What is Keyword Difficulty?

Keyword Difficulty is an SEO metric showing how hard it would be to rank in the top 10 results for any given keyword in Google or any other target search engine of your choice.

The algorithm behind the Keyword Difficulty score is dead simple. Our tool compares top-ranking pages for the main ranking signals, such as domain authority, the number of backlinks and their quality, and estimates the score based on how strong your page is against all other competing pages.

Not sure how it works? Give it a try with the Keyword Difficulty checker in Rank Tracker – one of the best SEO tools for estimating your traffic potential. See it yourself – download the software and do keyword research absolutely free of charge.

How our Keyword Difficulty tool works

To assess the Keyword Difficulty score, the checker analyzes the top 10 ranking pages for a certain keyword according to a wealth of important metrics like:

InLink Rank (close to PageRank)

Sites referring to a page

Sites referring to a domain

After analyzing all the factors, the tool checks the page strength against the top 10 competing websites and comes up with the total value for the keyword. It forecasts how hard it will be for the page to outrank each individual competitor in the top 10 on the SERP for this query.

How exactly the Keyword Difficulty metric can help you

Prioritize the right keywords, separately or in bulk, based on how much effort it will take for your pages to rank

Match Keyword Difficulty score, search volume and organic search competition to see the best keyword opportunities

Explore the local search competition with your custom settings for any search engine and geolocation

Save time, money, and effort by picking the keywords able to bring more earnings for your site at a lower cost

Do bulk keyword research in a matter of minutes with the most extensive keyword database

Embed the Keyword Difficulty metric into your long-term SEO strategy

Prioritize the right keywords

Optimizing a website, the last thing you probably want is to drown under a huge amount of rubbishy data. Don’t waste your efforts on keywords that will hardly bring you any traffic to the site. Prioritize keywords that have the potential to maximize your SEO results.

Check Keyword Difficulty to spot the most effective queries

Spot keywords that have the highest chances of bringing tons of organic traffic and don’t require much optimization work. The checker determines keyword difficulty as Low, Medium, and High. Examine the phrases colored with a green marker – these are your best optimization opportunities.

Combine the Keyword Difficulty metric with other factors

Take a look at the Keyword Difficulty metric in combination with Search Volume and Competition. To choose the right keywords quicker, consult the Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) which is based on all the three metrics above.

Find the right balance between Keyword Difficulty and search volume

Low-competition keywords with low search volume

Usually, these are long-tail keywords that enjoy a higher click-through rate from organic search. They are easier to rank for because pretty often they have low competition (which is not a strict rule, though).

Less competitive keywords with higher search volumes

Rare but lucky finds especially helpful for niche topics. If you find low competition keywords with considerable search volume, organic traffic won’t keep you waiting. These are the perfect keywords for new websites and the easiest to rank for.

High-competition keywords with high search volumes

These are for a long-term SEO game. With time, you will find your site competing for high-search volume keywords as well. To catch up with the competition level, you will need to create great content and get yourself high-quality backlinks.

Analyze your SERP competition for organic growth

Keyword Difficulty is the very first parameter to look at when comparing your pages to best-performing competitor domains. In fact, there is no good or bad Keyword Difficulty score – all you have to know is how you stack up against your rivals in organic search results.

Get a close-up of your competition with SERP Analysis

Now in the special SERP Analysis module, you can compare the top 50 ranking competitors’ pages for every keyword and pick the right optimization strategy for your pages.

Get a handy overview of the SERP with all competitors conveniently laid out in a single dashboard. See their domain authority for the ranking pages and the strength of their link profile.

Choose the right optimization tactics for a keyword

The checker will calculate Keyword Difficulty by analyzing the top results for some vital metrics, including:

Backlinks to page and domain

On top of that, the checker discovers correlations between factors and positions in organic search results (low, moderate, or high) and gives a clue which factor requires more attention.

Bulk-check and automation for long-term SEO strategy

If you’ve already collected a large list of new keywords, there’s good news for you. Our Keyword Difficulty tool offers a nice solution to find Keyword Difficulty score for a whole list of keywords. In Rank Tracker, you have full control over your data to analyze it the way you want.

Scale your research with flexible tools

If you have hundreds of suggestions on your keyword list, clear up the data with your custom filters and tags built into the checker. Group keywords and check the keyword difficulty score for the whole list of keywords in bulk.

Likewise, examine the average difficulty for all keywords mapped to an individual landing page. These features are especially useful for those who do keyword research and have to deal with a large amount of data.

Check Keyword Difficulty on autopilot

With super fast-changing competition landscapes, Keyword Difficulty is the kind of metric that needs to be constantly monitored. You can get your stats calculated completely on autopilot. The results will be brought to you as an in-app or downloadable report. Note that the automated tasks are supported in the Enterprise version only.

Find easy keywords for SEO

with our Keyword Difficulty tool

Don’t waste your time and optimization effort on the wrong keywords. Find the most cost-effective keywords that are super easy to rank for and beat your competitors in a wink of an eye. Get tons of traffic from Google with powerful keyword research and accurate rank monitoring.

• 23 free keyword research methods
• Unlimited number of keywords and projects to check
• Comprehensive keyword SERP analysis
• Convenient keyword storage
• The most generous free plan from all SEO tools
• Scheduled rankings checks
• Fully customizable ranking reports

Download now

Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux

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