What Is Keyword Difficulty (KD) And How To Actually Use It

I spent three hours last week staring at keyword difficulty scores, trying to figure out which ones were actually worth targeting. One keyword showed a difficulty of 23 in Ahrefs, 58 in Semrush, and “medium” in Moz. Same exact keyword. Three wildly different stories.

If you’ve been there, you know the frustration. And if you’re new to SEO, you’re probably wondering if these numbers even mean anything.

Here’s the honest truth: keyword difficulty is both incredibly useful and maddeningly imprecise. It’s like a weather forecast—helpful for planning, terrible for guarantees. But once you understand what these scores actually measure (and what they miss), you can use them to make smarter decisions about which keywords to chase.

Let’s break down what keyword difficulty really is, why every tool calculates it differently, and how to use it without getting misled.

What Is Keyword Difficulty?

Keyword difficulty is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it will be to rank on the first page of Google for a specific keyword.

Most tools show it on a 0–100 scale, where higher scores mean you’re competing against established pages with strong backlink profiles. A keyword with KD 15 is generally easier to rank for than one with KD 75.

But here’s the catch: KD is tool-specific and approximate. Real difficulty also depends on your website’s authority, content quality, how well you match search intent, and what’s actually showing up in the search results. A KD 30 keyword dominated by Forbes and The New York Times is very different from a KD 30 where smaller blogs are ranking.

Think of keyword difficulty as a starting point, not the final word. It’s one data point in a bigger picture.

Why Keyword Difficulty Matters in SEO Planning

Imagine you’re staring at a list of 50,000 potential keywords. Some get 100,000 searches per month, others get 50. Some look easy, some look impossible. Where do you even start?

This is where keyword difficulty becomes your friend.

KD helps you prioritize keywords so you’re not wasting three weeks writing a 4,000-word guide for a term you have zero chance of ranking for. It’s the difference between targeting “credit cards” (KD 90+, dominated by banks and major publishers) and “best credit cards for freelancers with bad credit” (KD 35, actually achievable).

It lets you balance search volume vs. competition to find realistic opportunities. Sure, “SEO” gets 300,000 monthly searches, but good luck outranking Moz, Ahrefs, and Semrush. Meanwhile, “SEO for small manufacturing companies” gets 200 searches but has a KD of 22—and those 200 people are exactly your target customers.

As one SEO practitioner put it on Reddit: “KD is good for narrowing 100,000 keywords to 100, not for picking a single target in isolation.” It’s a filter, not a decision-maker.

Used well, KD helps you identify the sweet spot: keywords with enough search volume to matter, but low enough competition that you can actually rank within a reasonable timeframe.

Core Definition: What Is Keyword Difficulty in SEO?

Let’s get the terminology straight, because there’s some confusion out there.

Keyword difficulty (KD), also called SEO difficulty or keyword competition, measures how hard it is to outrank the current top results in organic (unpaid) search. It’s not about getting “any” traffic—it’s about getting to page one, ideally the top three positions, where most clicks happen.

Now, here’s where people get tripped up: keyword difficulty is NOT the same as “Competition” in Google Keyword Planner.

• Google Ads Competition tells you how many advertisers are bidding on a keyword in paid search. High competition means it’s expensive to run ads for that term.
• Keyword Difficulty (KD) tells you how hard it is to rank organically. It’s looking at the strength of pages currently ranking on Google.

You could have a keyword with high paid competition (lots of advertisers) but low organic difficulty (easier to rank), or vice versa. They’re measuring completely different things.

When SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz talk about keyword difficulty, they’re talking about organic ranking challenge, not paid search.

How Keyword Difficulty Is Calculated

Here’s where it gets interesting—and a bit messy.

Every major SEO tool calculates keyword difficulty differently. There’s no industry standard. That’s why the same keyword can show KD 25 in one tool and KD 60 in another.

