Does Keyword Golden Ratio Work?

Keyword golden ratio is a keyword research process brought by Doug Cunnington to find low competition keywords to drive organic traffic to a website.

The whole idea is finding easy to rank keywords that have a decent search volume but not targeted enough by the other websites.

Conceptually, you should be driving immediate traffic shortly after you publish the KGR content.

I have seen a few testimonial videos claiming how Keyword Golden Ratio helped them to achieve great results. Especially Doug's case study of publishing 200 pieces of KGR content and multiplying web traffic and income by many folds is quite impressive.

Doug Cunnington is a great internet marketer, and I myself even follow his Youtube channel. What I am going to discuss by no means aims to devalue his business.

However, I want to talk today if KGR is the magic bullet or just another hype in the online marketing sphere.

Let's first have a look at what KGR content is. Here is the mathematical formula according to the originator of KGR.

KGR = (Allintitle search results / Search volume)

If the value the formula provides,

Less than 0.25 – KGR is on 😊 (Bingo, you have found a KGR Keyword)

In between of 0.25 and 1.00 – It may work 😕

Bigger than 1 – It doesn't work 😞

KGR Keyword Research Is Hard Done Manually

If you are going to do KGR keyword research manually it is going to take a lot of time. You need to a KGR calculator or a premium tool to find KGR keywords in bulk. I have used “Keywords Everywhere” to quickly pull keyword volume data, but still, manual research seems to be ineffective.

You need to search each keyword on Google with and without using “allintitle” search operator, then plugin your findings into an excel file. In my experience, it is very hard to find keywords that are compliant with the KGR ratio unless you have a KGR finder or KGR calculator.

According to Doug, the KGR content doesn't necessarily be a long copy. He said most of his KGR content somewhere in between 800-1200 words. This is a big advantage since it saves people creating a long-form of content which takes quite a long time.

Another major advantage this type of content provides, the possibility of driving immediate traffic from the search engines. It can be particularly useful especially for the new websites targeting to drive organic traffic from the search engines.

Let's discuss if the new websites should focus on purely KGR content without targeting more competitive keywords.

I think new websites should focus on a mixture of high, medium and low difficulty keywords. The most common trap one may fall into is thinking that targeting very competitive keywords for new websites is useless.

I don't think so, and let me explain why.

Let's assume I write a piece of content targeting a highly competitive keyword like “email marketing”. For this type of competitive keyword usually, a minimum amount of content should be at least several thousands of words or more.

I generally prefer checking Google's first SERP position to have an idea of what is the average length of content I should produce.

If you don't want to do this job every time manually, SEMrush can help by informing you about the optimum length of content you should be writing.

Let's assume I have decided writing a minimum of 5000 words of content targeting the keyword “email marketing”.

But, how I am going to rank for this search term as a new website if I don't have high-quality backlinks pointing to my website.

Here is the response that most internet marketers fail to understand. I don't need to rank for “email marketing” to get relevant traffic to my website.

If I have written a well-structured copy that is very rich in long-tail variations of my target keyword together with other LSI keywords, I am going to get traffic to my site.

When you publish KGR content you are likely to be on a “no-competition land” for a very low search volume keyword. It is like you are selling donuts in the middle of the desert. Sure there is no one else selling donuts other than you but you may wait an entire day for a customer.

When you write a long-form of content targeting more competitive keywords, you literally own a donut store in the city. Yes, you have more competitors in terms of price and the quality they deliver, but you still have chances to sell plenty of them.

I have published a few KGR contents of about 1000 words each. What I mostly noticed, Google prefers bringing results that have a longer form of content that may be included the KGR keyword somewhere in a paragraph.

Allintitle search operator just isolates all results targeting certain keywords in the meta title. Google doesn't care if your target keyword listed in meta title all the time. If you don't believe me go and make a search on Google with a long tail search query.

You will be surprised how Google lists results that have meta titles are not matching your search query. Google has a sophisticated algorithm that values search intent rather than counting keyword instances.

Still in doubt? Then check this out.

Google really doesn't care what your Title tag recommends.

Maybe this one can help you understand what Google is really capable of.

Does it mean, Keyword Golden Ratio doesn't work?

I didn't say that. It may work or may not.

However, it is not the only way, and most probably not the best way for new websites to get instant traffic from the search engines.

You don't necessarily include a keyword in your meta title exactly as you target it to get traffic from Google.

Also, note that a 1000 word of copy targeting a certain keyword can be easily replicable by your competitors which following your content publishing routine regularly. Hence, it wouldn't be an evergreen success that may last for a long time.

If you write a long-form of content that is overwhelmingly rich in long-tail keyword variations and LSI keywords, you will still drive at least equally well amount of traffic as KGR content drives.

Let me show you an example of what type of content I am talking about. Here is a fairly long copy of the content (about 3k words) I have written.

It is already ranking for multiple keywords just after I have published it. I even didn't consciously target most keywords I rank for.

Here how I achieved it.

I visited every single Fiverr gig related to the content I am going to create. I copied gig descriptions to include in my content. Then I made a list consist of so many long-tail keywords and LSI keywords. Then I conceptually included these keywords in my content.

Here I am going to give you another example.

If I want to write a piece of content about email marketing, I will need to visit websites of 30+ email autoresponder companies, WP list building plugin websites, and Solo Ad provider sites to make a list of keywords I am going to use.

I think you understood my point with the type of keyword research I am talking about. It is hard, and time-consuming but definitely paying off the efforts.

I basically create the richest keyword dense content ever. Making keyword research by using tools only is leaving the big money on the table. Keyword tools are useful but they have flaws and don't provide a view of the bigger picture.

Google loves combining multiple keywords in your content to respond to long-tail search queries. Writing longer copies by combining multiple keywords and creating sections and subsections is better than dividing your content into ultra-short pieces targeting a single keyword.

Shorter copies on your site, if they are around a similar topic, may likely compete with each other, and can cause keyword cannibalization problems.

KGR seems to me like instant gratification to get traffic. But there is a price to pay.

If you have long term plans with your website, you need to build authority. You can only build authority if you earn links. Did you notice I said “earn” rather than “build”?

You are not likely to earn links organically by publishing KGR posts. People will not link out to your 1000 word content. Because most short copies provide no value to the user.

If you don't earn links you will not build authority over time.

If you have a large budget to write and publish multiple guest posts every month, then it is fine.

Do you want to constantly push your site by spending money on link building?

Then, go for it.

But, here what I want to ask you.

Wouldn't it be any better if you build “linkable assets” that pull those high authority links?

By doing so, you could compete for those very high competitive keywords overtime. If you create really in-depth, high-quality content you will earn links and build authority.

Write something if you have seen on the web you would link out. Write in-depth, something you and the user wants to see.

Finally, is KGR legit, or does it at least work?

I am optimistic but not convinced since I haven't seen any results. However, there are marketers claim to achieve great results.

I personally not practice it anymore since I got better results by writing the richest keyword dense content.

There is always more than one way of doing things right, and likely there are many other better ways. If it works for you do it, if not try what I recommend and let me know how did it work for you.