Keyword Difficulty

Keyword Difficulty

Analyzing Keyword Difficulty and Its Measurement Criteria

Keywords are the focal points of your content. As you start acquiring knowledge about the right use of keywords, you will perceive that there are many aspects that you need to know well. Keyword Difficulty is primarily a metric that will help to measure how much online competition is already there for a particular keyword and aid in assessing the effort necessary for the content to rank on the first page of the SERP. The difficulty level is available in the form of a score between 0 to 100. If you have a lower score, it will be easier for you to secure a better rank for a keyword.  

Importance of keyword difficulty

The concept is also called SEO difficulty or Keyword Competition. Indeed, it will be a process of evaluation to determine how difficult but will be to rank in the organic search results of Google for a particular term. Several factors affect the difficulty level of a keyword, which include domain authority, content quality, and page authority. If you are into keyword research, the Keyword Difficulty assessment is a vital part. It is not only about improving the monthly search volumes or other factors. The process will help you to determine the best keywords for better SEO. The only problem is that individual tools have separate processes of measuring the difficulty level. That is why you may find different difficulty scores for the same keywords on different tools.   

How do you know the difficulty level?

If you want to set realistic goals for securing a better rank on the SERP, you have to work on the Keyword Difficulty. but how do you plan to measure this difficulty level? Of course, you need to know the influencing factors that come into play.

1. Competitors
2. Search intent
3. Content quality
4. Domain authority
5. Backlinks

Once you get a clear idea about these factors, you can better judge the difficulty level.  

#1. Competitors:

All businesses will always aim to secure the first rank on the SERP. But before securing the position, you need to know about the other companies that are competing to win the position. Surprisingly, you may find out that the competition is not with someone you expected. Generally, you have to worry about three types of competition for Keyword Difficulty measurement.

• SEO competitors: other domains creating content for a similar target audience and competing for the same keyword profile.
• Industry competitors: other companies that sell the same products or services to a similar target audience.
• Competitors for the same keyword: the existing rank holders for the exact keyword that you target to use.

In maximum cases, the three types overlap. It is because when the contenders of the same industry are creating content, they will always target the same audience as yours. As a result, the Keyword Difficulty level will be higher when you try to capture more audiences for similar content.

#2. Search intent

Writing good content does not mean you will get the maximum attention online. If you want to secure the top position on Google or you want to compel the audience to click on the link, you have to know the intent of the potential buyers. Search intent implies the content types that appear as the user enters the keyword. These can be of 4 types:

• Information where the user wants to procure some information about the topic,
• Commercial, when the user also performs thorough research before making the final buying decision. 
• Navigational when someone wants to find a particular page on the website. 
• Transactional: when the user is planning to buy something. 

Finding the intent of a keyword’s search can happen in two ways.

• Enter the intended keyword on Google and look for results. Now, check whether all these posts are blogs or some are product pages. Do you find any SERP features on the webpage? The right interpretation of the Keyword Difficultywill directly influence the SERP rank. 
• Use some instant metrics for the information.

So, when you develop content for the site, you need to make sure that you align with the right intention. If you don’t write a topic that relates directly to the keyword, the difficulty will be still higher.

#3. Content quality

You won't get any rank if the content quality is not satisfying. If you want the search to provide relevant information to the audience you need to make sure that the content is engaging enough. The keyword Difficulty level will be more if the content is not related to the keyword or if it seems that you have forcibly introduced the keyword for the sake of keeping the phrase in the content somehow.

#4. Domain authority

It is a truth that any new domain will struggle hard to rank for the competitive keywords in the beginning. You will take time to build the authority to conquer the SERP. Domain authority will increase Keyword Difficulty in two ways:

• If your main competitors are very popular with high authority
• If your website has low authority

Right evaluation is necessary for better keyword use.

#5. Backlink quality

Quality backlinks always add to building the domain’s authority.

Think logically

There is no need to make Keyword Difficulty a complex affair. Applying a logical approach will aid in a better evaluation of the difficulty level. Once you detect the status, you can work on the weak areas to make sure that the keyword used helps your website secure the top position on the SERP.