What is Keyword Difficulty?

At its very core, the keyword difficulty is a measure of the competitive landscapes surrounding a search query. It reflects how hard it would be to rank for a given keyword or search query, by considering several metrics such as the strength of existing on-page content, ready-made optimized content, backlinks, domain strength, and the number of sites ranking for the target keyword. This criteria helps SEOs determine the right keywords to target for present and future campaigns.

How Is It Calculated?

Keyword difficulty score is calculated using several metrics such as domain strength, backlinks, page content, and other similar ranking criteria. All of these factors are then used to determine the keyword difficulty score, which can range from 0 100, with 0 representing the easiest ranking keywords and 100 representing the most difficult keywords.

How To Use Keyword Difficulty Scores?

Firstly, it's important to remember that keyword difficulty scores are just a number, and can offer a lot of valuable insight into potential SEO campaigns. This doesn't necessarily mean that you should only target low difficulty keywords, as high difficulty keywords can still be incredibly valuable, depending on the intent and industry.

For example, in competitive industries such as finance, it's likely that you'll need to target higher difficulty keywords in order to get an edge. However, for less competitive industries, opting for lower difficulty keywords might be simpler and more profitable.

Potential Pitfalls To Applying Keyword Difficulty

Although keyword difficulty scores can be incredibly useful, they do have a few potential pitfalls. First and foremost, keyword difficulty scores work best when used inized with other metrics such as keyword relevance and search volume.

For instance, if you're interested in targeting a high difficulty keyword, it's important to make sure that it has decent search volume and is relevant to your industry. Otherwise, you'll likely be wasting your time and resources targeting keywords that may never bring in any tangible SEO results.

Insights and Closing Remarks

Keyword difficulty is an incredibly valuable metric for SEOs, as it provides valuable insight into the competitive landscape surrounding a keyword or search query. While it's related to several different metrics such as domain strength, page content, and backlinks, it's important to remember that keyword difficulty should never be looked at in isolation. For any given campaign, keyword difficulty should be evaluated in tandem with other metrics such as keyword relevance and search volume to ensure maximum ROI.