A statistic known as "keyword difficulty" (sometimes known as "SEO difficulty") gauges how challenging it is to obtain a prominent, unpaid position for a specific search engine query. "iPhone," for instance, has an extremely high difficulty rating. Because it's really difficult to rank higher than the extremely relevant, excellent search results from reputable websites like Apple.

Why Is It Important to Have Tough Keywords?

In search engine optimisation (SEO), keyword difficulty is crucial because it enables you to determine which search words have the best chance of appearing highly in search engine results pages (SERPs). This implies that you can devote resources to content creation that will probably result in increased search engine traffic. After all, more clicks are typically generated by better rankings in organic (unpaid) results. It eventually translates to improved business outcomes and an increase in website conversions. Additionally, you may identify the most effective terms for your content strategy by combining difficulty scores with additional data. 

Tools for determining the difficulty of a keyword

You will probably want a paid keyword research tool in order to analyse the competition for keywords on a large scale. Among the most well-known are the following:

Ahrefs

Proceed to Keywords Explorer to start your search. To make the difficulty level easier to understand, the difficulty score is colour-coded and properly labelled with accompanying descriptive text. 

How is the computation made?

CMO at Ahrefs In-depth explanation by Tim Soulo:

At Ahrefs, we compute KD using a straightforward approach. We find the number of websites that link to each of the top 10 ranking pages for your keyword. The higher the KD score of the top-ranking pages for your term, the more links they have. Extremely straightforward and practical.

Semrush

Its difficulty metrics are accessible in Semrush's Keyword Overview section. Keyword reports have a KD column as well.

How is the computation made?

Semrush employs keyword research, SERP analysis, and a locality-based score weighting system. 

Moz

You can quickly identify and understand your score with Moz's keyword explorer.

How is the computation made?

In their assistance section, Moz clarifies:

"Keyword Difficulty in Keyword Explorer adjusts intelligently for anticipated click-through rate (CTR) of a given page and considers the Page Authority (PA) and Domain Authority (DA) scores of the results ranking on the first page of Google for the given query. Higher-ranking, more prominent pages are given more weight by Keyword Difficulty, whereas lower-ranking, less visible pages are given less weight. Newer pages on strong domains that might have DA scores but no PA values yet are also taken into consideration by the methodology."

The Sistrix

To access the keyword explorer, navigate to Keywords from the top menu. Type a list of terms or a seed term. If you use a seed term, you'll be taken to an overview page where the difficulty score for that particular term is shown. Look deeper into a list of keywords under includes every keyword needed to access a table showing keyword difficulty and competitiveness.

How is the computation made?

Sistrix claims that in order to determine their difficulty score, they employ "a number of values." They continue by saying:

This key figure is a regular analysis and summary of about fifteen data per keyword. Metrics include the quantity of searches and more intricate observations like the quantity of start pages (as opposed to sub-pages) in the top 10.

The structure of the value is logarithmic. This effectively means that there is almost twice as much competition for a certain keyword in the SERPs for every 10 points increase in the competition key statistic.

Each tool is secretive about the precise formulas used in its computation, as one might anticipate. The reasons for the differing scores are that each technique is very different.  

Does a keyword's complexity matter?

The complexity of a keyword by itself is neither excellent nor bad. It's just data, nothing more. Alright, so it's not good if you have to establish a new website on a tight budget and there is fierce competition for all important keywords. However, that is also a rather bad business strategy. It is definitely beneficial to understand keyword competitiveness. Knowing how it can benefit you provides you an advantage over the opposition. 

How difficult is a keyword, high or low?

In general, there is fierce rivalry for high-difficulty keywords, which makes it more difficult to rank well in the organic search results. Some well-known brand names will probably rank for really challenging keywords. For illustration, consider the term "iPhone 14." In the US, Sistrix rates its competitors at 67%. We can see that it would be difficult for lesser firms to rank in the top 10, especially when competing against Apple, CNN, and Wikipedia. In general, low difficulty indicates less intense competition. Less relevant results and some niche websites that aren't well-known may be visible.

Which keyword difficulty is ideal?

This is the point of complexity. A "good" keyword difficulty is a compromise between all the other factors you need to take into account. The best course of action is to compile all pertinent data, including competition scores, and utilise this data to inform your strategic choices. Although it's not an easy chore, you learn more the more you do it.

Things to think about when choosing a suitable keyword

There are a number of factors to take into account while determining the feasibility of a keyword. It's a harmony of the following:

Volume of searches.

The strength of your website currently in the market.

The quality of your profile of backlinks.

The degree of difficulty (or competition) a term has compared to alternative terms you could target.

The extent to which your material can satisfy search intent.

You will consider these considerations when making decisions.

How Should Keyword Difficulty Be Selected?

It's not necessary to select a number or a particular difficulty level while assessing difficulty scores. All it is is a helpful measure to help you see the bigger picture. Difficulty scores are a minor but significant factor in SEO keyword selection. Here's how I go about things:

Use an SEO tool that offers metrics on search traffic, keyword competition, and difficulty with my seed term.

After making your selections for each pertinent keyword, save the list.

Export the list to Excel or Google Sheets.

Sort in order of highest search volume.

Use colour scales to format the columns for search volume and keyword difficulty.

Utilise the colour scales as a visual aid to identify terms with high(er) and low(er) search traffic.

It's crucial to remember not to get too fixated on keyword difficulty metrics, even though there are a number of guidelines for gathering and analysing them. Each tool measures this idea differently, as we have shown. It's more of an idea than a precise science, keyword competition.

Contact Digital Cappuccino to know more about keywords.