What is the Keyword Golden Ratio?

It is a long-tail keyword selection method created by Doug Cunnington: allintitle results divided by monthly search volume, for keywords under 250 searches a month. A ratio under 0.25 signals a phrase you can rank for almost immediately.

Does the Keyword Golden Ratio still work?

As a filter for genuinely uncontested long-tail phrases, yes. What has changed is that ranking is no longer enough on its own: the page still has to satisfy the query better than the AI Overview above it. Treat KGR as a shortlist filter, not a strategy.

Why must search volume be under 250?

Above roughly 250 searches a month, competitors optimise deliberately rather than incidentally, and title-tag counts stop being a reliable proxy for competition. For those keywords, keyword difficulty based on the live SERP's link profile is the better measure.

What if allintitle returns zero results?

That is a KGR of zero, which is as golden as it gets, but sanity-check the phrase reads naturally. Zero allintitle results sometimes means nobody searches for it that way and the volume figure is an artefact of keyword-tool grouping.

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Keyword Golden Ratio Checker

Score any long-tail keyword with the KGR formula and see instantly whether a single page can rank for it without link building.

Keyword

Run allintitle search

allintitle results

Monthly search volume

Verdict

Golden

0.13

Golden. Almost nobody has optimised a title for this exact phrase. A single focused page can realistically rank without link building.

Next step

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The keyword golden ratio formula

KGR = allintitle results ÷ monthly search volume

KGR under 0.25 — golden. Expect to rank in the top 50 quickly, often within days of indexing.
KGR 0.25 to 1.0 — still worth a shot, especially with any existing topical authority.
KGR above 1.0 — more optimised titles than searches. Narrow the phrase.
Volume at or above 250 — KGR does not apply. Use keyword difficulty instead.

How to get the allintitle number

Search Google for allintitle:"your keyword" in quotes and read the results count under the search box. That count is how many indexed pages put the exact phrase in their title tag, which is the real competition for a long-tail term. The button above opens that search pre-filled.

In short

The Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) divides the number of Google allintitle results for a phrase by its monthly search volume, and only applies when volume is below 250. A KGR under 0.25 is 'golden': almost nobody has optimised a title tag for that exact phrase, so a focused page can usually reach the top 50 within days of being indexed. Between 0.25 and 1.0 is still worth targeting. Above 1.0 means more optimised pages exist than there is monthly demand, and you should narrow the phrase.

Worked example

What the output looks like

Input: Keyword: "best rank tracker for freelancers" · allintitle: 14 · volume: 110
Output: KGR 0.13 — Golden
How to read it: Only fourteen pages on the entire indexed web have optimised a title for this phrase, against 110 people searching for it every month. One well-structured page answering the query directly should reach the first page with no link building at all.

How it works

Get the allintitle count

Search Google for allintitle:"your keyword" with quotes. The results count is how many indexed pages carry the exact phrase in their title tag.

Add the monthly search volume

Any keyword tool will give you this. KGR is only meaningful under 250 searches a month, so the checker returns 'not applicable' above that.

Act on the band, not the decimal

Golden means publish now. Hard means find a longer variant — add an audience, a location, a use case or a year to the phrase and re-check.

What this tool does

Instant KGR score and golden / okay / hard verdict
Enforces the under-250 volume rule automatically
One-click allintitle search pre-filled for your keyword
Plain-language guidance on what to do with the result

Questions

Frequently asked

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Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR): How to Calculate It

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