Keyword Difficulty: How to Calculate Your Chances to Rank

Are you a business owner or marketing manager trying to make the most of your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy? Figuring out which keywords best align with your online presence can be tricky, and so can understanding the difficulty of ranking for those words. If you're looking to understand keyword difficulty better, then this blog post is perfect for you! Here we'll discuss how to accurately assess your chances of ranking on various search engines by analyzing keyword difficulty. So if you want to get an in-depth look at what it takes to stand out from the rest and achieve higher visibility through organic searches, read on!

What Is Keyword Difficulty?

Keyword difficulty (KD) is a metric used to determine the ranking ability of a keyword. In other words, it tells you how difficult it is for the keyword to rank on the search engine results page. 

Determining the difficulty level of a keyword informs you whether to invest your time in targeting it or not. 

How is Keyword Difficulty Determined?

Keyword difficulty is measured based on several factors. Several SEO keyword research tools determine the difficulty score of a keyword. Each tool uses for different characteristics to calculate. 

However, below are the primary factors that impact keyword difficulty −

Domain Authority

Domain authority of a website plays a significant role in ranking on SERP. High authority domains dominate the top search results. If your website has high domain authority, Google will consider it first to rank on its SERP. 

If your website has low authority, it is less likely for Google to rank content from your site than reliable and highly authoritative domains. So, picking highly competitive keywords in such cases is not an intelligent choice. 

It is practically impossible for a newly established domain or website to rank. If your website is new, it will likely have lower domain authority. That means google will prefer the contents of your highly authoritative websites over yours.

You can use tools like Ahrefs and Moz to check your site's domain rating. These tools paint you a picture of the backlink profile of your website. 

Content Quality

Creating a solid domain authority is a time-consuming process. It doesn't happen overnight. However, posting high-quality content can help your site get there faster. 

Without developing top-tier content, your site stands no chance of appearing in search results. This is even excruciating when you have to target difficult keywords. 

Conduct thorough keyword research and competitive analysis. This helps you find the right keyword ideas that are easy to rank while driving traffic to your site.

High-quality content must cover the following criteria −

• It must contain unique and accurate information

• The piece should be well-researched and well-explained

• The content should answer the queries of the users

• The content should be optimized for target keywords

Search Intent

Search intent is the intent of the users searching a query. 

For example, if you search "How to prepare coffee at home," the intent behind the query is to learn to prepare coffee. So, while writing content, make sure to address the user's search intent. 

The search intent can be divided into four types −

Informational − It is when users look for some information to educate themselves. 

Commercial − It is when to search about a product/service before purchasing/availing them.

Navigational − It refers to an event when users look for some specific website or page.

Transactional − It is when users decide to buy a service or product.

Authority of Backlinks

Acquiring high-quality backlinks is one of the best ways to rank a highly difficult keyword. When you receive a backlink from a website, it says google the site trusts your content. However, not all kinds of backlinks can rank you on competitive keywords. Only backlinks from authoritative domains can help it. 

Authoritative domains are websites with high domain authority. However, getting backlinks from such websites is pretty hard. You have to write exceptional content in your niche. A site with high DA may link you if they find your content relevant, new, and updated.

Ahrefs's keyword explorer tool can tell you how many backlinks you need to rank on a specific keyword. It also tells you how many referring domains you need to reach your goal. You need quality backlinks from several websites to increase your page and domain authority.

For example, two quality backlinks from 2 different authoritative domains are way better than 100 backlinks from a single domain.

Competitors

If you have highly reputable and authoritative sites as your competitors, it is unlikely to rank sooner on a difficult keyword. Knowing your competitors through a competitor analysis is the first thing you should do. This gives you a clear picture of your competitors' domain strength. It shows you whether you stand a chance in competing with them on a highly competitive keyword.

Types of Competitors in SEO

Industry competitors − They include businesses and websites selling the same products and services to your target audiences.

Keyword competitors − They include site owners whose site ranks on the keywords you intend to target.

SEO competitors − These include sites that target the same audience and keywords as yours.

Tools like Ahrefs, Mozbar, Buzzsumo, and SEMrush can help you identify your competitors. With these tools, you can check all sites targeting your desired keywords. It also shows their page & domain authority, SERP position, backlink profile, and more.

The key to effective keyword research requires three elements: Keyword difficulty, search volume, and intent. 

Search Volume

Now that you have a decent idea about keyword difficulty and intent, you must work on search volume. This is because all three are required to implement a robust keyword research strategy.

Search volume is the number of searches a keyword gets in each month. It means, if a keyword has a high search volume, targeting it would increase your traffic. 

How to Analyse Keyword Difficulty Score?

The keyword difficulty is measured between 0 to 100 score. A higher score indicates a highly difficult keyword. It is less likely to rank in Google and other search engines.

Several tools are available, like Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush, to check the keyword difficulty of a specific keyword. However, the scoring of each tool may differ. For instance, Ahrefs may show a difficulty score of 35 for a keyword. Meanwhile, SEMrush may score the same keyword at 55. 

However, these tools are essential to determining crucial information and metrics about keyword difficulty, search volume, keywords that would rank easily, ways to rank higher, and many more. 

Do Long Tail Keywords Affect keyword Difficulty?

Long tail keywords are long queries that users search on Google. These keywords are often in the form of questions.

For example −

Does yoga make you lose weight?

What is the surname of the leading actor in the movie X?

How do you learn Spanish within six weeks?

Generally, shorter and broad keywords are known to generate higher search volume compared to long-tail keywords.

However, that makes shorter keywords more competitive due to high competition. This is where long-tail keywords shine. 

Since long-tail keywords come with longer terms, their search volumes remain low. This makes them easier to rank. As a result, they can help you improve conversion rates compared to shorter keywords.