What Is Keyword Difficulty? (& How to Measure It)

What Is Keyword Difficulty? 

Keyword trouble (or SEO difficulty) is simply a metric that estimates however hard it is to gain a prominent, unpaid presumption for a fixed hunt motor query.

For example, “iphone” has a precise precocious trouble score. Because it’s highly challenging to outrank the highly relevant, high-quality hunt results from authoritative sites similar Apple.

In Semrush, keyword trouble (KD%) is expressed arsenic a percentage. With 100% trouble keywords being the hardest to fertile for.

Why Is Keyword Difficulty Important?

Keyword trouble is important successful search motor optimization (SEO) due to the fact that it helps you place hunt presumption you person the imaginable to fertile highly for successful search motor results pages (SERPs). 

That means you tin put resources into contented that volition apt make much hunt motor traffic.

After all, higher rankings successful integrated (unpaid) results usually pb to much clicks. Which tin yet construe to much website conversions and amended concern results.

And you tin harvester trouble scores with different insights to take the champion imaginable keywords for your contented strategy. 

What Affects Keyword Difficulty successful SEO? 

Semrush’s keyword trouble metric is based connected an investigation of the apical 10 integrated results successful Google. And a assortment of keyword characteristics.

Below, you’ll find a breakdown of six cardinal factors.

1. Backlinks to Top-Ranking Sites

Backlinks are links that a website gets from outer sites. 

Google treats definite kinds of backlinks similar recommendations. So, the stronger the top-ranking sites’ backlinks, the higher the term’s keyword trouble volition be.

Semrush’s look considers 2 main backlink metrics:

• The median fig of referring domains: Generally, the much sites nexus to a website, the much salient and trustworthy it’s perceived to be. And the harder it’ll beryllium to outrank.
• The median ratio of travel to nofollow links: Nofollow links are links the creator has requested hunt engines to disregard for SEO purposes. So, sites with a debased proportionality of nofollow backlinks tin beryllium harder to outrank.

You tin cheque these metrics yourself with Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool.

Just participate the domain oregon URL you’re funny successful and click “Analyze.”

Then, caput to the “Backlinks” study to spot the fig of referring domains. And the percent of nofollow links.

(Sponsored and UGC links are circumstantial kinds of nofollow links.)

Backlinks besides impact Authority Scores. As we’ll explicate successful the adjacent section.

2. Authority Scores of Top-Ranking Sites

Semrush’s Authority Score measures a website’s SEO ranking quality connected a standard retired of 100. It’s based connected 3 main factors:

• Link power: The prime and quantity of backlinks to the site
• Organic traffic: The estimated fig of monthly unpaid visits from hunt engines
• Natural profile: The prevalence of spam indicators successful the site’s backlink illustration (which you tin larn much astir successful our usher to toxic backlinks)

The higher the top-ranking sites’ Authority Scores, the higher the keyword trouble volition be.

You tin find your site’s Authority Score with the Backlink Analytics tool.

Enter your domain past caput to the “Overview” report.

Then, adhd competitors to spot however your Authority Scores compare.

3. Keyword Search Volume

Search volume refers to the mean fig of monthly searches for a keyword. And volumes thin to correlate powerfully with trouble scores.

Why?

Higher-volume keywords person the imaginable to thrust much traffic. So, they thin to pull much competition.

You tin find keywords, their hunt volumes, and their trouble scores successful Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Enter a word to basal your probe around, take your country, and click “Search.”

Then, notation to the “Volume” and “KD %” columns for each keyword.

In our example, keywords with hunt volumes of 100,001 oregon higher person an mean trouble people of 80%.

But keywords with volumes from 11-100 person mean keyword trouble of 43%. 

One of the champion ways to maximize postulation is to people the highest-volume keywords that person achievable trouble scores.

What’s achievable depends connected your site’s presumption and contented strategy. (More connected that later.)

4. The Presence of SERP Features

SERP features are non-traditional hunt results that thin to basal retired and gully the user’s attention.

If a keyword triggers 1 oregon much of the features below, it’s mostly harder for sites to gain integrated impressions (views) and clicks. So, that translates to a higher trouble score.