Common Factors Across Tools

Most tools look at some combination of:

1. Strength of domains ranking in the top 10
How authoritative are the websites currently ranking? Tools use metrics like Domain Authority (Moz), Domain Rating (Ahrefs), or Authority Score (Semrush) as proxies for “how powerful is this site?”

2. Number and quality of backlinks
How many other websites link to the top-ranking pages? Quality matters too—a link from The New York Times carries more weight than a link from a random blog.

3. On-page factors and SERP features
Some tools factor in content length, page structure, and whether the SERP has features like featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, or AI Overviews that reduce click-through rates.

Important caveat: Each provider uses its own formula, so the same keyword can have different KD scores in different tools. This isn’t a bug—it’s just different approaches to estimating the same thing.

How Major Tools Calculate Keyword Difficulty

Ahrefs KD

Ahrefs uses a 0–100 score built largely from the number of referring domains to pages in the top 10. More backlinks = higher difficulty.

They’re transparent about this: if you see KD 40, Ahrefs estimates you’ll need about 56 referring domains to break into the top 10. At KD 60, you’re looking at around 249 referring domains.

What Ahrefs doesn’t factor in: your site’s current authority, content quality, or whether you’re a good match for search intent. It’s purely looking at the link strength of what’s currently ranking.

As users on Reddit frequently point out, this is both Ahrefs’ strength (simple, based on a confirmed ranking factor) and its limitation (ignores a lot of context).

Semrush KD and Personal KD

Semrush takes a more complex approach. Their Keyword Difficulty percentage (0–100) considers:

• Median number of referring domains to top-ranking pages
• Dofollow/nofollow link ratio
• Median Authority Score of those pages
• Search volume
• Presence of SERP features

But here’s what’s cool: Semrush also offers Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD), which factors in your domain’s strength to estimate how hard it would be for your specific site to rank. A KD 50 keyword might show as PKD 35 for an established site or PKD 70 for a brand new blog.

Moz Keyword Difficulty

Moz uses Page Authority and Domain Authority alongside SERP analysis to generate difficulty scores. They also provide a “Priority” score that combines difficulty with opportunity (search volume and potential CTR).

Other Tools

Tools like Mangools (KWFinder), Ubersuggest, and Keywords Everywhere blend domain metrics, backlinks, and SERP signals into their own 0–100 scores. Each has slightly different weightings.

The takeaway? Pick one tool and stick with it for consistency. Don’t drive yourself crazy comparing KD scores across platforms.

Keyword Difficulty Scales – What The Numbers Actually Mean

Most tools use a 0–100 scale with labels that look something like this:

KD Range	Label	What It Means
0–14	Very Easy	Minimal backlink competition, often untapped niches
15–29	Easy	Low competition, achievable for newer sites
30–49	Possible / Moderate	Medium competition, need decent content + some authority
50–69	Difficult	High competition, established sites with backlinks needed
70–84	Hard	Very high competition, significant link building required
85–100	Very Hard	Dominated by major brands, extremely difficult for most sites

These ranges are guides, not rules. A KD 35 keyword in one niche might be easier than a KD 25 keyword in a cutthroat industry like finance or insurance.

What Is a “Good” Keyword Difficulty Score?

It depends entirely on your website’s strength. Here’s a rough framework:

For new or low-authority sites (Domain Rating < 20):
Target KD 0–30, even if the search volume is lower. You need quick wins to build authority. Going after KD 60 keywords when you’re brand new is like trying to bench press 300 pounds on your first day at the gym.

For established sites (DR 40–60):
You can mix medium and higher KD keywords (30–70) that match your topical authority. If you’ve been writing about email marketing for three years and have decent backlinks, a KD 55 keyword in that space is much more achievable than the same KD in a completely new topic.

For major brands (DR 70+):
KD often matters less. Your domain authority can carry you pretty far, though you still need to match intent and have strong content.

The key insight: “good” is always relative to your domain strength and niche. Check what KD scores you’re currently ranking for, and target keywords in a similar or slightly higher range.

Keyword Difficulty vs Other Metrics

KD vs Google Ads Competition

We touched on this earlier, but it’s worth repeating because it’s a common confusion:

• Google Ads Competition = how many advertisers bid on this keyword (useful for PPC strategy)
• Keyword Difficulty = how hard it is to rank organically (useful for SEO strategy)

You can have high Ads competition with low organic difficulty, or vice versa. They’re not related.

KD vs “Keyword Competition” / SEO Difficulty

These terms are often used interchangeably in blog posts and tools. The underlying idea is the same: organic competitiveness. Don’t get hung up on whether someone calls it KD, SEO difficulty, or keyword competition—it’s all measuring the same thing.

KD vs Search Intent and SERP Features

Here’s a critical limitation: KD can’t fully capture intent fit or SERP features.

You might see a KD 25 keyword and think “easy!” but then discover:

• The SERP is all product pages and you’re writing an informational guide
• There’s an AI Overview taking up half the screen
• A featured snippet and three ads push organic results below the fold
• A local map pack dominates for location-based queries

Suddenly that “easy” keyword isn’t sending you any traffic even if you rank #5.

This is why you can’t rely on KD alone. You have to actually look at what Google is showing.

How To Manually Assess Keyword Difficulty By Reading The SERP

This is where most articles about keyword difficulty fall short—and where you’ll actually learn to do this right.

Reddit SEOs have been saying this for years: “Tools are not 100 percent accurate. Always sanity-check against the live SERP before committing.”

Here’s the step-by-step process:

Step 1 – Scan The Top 10 Results

Just Google your keyword and look at who’s ranking.

Are you seeing:

• Big brands (Forbes, NYT, major industry players)?
• Government or .edu sites?
• Niche blogs and smaller publishers?
• Forums (Reddit, Quora) or user-generated content?
• Videos, local businesses, or mixed formats?

If the SERP is wall-to-wall Forbes, Investopedia, NerdWallet, and other giants, a KD 20 score is practically meaningless. The “easy” label lied to you.

On the other hand, if you see three Reddit threads, two small blogs you’ve never heard of, and a Quora answer in the top 10, that’s a content gap you can exploit—even if the KD shows as “medium.”

Step 2 – Check Authority and Backlink Profiles

Install a browser extension like Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar or MozBar so you can see metrics directly in the SERP.

For each result, note:

• Domain Rating / Domain Authority (how strong is the overall website?)
• URL Rating / Page Authority (how strong is this specific page?)
• Number of referring domains (how many backlinks does this page have?)

Look for patterns. If most pages have 100+ referring domains and you have 5, you’re going to struggle. But if you see multiple results with 10–30 referring domains, you’re in the game.

Reddit advice: Focus on how many weak or medium sites rank in the top 10, rather than obsessing over the KD number alone.

Step 3 – Analyze Content Type and Intent

Ask yourself: What is Google actually showing?

• How-to guides?
• Product pages?
• Listicles?
• Case studies?
• Local business listings?
• Video content?

If you’re planning to write a comprehensive guide but Google is showing product pages and reviews, you’re not matching intent. Your content might be great, but you won’t rank well because Google thinks people want to buy, not learn.

Intent fit beats keyword difficulty. A perfectly optimized page for the wrong intent won’t rank, no matter how “easy” the KD score.

Step 4 – Consider SERP Features and AI Overviews

Check whether the search results include:

• AI Overview (taking up significant screen space)
• Featured snippet
• People Also Ask boxes
• Local map pack
• Shopping results
• Image or video carousels
• Knowledge panel

These all reduce how many clicks organic results get. According to recent data, about 58% of informational queries now trigger AI Overviews, and roughly 60% of searches end without a click to any website.

Even if you rank #3, if there’s a giant AI Overview above you and a People Also Ask box below, you might only get 20 clicks when you expected 200.

True difficulty = KD score + SERP features + intent match. The tools only measure the first part.

What SEOs on Reddit Really Think About Keyword Difficulty

I spent way too much time reading Reddit threads in r/SEO and r/bigseo about keyword difficulty. Here’s what actual practitioners keep saying:

KD Is a Helpful Filter, Not a Precise Prediction

Common theme across threads: KD is “imprecise and of limited use” for evaluating a single keyword, but very useful for filtering giant lists to a manageable shortlist.

One user put it perfectly: “Use KD to eliminate the obviously impossible stuff, then do real research on what’s left.”

Always Sanity-Check KD Against The Live SERP

Multiple experienced SEOs warn: Tools are not 100% accurate. You should still review the top 10, check word count, backlinks, and domain types before committing time and resources.

Some share stories of KD 5 keywords that were impossible to rank for because the SERP was dominated by major brands, or high-KD terms they ranked for easily because the existing content was terrible.

Low KD Does Not Guarantee Easy Rankings

There are cases where KD 0–3 terms are dominated by big players. Explanations include:

• Tools missing hidden links (e.g., private blog networks blocking crawlers)
• Brand bias in Google’s algorithm
• User signals (clicks, engagement) favoring established sites

One commenter mentioned ranking for a KD 0 keyword took six months despite “low competition” because Wikipedia and a couple of major universities occupied the top spots.

Personal Difficulty and Topical Authority Matter More Over Time

Some practitioners really like Semrush’s Personal Keyword Difficulty because it considers your site’s authority. But they still warn against trusting any KD score blindly.

The consensus: Build topical authority in one niche rather than chasing random low-KD keywords across unrelated topics. Google increasingly rewards sites that demonstrate expertise in a specific area.

How To Use Keyword Difficulty In Your Research Workflow

Alright, practical time. Here’s how to actually use KD without losing your mind.

Step-by-Step Process

1. Generate a large keyword list
Use SEO tools, Google’s “People Also Ask,” Reddit threads, forums, competitor analysis—whatever gets you a few hundred (or thousand) potential keywords.

2. Filter by search volume / traffic potential
Remove anything below your minimum threshold. For most sites, that’s at least 50–100 monthly searches. Targeting keywords with 10 searches per month is usually not worth the effort unless they’re extremely high-value conversions.

3. Apply KD thresholds to remove clearly unrealistic terms
If you’re a new site, filter out anything above KD 40. Established? Maybe KD 60 or 70. This cuts your list down significantly.

4. Manually inspect SERPs for your shortlisted keywords
Use the process outlined above: check who’s ranking, their authority, content type, and SERP features.

5. Group keywords into clusters by topic and intent
Don’t optimize one page per keyword. Group related keywords and create comprehensive content that targets the entire topic. This is how you build topical authority.

Using KD for Different Types of Sites

New or small sites:
Focus on low KD (0–30), long-tail keywords, and question-based queries with clear informational intent. Write helpful guides that actually answer the question better than what’s currently ranking. Avoid going after anything branded or dominated by big publishers.

Example targets: “how to clean hiking boots without damaging them,” “best budget standing desk under $300,” “why does my sourdough starter smell like acetone”

Established sites:
Mix easy wins (KD 20–40) with strategically chosen higher KD “pillar” terms (50–70) where you already have topical authority. Use your lower-KD content to build internal link equity to your higher-KD pages.

Local businesses:
Treat KD as secondary to local intent. The real competition is the Google Business Profile listings in the map pack, not organic results. A “plumber near me” search might show KD 0 in Ahrefs but be incredibly competitive locally.

Balancing Keyword Difficulty, Volume, and Business Value

Don’t optimize for one metric. You need to balance three things:

1. KD (competition) – Can you realistically rank?
2. Volume / traffic potential – Is there enough demand?
3. Business value / conversion potential – Will this traffic actually help your business?

“Medium KD + high value + decent volume” often beats chasing very high volume with extreme KD.

Example:

• Keyword A: “CRM software” – 50,000 searches, KD 85, highly competitive
• Keyword B: “CRM for real estate teams under 10 people” – 400 searches, KD 32, niche-specific

Keyword B is almost always the better target for a growing SaaS company. The 400 searches are highly qualified leads who know exactly what they want, and you can actually rank for it.

Keyword Difficulty in 2025–2026: AI Overviews and Topical Authority

Things are changing fast, and keyword difficulty isn’t immune.

Why AI Overviews Change How You Interpret KD

Many informational queries now trigger AI-generated answers at the top of search results. According to recent reporting, AI Overviews appear in about 58% of informational queries.

This means you need to ask a new question: Will Google still send clicks even if I rank?

For some queries, traditional ranking might matter less than being cited as a source in the AI Overview itself. This is where Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) comes in—optimizing your content so AI systems cite you as an authoritative source. Keytomic’s approach to GEO focuses on this emerging ranking factor.

Keyword difficulty in 2026 isn’t just “can I rank?”—it’s “can I get clicks, and can AI find and cite me?”

Entity-Level and Topical Authority vs Pure KD

Consistently covering a topic with helpful content can let lower-authority sites compete above their raw KD weight.

Google’s algorithms increasingly recognize topical expertise. If you’ve published 50 quality articles about email deliverability, Google starts to see you as an authority on that topic—even if your overall Domain Rating is modest.

This is good news. It means building topical clusters and genuine expertise can overcome raw KD disadvantages.

KD remains useful shorthand, but “topical fit” and entity understanding are becoming more important ranking factors over time.

Practical Example: Comparing Two Keywords with Similar KD

Let’s make this concrete with a real scenario.

Example A: “email marketing tips”

• Search volume: 8,000/month
• KD: 45
• SERP analysis: Dominated by HubSpot, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and major marketing blogs. AI Overview present. Featured snippet showing a listicle from a major publisher.

Example B: “how to fix email deliverability for cold outreach”

• Search volume: 350/month
• KD: 42
• SERP analysis: Mix of smaller SaaS blogs, two Reddit threads, one Quora answer, and a couple of niche email marketing sites. No AI Overview. People Also Ask box present with clear content gaps.

Which should you target?

For most sites, Example B is the smarter pick despite similar KD and much lower volume. Here’s why:

1. More realistic competition – You’re not fighting HubSpot
2. Specific intent – These 350 people have a precise problem you can solve
3. Content gaps – Existing content is incomplete or outdated
4. Higher conversion potential – Someone searching this is likely a qualified lead
5. No AI Overview eating clicks – Organic results still get traffic

Example A looks attractive because of the volume, but you’ll struggle to rank and even if you do, you’ll get crushed by SERP features.

This is why manual SERP analysis matters more than the KD number.

Common Keyword Difficulty Myths and Mistakes

Let’s bust some myths that trip people up.

Myth 1 – “Keyword Difficulty Is Objective and Tool X Is ‘Right’”

Reality: Every KD score is an educated estimate. Different tools disagree all the time, sometimes dramatically. Neither is necessarily “right”—they’re just using different formulas.

Don’t waste energy arguing about which tool is most accurate. Pick one, understand its methodology, and use it consistently.

Myth 2 – “Low KD Means Easy Rankings”

Reality: The SERP might be dominated by big brands, strong user signals, or links the tools can’t see. I’ve personally targeted KD 15 keywords that took months to crack the first page because Google really wanted to show household names.

Low KD is a positive signal, not a guarantee.

Myth 3 – “You Can’t Rank for High KD Keywords”

Reality: With strong topical authority, great content, smart internal linking, and targeted link building, high KD terms are absolutely achievable—they just require more time and resources.

Ahrefs themselves say they’ve ranked for many KD 70+ keywords, but it took multiple rewrites, promotion, and years of patience.

Don’t be afraid of higher KD if the keyword is strategically important. Just be realistic about the timeline.

Myth 4 – “You Should Always Pick Keywords with the Lowest KD”

Reality: Very low KD often means low value or limited demand. A KD 5 keyword with 20 monthly searches might not move the needle for your business.

You need to balance KD with volume and business intent. Sometimes a KD 50 keyword with 5,000 high-intent searches is worth more than ten KD 15 keywords with 100 searches each.

Keyword Difficulty FAQ

What is keyword difficulty in SEO?

Keyword difficulty is an SEO metric (usually scored 0–100) that estimates how challenging it would be to rank on Google’s first page for a specific keyword. Higher scores indicate stronger competition from well-established, heavily linked pages.

How do tools like Ahrefs and Semrush calculate keyword difficulty?

Ahrefs bases KD primarily on the number of referring domains to top-ranking pages. Semrush uses a more complex formula that includes referring domains, domain authority scores, search volume, and SERP features. Each tool has its own methodology, which is why the same keyword can show different KD scores across platforms.

What is a good keyword difficulty score for a new website?

For new sites with low domain authority (DR < 20), target keywords with KD 0–30. Focus on long-tail keywords and specific questions where you can provide genuinely helpful answers. As you build authority over 6–12 months, gradually target KD 30–50 keywords.

Why does the same keyword have different difficulty scores in different tools?

Because each tool uses a different calculation method. Ahrefs emphasizes backlinks, Semrush includes more factors like SERP features and volume, Moz uses its own DA/PA metrics. They’re all estimating the same thing (ranking difficulty) but with different formulas.

Is keyword difficulty accurate?

It’s approximately accurate as a directional indicator, but not precise. KD scores don’t account for your specific website’s authority, content quality, intent match, or SERP features. Think of it as a weather forecast—useful for planning, but check the actual conditions before making decisions.

Can I ignore keyword difficulty and just look at the SERP?

You could, but that’s inefficient for large keyword lists. Use KD as a first filter to narrow thousands of keywords to a manageable shortlist, then do detailed SERP analysis on that shortlist. This combines the efficiency of automated scoring with the accuracy of manual review.

What’s the difference between keyword difficulty and keyword competition in Google Ads?

Keyword difficulty measures organic (unpaid) ranking challenge. Google Ads Competition measures how many advertisers are bidding on a keyword in paid search. They’re completely different metrics for different purposes.

How often should I check keyword difficulty?

Check it during your periodic keyword research sessions (monthly or quarterly for most sites). KD doesn’t change daily, so there’s no need to monitor it constantly. Focus your ongoing tracking on actual rankings, traffic, and conversions rather than KD scores.

The Bottom Line

Keyword difficulty is useful. It helps you avoid wasting weeks on impossible keywords and identifies realistic opportunities you can actually rank for.

But keyword difficulty is not perfect. Tools disagree. Scores ignore crucial context. The SERP tells a fuller story than any number can.

Here’s how to use KD smartly:

1. Use it as a first filter to eliminate clearly unrealistic keywords from large lists
2. Always do manual SERP analysis before committing time and resources
3. Benchmark against your own successes to find your achievable KD range
4. Balance KD with volume and business value, not just one metric
5. Focus on topical authority in one niche rather than chasing random low-KD keywords
6. Account for SERP features and intent that KD scores miss
7. Be patient with higher-KD strategic terms if they’re important for your business

The best keyword strategy isn’t about finding the “perfect” KD score. It’s about understanding your site’s strengths, matching user intent, and consistently creating content that genuinely helps people.

And if you want to streamline the entire process—from keyword research to content creation to actually ranking—tools like Keytomic can automate much of the heavy lifting. Instead of manually checking KD scores and SERPs for hours, you can focus on strategy while the platform handles keyword analysis, content optimization, publishing, and even auto-indexing through Google Search Console.

But regardless of what tools you use, the fundamental principle stays the same: Let keyword difficulty inform your decisions, not make them for you.

Now go find some keywords you can actually rank for.

Further Reading:

• Ahrefs’ Guide to Keyword Difficulty – Deep dive into how their KD metric works
• Search Engine Journal’s Keyword Research Guide – Comprehensive SEO keyword strategies
• What is GEO SEO – Optimizing for AI-powered search engines