Keyword Difficulty

What is Keyword Difficulty?

The so-called Keyword Difficulty is the term we use to describe the amount of effort required to make your website organically relevant to its targetKeyword in the top rankings. Here we want to illustrate how the "Keyword-difficulty" affects the SEO effort for your site and how to find keywords that have a much lower Keyword Difficulty have and are therefore also easier to get hold of.

It's a good idea to use your Content strategy to start by entering a Keyword Create strategy and analyze different keywords. The goal is not to waste your time and money on keywords for which it is too difficult to achieve a top ranking. Many of the top 100 keywords in a particular industry already have high search demand and have become very competitive. The websites that effectively optimize for the top 100 keywords in their industry have a good chance of increasing their presence on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for these top keywords.

The chance to break through the top 10 lists on the SERPs for the obvious base keywords your industry has become an uphill battle. As a result, these competitive keywords often have a very high Keyword Difficulty. These developments require a new approach to selecting a keyword for which you want to perform well organically.

Keyword difficulty analysis tools

There are several good tools that provide insights into the difficulty of the keyword. They analyze Search volume, competition and ranking opportunities for a particular Keyword. However, these metrics are relative, as they are not able to measure the holistically owned domain authority of competitors on a given topic.

Possible tools:

• Ahrefs
• KWFinder
• MOZ

How SEO Tools Calculate Keyword Difficulty

The Keyword Difficulty (KD) is a metric used by various SEO tools to estimate the difficulty with which a given Keyword ranks in the search results on Google. Different SEO tools use different methods for calculating the Keyword Difficulty. Here are the methods used by some of the most popular SEO tools:

1. Ahrefs:

Ahrefs calculates the Keyword Difficulty based on the number and quality of the Backlinkswhich points to the top 10 search results for the respective Keyword refer. The metric is displayed on a scale from 0 to 100, with 0 being the easiest and 100 being the most difficult. Ahrefs uses its own "URL-Rating" (UR) and the "Domain-Rating" (DR) to evaluate the quality of the Backlinks to estimate.

2. SEMrush:

SEMrush calculates the Keyword Difficulty also on a scale of 0 to 100. The calculation is based on an analysis of the top 10 search results for the respective Keyword. SEMrush takes into account various factors such as domain authority, page authority and the number of Backlinks. In addition, on-page factors such as the length and quality of the content as well as the Keyword-optimization on the respective pages into the calculation.

3. Moz:

Moz calculates the Keyword Difficulty with the help of its own metrics "Page Authority" (PA) and "Domain Authority" (DA). The calculation is based on an analysis of the top 10 search results for the respective Keyword. The metric is displayed on a scale from 0 to 100, with higher values indicating higher difficulty. Moz takes into account the number and quality of the Backlinks as well as the on-page optimization of the respective pages.

4. KWFinder (Mangools):

KWFinder calculates the Keyword Difficulty based on a combination of various factors such as the Search volume, the number of Backlinks and the SEO metrics of the top 10 search results for the respective Keyword. The metric is displayed on a scale from 0 to 100, with 0 being the easiest and 100 the most difficult. KWFinder uses its own "Link Profile Strength" (LPS) to measure the quality of the Backlinks to estimate.

Each of these SEO tools uses different methods and algorithms to determine the Keyword Difficulty to calculate. Therefore, there may be differences in the results if you use the Keyword Difficulty for the same Keyword in different tools. It is advisable to use multiple tools to get a more comprehensive understanding of the difficulty of a keyword and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.

What kind of keywords should you search for?

The goal of your Keyword-Research is to find high traffic keywords with high conversion potential that have a chance to rank in the top 10 SERPs. The best scenario would be to use keywords with high Search volume and low competition. The idea is to provide qualified Traffic with a high probability of attracting conversions.

Advantages

The most important advantage of usingKeywordDifficulty is that it helps companies plan their SEO strategy. With this tool, companies can make a quick decision about the best keywords for their SEO strategy. It also helps to evaluate the efforts needed to achieve certain SERP-positions.

Here are a few benefits of knowing the Keyword-difficulty offers:

1. Helps in the selection of keywords: By using the Keyword-When you consider the difficulty of your keywords, you can make sure that you choose keywords that are realistic for your website. If you try to rank for very difficult keywords, you will probably be disappointed as this is very difficult.

2. Enables the prioritization of keywords: The Keyword-This can also help you prioritize your keywords and focus on the ones that are easiest to rank for. This way you can achieve success faster and then slowly work your way up.

3. Supports the creation of Content: If you know which keywords are difficult to rank for, you can optimize your Content accordingly and go the extra mile with more difficult keywords - while simpler keywords require less work from you.

4. Assists in the assessment of competitors: By using the Keyword-If you know the difficulty of your competitors, you can better assess how well they are performing compared to you. You can also see if it's easy or difficult to rank for certain keywords and take that into account when deciding whether or not to compete for those keywords.

The problem with Keyword Difficulty values

These values are estimates that indicate how difficult it is to achieve a particular position in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for a given Keyword to achieve. These values are usually calculated by SEO tools and are based on various factors such as the number of competitors, quality and Relevance of competitors, the number of Backlinks and the quality of the Backlinks. However, there are some problems with using KD values as the basis for an SEO strategy:

1. KD values are estimates and may therefore be inaccurate.
2. They do not always take into account all the important factors that influence search engine rankings.
3. They do not take into account the specific goals and resources of a site.
4. They do not take into account changes in Google's search algorithms. Therefore, KD values should not be used as the sole basis for an SEO strategy, but should be used as one part of a broader analysis that also takes into account other factors such as the website's goals, resources, and industry.

Disadvantages

Here are a few possible disadvantages of Keyword-Difficulty:

1. Can lead to focusing on the wrong keywords: If you focus too much on low difficulty keywords, you could potentially miss out on important keywords that are important to your target audience but are harder to rank for.

2. Can lead to spending too much time researching keywords: If you spend too much time researching the difficulty of keywords, you could potentially neglect important aspects of your SEO strategy.

3. May be inaccurate: There is no absolute Keyword-difficulty, as it depends on various factors, such as your domain authority, your Content-quality and your linking. This means that the Keyword-difficulty may not always be accurate, and you may be able to make progress if you are working for a specific Keyword even despite high "Keyword Difficulty" edit.

Use cases

KeywordDifficultyis a useful tool for companies that need to choose the best keywords for their SEO program. It can also help in evaluating the effectiveness of a company's SEO efforts by assessing the effort required to achieve a certain position in the SERPs.

Examples

For example, let's say that a company starts an SEO program with the goal of increasing theSERP-Position for theKeyword"Flashlight" to improve. With theKeywordDifficulty-Tool, they can determine that the competition for theKeywordis very high and the effort required to improve the position is likely to be very high.

Another scenario would be if the company were to launch a newKeywordlike "LED flashlight" would like to add. With theKeywordDifficulty-Tool, they can determine that the competition is lower and the effort required is likely to be lower. This gives them the opportunity to choose the better option for their SEO goals to choose.

In general, the more word and the less generic the term, the lower the Keyword Difficulty.

Here is a table with examples of keywords and their possible Keyword-Difficulty:

Conclusion

KeywordDifficultyis a useful tool for companies to choose the best keywords for their SEO program. It helps to evaluate the effort required to achieve certain positions in the SERPs. It can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a company's SEO efforts. ThereforeKeywordDifficultyan important part of a company's SEO strategy.