What is Keyword Difficulty?

Keyword difficulty is a metric for estimating the amount of competition to expect when ranking for a keyword. It is typically measured on a scale or percentage, with higher values indicating tougher competition.

Keyword difficulty is assessed during the keyword research phase. For SEOs and bloggers, it is a significant factor in determining the keywords to include in their content. The higher the keyword difficulty, the more backlinks and authority are required to rank for it.

It is recommended to target keywords with high search volume but low competition, as they are easier to rank for. More established sites and blogs can, however, target highly competitive keywords.

Importance of Keyword Difficulty in SEO

Keyword difficulty allows bloggers to estimate their chances of ranking for a keyword. Bloggers typically uncover keywords they would love to rank for during keyword research. However, their likelihood of ranking for those keywords is a different ballgame.

As a rule, keywords with high difficulty are harder to rank for. The higher the keyword authority, the more authoritativeness and backlinks are required to rank for it.

Bloggers use the keyword difficulty metric to determine what keywords to target. A high-authority site, for example, will want to target the keywords with the highest authority, while lower-authority sites will settle for keywords with medium or low keyword difficulty.

Difference Between Keyword Difficulty and Competition

Keyword difficulty and competition are two distinct terms intended to measure different things.

Competition is a Google Ads metric that measures the difficulty you should expect to encounter for a keyword you target in your ad campaign. The competition metric is unrelated to the organic search results and is only used for advertising.
Keyword difficulty, on the other hand, measures the difficulty you should expect to encounter for a keyword you want to rank for on organic search results pages.

Keyword difficulty is calculated using metrics from other content ranking for the same keyword. Meanwhile, the competition metric is based on the number of advertisers bidding on the same keyword.

How Keyword Difficulty is Calculated

Different SEO and keyword research tools use different methods to calculate the keyword difficulty. Most tools typically consider several metrics, including the following:

Search volume of the keyword
Whether the keyword is a branded keyword
Whether the keyword is a long-tail keyword

The tools may also consider the metrics of the top content ranking for the keyword. This includes:

Backlink profile
Internal links
Content quality
Content word count
Domain authority
Website authority
Page authority
On-page SEO

Some SEO and keyword research tools only consider metrics from the top 10 content to determine the keyword difficulty. The weight of each metric usually varies as some carry more weight than others.

However, most tools give more weight to the backlink profile of the top-ranking sites. Some tools even use the backlink profile of the top-ranking content as the sole metric to measure keyword difficulty.

That said, the keyword difficulty you decide to target with your content depends on various factors, including your E-E-A-T signals, site authority, and ability to earn backlinks. Generally, the higher they are, the easier you can rank for difficult keywords.