What is KEI? A Quick and Dirty Explanation of Keyword Effictiveness Index
There’s a lot of confusion around about what KEI is, even though when you boil it down, it’s actually pretty simple.
When we do keyword research, we know that we’re supposed to be mentally balancing the amount of traffic a keyword gets with how competitive it is to rank for that keyword. A term does us no good if we can’t rank for it, obviously. But, by the same token, it’s pretty pointless to rank for a term that receives almost no traffic. So there needs to be a balance struck between the two.
Keyword Effectiveness Index, or KEI for short, is a mathematical formula quantifies that balance in a numerical way.
The formula balances the amount of monthly searches for a term (represented by P for Popularity) and the amount of results returned for the term (represented by C for competitiveness).
Here is the formula for KEI:
KEI = P^2/C
Of course, KEI is merely one factor to consider when deciding whether to attempt to rank for a particular term, but it is the generally accepted wisdom that any KEI score above 40 indicates that a term would be effective.
I hope this explanation of KEI has cleared things up!
*melanie
PS – I’d love it if you signed up for NicheChick below – every day you’ll get a brand new niche idea, complete with keyword research that includes KEI! It also includes monthly searches, and results returned when searching two ways (allintitle and “quotes) – not to mention estimated Cost Per Click! This makes it a winner for people who develop content sites that they monetize with Adsense. But if affiliate marketing is your thing, we gotcha covered there, too. 
You will also receive a suggested affiliate program to promote, AND links to four different related and active web communities – a forum, a Google group, a Yahoo group, and a Myspace group.
Your information will never be compromised
Good explanation. I never really knew what KEI stood for.
I always use Wordtracker for my keyword research. There are different tools you can use, but should choose one and stick with it consistently.
I’ve also heard it said – that the competition number is not all that important because your real competition is the first ten sites that come up on Google for your keywords. You should look at those sites and what they offer, plus the links they have and try to improve on what they have. What do you think?
Absolutely. In fact, I have an article in Ezine Articles that makes that very assertion! LOL
Hi,
Thanks for describing the concept, but i believe a concept is best described, when a example is supplied with it. In lack of an appropriate example, it is hard for an concept to make a homerun
I have been looking looking around for this kind of information. Will you post some more in future? I’ll be grateful if you will.
Excellent explanation in “real” words instead of techie mumbo jumbo
Hi
I cannot remember if I posted this comment before so I will put it up again, sorry if it is a repeat.
I know what the first 3 column headings mean but are they daily or monthly figures?
Could you please what the rest of the column headers mean:
Searches (Broad)
Searches (Phrase)
Searches (Exact)
SEO Traffic (Broad)
SEO Traffic (Phrase)
SEO Traffic (Exact)
Phrase -to-Broad
SEO Comp
Title Comp
Comp to Title
Adwords CPC (Broad)
Adwords CPC (Phrase)
Adwords CPC (Exact)
Searches/SEOT Estimated
Thanks for your help with this
Robert