Do you want to know what keyword difficulty is all about and how to analyze it so that you can rank your target keywords in the SERP very well?
You know it’s every blogger’s dream to rank their keywords in the top 10 results of SERP.
Right?
But nowadays, it’s not that easy to get to the first page of SERP for any keyword.
Gone are the days when just by placing your target keyword in some prominent places of your post, you got the #1 position.
To outrank existing sites, there are a few SEO metrics, such as search volume, keyword trend, Cost Per Click, keyword difficulty, etc., that you need to consider before targeting a keyword.
And KD is one of the most important metrics, especially for beginners. KD determines how difficult it is for a new website to outrank the existing ones.
So, before going deep into the details of keyword difficulty analysis, let’s find out what keyword difficulty is.
Table of Contents
What is the Keyword Difficulty?
Keyword difficulty is one of the most important SEO metrics, indicating how difficult it is to rank for a keyword in the top positions on the search engine result pages.
Keyword difficulty is also known as keyword competition.
The higher the SEO difficulty score for a keyword, the greater the competition and the lower the chances of ranking for that keyword.
The lower the SEO difficulty score for any keyword, the less the competition and the higher the probability of outranking existing websites for that keyword.
It is always recommended to target low-difficulty keywords, especially for beginners.
But now the question is: what is the keyword difficulty score, and how do I check it?
In the next section, we will cover both.
But before that, you need to understand the difference between keyword difficulty and Paid difficulty as there is always some confusion between keyword difficulty and paid difficulty.
Keyword difficulty or SEO difficulty is related to the organic rankings, while Paid difficulty refers to competition in paid search.
Now, we are sure you are clear on what keyword difficulty is and how important it can be for you.
What is the Keyword Difficulty Score?
The keyword difficulty score, or SEO difficulty score, is the result of keyword difficulty analysis for any keyword in the SEO tools.
There are lots of SEO tools available in the market that you can use to check the keyword difficulty score.
All of these tools have their own keyword difficulty metrics and consider different factors when measuring keyword difficulty.
Unfortunately, you will see a vast discrepancy in the keyword difficulty score of SEO tools, and that is the reason it is tough to say which SEO tool shows the most accurate data, and which tool you should opt for when checking keyword difficulty.
1. Semrush Keyword Difficulty Index
Semrush measures keyword difficulty in the form of a percentage (from 1 – 100%) that shows how difficult it is to outrank the existing websites ranking on the top results of search engine result pages.
The higher the keyword difficulty percentage is, the more effort you will have to put in to secure a position in the top results.
Semrush categorized the Keyword Difficulty (KD) score into the following 6 buckets.
| Keyword Difficulty (KD%) | Difficulty Level | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 14 | Extremely Easy | If you want to quickly rank a new website, target these keywords. |
| 15 to 29 | Easy | These keywords have some competition but can still rank with quality content. |
| 30 to 49 | Possible | Slightly more competition; rank higher with high-quality content and proper optimization. |
| 50 to 69 | Difficult | Requires link building to rank for these keywords. |
| 70 to 84 | Hard | Create top-notch content, build more links, and optimize well to rank for these keywords. |
| 85 to 100 | Extremely Hard | Only target these keywords if you’re running an authority site with numerous links. |
How to Check KD Using Semrush In 2026
We checked the keyword difficulty for 10 keywords and found some shocking results.
The first keyword I checked was “ahrefs coupon code” and got the following results.
1. Semrush Keyword Difficulty Index:
Semrush returned an 11% keyword difficulty index, indicating it is easy to rank for that keyword.
Once you click the search button, you will see all the essential SEO metrics (volume, Trend, KD%, CPC, etc.) for that keyword, along with other broad-match keywords.
From here, you can also select additional filters, such as questions, phrase match, exact match, and related, as well as advanced filters.
Once you select any particular keyword from the results displayed, you will be presented with all the relevant information related to that keyword in more detail.
How to Analyze SEO Keyword Competition Manually?
As we have seen, every SEO tool provides a unique perspective on keyword competition, so it’s better to get an idea from these tools, then conduct manual research on your end and come up with better keywords to target.
I am presenting some of the best ways to analyze keyword difficulty manually.
Related Read: The Keyword Golden Ratio is the most popular technique to find those keywords that have a huge demand but less supply on the Internet.
How to Rank for Your Desired Keyword In 2026?
Based on the above study, we found that each tool uses a different formula to calculate SEO difficulty, and there is a large discrepancy in SEO difficulty across the keywords we analyzed.
