{"id":5730,"date":"2023-07-20T04:12:06","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T09:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keyword.com\/?post_type=blog&p=5730"},"modified":"2025-02-26T09:55:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T14:55:39","slug":"keyword-difficulty-ranking-on-serps","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/keyword.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty-ranking-on-serps\/","title":{"rendered":"Keyword Difficulty: Why it Matters for Ranking on SERPs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Knowing the keywords that will bring a large traffic volume to your site is easy. <\/span><\/p>\n

… the issue is ranking for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gone are the days when site owners practiced keyword stuffing and maneuvered their way to the first page of SERPs. <\/span>With search engine algorithms becoming increasingly intelligent, you will need a magic wand to move your site up the ranking ladder. <\/span><\/p>\n

To help solve this ranking problem, most keyword research tools now have a keyword difficulty calculator that measures search query difficulties on a scale of 0 to 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article will provide a basic understanding of keyword difficulty, why it matters for ranking on SERPs, and how to balance low-difficulty and high-difficulty keywords for better results in your SEO campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Keyword Difficulty?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Keyword difficulty<\/a> refers to the competition level or difficulty ranking for a specific keyword in search engine result pages. In other words, it indicates how challenging it would be to rank with other websites targeting the word or phrase.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, keyword.com is a rank-tracking tool. We will want to rank on the first page for keywords relevant to our tools and their features.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s say we target the keyword “SEO,” which has a high search volume. After\u00a0 conducting the competitor analysis, we discovered several well-established websites target the same keyword. More so, the keyword research tool assigns a difficulty score of 79 out of 100.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This score indicates that the keyword is highly competitive and challenging to rank for, requiring significant effort and optimization to achieve a top position in search engine results.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, if we target other keywords like \u201cSEO share of voice,\u201d \u201crank tracking api,\u201d \u201cSERP tracker,\u201d \u201ckeyword rank tracking tool,\u201d and more. Based on the keyword difficulty metrics, these keywords have low search volume and low keyword difficulty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"SEO<\/p>\n

These keywords are less competitive and require less effort and resources to rank on search engines’ first pages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related: In this blog post, we explain in detail why we target low-difficulty keywords<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Factors such as search volume, backlink profiles of the ranking websites, competition, content quality of websites targeting the keyword, quality of a model page, and more affect a keyword difficulty level.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why Does Keyword Difficulty Matter for Ranking on SERPs<\/h2>\n

1. Helps You Assess Competition<\/h3>\n

In one of Mark Williams-Cook\u2019s SEO anecdotes on LinkedIn, he said:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Starting SEO is like joining in a marathon after it has started. There will be <\/span>many people already ahead<\/b> of you who have an advantage. It would be best if you outworked these people to catch up. If you join the race already running slower than them, you won’t progress, and all that will happen is you’ll get tired and frustrated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The knowledge of the level of competition in a race affects your preparation. This same principle is applicable in SEO.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most SEO experts believe that search engines prefer big websites in ranking for keywords on their result pages. Even though this fact isn\u2019t 100% accurate, we believe it\u2019s necessary to know how authoritative the top-ranking websites are for your target search queries before optimizing them in your pages.<\/span><\/p>\n

And you know, a crucial factor that influences a keyword difficulty metric is the level of competition. <\/span>For instance, a new site will take a bank-breaking SEO strategy to rank on the first page for the keyword \u201cSEO\u201d rather than \u201crank tracker api.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

Their competition levels differ. Most importantly, we have more authoritative sites ranking for the first keyword than the other.<\/span><\/p>\n

We did these two analyses just by checking their keyword difficulties.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Allocate Resources Effectively<\/b><\/h3>\n

By analyzing keyword difficulty, you can wrap your head around the following questions:<\/p>\n