Understanding the Opportunity Score
Olivia Reyes
Objective: Learn how to use the Opportunity Score to instantly identify "low-hanging fruit" keywords - search terms with high traffic but relatively low competition.
What is the Opportunity Score?
The Opportunity Score is a proprietary metric calculated by SoldScope to help you judge the potential profitability of a keyword at a glance.
Instead of looking at "Search Volume" and "Competing Products" separately, this score combines them into a single number. It answers the question: "Is this keyword worth fighting for?"
High Score: Indicates high demand (lots of searches) and low supply (few competitors). These are your "Golden Keywords."
Low Score: Indicates a saturated market where competition is high relative to the search traffic.
How is it Calculated?
We use a weighted formula that compares the square root of search volume against the square root of competing products.
The Formula:
Why this formula?
Square Roots: We use square roots to smooth out extreme outliers. This prevents a keyword with 1,000,000 searches (but 500,000 competitors) from looking artificially "easy."
The "+1": This ensures the math works even if a keyword has zero current competitors (preventing division by zero).
Benchmarking: The Category Average
You will often see the score displayed as a pair of numbers, for example: 150 (620).
The First Number (150): This is the specific Opportunity Score for the keyword you are looking at.
The Number in Parentheses (620): This is the Category Average Opportunity Score. It represents the average score of all keywords belonging to the same product category.
Why is this important? Context is everything. A score of 300 might objectively seem "Moderate." However, if the Category Average is 100, then that keyword is actually a fantastic opportunity relative to its niche. Conversely, if the average is 600, a score of 300 suggests the keyword is harder to rank for than most others in that market.
How is the Category Defined? SoldScope analyzes the products appearing in the search results for the keyword.
Example: If the majority of products ranked for "chew toy" belong to the Pet Supplies category, the system assigns that category to the keyword and compares it against the Pet Supplies benchmark.
How to Interpret the Score
Use this score to prioritize your keyword research and tracking list.
Score 1000+ (Excellent): "Unicorn" keywords. These terms have massive search volume and surprisingly low competition. You should prioritize ranking for these immediately.
Score 500 – 1000 (Good): High Potential. Good traffic with manageable competition. These are ideal targets for organic ranking strategies.
Score 100 – 500 (Moderate): Competitive. These are often the core keywords for a category. There is plenty of traffic, but also many sellers. You can rank here, but it will likely require a strong listing quality and aggressive PPC spend.
Score < 100 (Poor): Saturated or Low Interest. These keywords either have too many competitors for the amount of traffic they bring, or simply no one is searching for them.