And all because of this, it’s tough for beginners to understand how to rank for the desired keyword.
We also explained two ways to check keyword competition manually, which can help you choose better keywords to work on.
Here we will be sharing some common factors that contribute to better rankings.
1. Quality Content
It is said that Content is king, and it’s very much true. The very first thing that Google considers while ranking websites is content quality.
For beginners, it is the content alone that they can use to beat competitors, as in most cases, you will not have any quality backlinks or domain authority.
So if you can write 10x content than the sites already ranking for the desired keyword, there’s a chance you can outrank them.
2. User Intent
The user’s intent is another critical perspective that can help you rank better for the desired keyword.
If your content is good enough to make searchers happy, then you can also beat the existing websites.
Dwell time and bounce rate are factors that can help make your website appear trustworthy in Google’s eyes.
And as soon as Google finds that your page is satisfying the user’s intent more than others, your website will certainly rank higher.
3. Backlinks
Backlinks also play a crucial role in ranking the content in Google SERP.
Google considers every backlink to a website as a vote, and websites with a higher number of backlinks tend to rank better.
That being said, the number of referring domains, quality of linking page, anchor text, etc, also matters a lot.
This is the most controversial factor in a website’s rankings.
Google says it does not use domain authority as a ranking factor, while top SEO experts believe there is a correlation between domain authority and better rankings.
Based on Ahrefs’s study, there are three things you can consider:
- Google sometimes gives preference to pages from high-domain sites in the search results, directly or indirectly.
- Interlinking on strong websites gives an extra advantage to all other pages, leading to better rankings in Google.
- A weak website with comparatively higher-quality backlinks can outrank a strong website.
Finally, they concluded that websites with high authority are the brand name, and that is why people click on these websites’ pages even when low-authority sites are ranking alongside them.
Perform a manual analysis using SEO tools and consider the factors that contribute to higher rankings.
Final Thoughts
That’s all related to keyword difficulty.
We have shared everything related to the SEO difficulty, including what keyword difficulty is, what the SEO difficulty score is, how to check keyword difficulty, and how to rank for the desired keywords.
Based on the above study and research, it is clear that each tool shows different keyword difficulties; therefore, it is not advisable to trust these tools blindly.
Sadly, most beginners make the same mistake by relying entirely on SEO tools.
Our advice to beginners is to use these SEO tools to get a quick idea, but do not rely on them completely.
It’s better to do some manual research in Google SERP by analyzing the top 10 results already ranking for the keyword you want to rank for.
We hope you will find this post worth reading.
So, next time you plan to target a keyword, consider these tips and experience the improvements.
Some FAQs about Keyword Competition
Keyword difficulty (KD) is one of the most important metrics that help you understand how difficult it is to rank a website in the Google SERP for a given keyword.
Each SEO tool has its own keyword difficulty formula to calculate the keyword difficulty. For example, Semrush considers domain authority while Ahrefs looks after the number of referring domains of the already-ranking websites.
The paid difficulty is related to the competition in the paid search, whereas keyword difficulty is related to the organic search.
The keyword difficulty score is simply an outcome (0-100) from SEO tools that indicates how difficult it is to rank for a keyword.
There is no specific value that can be considered a good keyword difficulty. Generally, keyword difficulty is measured on a scale of 0 – 100, and the lower the keyword difficulty score is, the easier it is to rank for the keyword on the first page of Google.
You can use SEO tools to find low difficulty keywords with just a few clicks. Furthermore, you can use some manual methods, like the Keyword Golden Ratio, which works very well.
You can use Semrush, Moz, and KWFinder tools to access a keyword’s difficulty.
According to us, Semrush is the most effective keyword difficulty checker tool and you can get its 14 days trial for free.
You can use the Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) and Domain Authority (DA) of already ranking websites to determine the keyword competition manually.
Actually, when we check keyword difficulty in different SEO tools then it doesn’t shows the same and it is very confusing but you have covered this topic very well and clear all the doubts. And I think analyze the keyword competition manually is the best method.
Thank you so much for sharing this great informative article.
Thanks for the guide, but for me, the best is the manually keyword research somehow
keyword difficulty is most important factor in SEO, most of people are starting making backlinks to get result they think result will come soon but they didn’t focus on keyword difficulty and do good keyword search. very informative blog keep writing blog like this.
Thanks Anil ,
This is One Of The most informative post in this topic .
I Think i will go with Ahrefs because I think it makes it easer to find better keywords to rank for .
Hello Anilji,
Awesome informative article.
You are always providing greater content which is very helpful for us.
Thanks
Atul