Keyword difficulty (also known as SEO difficulty) is a metric that measures the difficulty of earning a top position in search results for a specific keyword.
For example, the keyword “iPhone” has a very high difficulty score because websites like Apple dominate search results. This dominance creates a challenging situation for other pages trying to outrank those authoritative, high-quality results.
Semrush provides a Personal Keyword Difficulty score in addition to a general Keyword Difficulty score.
Focusing on these PKD-based opportunities can help you build a more effective SEO strategy and improve your search rankings.
Keyword difficulty is important in SEO because it helps you find terms your website can realistically rank for in the organic search results. By understanding which keywords are within reach, you can focus on creating content that will drive more search traffic.
Improved rankings in organic search results often lead to more clicks, increased website conversions, and better business outcomes.
When you combine keyword difficulty data with other insights, you can choose the best keywords to support your content strategy.
Both KD and PKD rely on analyzing Google’s top 10 organic results and several keyword characteristics.
Below is a breakdown of six key factors.
Backlinks are links from one website to another.
Google treats backlinks from high-authority sites as strong endorsements. If a top-ranking site for a keyword has many quality backlinks, the keyword difficulty score will likely be higher.
Semrush’s formula considers two backlink metrics:
- Median number of referring domains: More quality referring domains increase a site’s perceived prominence and trust, making it harder to outrank.
- Median ratio of follow to nofollow links: Sites with fewer nofollow links can be more challenging to surpass in rankings.
Check these metrics with Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool:
- Enter a domain or URL, then click “Analyze.”
- Go to the “Backlinks” report to view the number of referring domains and the percentage of nofollow links.
- Link power: Quality and quantity of backlinks
- Organic traffic: Estimated monthly organic clicks
- Natural profile: Presence of spam indicators (learn more in our guide to toxic backlinks)
Higher Authority Scores among the top-ranking sites raise the keyword difficulty.
Find your site’s Authority Score using Backlink Analytics:
Enter your domain and check the “Overview” report.
Find keywords, their search volumes, and their KD scores with Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.
Enter a seed term, select your country, and click “Search.”
What’s achievable depends on your site’s authority and content strategy.
SERP features are additional elements found on search engine results pages, such as featured snippets, instant answers, local packs, knowledge panels, top stories, people also ask, and sitelinks.
If a keyword triggers any of these features, earning organic clicks may be more difficult, which increases the difficulty score. Like this example of a high-difficulty keyword, “what is an iPhone.”
Identify SERP features for each keyword in the Keyword Magic Tool.
Longer keywords often have lower difficulty scores. These long-tail keywords are more specific and usually have lower search volumes and competition.
For example:
- “iPhone 15 Pro Max” has 71% difficulty and 823K searches/month.
- “iPhone 15 Oro Max 256gb natural titanium” has 38% difficulty and 390 searches/month.
Long-tail keywords with low difficulty scores can be valuable targets because they often lead to higher engagement and conversions. This is because long-tail keywords usually indicate that users know what they’re searching for.
Use the Keyword Magic Tool to find long-tail keywords relevant to your business. The tool’s suggested groups and subgroups can help you locate these more specific keywords.
Enter your chosen keyword(s) into the tool and see their scores in the dashboard.
- Topical authority: Assesses your domain’s authority for specific topics
- Potential SERP positions: Highlights current keyword rankings and predicts possible improvements
- Current position: Shows your existing keyword ranking in search results
Begin by analyzing your keywords and their difficulty scores in the Keyword Magic Tool.
Enter your seed keyword and domain, then click “Search.”
- KD%: General ranking difficulty for all websites
- PKD%: Ranking difficulty specifically for your website, based on your domain authority and backlink profile
Use the “Personal KD%” filter set to “Possible” and the “KD” filter set to “Difficult.” This will highlight keywords where your website can rank more easily, despite overall competition.
The tool finds 145 potential keywords that the site isn’t currently ranking for, but where PKD suggests a strong chance of success.
Over time, enhance your competitiveness by:
- Engaging in link building to earn high-quality backlinks
- Developing topic clusters to establish authority around core subjects
- Growing organic traffic with lower-difficulty keywords
Regardless of keyword difficulty, you must produce quality content that aligns with search intent.
Offer unique, valuable information that meets user needs effectively.
To understand the competition, click through to the SERP directly from the Keyword Magic Tool by selecting this icon: