When it comes to SEO, keyword research is essential. But once you’ve found the right keywords, how do you know which ones are the best to target? One factor you need to take into account is keyword difficulty. What is that and how to use it?
What Is Keyword Difficulty?
Keyword difficulty is a measure of how easy or difficult it is to rank for a given keyword in organic search results. It’s determined by a number of factors, including the level of competition and the quality of the websites that are already ranking for that keyword.
When analyzing keyword difficulty, you want to look at both the number of competing websites and the quality of those websites. The higher the quality of the websites that are already ranking, the more difficult it will be to rank for that keyword.
Why Is It Important?
People who don’t know much about SEO or just started their website often focus only on keyword search volume, but that’s not nearly enough. It’s essential to take keyword difficulty into account when planning your SEO strategy and keywords because it will impact how easy or difficult it is to rank for those keywords.
Why is keyword difficulty important? If you’re targeting a keyword that has high search volume but is also very difficult to rank for, you may have a hard time getting your website to show up on the first page of Google. On the other hand, if you target a keyword with low search volume and low difficulty, you may be able to rank for that keyword more easily.
To sum it up, keyword difficulty is important because it impacts how easy or difficult it is to rank for a given keyword. If you’re planning your SEO strategy and keywords, be sure to take keyword difficulty into account!
Types of Keywords When It Comes to Their Difficulty
Now that we know what keyword difficulty is, let’s take a look at the different types of keywords and how difficult they are to rank for.
Easy Keywords
Easy keywords are those that have low difficulty and low competition. These are the easiest keywords to rank for, and you should be able to get your website on the first page of Google with relative ease.
Medium Keywords
Medium keywords have either low difficulty and high competition or high difficulty and low competition. These keywords are more difficult to rank for than easy keywords, but it’s still possible to get your website on the first page of Google if you have a strong SEO strategy.
Hard Keywords
Hard keywords have both high difficulty and high competition. These are the most difficult keywords to rank for, and it will be very difficult to get your website on the first page of Google unless you have an extremely strong SEO strategy.
What Factors Can Affect Keyword Difficulty?
There are a few factors that can affect keyword difficulty, including:
- The level of competition: If there are a lot of websites competing for the same keyword, it will be more difficult to rank for that keyword.
- The quality of the websites that are already ranking: If the websites that are already ranking for a keyword are high-quality, it will be more difficult to rank for that keyword.
- The age of the website: Older websites tend to have an easier time ranking for keywords than newer websites.
- The number of backlinks: Websites with more backlinks tend to have an easier time ranking for keywords than those with fewer backlinks.
How to Check Keyword Difficulty?
There are a few different ways to check keyword difficulty. The Google Ads Keyword Planner is a free tool that allows you to research keywords and get data on keyword difficulty. It’s one of the most popular, but not the only one tool. Here are some others:
- Moz;
- KW Finder;
- SEMrush;
- Ahrefs.
It’s worth remembering that all these tools only give estimates, and their results can differ from each other. The best way to get accurate keyword difficulty data is to use multiple tools and compare the results.
How to Use Keyword Difficulty to Your Advantage
Now that you know what keyword difficulty is and why it’s important, let’s take a look at how you can use it to your advantage.
When choosing keywords, always keep keyword difficulty in mind. If you’re just starting out, it’s best to target easier keywords that you have a better chance of ranking for. As you build up your website and your SEO strategy, you can start targeting more difficult keywords.
Use keyword difficulty data to help you determine which keywords are worth targeting. If a keyword is too difficult, it may not be worth your time and effort to try to rank for it.
Monitor your keyword difficulty score over time. If you see that your website’s keyword difficulty score is increasing, it’s a good sign that your SEO strategy is working, and you’re starting to rank for more difficult keywords.
Domain Authority in Assessing Keyword Difficulty
Both your and your competitors’ domain authorities will have a significant impact on your ability to rank for certain keywords. If you’re trying to rank for a keyword that has low difficulty but high competition, having a high DA will give you a better chance of ranking than if you have a low DA.
To improve your chances of ranking for difficult keywords, it’s important to build up your DA. You can do this by:
- getting high-quality backlinks from websites with a high DA;
- publishing high-quality content on your website;
- making sure your website is well-designed and easy to use.
Content Quality in Assessing Keyword Difficulty
The quality of your content is also important in assessing keyword difficulty. If you’re trying to rank for a difficult keyword, you’ll need to make sure your content is better than the content that’s already ranking. To do this, you should:
- conduct keyword research to find out what people are searching for;
- use those keywords throughout your content, including in the title, in the body, and in the keywords section;
- make sure your content is well-written and informative;
- include images, videos, and infographics to make your content more engaging;
- update your content regularly to keep it fresh.
Difficult Keywords or Easy Keywords – Which Are Better?
There’s no right or wrong answer to this question – it all depends on your goals and your website. If you’re just starting out, it’s best to target easier keywords that you have a better chance of ranking for. As you build up your website and your SEO strategy, you can start targeting more difficult keywords.
Huge corporations with large budgets often target difficult keywords because they can afford to do so. If you’re a small business or just starting out, it’s probably not worth your while to go after these same keywords. There are a few things to consider when deciding whether to target easy or difficult keywords:
- How much traffic are you hoping to get from your website?
- How much time and money are you willing to invest in SEO?
- What are your goals for your website?
- Are you just starting out or do you have an established website?
Your answers to these questions will help you decide whether to target easy or difficult keywords.