{"id":25568,"date":"2020-02-15T09:56:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T04:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloggertipstricks.com\/?p=25568"},"modified":"2023-09-22T08:21:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T02:51:12","slug":"keyword-difficulty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masterblogging.com\/keyword-difficulty\/","title":{"rendered":"Keyword Difficulty Analysis \u2013 Learn How To Find Easy To Rank Keywords!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keyword research<\/a> sets the tone for the success of your blog\u2019s SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many considerations when looking for the right keywords, but the big question is this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the difficulty of ranking on the first page of SERPs for a keyword?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what we will solve in this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll discuss the concept of keyword difficulty, how to calculate it, and the best tools for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Keyword difficulty is used to determine how easy or tough a keyword would be to rank for in search engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In most SEO tools, keyword difficulty is measured as a score between 1 to 100, 100 being the most difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a visual representation of keyword difficulty according to Mangools\u2019 KWFinder<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"KWFinder<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On their scale, keywords with a difficulty score of 50 and above are hard to compete against.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords in the 10s or 20s, on the other hand, provide better ranking odds for the average website.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The takeaway here is simple, really.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To increase your chances of ranking on top of organic search, go for keywords with low difficulty scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are often long-tail keywords<\/a>, which have three or more terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some examples are\u201cwhat are SEO keywords<\/strong>,\u201d \u201chow to do keyword research<\/strong>,\u201d <\/em>and \u201cbest keyword research tools.<\/strong>\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why long-tail keywords?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite the low search volume<\/a> of some long-tail keywords, they are still worth going after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, you can always optimize a single piece of content for multiple keywords and benefit from their cumulative traffic potential. Not to mention that long-tail keywords have more specific user intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a post where I thoroughly explained the idea behind keyword intent along with some general keyword research tips<\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we get technical, there\u2019s one thing you need to know about keyword difficulty:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t tell you the whole story!<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keyword difficulty is a very good metric to help you identify keywords you should target for your blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, you shouldn\u2019t simply look at keyword difficulty ratings and call it a day. To make the best decisions for your blog, you need to know how to look past the numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why this next section is very<\/em> important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How Should You Interpret Keyword Difficulty?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The thing about keyword difficulty is, it\u2019s calculated differently between keyword research tools. Hence, there\u2019s no one way to interpret it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should also consider your own website\u2019s ranking potential when selecting a keyword difficulty range that\u2019s viable to you.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Moz\u2019s difficulty score<\/strong> looks into the page authority and domain authority of first-page results, among other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, even with this definition, Rand Fishkin admits to variation in how keyword difficulty scores should be interpreted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rand<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How Do Tools Calculate Keyword Difficulty Anyway?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To understand how different tools calculate keyword difficulty, let\u2019s use this formula by Long Tail Pro<\/strong> four years ago:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKeyword Competitiveness (KC) = Page Authority (PA) +\/- Page Title +\/- Keywords in Domain +\/- Length of Domain\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the formula, there are four different factors involved:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Page Authority<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Each site starts with a Page Authority<\/em> number, which is where the KC number begins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Page Authority is essentially a number introduced by Moz.com<\/a><\/strong> that tells you how \u201cauthoritative\u201d a certain page is. It takes into account metrics like site age, domain authority, juice page links, social signals, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Page Title<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If the target keyword is in the page\u2019s title, this is a good relevancy signal to search engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not as powerful as it once was as a ranking factor. Still, it\u2019s up there as one of the 17 most prominent ones according to SEMrush<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SEMrush<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If lots of authoritative pages ranking in Google don\u2019t have the keyword in their titles, keyword competitiveness goes down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a possibility that you\u2019ll outrank these authoritative pages if you target the exact keyword in your page title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords in Domain<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Just like with the page title, it used to be a big deal to have keywords in the domain name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But since brandable domains have become so important, exact or partial match keyword domain names have become less important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domain Length<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Long Tail Pro\u2019s KC calculation adjusts the score down for domains that are too long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because long domain names often look spammy and unnatural, especially if they have keywords stuffed in them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, this is just how Long Tail Pro used to calculate keyword difficulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other similar tools may include or exclude other factors, which lead to different results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving forward\u2026<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, some of the variables Long Tail Pro uses are no longer relevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep in mind that the KC formula equation was made public in 2015. The tool has recalibrated its formula a year after to reflect the algorithm changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a visual representation of Long Tail Pro\u2019s keyword competitiveness score and the possibility of ranking high on SERPs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Long<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In any case, the point I\u2019m trying to make by explaining how keyword difficulty can be calculated is this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t just rely on the KD provided to you.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When looking at keyword difficulty, there are external and internal factors you need to take into account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, not all of these variables are factored in by the keyword research tool you\u2019re using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, use the KD as a barometer to determine the keywords to optimize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, examine the SERPs of the low-competition keyword to help you decide if it\u2019ll be easy to rank for these keywords or not!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll see how to do this in a bit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, let\u2019s talk about the tools that make checking keyword difficulty a walk in the park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Best Keyword Difficulty Tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve covered the best keyword research tools<\/a><\/strong> in the market before, so you may want to check it out first. It outlines not only the tools that check keyword difficulty, but also how they can generate profitable keyword ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that out of the way, below are the best tools on the internet that show precise keyword difficulty ratings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Long Tail Pro<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Long Tail Pro<\/a> is an impressive keyword research tool that you can use to effortlessly find low competition keywords. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tool is specifically built for people doing search engine optimization as opposed to people running paid ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Long<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sure, advertisers can still use it to find low-competition keywords for paid search. However, they won\u2019t be able to take full advantage of Long Tail Pro\u2019s comprehensive toolset.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Long Tail Pro, you\u2019ll easily find keyword ideas in bulk based on your desired seed keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from returning several related keywords, the tool will also show you each keyword\u2019s:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n