compile a List of Long-Tail Keywords
Use your favorite keyword research tool to get a chunky list of keywords to work with. I like to aim for at least 50-200 keywords to check. In Step 3: Validating your keywords, you will quickly find just how many keywords get disqualified. The more the merrier.
Realistically, you only need one long-tail keyword to get started.
If you don’t have any keyword research tools at your disposal, I recommend using Google’s autosuggest to produce some predictions for you that are at least 5-6 words in length.
Another option is to try using AnswerThePublic to get a handful of question-related search queries, which tend to be long-tail in nature. They give you some free credits to use each day, and if you enjoy the service, consider subscribing. Click here to visit AnswerThePublic keyword research tool. This is an affiliated link, meaning I may receive commission if you end up using their paid service.
Step 2: Add Your List of Keywords to The KGR Worksheet
The KGR (Keyword Golden Ratio) worksheet has a few crafty formulas to help you speed up the process. In this sheet, you will have a few columns to work with.
- Keyword
- Search Volume
- Pages (Validation)
- KGR Formula (Validation)
- ALLINTITLE search modifier shortcut
The only values you are required to change yourself are the keyword, search volume, and pages columns as these are the columns that require data from you.
Step 3: Validate Your List of Keywords
Now that you’ve imported your list of keywords, its time to see if they’re any good. Click on the allintitle shortcut to check how many pages are actively targeting that keyword in their SEO title.
Google will spit out how many pages are using your keyword in their title. Take this number of pages and plug it into your worksheet under the “Pages” column for that keyword. The formulas in the worksheet will automatically light up to be either green or red.
You will notice that there are two cells that are color-coded. The pages column and the KGR column both have a validation step. If either of these cells is green, you are good to go. If both of them are red, move on. If both of them are green, even better!
In most cases, the keywords you find will have little to no competition and are therefore very easy to beat out in Google’s search results. All you would have to do is create quality content that covers this topic in great detail.
Google will occasionally ask you to complete a captcha request to prove you are human. Performing lots of searches (especially with search modifiers) is bot-like behavior. Complete the captcha to resume your searching.
Step 4: Model Your Competition’s Content
The pages that DO show up in search will effectively give you a strong understanding of what Google is looking for when somebody searches for this term. Take note of the topics and on-page SEO elements your competitors are paying attention to.
This step isn’t meant for you to copy your competition’s efforts, but to understand the searcher’s intent. If you can create content that is more relevant to the searcher’s intent, you will naturally earn more clicks, shares, and links to your content.
This step is critical to finding success with the KGR technique as it can vastly improve the number of topics you will have covered in Step 5: Structure Your Content, Then Produce It.
Step 5: Structure Your Content, Then Produce It
Structuring your content is the backbone of SEO writing. Essentially, you want to make sure you are including your keyword in the URL, title, and H1 tag of your page. Be sure to leave some space for a creative introduction paragraph and break up each sub-topic into headers using H2 tags.
Try to cover all the bases for this topic.
If you find a topic that can be explained in one or two paragraphs, create a heading for that topic and answer it. This creates huge value to the reader by satisfying their search intent and Google will reward you handsomely for it.
If you find a topic needs several paragraphs to be explained, consider writing a post about that topic and link to it from your original article using a simple call to action such as “read more about it here”.
Step 6: Proofread, Optimize, and Publish
Check your content for any spelling mistakes and formatting problems. Make sure your content is structured neatly so that any web crawlers can quickly scan and understand what your content is about. You can read my SEO content writing guide here.
Structuring your content is done by using simple html elements such as:
- Title tag
- H1 tag
- URL slug
- H2 tags separating topics
- Body content after each heading
- Bulleted lists and numbered lists
- Images with alt text
Once your content is thoroughly optimized, publish the page. This is usually the step where most people stop, then wonder why their content doesn’t get ranked. In Step 7: Indexing and Ranking Your Content, we talk about ways to get your content indexed and ranked (without trying to game the system).
Step 7: Indexing and Ranking Your Content
Whether or not your content gets indexed is entirely up to Google. They will send a script to scan your web page and assign it a score. If you don’t score high enough, you don’t get indexed. If you don’t get indexed, you don’t rank. Get it?
Indexing your content can be a process on its own. Click here to see my guide on indexing your content.
How Indexable Is Your Content?
The best way to score easy indexation points is to build your page with proper optimizations. This comes down to structuring your data in a way that Google can understand it quickly. In Step 6, we discussed various data structuring.
Keyword Density
One thing to keep in mind is over-optimization. An easy trap to fall into is to repeat your keywords excessively. The rule of thumb is to keep your keyword density somewhere between 2-4%. You should also keep in mind the HTML for your page will include your keywords. I like to make sure to use my keyword once or twice for every 300 words of content.
Crawl-ability & Discoverability
The crawl-ability of your page refers to how easily the search engine crawlers can find your web page. This can easily by dealt with by making sure you’ve submitted your website’s sitemap to Google Search Console.
Google will periodically re-scan your website to see if you have any new pages or if you’ve updated your existing pages. They don’t always check every single page, but the pages they DO scan, they will follow the links you have on those pages. This is where internal linking plays an enormous role in getting new pages indexed.
Internal Linking
Internal linking is something that is often over-looked and is in fact one of the most powerful optimizations you can add to a website. It helps crawlers to find new pages while also helping them to understand the relevance across your website.
Aim to have at least two internal links pointing to any given page that you’re trying to rank.
Getting started is as simple as using this KGR Google Sheet.