• Featured snippet: A webpage excerpt that typically appears astatine the apical of the SERP
• Instant answer: An reply that appears without a salient nexus (e.g., a dictionary definition)
• Local pack: A artifact that includes representation results and concern listings
• Knowledge panel: A summary astir a person, place, organization, oregon happening that appears connected the close broadside of the SERP
• Top stories: A artifact that includes links to applicable quality articles
• People besides ask: A artifact featuring commonly asked questions and effect snippets
• Sitelinks: Extra links to pages connected a tract (which look beneath an different modular result)

Conversely, the SEO keyword trouble volition beryllium little if nary SERP features are triggered. Because determination are nary peculiar elements to vie against.

When you bash keyword research successful the Keyword Magic Tool, you tin spot however galore SERP features each keyword triggers. And observe which ones they are.

5. Whether the Keyword Is Branded

If a keyword includes a marque sanction (e.g., “iphone”), its SEO trouble people volition beryllium higher.

That’s due to the fact that Google is apt to favour results from the brand’s ain site. Making it harder for different sites to fertile prominently.

For example, Apple dominates the “iphone” SERP:

Of course, this means that it should beryllium comparatively casual to fertile for your ain branded keywords.

6. The Search Term’s Word Count

For our keyword trouble metric, keywords with longer connection counts thin to person little trouble scores. Because they thin to beryllium long-tail keywords—highly circumstantial keywords that often person little hunt volumes and little contention levels. 

For example, the latest information from our U.S. database shows that:

• “iphone 15 pro max” has 71% trouble and gets 823K searches/month
• “iphone 15 pro max 256gb earthy titanium” has 38% trouble and gets 390 searches/month

Long-tail keywords thin to correlate with precocious engagement and conversion rates. Because users person a wide thought of what they’re looking for.

So, long-tail keywords with debased trouble scores tin beryllium large keywords to target.

When you usage Keyword Magic Tool, you tin find long-tail keywords circumstantial to your concern (which are often longer) utilizing the suggested groups and subgroups connected the left-hand side:

How to Check Keyword Difficulty

You tin easy cheque keyword trouble scores with Keyword Overview. 

Just benignant your keyword(s) into the instrumentality and you’ll spot the score(s) successful the dashboard. 

If you’re conducting keyword research, the Keyword Magic Tool displays each keyword’s trouble people successful the “KD %” column. 

And this is however the scores interruption down:

What’s a Good Keyword Difficulty Score to Target?

To cognize what kinds of keywords you tin fertile highly for, it’s adjuvant to look astatine your existent performance.

You tin rapidly analyse your existing keyword rankings (and their trouble scores) successful the Organic Research tool.

After entering your domain, spell to the “Positions” report. 

Then, look for trends betwixt the “Position” and “KD %” data.

You tin adhd a “KD” filter to spot what kinds of positions you clasp successful that trouble range. Or adhd a “Positions” filter to spot what kinds of trouble scores look successful that range.

For example, you mightiness find that you fertile #1 for galore keywords with trouble scores implicit 50%.

But you fertile nary higher than #11 for keywords with scores implicit 80%.

As a result, you mightiness determine to absorption connected caller keywords successful the 50%-80% range.

It’s besides adjuvant to recognize your competitory positioning.

If you person a little Authority Score and weaker backlinks than your competitors, you’ll find it hard to outrank them. So, you should astir apt absorption connected lower-difficulty keywords to start. 

You tin amended your competitiveness implicit clip by:

• Doing link building (acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable sites)
• Building retired topic clusters (groups of contented that halfway astir a main topic) to found authorization astir applicable topics
• Growing your organic traffic done lower-difficulty keywords

How to Create Rankable Content

No substance what the keyword trouble people is, you indispensable make quality content to gain a apical ranking.

This is unsocial contented that satisfies search intent (the user’s crushed for searching) successful an businesslike and effectual way.

Ideally, you privation to outshine each your competitors.

When you find keywords successful the Keyword Magic Tool, you tin easy click done to the SERP. And cheque retired what you’re up against.

Just click the icon that looks similar this: