🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 107 (from laksa101)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa107.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-difficulty/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-difficulty/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/","crawl_time":1776764494,"first_indexed_time":1464266593,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,ahrefs!\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/ s443","src_root_hash":"4523885331527930707","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Keyword Difficulty: How to Estimate Your Chances to Rank","meta_descriptions":["Keyword Difficulty (KD) is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a given keyword."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Article Performance\nData from Ahrefs\nOrganic traffic\nLinking websites\nThe number of websites linking to this post.\nThis post's estimated monthly organic search traffic.\nContents\nIt’s easy to find keywords that can bring lots of traffic to your website. What’s harder is to predict your chances of ranking for them.\nTo help solve this problem, SEO tools like Ahrefs give keywords a “difficulty” score from 0 to 100.\nBut the truth is that these scores aren’t foolproof.\nSo in this post, I’m going to outline the benefits and shortcomings of the Keyword Difficulty metric, as well as break down what other things professional SEOs look at when estimating their chances to rank for a given keyword.\nWhat is Keyword Difficulty?\nKeyword Difficulty (KD) is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a given keyword. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 100, with the latter being the hardest to rank for.\nHowever, when many SEO professionals use the term “Keyword Difficulty,” they’re sometimes referring to the broader concept of ranking difficulty—not a particular metric in a particular SEO tool.\nKeyword Difficulty still matters because links still matter\nGoogle\nstill relies on link-based signals like PageRank\nto rank search results, so knowing the backlink strength of top-ranking pages is still one of the best predictors of how hard a keyword is to win.\nLLMs are increasingly using link graph data too, so assessing link authority is arguably only growing in importance.\nKeyword Difficulty scores distill that into a simple benchmark that shows you how much backlink strength you’ll need to compete.\nThey’re a quick and easy way to judge which keywords are realistically within reach and worth investing in.\nKeyword Difficulty as a metric\nAlmost every keyword research tool has a Keyword Difficulty score. These tools all use the same 0-100 scale, but each one calculates it differently.\nIf you check the Keyword Difficulty of the same keywords in different SEO tools, the numbers will vary quite substantially.\nThat’s why it is important to understand how exactly the ranking difficulty is calculated by your SEO tool of choice. Only then can you make informed decisions based on it.\nHow we calculate Keyword Difficulty at Ahrefs\nHere at Ahrefs, we use a simple method for calculating KD.\nWe pull the top 10 ranking pages for your keyword and look up how many websites link to each of them.\nThe more links the top-ranking pages for your keyword have, the higher its KD score.\nVery simple and very actionable.\nKeyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is based on linking domains to top-ranking pages.\nKeyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is an\nabsolute metric\n—not a relative one—scored from 0 to 100 based on the backlink profiles of top-ranking pages.\nIt’s a straightforward benchmark:\nKD 0-5 – Top-ranking pages barely have any backlinks\nKD ~50 – Top-ranking pages have a couple of hundred backlinks\nKD 90+ – Top-ranking pages have thousands of backlinks\nIn other words, the score tells you how hard it is for the\naverage\nwebsite to rank, but it doesn’t account for\nyour\nspecific website’s authority.\nThink of the KD Score like the\nspeed limit\non a highway. The sign might say “70 MPH” (High Difficulty), which applies to everyone. But your\npersonal\ndifficulty depends on the car you’re driving.\nIf you are in a Formula 1 car (High Authority\/High Topical Relevance), 70 MPH feels effortless.\nIf you’re on a bike (New Domain\/Low Authority), reaching that speed is impossible, regardless of what the sign says. The sign is accurate, but ultimately your vehicle determines the challenge.\nYou should always interpret the KD score through the lens of your own “Personal Keyword Difficulty.”\nPersonal Keyword Difficulty\nIf your site has a higher\nDomain Rating\nor stronger topical authority than the average found on the SERP, the “effective” difficulty is likely far lower for your site than tools might suggest.\nOn the flip side, if you’re a new player, even mid-range scores will require extra effort.\nEssentially, Ahrefs’ Keyword Difficulty score is the baseline, and your site’s authority provides the context.\nThere is a way to quickly get a better idea of your “Personal Keyword Difficulty” scores using the\nAhrefs MCP.\nJust copy and paste\nthis prompt I’ve built\ninto Claude, with the Ahrefs MCP switched on.\nIt takes multiple factors into account, including:\nBaseline Keyword Difficulty (I.e. KD in Ahrefs)\nYour site’s topical authority for your chosen keyword (e.g. how many other keywords you rank for in the same “\nParent Topic” cluster\n, and their associated traffic)\nYour site’s Domain Rating versus other SERP competitors\nYour page’s URL Rating (for existing content within that “Parent Topic” cluster) compared to other SERP competitors\nClaude then weights those factors, to develop a “Personalized Keyword Difficulty” score.\nThis essentially inflates or decreases the base Keyword Difficulty depending on your site’s performance and authority across the relevant topic. \nFor the keyword “AI search optimization” our Personal Keyword Difficulty dropped by 9 points—meaning it should, in theory, be easier for us to rank. \nThat’s because we already have a strong URL Rating, a DR well above competitors, and existing visibility for related keywords across the same Parent Topic.\nOnce Claude has analyzed all of your Ahrefs data, it’ll suggest actionable recommendations…\nAs any SEO worth their salt knows, backlinks aren’t the only ranking factor. If you want to properly gauge your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you need to go further and do a more thorough analysis of the SERP.\nSpeaking of which…\nKeyword Difficulty as a concept\nNobody knows exactly how Google ranks pages. But we do know the main things that matter for ranking well.\nAnd by analyzing those “main things,” SEOs can get a pretty good idea of what it takes to rank on Google for a given keyword.\nSo here’s how to do it.\n1. Figure out how many backlinks you’ll need\nBacklinks act as votes, which tell Google that a given page is more valuable than any other page on the same topic. So, as a general rule, if you want to rank in the top 10 search results for a given keyword, you’ll have to acquire as many backlinks as the current top-ranking pages have (if not more).\nIn Ahrefs’\nKeywords Explorer\n, we actually have a text hint right under our KD score that tells you an approximate number of backlinks you’ll need:\nTwo important caveats here:\nThe hint says “to rank in the top 10,” which means that getting as many (or more) backlinks as your competitors won’t guarantee that you’ll rank #1. But there’s a very good chance that you’ll rank somewhere in the top 10.\nThe sheer quantity of backlinks can often be misleading because some backlinks cast a stronger vote than others. So this number is merely an estimation.\nTo properly estimate the strength of the backlink profiles of the top-ranking pages, you’ll have to review all their backlinks manually, i.e., do\na backlink audit\nof these pages.\nIn\nKeywords Explorer\n, we’ve created a handy shortcut for this, since each number in the “SERP Overview” links to its respective backlink report in Ahrefs’\nSite Explorer\n:\nClick these numbers (in the highlighted columns) to manually review backlinks.\n2. Look for “Cracks” in the SERP\nBecause KD scores represent the average Referring Domains of the top-ranking pages, they can sometimes hide specific weaknesses in the search results that you can exploit.\nA high KD score usually means the top pages have many backlinks, but it doesn’t tell you if those pages actually\nsatisfy\nthe user.\nTo enhance your keyword strategy, look for “cracks” in the SERP that Keyword Difficulty doesn’t account for, such as:\nContent freshness\nAre the top results outdated (e.g., posts from 2019 with no updates)? Stale content is often easier to outrank—even when it has strong backlinks.\nTo check this, head to the “SERP Overview” in Keywords Explorer for your target keyword. Then click on the arrow dropdown, and hit “Inspect”.\nThis will bring up the Page Inspect tool where you can check on when the article was last updated.\nIn this example for the keyword “AI SEO” I can see the #1 ranking page was only updated a few days ago, and gets regular “Moderate” updates throughout the year—which likely makes it a tough one to beat.\nLow DR brands\nAre there forums or low-authority blogs ranking among the giants?\nIf a low-authority site has managed to rank, it’s a strong signal that the “giants” aren’t satisfying the intent perfectly.\nOmid Ghiam, founder of Marketer Milk, actually factors this into his\nSEO and AEO keyword research\n. Using DR filtering in Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, he finds keywords that only show low DR brands in the SERPs (e.g. DR <15).\nThe main filter we first want to play with is the\nLowest DR\nfilter. This will allow us to find keyword ideas where the pages that rank for that keyword have a really low DR (domain rating). In theory, if those pages are ranking for that specific keyword, we can also rank for it (with a better piece of content, that is). I like to make the lowest DR to something like 10 or 15, in the top 5 or 10 results on the first page of Google.\n“Fluffy” content\nSometimes high-authority sites rank simply because of their domain strength, even if their content is 1,000 words of filler.\nThese are prime targets for you to outrank with high-value, concise content.\n3. Review the “authority” of your competitors\nAs mentioned, you want to assess the authority of your SERP competitors. This includes checking factors like DR, URL rating, and ownership of content clusters.\nA high website authority can indirectly contribute toward a higher ranking on Google:\nA. Internal links\nHigh authority means that a given website has lots of strong pages. And the page that you see ranking on Google may be receiving lots of “link juice” from such pages, making it a high-authority page too (even in the absence of backlinks from other websites).\nB. Familiar brand\nWhen shown a list of search results, people often prefer familiar websites. This behavior ends up reshuffling the SERPs since Google has its own ”\nClick probability model\n“, which uses SERP CTR data to assess user satisfaction and inform re-ranking. That’s how “familiar websites” often tend to rank high, and benefit from compounding awareness.\n4. Investigate the search intent\nYour ability to address the\nsearch intent\nis crucial for ranking well on Google.\nIn case you’re unfamiliar with the term, search intent is basically the expectation that searchers have. Google’s goal is to fulfill people’s expectations when they perform a search.\nYou can better understand intent when you review the top-ranking pages for a keyword, and analyze what searchers get from them.\nTo do this, head to the SERP Overview report in Keywords Explorer and hit “Identify intents”.\nThis will give you a breakdown of the intent of each ranking result, so you can understand what kind of content searchers are looking to find.\nAs you can tell from the example above, ~60% of the top-ranking pages for the keyword “backlink checker” are “free backlink checking tools”, so this is the dominant search intent.\nThe remaining 40% belongs to paid or more “comprehensive” backlink checking tools.\nIn other words, if you try to target this keyword with a blog article or a landing page, it won’t work.\nWe know this for a fact because we actually tried it.\nAbove is the graph of organic search traffic to\nour backlink checker page\n.\nOriginally, we had just a simple landing page explaining that Ahrefs has a backlink checker tool, and offering people to sign up for our paid trial.\nNo matter how much we optimized that page, it never ranked higher than #8 for that keyword.\nThen we studied the pages that were outranking us and realized that all of them were free online tools.\nAnd as soon as we converted our landing page into a free tool, it shot up to #1 for the keyword “backlink checker” and started ranking high for many other relevant keywords.\nSo, in short, browse the top-ranking pages and figure out what exactly people expect to get from it.\n5. Gauge the quality of content\nThe famous\nSkyscraper technique\nhas led lots of content marketers astray by suggesting that a longer and more detailed article equals a better article.\nBut just making your article longer doesn’t necessarily make it better. A better article is one that provides more value in less time (and without boring you to death).\nSo here are some pointers that will help you gauge the quality of content that already ranks at the top for your target keyword:\nDoes it provide accurate and up-to-date information?\nIs it written by a subject matter expert?\nDoes it contain unique information?\nIs it well-written?\nIs it properly formatted?\nIs it well-designed?\nThe first three are the most important ones.\nGoogle wants to provide its users with accurate information that comes from credible sources.\nWe know that for a fact because the latest edition of its\nSearch Quality Rater Guidelines\nhas lots of focus on the concept called\nE-E-A-T\n, which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.\nSo instead of making your pages longer than those of your competitors, try investing in E-E-A-T.\nWhat is a good Keyword Difficulty to target?\nAs with many things in SEO, the answer is it depends:\nOn the authority of your website.\nOn your credibility in a given space.\nOn your ability to acquire backlinks.\nOn whether you have the ability and\/or resources to cater to search intent.\nEtc.\nA good exercise that may help you get used to Ahrefs’ KD metric is to look up the KD scores of the keywords that your website is already ranking for.\nYou can do this by entering your website into Ahrefs’\nSite Explorer\nand visiting the Organic keywords report:\nThis gives you a nice benchmark. But it’s by no means a substitute for the process I’ve outlined above.\nIf you want to accurately estimate your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you should thoroughly study the top-ranking pages and factor in your own skills and resources.\nAnd please don’t shy away from targeting high-KD keywords.\nWhen it comes to many of the KD 70+ keywords that we rank for today, it took us four to five rewrites, lots of promotion, and many years of patience to get there.\nSo the sooner you “attack” a high-KD keyword that you really want to rank for, the sooner you’ll get there.\nFinal thoughts\nIt would be quite awesome to have a Keyword Difficulty metric that could accurately predict your chances of ranking for a given keyword. But as you can probably tell by now, such a metric doesn’t exist.\nSo the only way for you to make the right SEO bets is by thoroughly studying the search results for the keywords that you want to rank for.\nI hope the process I’ve outlined above is helpful for you. And if you have any further questions, feel free to ping me\non Twitter\n.","attrs_markdown":"![](https:\/\/px.ads.linkedin.com\/collect\/?pid=83228&fmt=gif)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tr?id=1511271639109289&ev=PageView&noscript=1)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[The conference for marketers ready to win in 2026Starts in --Days --Hours --Minutes --Seconds](https:\/\/ahrefsevolve.com\/singapore\/?utm_source=ahrefs_blog&utm_content=stripe&utm_campaign=evolve_logo)\n\n[Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/)\n\n- [General Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/marketing\/)\n- [Content Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/content-marketing\/)\n- [Affiliate Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/affiliate-marketing\/)\n- [Paid Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/paid-marketing\/)\n- [Video Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/video-marketing\/)\n\n[AI Search](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/ai-search\/)\n\n[SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/)\n\n- [General SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/general-seo\/)\n- [Keyword Research](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/keyword-research\/)\n- [On-Page SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/on-page-seo\/)\n- [Link Building](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/link-building\/)\n- [Technical SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/technical-seo\/)\n- [Local SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/local-seo\/)\n- [Enterprise SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/enterprise-seo\/)\n\n[Data & Studies](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/data-studies\/)\n\n[Product](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/product-blog\/)\n\n[Guides](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/)\n\n- [SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo)\n- [Keyword Research](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/keyword-research)\n- [On-Page SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/on-page-seo)\n- [Link Building](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/link-building)\n- [Technical SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/technical-seo)\n- [Local SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/local-seo)\n\nSearch\n\n[Subscribe](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/newsletter)\n\n[Subscribe](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/newsletter)\n\n[Menu](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/)\n\n[Subscribe](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/newsletter)\n\n[Menu](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/)\n\nMarketing  [General Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/marketing\/) [Content Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/content-marketing\/) [Affiliate Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/affiliate-marketing\/) [Paid Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/paid-marketing\/) [Video Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/video-marketing\/)\n\n[AI Search](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/ai-search\/)\n\nSEO  [General SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/general-seo\/) [Keyword Research](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/keyword-research\/) [On-Page SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/on-page-seo\/) [Link Building](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/link-building\/) [Technical SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/technical-seo\/) [Local SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/local-seo\/) [Enterprise SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/enterprise-seo\/)\n\n[Data & Studies](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/data-studies\/)\n\n[Product](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/product-blog\/)\n\nGuides   [SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo) [Keyword Research](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/keyword-research) [On-Page SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/on-page-seo) [Link Building](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/link-building) [Technical SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/technical-seo) [Local SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/local-seo)\n\n![Keyword Difficulty: How to Estimate Your Chances to Rank](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/blog_keyword_difficulty-400x200.png)\n\n[Keyword Research](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/keyword-research\/)\n\n# Keyword Difficulty: How to Estimate Your Chances to Rank\nBy   [Tim Soulo](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/author\/tim-soulo\/ \"Posts by Tim Soulo\") ,   [Louise Linehan](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/author\/louise-linehan\/ \"Posts by Louise Linehan\")\n\nUpdated: December 15, 202513 min read\n\n![Tim Soulo](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Tim_profile_pic-120x120.jpg)\n\n![Tim Soulo](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%2085%2085%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\n[Tim Soulo](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/author\/tim-soulo\/ \"Posts by Tim Soulo\")\n\nTim Soulo is CMO at Ahrefs. With over 15 years in the digital marketing industry, Tim is the author of many data-driven studies and actionable marketing frameworks, some of which gained industry-wide recognition. He enjoys challenging conventional marketing knowledge and optimizing for simplicity and efficiency.\n\nArticle Performance\n\nData from Ahrefs\n\n- Organic traffic\n  \n  [546](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/traffic-checker\/?input=https%3A%2F%2Fahrefs.com%2Fblog%2Fkeyword-difficulty%2F&mode=exact)\n- Linking websites\n  \n  [386](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/backlink-checker\/?input=https%3A%2F%2Fahrefs.com%2Fblog%2Fkeyword-difficulty%2F&mode=exact)\n\n[Sign up for Ahrefs](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/pricing)\n\nGet SEO metrics of any website or URL.\n\nThe number of websites linking to this post.\n\nThis post's estimated monthly organic search traffic.\n\nGet the week's best marketing content\n\nContents\n\nIt’s easy to find keywords that can bring lots of traffic to your website. What’s harder is to predict your chances of ranking for them.\n\nTo help solve this problem, SEO tools like Ahrefs give keywords a “difficulty” score from 0 to 100.\n\nBut the truth is that these scores aren’t foolproof.\n\nSo in this post, I’m going to outline the benefits and shortcomings of the Keyword Difficulty metric, as well as break down what other things professional SEOs look at when estimating their chances to rank for a given keyword.\n\n## What is Keyword Difficulty?\nKeyword Difficulty (KD) is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a given keyword. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 100, with the latter being the hardest to rank for.\n\n![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for \"best womens hiking boots\" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-overview-for-best-womens.png)\n\n![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for \"best womens hiking boots\" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10)](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20952%20633%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nHowever, when many SEO professionals use the term “Keyword Difficulty,” they’re sometimes referring to the broader concept of ranking difficulty—not a particular metric in a particular SEO tool.\n\n## Keyword Difficulty still matters because links still matter\nGoogle [still relies on link-based signals like PageRank](https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7403893733496147968\/) to rank search results, so knowing the backlink strength of top-ranking pages is still one of the best predictors of how hard a keyword is to win.\n\nLLMs are increasingly using link graph data too, so assessing link authority is arguably only growing in importance.\n\n![LinkedIn post by Mark Williams-Cook stating that Google still uses a modified version of PageRank, LLMs have been buying link graph data, and it's still hugely important for ranking documents](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/linkedin-post-by-mark-williams-cook-stating-that-g.png)\n\n![LinkedIn post by Mark Williams-Cook stating that Google still uses a modified version of PageRank, LLMs have been buying link graph data, and it's still hugely important for ranking documents](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201094%20442%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nKeyword Difficulty scores distill that into a simple benchmark that shows you how much backlink strength you’ll need to compete.\n\nThey’re a quick and easy way to judge which keywords are realistically within reach and worth investing in.\n\n## Keyword Difficulty as a metric\nAlmost every keyword research tool has a Keyword Difficulty score. These tools all use the same 0-100 scale, but each one calculates it differently.\n\nIf you check the Keyword Difficulty of the same keywords in different SEO tools, the numbers will vary quite substantially.\n\n![Keyword Difficulty comparison table across four SEO tools (Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush, KWFinder) for three keywords: \"disposable face mask\" (72, 63, 68, 46), \"best backpack\" (42, 47, 79, 50), and \"bike tire pump\" (13, 45, 56, 39)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/keyword-difficulty-comparison-table-across-four-se.png)\n\n![Keyword Difficulty comparison table across four SEO tools (Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush, KWFinder) for three keywords: \"disposable face mask\" (72, 63, 68, 46), \"best backpack\" (42, 47, 79, 50), and \"bike tire pump\" (13, 45, 56, 39)](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20866%20180%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nThat’s why it is important to understand how exactly the ranking difficulty is calculated by your SEO tool of choice. Only then can you make informed decisions based on it.\n\n### How we calculate Keyword Difficulty at Ahrefs\nHere at Ahrefs, we use a simple method for calculating KD.\n\nWe pull the top 10 ranking pages for your keyword and look up how many websites link to each of them.\n\nThe more links the top-ranking pages for your keyword have, the higher its KD score.\n\nVery simple and very actionable.\n\n![SERP overview table for \"best womens hiking boots\" with Domains column highlighted showing the number of unique referring domains for each ranking page ](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/serp-overview-table-for-best-womens-hiking-boots.png)\n\n![SERP overview table for \"best womens hiking boots\" with Domains column highlighted showing the number of unique referring domains for each ranking page ](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201071%20695%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nKeyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is based on linking domains to top-ranking pages.\n\nKeyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is an **absolute metric** —not a relative one—scored from 0 to 100 based on the backlink profiles of top-ranking pages.\n\nIt’s a straightforward benchmark:\n\n- KD 0-5 – Top-ranking pages barely have any backlinks\n- KD ~50 – Top-ranking pages have a couple of hundred backlinks\n- KD 90+ – Top-ranking pages have thousands of backlinks\n\nIn other words, the score tells you how hard it is for the *average* website to rank, but it doesn’t account for *your* specific website’s authority.\n\nThink of the KD Score like the **speed limit** on a highway. The sign might say “70 MPH” (High Difficulty), which applies to everyone. But your *personal* difficulty depends on the car you’re driving.\n\nIf you are in a Formula 1 car (High Authority\/High Topical Relevance), 70 MPH feels effortless.\n\nIf you’re on a bike (New Domain\/Low Authority), reaching that speed is impossible, regardless of what the sign says. The sign is accurate, but ultimately your vehicle determines the challenge.\n\nYou should always interpret the KD score through the lens of your own “Personal Keyword Difficulty.”\n\n### Personal Keyword Difficulty\nIf your site has a higher [Domain Rating](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/domain-rating\/) or stronger topical authority than the average found on the SERP, the “effective” difficulty is likely far lower for your site than tools might suggest.\n\nOn the flip side, if you’re a new player, even mid-range scores will require extra effort.\n\nEssentially, Ahrefs’ Keyword Difficulty score is the baseline, and your site’s authority provides the context.\n\nThere is a way to quickly get a better idea of your “Personal Keyword Difficulty” scores using the [Ahrefs MCP.](https:\/\/docs.ahrefs.com\/docs\/mcp\/reference\/introduction)\n\nJust copy and paste [this prompt I’ve built](https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1Zbci5ZmP4D7Xi-k1t275WLHvWDZH3zfUlZjBAR0nskA\/edit?usp=sharing) into Claude, with the Ahrefs MCP switched on.\n\n![Prompt for Ahrefs MCP to build a Personal Keyword Difficulty score](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.55.05-614x425.png)\n\n![Prompt for Ahrefs MCP to build a Personal Keyword Difficulty score](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20614%20425%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nIt takes multiple factors into account, including:\n\n- Baseline Keyword Difficulty (I.e. KD in Ahrefs)\n- Your site’s topical authority for your chosen keyword (e.g. how many other keywords you rank for in the same “[Parent Topic” cluster](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-clustering\/), and their associated traffic)\n- Your site’s Domain Rating versus other SERP competitors\n- Your page’s URL Rating (for existing content within that “Parent Topic” cluster) compared to other SERP competitors\n\n![Personalized Keyword Difficulty breakdown for \"AI search optimization\" showing Base KD at 40% (18.8 points), Topical Authority at 30% (-2.4 points advantage), Domain Rating at 20% (5.5 points advantage), and Page Authority at 10% (-0.9 points advantage), resulting in final score of 38](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/personalized-keyword-difficulty-breakdown-for-ai.png)\n\n![Personalized Keyword Difficulty breakdown for \"AI search optimization\" showing Base KD at 40% (18.8 points), Topical Authority at 30% (-2.4 points advantage), Domain Rating at 20% (5.5 points advantage), and Page Authority at 10% (-0.9 points advantage), resulting in final score of 38](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20730%20466%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nClaude then weights those factors, to develop a “Personalized Keyword Difficulty” score.\n\n![Personalized Keyword Difficulty Analysis table for ahrefs.com comparing Standard KD versus Personalized KD for keywords including \"AI search optimization\"](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/personalized-keyword-difficulty-analysis-table-for.png)\n\n![Personalized Keyword Difficulty Analysis table for ahrefs.com comparing Standard KD versus Personalized KD for keywords including \"AI search optimization\"](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20808%20407%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nThis essentially inflates or decreases the base Keyword Difficulty depending on your site’s performance and authority across the relevant topic.\n\nFor the keyword “AI search optimization” our Personal Keyword Difficulty dropped by 9 points—meaning it should, in theory, be easier for us to rank.\n\nThat’s because we already have a strong URL Rating, a DR well above competitors, and existing visibility for related keywords across the same Parent Topic.\n\nOnce Claude has analyzed all of your Ahrefs data, it’ll suggest actionable recommendations…\n\n![Claude \"Personal keyword difficulty\" data summary showing parent topic cluster \"ai search engine optimization\" with 3 keywords ranked from cluster, 1 unique URL, approximately 0 monthly visits target domain traffic, weighted average UR of 8.0, and top competitors including Google (DR 99), Salesforce (DR 92), Reddit (DR 95), and Search Engine Land (DR 91)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/claude-personal-keyword-difficulty-data-summary.png)\n\n![Claude \"Personal keyword difficulty\" data summary showing parent topic cluster \"ai search engine optimization\" with 3 keywords ranked from cluster, 1 unique URL, approximately 0 monthly visits target domain traffic, weighted average UR of 8.0, and top competitors including Google (DR 99), Salesforce (DR 92), Reddit (DR 95), and Search Engine Land (DR 91)](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20725%20498%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nAs any SEO worth their salt knows, backlinks aren’t the only ranking factor. If you want to properly gauge your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you need to go further and do a more thorough analysis of the SERP.\n\nSpeaking of which…\n\n## Keyword Difficulty as a concept\nNobody knows exactly how Google ranks pages. But we do know the main things that matter for ranking well.\n\nAnd by analyzing those “main things,” SEOs can get a pretty good idea of what it takes to rank on Google for a given keyword.\n\nSo here’s how to do it.\n\n### 1\\. Figure out how many backlinks you’ll need\nBacklinks act as votes, which tell Google that a given page is more valuable than any other page on the same topic. So, as a general rule, if you want to rank in the top 10 search results for a given keyword, you’ll have to acquire as many backlinks as the current top-ranking pages have (if not more).\n\nIn Ahrefs’ [Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer) , we actually have a text hint right under our KD score that tells you an approximate number of backlinks you’ll need:\n\n![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for \"best womens hiking boots\" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10) ](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-overview-for-best-womens-1.png)\n\n![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for \"best womens hiking boots\" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10) ](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20952%20633%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nTwo important caveats here:\n\n1. The hint says “to rank in the top 10,” which means that getting as many (or more) backlinks as your competitors won’t guarantee that you’ll rank \\#1. But there’s a very good chance that you’ll rank somewhere in the top 10.\n2. The sheer quantity of backlinks can often be misleading because some backlinks cast a stronger vote than others. So this number is merely an estimation.\n\nTo properly estimate the strength of the backlink profiles of the top-ranking pages, you’ll have to review all their backlinks manually, i.e., do [a backlink audit](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/backlink-audit\/) of these pages.\n\nIn [Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer) , we’ve created a handy shortcut for this, since each number in the “SERP Overview” links to its respective backlink report in Ahrefs’ [Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer) :\n\n![SERP overview table for \"best womens hiking boots\" with Backlinks and Domains columns highlighted ](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/serp-overview-table-for-best-womens-hiking-boots-1.png)\n\n![SERP overview table for \"best womens hiking boots\" with Backlinks and Domains columns highlighted ](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201071%20695%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nClick these numbers (in the highlighted columns) to manually review backlinks.\n### 2\\. Look for “Cracks” in the SERP\nBecause KD scores represent the average Referring Domains of the top-ranking pages, they can sometimes hide specific weaknesses in the search results that you can exploit.\n\nA high KD score usually means the top pages have many backlinks, but it doesn’t tell you if those pages actually *satisfy* the user.\n\nTo enhance your keyword strategy, look for “cracks” in the SERP that Keyword Difficulty doesn’t account for, such as:\n\n#### Content freshness\nAre the top results outdated (e.g., posts from 2019 with no updates)? Stale content is often easier to outrank—even when it has strong backlinks.\n\nTo check this, head to the “SERP Overview” in Keywords Explorer for your target keyword. Then click on the arrow dropdown, and hit “Inspect”.\n\nThis will bring up the Page Inspect tool where you can check on when the article was last updated.\n\n![Side-by-side comparison in the Page Inspect tool in Ahrefs Site Explorer showing content update from December 8, 2025 to December 9, 2025 for \"I Tried 9 AI SEO Tools\" article, with calendar heatmap highlighting the update date and visible text changes between versions](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/side-by-side-comparison-in-the-page-inspect-tool-i.jpg)\n\n![Side-by-side comparison in the Page Inspect tool in Ahrefs Site Explorer showing content update from December 8, 2025 to December 9, 2025 for \"I Tried 9 AI SEO Tools\" article, with calendar heatmap highlighting the update date and visible text changes between versions](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%202048%201155%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nIn this example for the keyword “AI SEO” I can see the \\#1 ranking page was only updated a few days ago, and gets regular “Moderate” updates throughout the year—which likely makes it a tough one to beat.\n\n#### Low DR brands\nAre there forums or low-authority blogs ranking among the giants?\n\nIf a low-authority site has managed to rank, it’s a strong signal that the “giants” aren’t satisfying the intent perfectly.\n\nOmid Ghiam, founder of Marketer Milk, actually factors this into his [SEO and AEO keyword research](https:\/\/www.marketermilk.com\/blog\/how-to-do-keyword-research). Using DR filtering in Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, he finds keywords that only show low DR brands in the SERPs (e.g. DR \\<15).\n\n![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer interface showing the \"Lowest DR\" filter panel set to find keywords with at least one ranking position with Domain Rating up to 15 in top 10, displaying results for AI-related tool keywords](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-interface-showing-the-lo.jpg)\n\n![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer interface showing the \"Lowest DR\" filter panel set to find keywords with at least one ranking position with Domain Rating up to 15 in top 10, displaying results for AI-related tool keywords](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201833%201021%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\n> The main filter we first want to play with is the **Lowest DR** filter. This will allow us to find keyword ideas where the pages that rank for that keyword have a really low DR (domain rating). In theory, if those pages are ranking for that specific keyword, we can also rank for it (with a better piece of content, that is). I like to make the lowest DR to something like 10 or 15, in the top 5 or 10 results on the first page of Google.\n> \n> ![Omid Ghiam](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Omid-Ghiam.jpeg)\n> \n> ![Omid Ghiam](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n> \n> Omid Ghiam, Founder, [Marketer Milk](https:\/\/www.marketermilk.com\/blog\/how-to-do-keyword-research)\n#### “Fluffy” content\nSometimes high-authority sites rank simply because of their domain strength, even if their content is 1,000 words of filler.\n\nThese are prime targets for you to outrank with high-value, concise content.\n\n### 3\\. Review the “authority” of your competitors\nAs mentioned, you want to assess the authority of your SERP competitors. This includes checking factors like DR, URL rating, and ownership of content clusters.\n\nA high website authority can indirectly contribute toward a higher ranking on Google:\n\n#### A. Internal links\nHigh authority means that a given website has lots of strong pages. And the page that you see ranking on Google may be receiving lots of “link juice” from such pages, making it a high-authority page too (even in the absence of backlinks from other websites).\n\n#### B. Familiar brand\nWhen shown a list of search results, people often prefer familiar websites. This behavior ends up reshuffling the SERPs since Google has its own ” [Click probability model](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_AQ9UDqES80) “, which uses SERP CTR data to assess user satisfaction and inform re-ranking. That’s how “familiar websites” often tend to rank high, and benefit from compounding awareness.\n\n### 4\\. Investigate the search intent\nYour ability to address the [search intent](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/search-intent\/) is crucial for ranking well on Google.\n\nIn case you’re unfamiliar with the term, search intent is basically the expectation that searchers have. Google’s goal is to fulfill people’s expectations when they perform a search.\n\nYou can better understand intent when you review the top-ranking pages for a keyword, and analyze what searchers get from them.\n\nTo do this, head to the SERP Overview report in Keywords Explorer and hit “Identify intents”.\n\nThis will give you a breakdown of the intent of each ranking result, so you can understand what kind of content searchers are looking to find.\n\n![Ahrefs SERP overview for \"backlink checker\" query showing top 8 ranking pages with Intent sidebar highlighting two dominant search intents: \"Free Backlink Checking Tools\" (58%) and \"SEO Tool Exploration\" (20%), plus \"Backlink Analysis\" (20%)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-serp-overview-for-backlink-checker-query.jpg)\n\n![Ahrefs SERP overview for \"backlink checker\" query showing top 8 ranking pages with Intent sidebar highlighting two dominant search intents: \"Free Backlink Checking Tools\" (58%) and \"SEO Tool Exploration\" (20%), plus \"Backlink Analysis\" (20%)](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201192%201144%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nAs you can tell from the example above, ~60% of the top-ranking pages for the keyword “backlink checker” are “free backlink checking tools”, so this is the dominant search intent.\n\nThe remaining 40% belongs to paid or more “comprehensive” backlink checking tools.\n\nIn other words, if you try to target this keyword with a blog article or a landing page, it won’t work.\n\nWe know this for a fact because we actually tried it.\n\n![Ahrefs organic traffic graph showing successful search intent optimization with annotation \"Nailed the search intent\" pointing to inflection point where traffic begins steady growth from around 150K to over 600K monthly visits between 2018 and 2025](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-organic-traffic-graph-showing-successful-se.png)\n\n![Ahrefs organic traffic graph showing successful search intent optimization with annotation \"Nailed the search intent\" pointing to inflection point where traffic begins steady growth from around 150K to over 600K monthly visits between 2018 and 2025](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201168%20473%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nAbove is the graph of organic search traffic to [our backlink checker page](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/backlink-checker).\n\nOriginally, we had just a simple landing page explaining that Ahrefs has a backlink checker tool, and offering people to sign up for our paid trial.\n\nNo matter how much we optimized that page, it never ranked higher than \\#8 for that keyword.\n\nThen we studied the pages that were outranking us and realized that all of them were free online tools.\n\nAnd as soon as we converted our landing page into a free tool, it shot up to \\#1 for the keyword “backlink checker” and started ranking high for many other relevant keywords.\n\n![Before and after comparison of Ahrefs' Backlink Checker landing page redesign, showing the original landing page version, and the updated tool page](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/before-and-after-comparison-of-ahrefs-backlink-ch.jpg)\n\n![Before and after comparison of Ahrefs' Backlink Checker landing page redesign, showing the original landing page version, and the updated tool page](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201600%201181%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nSo, in short, browse the top-ranking pages and figure out what exactly people expect to get from it.\n\n### 5\\. Gauge the quality of content\nThe famous [Skyscraper technique](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/skyscraper-technique\/) has led lots of content marketers astray by suggesting that a longer and more detailed article equals a better article.\n\nBut just making your article longer doesn’t necessarily make it better. A better article is one that provides more value in less time (and without boring you to death).\n\nSo here are some pointers that will help you gauge the quality of content that already ranks at the top for your target keyword:\n\n1. Does it provide accurate and up-to-date information?\n2. Is it written by a subject matter expert?\n3. Does it contain unique information?\n4. Is it well-written?\n5. Is it properly formatted?\n6. Is it well-designed?\n\nThe first three are the most important ones.\n\nGoogle wants to provide its users with accurate information that comes from credible sources.\n\nWe know that for a fact because the latest edition of its [Search Quality Rater Guidelines](https:\/\/static.googleusercontent.com\/media\/guidelines.raterhub.com\/en\/\/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf) has lots of focus on the concept called [E-E-A-T](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/eeat-seo\/) , which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.\n\nSo instead of making your pages longer than those of your competitors, try investing in E-E-A-T.\n\n## What is a good Keyword Difficulty to target?\nAs with many things in SEO, the answer is it depends:\n\n- On the authority of your website.\n- On your credibility in a given space.\n- On your ability to acquire backlinks.\n- On whether you have the ability and\/or resources to cater to search intent.\n- Etc.\n\nA good exercise that may help you get used to Ahrefs’ KD metric is to look up the KD scores of the keywords that your website is already ranking for.\n\nYou can do this by entering your website into Ahrefs’ [Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer) and visiting the Organic keywords report:\n\n![](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/word-image-141873-15.png)\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20904%20823%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nThis gives you a nice benchmark. But it’s by no means a substitute for the process I’ve outlined above.\n\nIf you want to accurately estimate your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you should thoroughly study the top-ranking pages and factor in your own skills and resources.\n\nAnd please don’t shy away from targeting high-KD keywords.\n\nWhen it comes to many of the KD 70+ keywords that we rank for today, it took us four to five rewrites, lots of promotion, and many years of patience to get there.\n\nSo the sooner you “attack” a high-KD keyword that you really want to rank for, the sooner you’ll get there.\n\n## Final thoughts\nIt would be quite awesome to have a Keyword Difficulty metric that could accurately predict your chances of ranking for a given keyword. But as you can probably tell by now, such a metric doesn’t exist.\n\nSo the only way for you to make the right SEO bets is by thoroughly studying the search results for the keywords that you want to rank for.\n\nI hope the process I’ve outlined above is helpful for you. And if you have any further questions, feel free to ping me [on Twitter](https:\/\/twitter.com\/timsoulo).\n\nCopy link\n\nArticle Performance\n\nData from Ahrefs\n\n- Organic traffic\n  \n  [546](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/traffic-checker\/?input=https%3A%2F%2Fahrefs.com%2Fblog%2Fkeyword-difficulty%2F&mode=exact)\n- Linking websites\n  \n  [386](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/backlink-checker\/?input=https%3A%2F%2Fahrefs.com%2Fblog%2Fkeyword-difficulty%2F&mode=exact)\n\n[Sign up for Ahrefs](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/pricing)\n\nGet SEO metrics of any website or URL.\n\nThe number of websites linking to this post.\n\nThis post's estimated monthly organic search traffic.\n\nGet the week's best marketing content\n\n![](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/Ahrefs-4\/images\/authors\/TimSoulo.jpg)\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\n![Tim Soulo](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Tim_profile_pic-425x425.jpg)\n\n![Tim Soulo](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20145%20145%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nArticle by\n\n[Tim Soulo](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/author\/tim-soulo\/ \"Posts by Tim Soulo\")\n\nContributors\n\n[![Louise Linehan](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Louise-Linehan-120x120.jpg) ![Louise Linehan](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%2060%2060%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/author\/louise-linehan\/ \"Louise Linehan\")\n\nTim Soulo is CMO at Ahrefs. With over 15 years in the digital marketing industry, Tim is the author of many data-driven studies and actionable marketing frameworks, some of which gained industry-wide recognition. He enjoys challenging conventional marketing knowledge and optimizing for simplicity and efficiency.\n\nContributors\n\n[![Louise Linehan](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Louise-Linehan-120x120.jpg) ![Louise Linehan](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%2060%2060%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/author\/louise-linehan\/ \"Louise Linehan\")\n\nKeep Learning\n\n[![youtube keyword research](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/blog-youtube-keyword-research-400x200.png) ![youtube keyword research](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20400%20200%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)How to Do YouTube Keyword Research in 3 Easy Steps](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/youtube-keyword-research\/ \"Permanent Link to How to Do YouTube Keyword Research in 3 Easy Steps\")\n\nLearn the keyword approach that helped us grow our channel from 10,000 to over 200,000 monthly views in around a year.\n\n[How to Use Google Keyword Planner in 2024](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-keyword-planner\/ \"Permanent Link to How to Use Google Keyword Planner in 2024\")\n\nLearn how to master Google Keyword Planner with this complete, newbie-friendly guide.\n\nEnglish\n\n- [Deutsch](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/de\/)\n- [**Español**](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/es\/dificultad-de-palabras-clave\/)\n- [Français](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/fr\/)\n- [Italiano](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/it\/)\n- [Português](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/pt\/)\n- [**中文**](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/zh\/keyword-difficulty\/%20)\n- [日本語](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ja\/)\n\n© 2026 [Ahrefs Pte Ltd.](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/)\n\nPick a topic\n\nMarketing\n\n- [General Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/marketing\/)\n- [Content Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/content-marketing\/)\n- [Affiliate Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/affiliate-marketing\/)\n- [Paid Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/paid-marketing\/)\n- [Video Marketing](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/video-marketing\/)\n\n[AI Search](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/ai-search\/)\n\nSEO\n\n- [General SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/general-seo\/)\n- [Keyword Research](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/keyword-research\/)\n- [On-Page SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/on-page-seo\/)\n- [Link Building](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/link-building\/)\n- [Technical SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/technical-seo\/)\n- [Local SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/local-seo\/)\n- [Enterprise SEO](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/enterprise-seo\/)\n\n[Data & Studies](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/data-studies\/)\n\n[Product](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/category\/product-blog\/)\n\nAhrefs Tools\n\nCore Tools\n\n- [Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer)\n- [Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer)\n- [Content Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer)\n- [Site Audit](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit)\n- [Rank Tracker](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/rank-tracker)\n\nFree Tools\n\n- [Backlink Checker](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/backlink-checker)\n- [Website Authority Checker](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/website-authority-checker)\n- [Keyword Rank Checker](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keyword-rank-checker)\n- [Broken Link Checker](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/broken-link-checker)\n- [SERP Checker](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/serp-checker)\n\n[Close](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/)\n\n![](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/Ahrefs-4\/images\/blocks\/subscribe.svg)\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\nThanks\\!\n\nPlease check your email inbox and spam folder. We've sent you a link to verify your email.\n\n![](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/Ahrefs-4\/images\/blocks\/subscribe-email.svg)\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\n[Got It](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/)","attrs_readable_markdown":"Article Performance\n\nData from Ahrefs\n\n- Organic traffic\n- Linking websites\n\nThe number of websites linking to this post.\n\nThis post's estimated monthly organic search traffic.\n\nContents\n\nIt’s easy to find keywords that can bring lots of traffic to your website. What’s harder is to predict your chances of ranking for them. To help solve this problem, SEO tools like Ahrefs give keywords a “difficulty” score from 0 to 100. But the truth is that these scores aren’t foolproof. So in this post, I’m going to outline the benefits and shortcomings of the Keyword Difficulty metric, as well as break down what other things professional SEOs look at when estimating their chances to rank for a given keyword. What is Keyword Difficulty? Keyword Difficulty (KD) is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a given keyword. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 100, with the latter being the hardest to rank for. ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for \"best womens hiking boots\" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-overview-for-best-womens.png) However, when many SEO professionals use the term “Keyword Difficulty,” they’re sometimes referring to the broader concept of ranking difficulty—not a particular metric in a particular SEO tool. Keyword Difficulty still matters because links still matter Google [still relies on link-based signals like PageRank](https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7403893733496147968\/) to rank search results, so knowing the backlink strength of top-ranking pages is still one of the best predictors of how hard a keyword is to win. LLMs are increasingly using link graph data too, so assessing link authority is arguably only growing in importance. ![LinkedIn post by Mark Williams-Cook stating that Google still uses a modified version of PageRank, LLMs have been buying link graph data, and it's still hugely important for ranking documents](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/linkedin-post-by-mark-williams-cook-stating-that-g.png) Keyword Difficulty scores distill that into a simple benchmark that shows you how much backlink strength you’ll need to compete. They’re a quick and easy way to judge which keywords are realistically within reach and worth investing in. Keyword Difficulty as a metric Almost every keyword research tool has a Keyword Difficulty score. These tools all use the same 0-100 scale, but each one calculates it differently. If you check the Keyword Difficulty of the same keywords in different SEO tools, the numbers will vary quite substantially. ![Keyword Difficulty comparison table across four SEO tools (Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush, KWFinder) for three keywords: \"disposable face mask\" (72, 63, 68, 46), \"best backpack\" (42, 47, 79, 50), and \"bike tire pump\" (13, 45, 56, 39)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/keyword-difficulty-comparison-table-across-four-se.png) That’s why it is important to understand how exactly the ranking difficulty is calculated by your SEO tool of choice. Only then can you make informed decisions based on it. How we calculate Keyword Difficulty at Ahrefs Here at Ahrefs, we use a simple method for calculating KD. We pull the top 10 ranking pages for your keyword and look up how many websites link to each of them. The more links the top-ranking pages for your keyword have, the higher its KD score. Very simple and very actionable. ![SERP overview table for \"best womens hiking boots\" with Domains column highlighted showing the number of unique referring domains for each ranking page ](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/serp-overview-table-for-best-womens-hiking-boots.png) Keyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is based on linking domains to top-ranking pages. Keyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is an **absolute metric** —not a relative one—scored from 0 to 100 based on the backlink profiles of top-ranking pages. It’s a straightforward benchmark: KD 0-5 – Top-ranking pages barely have any backlinks KD ~50 – Top-ranking pages have a couple of hundred backlinks KD 90+ – Top-ranking pages have thousands of backlinks In other words, the score tells you how hard it is for the *average* website to rank, but it doesn’t account for *your* specific website’s authority. Think of the KD Score like the **speed limit** on a highway. The sign might say “70 MPH” (High Difficulty), which applies to everyone. But your *personal* difficulty depends on the car you’re driving. If you are in a Formula 1 car (High Authority\/High Topical Relevance), 70 MPH feels effortless. If you’re on a bike (New Domain\/Low Authority), reaching that speed is impossible, regardless of what the sign says. The sign is accurate, but ultimately your vehicle determines the challenge. You should always interpret the KD score through the lens of your own “Personal Keyword Difficulty.” Personal Keyword Difficulty If your site has a higher [Domain Rating](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/domain-rating\/) or stronger topical authority than the average found on the SERP, the “effective” difficulty is likely far lower for your site than tools might suggest. On the flip side, if you’re a new player, even mid-range scores will require extra effort. Essentially, Ahrefs’ Keyword Difficulty score is the baseline, and your site’s authority provides the context. There is a way to quickly get a better idea of your “Personal Keyword Difficulty” scores using the [Ahrefs MCP.](https:\/\/docs.ahrefs.com\/docs\/mcp\/reference\/introduction) Just copy and paste [this prompt I’ve built](https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1Zbci5ZmP4D7Xi-k1t275WLHvWDZH3zfUlZjBAR0nskA\/edit?usp=sharing) into Claude, with the Ahrefs MCP switched on. ![Prompt for Ahrefs MCP to build a Personal Keyword Difficulty score](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.55.05-614x425.png) It takes multiple factors into account, including: Baseline Keyword Difficulty (I.e. KD in Ahrefs) Your site’s topical authority for your chosen keyword (e.g. how many other keywords you rank for in the same “[Parent Topic” cluster](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-clustering\/), and their associated traffic) Your site’s Domain Rating versus other SERP competitors Your page’s URL Rating (for existing content within that “Parent Topic” cluster) compared to other SERP competitors ![Personalized Keyword Difficulty breakdown for \"AI search optimization\" showing Base KD at 40% (18.8 points), Topical Authority at 30% (-2.4 points advantage), Domain Rating at 20% (5.5 points advantage), and Page Authority at 10% (-0.9 points advantage), resulting in final score of 38](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/personalized-keyword-difficulty-breakdown-for-ai.png) Claude then weights those factors, to develop a “Personalized Keyword Difficulty” score. ![Personalized Keyword Difficulty Analysis table for ahrefs.com comparing Standard KD versus Personalized KD for keywords including \"AI search optimization\"](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/personalized-keyword-difficulty-analysis-table-for.png) This essentially inflates or decreases the base Keyword Difficulty depending on your site’s performance and authority across the relevant topic. For the keyword “AI search optimization” our Personal Keyword Difficulty dropped by 9 points—meaning it should, in theory, be easier for us to rank. That’s because we already have a strong URL Rating, a DR well above competitors, and existing visibility for related keywords across the same Parent Topic. Once Claude has analyzed all of your Ahrefs data, it’ll suggest actionable recommendations… ![Claude \"Personal keyword difficulty\" data summary showing parent topic cluster \"ai search engine optimization\" with 3 keywords ranked from cluster, 1 unique URL, approximately 0 monthly visits target domain traffic, weighted average UR of 8.0, and top competitors including Google (DR 99), Salesforce (DR 92), Reddit (DR 95), and Search Engine Land (DR 91)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/claude-personal-keyword-difficulty-data-summary.png) As any SEO worth their salt knows, backlinks aren’t the only ranking factor. If you want to properly gauge your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you need to go further and do a more thorough analysis of the SERP. Speaking of which… Keyword Difficulty as a concept Nobody knows exactly how Google ranks pages. But we do know the main things that matter for ranking well. And by analyzing those “main things,” SEOs can get a pretty good idea of what it takes to rank on Google for a given keyword. So here’s how to do it. 1\\. Figure out how many backlinks you’ll need Backlinks act as votes, which tell Google that a given page is more valuable than any other page on the same topic. So, as a general rule, if you want to rank in the top 10 search results for a given keyword, you’ll have to acquire as many backlinks as the current top-ranking pages have (if not more). In Ahrefs’ [Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer) , we actually have a text hint right under our KD score that tells you an approximate number of backlinks you’ll need: ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for \"best womens hiking boots\" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10) ](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-overview-for-best-womens-1.png) Two important caveats here: The hint says “to rank in the top 10,” which means that getting as many (or more) backlinks as your competitors won’t guarantee that you’ll rank \\#1. But there’s a very good chance that you’ll rank somewhere in the top 10. The sheer quantity of backlinks can often be misleading because some backlinks cast a stronger vote than others. So this number is merely an estimation. To properly estimate the strength of the backlink profiles of the top-ranking pages, you’ll have to review all their backlinks manually, i.e., do [a backlink audit](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/backlink-audit\/) of these pages. In [Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer) , we’ve created a handy shortcut for this, since each number in the “SERP Overview” links to its respective backlink report in Ahrefs’ [Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer) : ![SERP overview table for \"best womens hiking boots\" with Backlinks and Domains columns highlighted ](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/serp-overview-table-for-best-womens-hiking-boots-1.png) Click these numbers (in the highlighted columns) to manually review backlinks. 2\\. Look for “Cracks” in the SERP Because KD scores represent the average Referring Domains of the top-ranking pages, they can sometimes hide specific weaknesses in the search results that you can exploit. A high KD score usually means the top pages have many backlinks, but it doesn’t tell you if those pages actually *satisfy* the user. To enhance your keyword strategy, look for “cracks” in the SERP that Keyword Difficulty doesn’t account for, such as: Content freshness Are the top results outdated (e.g., posts from 2019 with no updates)? Stale content is often easier to outrank—even when it has strong backlinks. To check this, head to the “SERP Overview” in Keywords Explorer for your target keyword. Then click on the arrow dropdown, and hit “Inspect”. This will bring up the Page Inspect tool where you can check on when the article was last updated. ![Side-by-side comparison in the Page Inspect tool in Ahrefs Site Explorer showing content update from December 8, 2025 to December 9, 2025 for \"I Tried 9 AI SEO Tools\" article, with calendar heatmap highlighting the update date and visible text changes between versions](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/side-by-side-comparison-in-the-page-inspect-tool-i.jpg) In this example for the keyword “AI SEO” I can see the \\#1 ranking page was only updated a few days ago, and gets regular “Moderate” updates throughout the year—which likely makes it a tough one to beat. Low DR brands Are there forums or low-authority blogs ranking among the giants? If a low-authority site has managed to rank, it’s a strong signal that the “giants” aren’t satisfying the intent perfectly. Omid Ghiam, founder of Marketer Milk, actually factors this into his [SEO and AEO keyword research](https:\/\/www.marketermilk.com\/blog\/how-to-do-keyword-research). Using DR filtering in Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, he finds keywords that only show low DR brands in the SERPs (e.g. DR \\<15). ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer interface showing the \"Lowest DR\" filter panel set to find keywords with at least one ranking position with Domain Rating up to 15 in top 10, displaying results for AI-related tool keywords](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-interface-showing-the-lo.jpg) The main filter we first want to play with is the **Lowest DR** filter. This will allow us to find keyword ideas where the pages that rank for that keyword have a really low DR (domain rating). In theory, if those pages are ranking for that specific keyword, we can also rank for it (with a better piece of content, that is). I like to make the lowest DR to something like 10 or 15, in the top 5 or 10 results on the first page of Google. ![Omid Ghiam](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Omid-Ghiam.jpeg) “Fluffy” content Sometimes high-authority sites rank simply because of their domain strength, even if their content is 1,000 words of filler. These are prime targets for you to outrank with high-value, concise content. 3\\. Review the “authority” of your competitors As mentioned, you want to assess the authority of your SERP competitors. This includes checking factors like DR, URL rating, and ownership of content clusters. A high website authority can indirectly contribute toward a higher ranking on Google: A. Internal links High authority means that a given website has lots of strong pages. And the page that you see ranking on Google may be receiving lots of “link juice” from such pages, making it a high-authority page too (even in the absence of backlinks from other websites). B. Familiar brand When shown a list of search results, people often prefer familiar websites. This behavior ends up reshuffling the SERPs since Google has its own ” [Click probability model](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_AQ9UDqES80) “, which uses SERP CTR data to assess user satisfaction and inform re-ranking. That’s how “familiar websites” often tend to rank high, and benefit from compounding awareness. 4\\. Investigate the search intent Your ability to address the [search intent](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/search-intent\/) is crucial for ranking well on Google. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, search intent is basically the expectation that searchers have. Google’s goal is to fulfill people’s expectations when they perform a search. You can better understand intent when you review the top-ranking pages for a keyword, and analyze what searchers get from them. To do this, head to the SERP Overview report in Keywords Explorer and hit “Identify intents”. This will give you a breakdown of the intent of each ranking result, so you can understand what kind of content searchers are looking to find. ![Ahrefs SERP overview for \"backlink checker\" query showing top 8 ranking pages with Intent sidebar highlighting two dominant search intents: \"Free Backlink Checking Tools\" (58%) and \"SEO Tool Exploration\" (20%), plus \"Backlink Analysis\" (20%)](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-serp-overview-for-backlink-checker-query.jpg) As you can tell from the example above, ~60% of the top-ranking pages for the keyword “backlink checker” are “free backlink checking tools”, so this is the dominant search intent. The remaining 40% belongs to paid or more “comprehensive” backlink checking tools. In other words, if you try to target this keyword with a blog article or a landing page, it won’t work. We know this for a fact because we actually tried it. ![Ahrefs organic traffic graph showing successful search intent optimization with annotation \"Nailed the search intent\" pointing to inflection point where traffic begins steady growth from around 150K to over 600K monthly visits between 2018 and 2025](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ahrefs-organic-traffic-graph-showing-successful-se.png) Above is the graph of organic search traffic to [our backlink checker page](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/backlink-checker). Originally, we had just a simple landing page explaining that Ahrefs has a backlink checker tool, and offering people to sign up for our paid trial. No matter how much we optimized that page, it never ranked higher than \\#8 for that keyword. Then we studied the pages that were outranking us and realized that all of them were free online tools. And as soon as we converted our landing page into a free tool, it shot up to \\#1 for the keyword “backlink checker” and started ranking high for many other relevant keywords. ![Before and after comparison of Ahrefs' Backlink Checker landing page redesign, showing the original landing page version, and the updated tool page](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/before-and-after-comparison-of-ahrefs-backlink-ch.jpg) So, in short, browse the top-ranking pages and figure out what exactly people expect to get from it. 5\\. Gauge the quality of content The famous [Skyscraper technique](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/skyscraper-technique\/) has led lots of content marketers astray by suggesting that a longer and more detailed article equals a better article. But just making your article longer doesn’t necessarily make it better. A better article is one that provides more value in less time (and without boring you to death). So here are some pointers that will help you gauge the quality of content that already ranks at the top for your target keyword: Does it provide accurate and up-to-date information? Is it written by a subject matter expert? Does it contain unique information? Is it well-written? Is it properly formatted? Is it well-designed? The first three are the most important ones. Google wants to provide its users with accurate information that comes from credible sources. We know that for a fact because the latest edition of its [Search Quality Rater Guidelines](https:\/\/static.googleusercontent.com\/media\/guidelines.raterhub.com\/en\/\/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf) has lots of focus on the concept called [E-E-A-T](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/eeat-seo\/) , which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. So instead of making your pages longer than those of your competitors, try investing in E-E-A-T. What is a good Keyword Difficulty to target? As with many things in SEO, the answer is it depends: On the authority of your website. On your credibility in a given space. On your ability to acquire backlinks. On whether you have the ability and\/or resources to cater to search intent. Etc. A good exercise that may help you get used to Ahrefs’ KD metric is to look up the KD scores of the keywords that your website is already ranking for. You can do this by entering your website into Ahrefs’ [Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer) and visiting the Organic keywords report: ![](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/word-image-141873-15.png) This gives you a nice benchmark. But it’s by no means a substitute for the process I’ve outlined above. If you want to accurately estimate your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you should thoroughly study the top-ranking pages and factor in your own skills and resources. And please don’t shy away from targeting high-KD keywords. When it comes to many of the KD 70+ keywords that we rank for today, it took us four to five rewrites, lots of promotion, and many years of patience to get there. So the sooner you “attack” a high-KD keyword that you really want to rank for, the sooner you’ll get there. Final thoughts It would be quite awesome to have a Keyword Difficulty metric that could accurately predict your chances of ranking for a given keyword. But as you can probably tell by now, such a metric doesn’t exist. So the only way for you to make the right SEO bets is by thoroughly studying the search results for the keywords that you want to rank for. I hope the process I’ve outlined above is helpful for you. And if you have any further questions, feel free to ping me [on Twitter](https:\/\/twitter.com\/timsoulo).","meta_canonical":null}

3. Robots.txt Check

Query:

Response:

4. Spam/Ban Check

Query:

Response:

5. Seen Status Check

ℹ️ Skipped - page is already crawled

📄

INDEXABLE

✅

CRAWLED

4 hours ago

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ROBOTS ALLOWED

Page Info Filters

Filter	Status	Condition	Details
HTTP status	PASS	`download_http_code = 200`	HTTP 200
Age cutoff	PASS	`download_stamp > now() - 6 MONTH`	0 months ago
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Spam/ban	PASS	`fh_dont_index != 1 AND ml_spam_score = 0`	ml_spam_score=0
Canonical	PASS	`meta_canonical IS NULL OR = '' OR = src_unparsed`	Not set

Page Details

Property	Value
URL	https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-difficulty/
Last Crawled	2026-04-21 09:41:34 (4 hours ago)
First Indexed	2016-05-26 12:43:13 (9 years ago)
HTTP Status Code	200
Meta Title	Keyword Difficulty: How to Estimate Your Chances to Rank
Meta Description	Keyword Difficulty (KD) is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a given keyword.
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Boilerpipe Text	Article Performance Data from Ahrefs Organic traffic Linking websites The number of websites linking to this post. This post's estimated monthly organic search traffic. Contents It’s easy to find keywords that can bring lots of traffic to your website. What’s harder is to predict your chances of ranking for them. To help solve this problem, SEO tools like Ahrefs give keywords a “difficulty” score from 0 to 100. But the truth is that these scores aren’t foolproof. So in this post, I’m going to outline the benefits and shortcomings of the Keyword Difficulty metric, as well as break down what other things professional SEOs look at when estimating their chances to rank for a given keyword. What is Keyword Difficulty? Keyword Difficulty (KD) is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a given keyword. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 100, with the latter being the hardest to rank for. However, when many SEO professionals use the term “Keyword Difficulty,” they’re sometimes referring to the broader concept of ranking difficulty—not a particular metric in a particular SEO tool. Keyword Difficulty still matters because links still matter Google still relies on link-based signals like PageRank to rank search results, so knowing the backlink strength of top-ranking pages is still one of the best predictors of how hard a keyword is to win. LLMs are increasingly using link graph data too, so assessing link authority is arguably only growing in importance. Keyword Difficulty scores distill that into a simple benchmark that shows you how much backlink strength you’ll need to compete. They’re a quick and easy way to judge which keywords are realistically within reach and worth investing in. Keyword Difficulty as a metric Almost every keyword research tool has a Keyword Difficulty score. These tools all use the same 0-100 scale, but each one calculates it differently. If you check the Keyword Difficulty of the same keywords in different SEO tools, the numbers will vary quite substantially. That’s why it is important to understand how exactly the ranking difficulty is calculated by your SEO tool of choice. Only then can you make informed decisions based on it. How we calculate Keyword Difficulty at Ahrefs Here at Ahrefs, we use a simple method for calculating KD. We pull the top 10 ranking pages for your keyword and look up how many websites link to each of them. The more links the top-ranking pages for your keyword have, the higher its KD score. Very simple and very actionable. Keyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is based on linking domains to top-ranking pages. Keyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is an absolute metric —not a relative one—scored from 0 to 100 based on the backlink profiles of top-ranking pages. It’s a straightforward benchmark: KD 0-5 – Top-ranking pages barely have any backlinks KD ~50 – Top-ranking pages have a couple of hundred backlinks KD 90+ – Top-ranking pages have thousands of backlinks In other words, the score tells you how hard it is for the average website to rank, but it doesn’t account for your specific website’s authority. Think of the KD Score like the speed limit on a highway. The sign might say “70 MPH” (High Difficulty), which applies to everyone. But your personal difficulty depends on the car you’re driving. If you are in a Formula 1 car (High Authority/High Topical Relevance), 70 MPH feels effortless. If you’re on a bike (New Domain/Low Authority), reaching that speed is impossible, regardless of what the sign says. The sign is accurate, but ultimately your vehicle determines the challenge. You should always interpret the KD score through the lens of your own “Personal Keyword Difficulty.” Personal Keyword Difficulty If your site has a higher Domain Rating or stronger topical authority than the average found on the SERP, the “effective” difficulty is likely far lower for your site than tools might suggest. On the flip side, if you’re a new player, even mid-range scores will require extra effort. Essentially, Ahrefs’ Keyword Difficulty score is the baseline, and your site’s authority provides the context. There is a way to quickly get a better idea of your “Personal Keyword Difficulty” scores using the Ahrefs MCP. Just copy and paste this prompt I’ve built into Claude, with the Ahrefs MCP switched on. It takes multiple factors into account, including: Baseline Keyword Difficulty (I.e. KD in Ahrefs) Your site’s topical authority for your chosen keyword (e.g. how many other keywords you rank for in the same “ Parent Topic” cluster , and their associated traffic) Your site’s Domain Rating versus other SERP competitors Your page’s URL Rating (for existing content within that “Parent Topic” cluster) compared to other SERP competitors Claude then weights those factors, to develop a “Personalized Keyword Difficulty” score. This essentially inflates or decreases the base Keyword Difficulty depending on your site’s performance and authority across the relevant topic. For the keyword “AI search optimization” our Personal Keyword Difficulty dropped by 9 points—meaning it should, in theory, be easier for us to rank. That’s because we already have a strong URL Rating, a DR well above competitors, and existing visibility for related keywords across the same Parent Topic. Once Claude has analyzed all of your Ahrefs data, it’ll suggest actionable recommendations… As any SEO worth their salt knows, backlinks aren’t the only ranking factor. If you want to properly gauge your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you need to go further and do a more thorough analysis of the SERP. Speaking of which… Keyword Difficulty as a concept Nobody knows exactly how Google ranks pages. But we do know the main things that matter for ranking well. And by analyzing those “main things,” SEOs can get a pretty good idea of what it takes to rank on Google for a given keyword. So here’s how to do it. 1. Figure out how many backlinks you’ll need Backlinks act as votes, which tell Google that a given page is more valuable than any other page on the same topic. So, as a general rule, if you want to rank in the top 10 search results for a given keyword, you’ll have to acquire as many backlinks as the current top-ranking pages have (if not more). In Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer , we actually have a text hint right under our KD score that tells you an approximate number of backlinks you’ll need: Two important caveats here: The hint says “to rank in the top 10,” which means that getting as many (or more) backlinks as your competitors won’t guarantee that you’ll rank #1. But there’s a very good chance that you’ll rank somewhere in the top 10. The sheer quantity of backlinks can often be misleading because some backlinks cast a stronger vote than others. So this number is merely an estimation. To properly estimate the strength of the backlink profiles of the top-ranking pages, you’ll have to review all their backlinks manually, i.e., do a backlink audit of these pages. In Keywords Explorer , we’ve created a handy shortcut for this, since each number in the “SERP Overview” links to its respective backlink report in Ahrefs’ Site Explorer : Click these numbers (in the highlighted columns) to manually review backlinks. 2. Look for “Cracks” in the SERP Because KD scores represent the average Referring Domains of the top-ranking pages, they can sometimes hide specific weaknesses in the search results that you can exploit. A high KD score usually means the top pages have many backlinks, but it doesn’t tell you if those pages actually satisfy the user. To enhance your keyword strategy, look for “cracks” in the SERP that Keyword Difficulty doesn’t account for, such as: Content freshness Are the top results outdated (e.g., posts from 2019 with no updates)? Stale content is often easier to outrank—even when it has strong backlinks. To check this, head to the “SERP Overview” in Keywords Explorer for your target keyword. Then click on the arrow dropdown, and hit “Inspect”. This will bring up the Page Inspect tool where you can check on when the article was last updated. In this example for the keyword “AI SEO” I can see the #1 ranking page was only updated a few days ago, and gets regular “Moderate” updates throughout the year—which likely makes it a tough one to beat. Low DR brands Are there forums or low-authority blogs ranking among the giants? If a low-authority site has managed to rank, it’s a strong signal that the “giants” aren’t satisfying the intent perfectly. Omid Ghiam, founder of Marketer Milk, actually factors this into his SEO and AEO keyword research . Using DR filtering in Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, he finds keywords that only show low DR brands in the SERPs (e.g. DR <15). The main filter we first want to play with is the Lowest DR filter. This will allow us to find keyword ideas where the pages that rank for that keyword have a really low DR (domain rating). In theory, if those pages are ranking for that specific keyword, we can also rank for it (with a better piece of content, that is). I like to make the lowest DR to something like 10 or 15, in the top 5 or 10 results on the first page of Google. “Fluffy” content Sometimes high-authority sites rank simply because of their domain strength, even if their content is 1,000 words of filler. These are prime targets for you to outrank with high-value, concise content. 3. Review the “authority” of your competitors As mentioned, you want to assess the authority of your SERP competitors. This includes checking factors like DR, URL rating, and ownership of content clusters. A high website authority can indirectly contribute toward a higher ranking on Google: A. Internal links High authority means that a given website has lots of strong pages. And the page that you see ranking on Google may be receiving lots of “link juice” from such pages, making it a high-authority page too (even in the absence of backlinks from other websites). B. Familiar brand When shown a list of search results, people often prefer familiar websites. This behavior ends up reshuffling the SERPs since Google has its own ” Click probability model “, which uses SERP CTR data to assess user satisfaction and inform re-ranking. That’s how “familiar websites” often tend to rank high, and benefit from compounding awareness. 4. Investigate the search intent Your ability to address the search intent is crucial for ranking well on Google. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, search intent is basically the expectation that searchers have. Google’s goal is to fulfill people’s expectations when they perform a search. You can better understand intent when you review the top-ranking pages for a keyword, and analyze what searchers get from them. To do this, head to the SERP Overview report in Keywords Explorer and hit “Identify intents”. This will give you a breakdown of the intent of each ranking result, so you can understand what kind of content searchers are looking to find. As you can tell from the example above, ~60% of the top-ranking pages for the keyword “backlink checker” are “free backlink checking tools”, so this is the dominant search intent. The remaining 40% belongs to paid or more “comprehensive” backlink checking tools. In other words, if you try to target this keyword with a blog article or a landing page, it won’t work. We know this for a fact because we actually tried it. Above is the graph of organic search traffic to our backlink checker page . Originally, we had just a simple landing page explaining that Ahrefs has a backlink checker tool, and offering people to sign up for our paid trial. No matter how much we optimized that page, it never ranked higher than #8 for that keyword. Then we studied the pages that were outranking us and realized that all of them were free online tools. And as soon as we converted our landing page into a free tool, it shot up to #1 for the keyword “backlink checker” and started ranking high for many other relevant keywords. So, in short, browse the top-ranking pages and figure out what exactly people expect to get from it. 5. Gauge the quality of content The famous Skyscraper technique has led lots of content marketers astray by suggesting that a longer and more detailed article equals a better article. But just making your article longer doesn’t necessarily make it better. A better article is one that provides more value in less time (and without boring you to death). So here are some pointers that will help you gauge the quality of content that already ranks at the top for your target keyword: Does it provide accurate and up-to-date information? Is it written by a subject matter expert? Does it contain unique information? Is it well-written? Is it properly formatted? Is it well-designed? The first three are the most important ones. Google wants to provide its users with accurate information that comes from credible sources. We know that for a fact because the latest edition of its Search Quality Rater Guidelines has lots of focus on the concept called E-E-A-T , which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. So instead of making your pages longer than those of your competitors, try investing in E-E-A-T. What is a good Keyword Difficulty to target? As with many things in SEO, the answer is it depends: On the authority of your website. On your credibility in a given space. On your ability to acquire backlinks. On whether you have the ability and/or resources to cater to search intent. Etc. A good exercise that may help you get used to Ahrefs’ KD metric is to look up the KD scores of the keywords that your website is already ranking for. You can do this by entering your website into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and visiting the Organic keywords report: This gives you a nice benchmark. But it’s by no means a substitute for the process I’ve outlined above. If you want to accurately estimate your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you should thoroughly study the top-ranking pages and factor in your own skills and resources. And please don’t shy away from targeting high-KD keywords. When it comes to many of the KD 70+ keywords that we rank for today, it took us four to five rewrites, lots of promotion, and many years of patience to get there. So the sooner you “attack” a high-KD keyword that you really want to rank for, the sooner you’ll get there. Final thoughts It would be quite awesome to have a Keyword Difficulty metric that could accurately predict your chances of ranking for a given keyword. But as you can probably tell by now, such a metric doesn’t exist. So the only way for you to make the right SEO bets is by thoroughly studying the search results for the keywords that you want to rank for. I hope the process I’ve outlined above is helpful for you. And if you have any further questions, feel free to ping me on Twitter .
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With over 15 years in the digital marketing industry, Tim is the author of many data-driven studies and actionable marketing frameworks, some of which gained industry-wide recognition. He enjoys challenging conventional marketing knowledge and optimizing for simplicity and efficiency. Article Performance Data from Ahrefs - Organic traffic [546](https://ahrefs.com/traffic-checker/?input=https%3A%2F%2Fahrefs.com%2Fblog%2Fkeyword-difficulty%2F&mode=exact) - Linking websites [386](https://ahrefs.com/backlink-checker/?input=https%3A%2F%2Fahrefs.com%2Fblog%2Fkeyword-difficulty%2F&mode=exact) [Sign up for Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/pricing) Get SEO metrics of any website or URL. The number of websites linking to this post. This post's estimated monthly organic search traffic. Get the week's best marketing content Contents It’s easy to find keywords that can bring lots of traffic to your website. What’s harder is to predict your chances of ranking for them. To help solve this problem, SEO tools like Ahrefs give keywords a “difficulty” score from 0 to 100. But the truth is that these scores aren’t foolproof. So in this post, I’m going to outline the benefits and shortcomings of the Keyword Difficulty metric, as well as break down what other things professional SEOs look at when estimating their chances to rank for a given keyword. ## What is Keyword Difficulty? Keyword Difficulty (KD) is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a given keyword. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 100, with the latter being the hardest to rank for. ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for "best womens hiking boots" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-overview-for-best-womens.png) ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for "best womens hiking boots" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10)](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20952%20633%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) However, when many SEO professionals use the term “Keyword Difficulty,” they’re sometimes referring to the broader concept of ranking difficulty—not a particular metric in a particular SEO tool. ## Keyword Difficulty still matters because links still matter Google [still relies on link-based signals like PageRank](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7403893733496147968/) to rank search results, so knowing the backlink strength of top-ranking pages is still one of the best predictors of how hard a keyword is to win. LLMs are increasingly using link graph data too, so assessing link authority is arguably only growing in importance. ![LinkedIn post by Mark Williams-Cook stating that Google still uses a modified version of PageRank, LLMs have been buying link graph data, and it's still hugely important for ranking documents](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/linkedin-post-by-mark-williams-cook-stating-that-g.png) ![LinkedIn post by Mark Williams-Cook stating that Google still uses a modified version of PageRank, LLMs have been buying link graph data, and it's still hugely important for ranking documents](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201094%20442%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) Keyword Difficulty scores distill that into a simple benchmark that shows you how much backlink strength you’ll need to compete. They’re a quick and easy way to judge which keywords are realistically within reach and worth investing in. ## Keyword Difficulty as a metric Almost every keyword research tool has a Keyword Difficulty score. These tools all use the same 0-100 scale, but each one calculates it differently. If you check the Keyword Difficulty of the same keywords in different SEO tools, the numbers will vary quite substantially. ![Keyword Difficulty comparison table across four SEO tools (Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush, KWFinder) for three keywords: "disposable face mask" (72, 63, 68, 46), "best backpack" (42, 47, 79, 50), and "bike tire pump" (13, 45, 56, 39)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/keyword-difficulty-comparison-table-across-four-se.png) ![Keyword Difficulty comparison table across four SEO tools (Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush, KWFinder) for three keywords: "disposable face mask" (72, 63, 68, 46), "best backpack" (42, 47, 79, 50), and "bike tire pump" (13, 45, 56, 39)](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20866%20180%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) That’s why it is important to understand how exactly the ranking difficulty is calculated by your SEO tool of choice. Only then can you make informed decisions based on it. ### How we calculate Keyword Difficulty at Ahrefs Here at Ahrefs, we use a simple method for calculating KD. We pull the top 10 ranking pages for your keyword and look up how many websites link to each of them. The more links the top-ranking pages for your keyword have, the higher its KD score. Very simple and very actionable. ![SERP overview table for "best womens hiking boots" with Domains column highlighted showing the number of unique referring domains for each ranking page ](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/serp-overview-table-for-best-womens-hiking-boots.png) ![SERP overview table for "best womens hiking boots" with Domains column highlighted showing the number of unique referring domains for each ranking page ](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201071%20695%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) Keyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is based on linking domains to top-ranking pages. Keyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is an absolute metric —not a relative one—scored from 0 to 100 based on the backlink profiles of top-ranking pages. It’s a straightforward benchmark: - KD 0-5 – Top-ranking pages barely have any backlinks - KD ~50 – Top-ranking pages have a couple of hundred backlinks - KD 90+ – Top-ranking pages have thousands of backlinks In other words, the score tells you how hard it is for the average website to rank, but it doesn’t account for your specific website’s authority. Think of the KD Score like the speed limit on a highway. The sign might say “70 MPH” (High Difficulty), which applies to everyone. But your personal difficulty depends on the car you’re driving. If you are in a Formula 1 car (High Authority/High Topical Relevance), 70 MPH feels effortless. If you’re on a bike (New Domain/Low Authority), reaching that speed is impossible, regardless of what the sign says. The sign is accurate, but ultimately your vehicle determines the challenge. You should always interpret the KD score through the lens of your own “Personal Keyword Difficulty.” ### Personal Keyword Difficulty If your site has a higher [Domain Rating](https://ahrefs.com/blog/domain-rating/) or stronger topical authority than the average found on the SERP, the “effective” difficulty is likely far lower for your site than tools might suggest. On the flip side, if you’re a new player, even mid-range scores will require extra effort. Essentially, Ahrefs’ Keyword Difficulty score is the baseline, and your site’s authority provides the context. There is a way to quickly get a better idea of your “Personal Keyword Difficulty” scores using the [Ahrefs MCP.](https://docs.ahrefs.com/docs/mcp/reference/introduction) Just copy and paste [this prompt I’ve built](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zbci5ZmP4D7Xi-k1t275WLHvWDZH3zfUlZjBAR0nskA/edit?usp=sharing) into Claude, with the Ahrefs MCP switched on. ![Prompt for Ahrefs MCP to build a Personal Keyword Difficulty score](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.55.05-614x425.png) ![Prompt for Ahrefs MCP to build a Personal Keyword Difficulty score](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20614%20425%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) It takes multiple factors into account, including: - Baseline Keyword Difficulty (I.e. KD in Ahrefs) - Your site’s topical authority for your chosen keyword (e.g. how many other keywords you rank for in the same “[Parent Topic” cluster](https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-clustering/), and their associated traffic) - Your site’s Domain Rating versus other SERP competitors - Your page’s URL Rating (for existing content within that “Parent Topic” cluster) compared to other SERP competitors ![Personalized Keyword Difficulty breakdown for "AI search optimization" showing Base KD at 40% (18.8 points), Topical Authority at 30% (-2.4 points advantage), Domain Rating at 20% (5.5 points advantage), and Page Authority at 10% (-0.9 points advantage), resulting in final score of 38](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/personalized-keyword-difficulty-breakdown-for-ai.png) ![Personalized Keyword Difficulty breakdown for "AI search optimization" showing Base KD at 40% (18.8 points), Topical Authority at 30% (-2.4 points advantage), Domain Rating at 20% (5.5 points advantage), and Page Authority at 10% (-0.9 points advantage), resulting in final score of 38](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20730%20466%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) Claude then weights those factors, to develop a “Personalized Keyword Difficulty” score. ![Personalized Keyword Difficulty Analysis table for ahrefs.com comparing Standard KD versus Personalized KD for keywords including "AI search optimization"](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/personalized-keyword-difficulty-analysis-table-for.png) ![Personalized Keyword Difficulty Analysis table for ahrefs.com comparing Standard KD versus Personalized KD for keywords including "AI search optimization"](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20808%20407%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) This essentially inflates or decreases the base Keyword Difficulty depending on your site’s performance and authority across the relevant topic. For the keyword “AI search optimization” our Personal Keyword Difficulty dropped by 9 points—meaning it should, in theory, be easier for us to rank. That’s because we already have a strong URL Rating, a DR well above competitors, and existing visibility for related keywords across the same Parent Topic. Once Claude has analyzed all of your Ahrefs data, it’ll suggest actionable recommendations… ![Claude "Personal keyword difficulty" data summary showing parent topic cluster "ai search engine optimization" with 3 keywords ranked from cluster, 1 unique URL, approximately 0 monthly visits target domain traffic, weighted average UR of 8.0, and top competitors including Google (DR 99), Salesforce (DR 92), Reddit (DR 95), and Search Engine Land (DR 91)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/claude-personal-keyword-difficulty-data-summary.png) ![Claude "Personal keyword difficulty" data summary showing parent topic cluster "ai search engine optimization" with 3 keywords ranked from cluster, 1 unique URL, approximately 0 monthly visits target domain traffic, weighted average UR of 8.0, and top competitors including Google (DR 99), Salesforce (DR 92), Reddit (DR 95), and Search Engine Land (DR 91)](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20725%20498%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) As any SEO worth their salt knows, backlinks aren’t the only ranking factor. If you want to properly gauge your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you need to go further and do a more thorough analysis of the SERP. Speaking of which… ## Keyword Difficulty as a concept Nobody knows exactly how Google ranks pages. But we do know the main things that matter for ranking well. And by analyzing those “main things,” SEOs can get a pretty good idea of what it takes to rank on Google for a given keyword. So here’s how to do it. ### 1\. Figure out how many backlinks you’ll need Backlinks act as votes, which tell Google that a given page is more valuable than any other page on the same topic. So, as a general rule, if you want to rank in the top 10 search results for a given keyword, you’ll have to acquire as many backlinks as the current top-ranking pages have (if not more). In Ahrefs’ [Keywords Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer) , we actually have a text hint right under our KD score that tells you an approximate number of backlinks you’ll need: ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for "best womens hiking boots" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10) ](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-overview-for-best-womens-1.png) ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for "best womens hiking boots" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10) ](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20952%20633%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) Two important caveats here: 1. The hint says “to rank in the top 10,” which means that getting as many (or more) backlinks as your competitors won’t guarantee that you’ll rank \#1. But there’s a very good chance that you’ll rank somewhere in the top 10. 2. The sheer quantity of backlinks can often be misleading because some backlinks cast a stronger vote than others. So this number is merely an estimation. To properly estimate the strength of the backlink profiles of the top-ranking pages, you’ll have to review all their backlinks manually, i.e., do [a backlink audit](https://ahrefs.com/blog/backlink-audit/) of these pages. In [Keywords Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer) , we’ve created a handy shortcut for this, since each number in the “SERP Overview” links to its respective backlink report in Ahrefs’ [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer) : ![SERP overview table for "best womens hiking boots" with Backlinks and Domains columns highlighted ](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/serp-overview-table-for-best-womens-hiking-boots-1.png) ![SERP overview table for "best womens hiking boots" with Backlinks and Domains columns highlighted ](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201071%20695%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) Click these numbers (in the highlighted columns) to manually review backlinks. ### 2\. Look for “Cracks” in the SERP Because KD scores represent the average Referring Domains of the top-ranking pages, they can sometimes hide specific weaknesses in the search results that you can exploit. A high KD score usually means the top pages have many backlinks, but it doesn’t tell you if those pages actually satisfy the user. To enhance your keyword strategy, look for “cracks” in the SERP that Keyword Difficulty doesn’t account for, such as: #### Content freshness Are the top results outdated (e.g., posts from 2019 with no updates)? Stale content is often easier to outrank—even when it has strong backlinks. To check this, head to the “SERP Overview” in Keywords Explorer for your target keyword. Then click on the arrow dropdown, and hit “Inspect”. This will bring up the Page Inspect tool where you can check on when the article was last updated. ![Side-by-side comparison in the Page Inspect tool in Ahrefs Site Explorer showing content update from December 8, 2025 to December 9, 2025 for "I Tried 9 AI SEO Tools" article, with calendar heatmap highlighting the update date and visible text changes between versions](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/side-by-side-comparison-in-the-page-inspect-tool-i.jpg) ![Side-by-side comparison in the Page Inspect tool in Ahrefs Site Explorer showing content update from December 8, 2025 to December 9, 2025 for "I Tried 9 AI SEO Tools" article, with calendar heatmap highlighting the update date and visible text changes between versions](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%202048%201155%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) In this example for the keyword “AI SEO” I can see the \#1 ranking page was only updated a few days ago, and gets regular “Moderate” updates throughout the year—which likely makes it a tough one to beat. #### Low DR brands Are there forums or low-authority blogs ranking among the giants? If a low-authority site has managed to rank, it’s a strong signal that the “giants” aren’t satisfying the intent perfectly. Omid Ghiam, founder of Marketer Milk, actually factors this into his [SEO and AEO keyword research](https://www.marketermilk.com/blog/how-to-do-keyword-research). Using DR filtering in Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, he finds keywords that only show low DR brands in the SERPs (e.g. DR \<15). ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer interface showing the "Lowest DR" filter panel set to find keywords with at least one ranking position with Domain Rating up to 15 in top 10, displaying results for AI-related tool keywords](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-interface-showing-the-lo.jpg) ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer interface showing the "Lowest DR" filter panel set to find keywords with at least one ranking position with Domain Rating up to 15 in top 10, displaying results for AI-related tool keywords](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201833%201021%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) > The main filter we first want to play with is the Lowest DR filter. This will allow us to find keyword ideas where the pages that rank for that keyword have a really low DR (domain rating). In theory, if those pages are ranking for that specific keyword, we can also rank for it (with a better piece of content, that is). I like to make the lowest DR to something like 10 or 15, in the top 5 or 10 results on the first page of Google. > > ![Omid Ghiam](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Omid-Ghiam.jpeg) > > ![Omid Ghiam](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) > > Omid Ghiam, Founder, [Marketer Milk](https://www.marketermilk.com/blog/how-to-do-keyword-research) #### “Fluffy” content Sometimes high-authority sites rank simply because of their domain strength, even if their content is 1,000 words of filler. These are prime targets for you to outrank with high-value, concise content. ### 3\. Review the “authority” of your competitors As mentioned, you want to assess the authority of your SERP competitors. This includes checking factors like DR, URL rating, and ownership of content clusters. A high website authority can indirectly contribute toward a higher ranking on Google: #### A. Internal links High authority means that a given website has lots of strong pages. And the page that you see ranking on Google may be receiving lots of “link juice” from such pages, making it a high-authority page too (even in the absence of backlinks from other websites). #### B. Familiar brand When shown a list of search results, people often prefer familiar websites. This behavior ends up reshuffling the SERPs since Google has its own ” [Click probability model](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AQ9UDqES80) “, which uses SERP CTR data to assess user satisfaction and inform re-ranking. That’s how “familiar websites” often tend to rank high, and benefit from compounding awareness. ### 4\. Investigate the search intent Your ability to address the [search intent](https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-intent/) is crucial for ranking well on Google. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, search intent is basically the expectation that searchers have. Google’s goal is to fulfill people’s expectations when they perform a search. You can better understand intent when you review the top-ranking pages for a keyword, and analyze what searchers get from them. To do this, head to the SERP Overview report in Keywords Explorer and hit “Identify intents”. This will give you a breakdown of the intent of each ranking result, so you can understand what kind of content searchers are looking to find. ![Ahrefs SERP overview for "backlink checker" query showing top 8 ranking pages with Intent sidebar highlighting two dominant search intents: "Free Backlink Checking Tools" (58%) and "SEO Tool Exploration" (20%), plus "Backlink Analysis" (20%)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-serp-overview-for-backlink-checker-query.jpg) ![Ahrefs SERP overview for "backlink checker" query showing top 8 ranking pages with Intent sidebar highlighting two dominant search intents: "Free Backlink Checking Tools" (58%) and "SEO Tool Exploration" (20%), plus "Backlink Analysis" (20%)](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201192%201144%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) As you can tell from the example above, ~60% of the top-ranking pages for the keyword “backlink checker” are “free backlink checking tools”, so this is the dominant search intent. The remaining 40% belongs to paid or more “comprehensive” backlink checking tools. In other words, if you try to target this keyword with a blog article or a landing page, it won’t work. We know this for a fact because we actually tried it. ![Ahrefs organic traffic graph showing successful search intent optimization with annotation "Nailed the search intent" pointing to inflection point where traffic begins steady growth from around 150K to over 600K monthly visits between 2018 and 2025](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-organic-traffic-graph-showing-successful-se.png) ![Ahrefs organic traffic graph showing successful search intent optimization with annotation "Nailed the search intent" pointing to inflection point where traffic begins steady growth from around 150K to over 600K monthly visits between 2018 and 2025](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201168%20473%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) Above is the graph of organic search traffic to [our backlink checker page](https://ahrefs.com/backlink-checker). Originally, we had just a simple landing page explaining that Ahrefs has a backlink checker tool, and offering people to sign up for our paid trial. No matter how much we optimized that page, it never ranked higher than \#8 for that keyword. Then we studied the pages that were outranking us and realized that all of them were free online tools. And as soon as we converted our landing page into a free tool, it shot up to \#1 for the keyword “backlink checker” and started ranking high for many other relevant keywords. ![Before and after comparison of Ahrefs' Backlink Checker landing page redesign, showing the original landing page version, and the updated tool page](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/before-and-after-comparison-of-ahrefs-backlink-ch.jpg) ![Before and after comparison of Ahrefs' Backlink Checker landing page redesign, showing the original landing page version, and the updated tool page](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201600%201181%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) So, in short, browse the top-ranking pages and figure out what exactly people expect to get from it. ### 5\. Gauge the quality of content The famous [Skyscraper technique](https://ahrefs.com/blog/skyscraper-technique/) has led lots of content marketers astray by suggesting that a longer and more detailed article equals a better article. But just making your article longer doesn’t necessarily make it better. A better article is one that provides more value in less time (and without boring you to death). So here are some pointers that will help you gauge the quality of content that already ranks at the top for your target keyword: 1. Does it provide accurate and up-to-date information? 2. Is it written by a subject matter expert? 3. Does it contain unique information? 4. Is it well-written? 5. Is it properly formatted? 6. Is it well-designed? The first three are the most important ones. Google wants to provide its users with accurate information that comes from credible sources. We know that for a fact because the latest edition of its [Search Quality Rater Guidelines](https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf) has lots of focus on the concept called [E-E-A-T](https://ahrefs.com/blog/eeat-seo/) , which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. So instead of making your pages longer than those of your competitors, try investing in E-E-A-T. ## What is a good Keyword Difficulty to target? As with many things in SEO, the answer is it depends: - On the authority of your website. - On your credibility in a given space. - On your ability to acquire backlinks. - On whether you have the ability and/or resources to cater to search intent. - Etc. A good exercise that may help you get used to Ahrefs’ KD metric is to look up the KD scores of the keywords that your website is already ranking for. You can do this by entering your website into Ahrefs’ [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer) and visiting the Organic keywords report: ![](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/word-image-141873-15.png) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20904%20823%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) This gives you a nice benchmark. But it’s by no means a substitute for the process I’ve outlined above. If you want to accurately estimate your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you should thoroughly study the top-ranking pages and factor in your own skills and resources. And please don’t shy away from targeting high-KD keywords. When it comes to many of the KD 70+ keywords that we rank for today, it took us four to five rewrites, lots of promotion, and many years of patience to get there. So the sooner you “attack” a high-KD keyword that you really want to rank for, the sooner you’ll get there. ## Final thoughts It would be quite awesome to have a Keyword Difficulty metric that could accurately predict your chances of ranking for a given keyword. But as you can probably tell by now, such a metric doesn’t exist. So the only way for you to make the right SEO bets is by thoroughly studying the search results for the keywords that you want to rank for. I hope the process I’ve outlined above is helpful for you. And if you have any further questions, feel free to ping me [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/timsoulo). Copy link Article Performance Data from Ahrefs - Organic traffic [546](https://ahrefs.com/traffic-checker/?input=https%3A%2F%2Fahrefs.com%2Fblog%2Fkeyword-difficulty%2F&mode=exact) - Linking websites [386](https://ahrefs.com/backlink-checker/?input=https%3A%2F%2Fahrefs.com%2Fblog%2Fkeyword-difficulty%2F&mode=exact) [Sign up for Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/pricing) Get SEO metrics of any website or URL. The number of websites linking to this post. This post's estimated monthly organic search traffic. Get the week's best marketing content ![](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/themes/Ahrefs-4/images/authors/TimSoulo.jpg) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![Tim Soulo](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Tim_profile_pic-425x425.jpg) ![Tim Soulo](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20145%20145%22%3E%3C/svg%3E) Article by [Tim Soulo](https://ahrefs.com/blog/author/tim-soulo/ "Posts by Tim Soulo") Contributors [![Louise Linehan](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Louise-Linehan-120x120.jpg) ![Louise Linehan](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%2060%2060%22%3E%3C/svg%3E)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/author/louise-linehan/ "Louise Linehan") Tim Soulo is CMO at Ahrefs. With over 15 years in the digital marketing industry, Tim is the author of many data-driven studies and actionable marketing frameworks, some of which gained industry-wide recognition. He enjoys challenging conventional marketing knowledge and optimizing for simplicity and efficiency. Contributors [![Louise Linehan](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Louise-Linehan-120x120.jpg) ![Louise Linehan](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%2060%2060%22%3E%3C/svg%3E)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/author/louise-linehan/ "Louise Linehan") Keep Learning [![youtube keyword research](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/blog-youtube-keyword-research-400x200.png) ![youtube keyword research](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20400%20200%22%3E%3C/svg%3E)How to Do YouTube Keyword Research in 3 Easy Steps](https://ahrefs.com/blog/youtube-keyword-research/ "Permanent Link to How to Do YouTube Keyword Research in 3 Easy Steps") Learn the keyword approach that helped us grow our channel from 10,000 to over 200,000 monthly views in around a year. 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Readable Markdown	Article Performance Data from Ahrefs - Organic traffic - Linking websites The number of websites linking to this post. This post's estimated monthly organic search traffic. Contents It’s easy to find keywords that can bring lots of traffic to your website. What’s harder is to predict your chances of ranking for them. To help solve this problem, SEO tools like Ahrefs give keywords a “difficulty” score from 0 to 100. But the truth is that these scores aren’t foolproof. So in this post, I’m going to outline the benefits and shortcomings of the Keyword Difficulty metric, as well as break down what other things professional SEOs look at when estimating their chances to rank for a given keyword. What is Keyword Difficulty? Keyword Difficulty (KD) is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a given keyword. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 100, with the latter being the hardest to rank for. ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for "best womens hiking boots" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-overview-for-best-womens.png) However, when many SEO professionals use the term “Keyword Difficulty,” they’re sometimes referring to the broader concept of ranking difficulty—not a particular metric in a particular SEO tool. Keyword Difficulty still matters because links still matter Google [still relies on link-based signals like PageRank](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7403893733496147968/) to rank search results, so knowing the backlink strength of top-ranking pages is still one of the best predictors of how hard a keyword is to win. LLMs are increasingly using link graph data too, so assessing link authority is arguably only growing in importance. ![LinkedIn post by Mark Williams-Cook stating that Google still uses a modified version of PageRank, LLMs have been buying link graph data, and it's still hugely important for ranking documents](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/linkedin-post-by-mark-williams-cook-stating-that-g.png) Keyword Difficulty scores distill that into a simple benchmark that shows you how much backlink strength you’ll need to compete. They’re a quick and easy way to judge which keywords are realistically within reach and worth investing in. Keyword Difficulty as a metric Almost every keyword research tool has a Keyword Difficulty score. These tools all use the same 0-100 scale, but each one calculates it differently. If you check the Keyword Difficulty of the same keywords in different SEO tools, the numbers will vary quite substantially. ![Keyword Difficulty comparison table across four SEO tools (Ahrefs, Moz, Semrush, KWFinder) for three keywords: "disposable face mask" (72, 63, 68, 46), "best backpack" (42, 47, 79, 50), and "bike tire pump" (13, 45, 56, 39)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/keyword-difficulty-comparison-table-across-four-se.png) That’s why it is important to understand how exactly the ranking difficulty is calculated by your SEO tool of choice. Only then can you make informed decisions based on it. How we calculate Keyword Difficulty at Ahrefs Here at Ahrefs, we use a simple method for calculating KD. We pull the top 10 ranking pages for your keyword and look up how many websites link to each of them. The more links the top-ranking pages for your keyword have, the higher its KD score. Very simple and very actionable. ![SERP overview table for "best womens hiking boots" with Domains column highlighted showing the number of unique referring domains for each ranking page ](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/serp-overview-table-for-best-womens-hiking-boots.png) Keyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is based on linking domains to top-ranking pages. Keyword Difficulty in Ahrefs is an absolute metric —not a relative one—scored from 0 to 100 based on the backlink profiles of top-ranking pages. It’s a straightforward benchmark: KD 0-5 – Top-ranking pages barely have any backlinks KD ~50 – Top-ranking pages have a couple of hundred backlinks KD 90+ – Top-ranking pages have thousands of backlinks In other words, the score tells you how hard it is for the average website to rank, but it doesn’t account for your specific website’s authority. Think of the KD Score like the speed limit on a highway. The sign might say “70 MPH” (High Difficulty), which applies to everyone. But your personal difficulty depends on the car you’re driving. If you are in a Formula 1 car (High Authority/High Topical Relevance), 70 MPH feels effortless. If you’re on a bike (New Domain/Low Authority), reaching that speed is impossible, regardless of what the sign says. The sign is accurate, but ultimately your vehicle determines the challenge. You should always interpret the KD score through the lens of your own “Personal Keyword Difficulty.” Personal Keyword Difficulty If your site has a higher [Domain Rating](https://ahrefs.com/blog/domain-rating/) or stronger topical authority than the average found on the SERP, the “effective” difficulty is likely far lower for your site than tools might suggest. On the flip side, if you’re a new player, even mid-range scores will require extra effort. Essentially, Ahrefs’ Keyword Difficulty score is the baseline, and your site’s authority provides the context. There is a way to quickly get a better idea of your “Personal Keyword Difficulty” scores using the [Ahrefs MCP.](https://docs.ahrefs.com/docs/mcp/reference/introduction) Just copy and paste [this prompt I’ve built](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zbci5ZmP4D7Xi-k1t275WLHvWDZH3zfUlZjBAR0nskA/edit?usp=sharing) into Claude, with the Ahrefs MCP switched on. ![Prompt for Ahrefs MCP to build a Personal Keyword Difficulty score](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.55.05-614x425.png) It takes multiple factors into account, including: Baseline Keyword Difficulty (I.e. KD in Ahrefs) Your site’s topical authority for your chosen keyword (e.g. how many other keywords you rank for in the same “[Parent Topic” cluster](https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-clustering/), and their associated traffic) Your site’s Domain Rating versus other SERP competitors Your page’s URL Rating (for existing content within that “Parent Topic” cluster) compared to other SERP competitors ![Personalized Keyword Difficulty breakdown for "AI search optimization" showing Base KD at 40% (18.8 points), Topical Authority at 30% (-2.4 points advantage), Domain Rating at 20% (5.5 points advantage), and Page Authority at 10% (-0.9 points advantage), resulting in final score of 38](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/personalized-keyword-difficulty-breakdown-for-ai.png) Claude then weights those factors, to develop a “Personalized Keyword Difficulty” score. ![Personalized Keyword Difficulty Analysis table for ahrefs.com comparing Standard KD versus Personalized KD for keywords including "AI search optimization"](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/personalized-keyword-difficulty-analysis-table-for.png) This essentially inflates or decreases the base Keyword Difficulty depending on your site’s performance and authority across the relevant topic. For the keyword “AI search optimization” our Personal Keyword Difficulty dropped by 9 points—meaning it should, in theory, be easier for us to rank. That’s because we already have a strong URL Rating, a DR well above competitors, and existing visibility for related keywords across the same Parent Topic. Once Claude has analyzed all of your Ahrefs data, it’ll suggest actionable recommendations… ![Claude "Personal keyword difficulty" data summary showing parent topic cluster "ai search engine optimization" with 3 keywords ranked from cluster, 1 unique URL, approximately 0 monthly visits target domain traffic, weighted average UR of 8.0, and top competitors including Google (DR 99), Salesforce (DR 92), Reddit (DR 95), and Search Engine Land (DR 91)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/claude-personal-keyword-difficulty-data-summary.png) As any SEO worth their salt knows, backlinks aren’t the only ranking factor. If you want to properly gauge your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you need to go further and do a more thorough analysis of the SERP. Speaking of which… Keyword Difficulty as a concept Nobody knows exactly how Google ranks pages. But we do know the main things that matter for ranking well. And by analyzing those “main things,” SEOs can get a pretty good idea of what it takes to rank on Google for a given keyword. So here’s how to do it. 1\. Figure out how many backlinks you’ll need Backlinks act as votes, which tell Google that a given page is more valuable than any other page on the same topic. So, as a general rule, if you want to rank in the top 10 search results for a given keyword, you’ll have to acquire as many backlinks as the current top-ranking pages have (if not more). In Ahrefs’ [Keywords Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer) , we actually have a text hint right under our KD score that tells you an approximate number of backlinks you’ll need: ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer overview for "best womens hiking boots" showing Keyword Difficulty of 6 (Easy, approximately 7 referring domains needed to rank in top 10) ](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-overview-for-best-womens-1.png) Two important caveats here: The hint says “to rank in the top 10,” which means that getting as many (or more) backlinks as your competitors won’t guarantee that you’ll rank \#1. But there’s a very good chance that you’ll rank somewhere in the top 10. The sheer quantity of backlinks can often be misleading because some backlinks cast a stronger vote than others. So this number is merely an estimation. To properly estimate the strength of the backlink profiles of the top-ranking pages, you’ll have to review all their backlinks manually, i.e., do [a backlink audit](https://ahrefs.com/blog/backlink-audit/) of these pages. In [Keywords Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer) , we’ve created a handy shortcut for this, since each number in the “SERP Overview” links to its respective backlink report in Ahrefs’ [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer) : ![SERP overview table for "best womens hiking boots" with Backlinks and Domains columns highlighted ](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/serp-overview-table-for-best-womens-hiking-boots-1.png) Click these numbers (in the highlighted columns) to manually review backlinks. 2\. Look for “Cracks” in the SERP Because KD scores represent the average Referring Domains of the top-ranking pages, they can sometimes hide specific weaknesses in the search results that you can exploit. A high KD score usually means the top pages have many backlinks, but it doesn’t tell you if those pages actually satisfy the user. To enhance your keyword strategy, look for “cracks” in the SERP that Keyword Difficulty doesn’t account for, such as: Content freshness Are the top results outdated (e.g., posts from 2019 with no updates)? Stale content is often easier to outrank—even when it has strong backlinks. To check this, head to the “SERP Overview” in Keywords Explorer for your target keyword. Then click on the arrow dropdown, and hit “Inspect”. This will bring up the Page Inspect tool where you can check on when the article was last updated. ![Side-by-side comparison in the Page Inspect tool in Ahrefs Site Explorer showing content update from December 8, 2025 to December 9, 2025 for "I Tried 9 AI SEO Tools" article, with calendar heatmap highlighting the update date and visible text changes between versions](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/side-by-side-comparison-in-the-page-inspect-tool-i.jpg) In this example for the keyword “AI SEO” I can see the \#1 ranking page was only updated a few days ago, and gets regular “Moderate” updates throughout the year—which likely makes it a tough one to beat. Low DR brands Are there forums or low-authority blogs ranking among the giants? If a low-authority site has managed to rank, it’s a strong signal that the “giants” aren’t satisfying the intent perfectly. Omid Ghiam, founder of Marketer Milk, actually factors this into his [SEO and AEO keyword research](https://www.marketermilk.com/blog/how-to-do-keyword-research). Using DR filtering in Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, he finds keywords that only show low DR brands in the SERPs (e.g. DR \<15). ![Ahrefs Keywords Explorer interface showing the "Lowest DR" filter panel set to find keywords with at least one ranking position with Domain Rating up to 15 in top 10, displaying results for AI-related tool keywords](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-keywords-explorer-interface-showing-the-lo.jpg) The main filter we first want to play with is the Lowest DR filter. This will allow us to find keyword ideas where the pages that rank for that keyword have a really low DR (domain rating). In theory, if those pages are ranking for that specific keyword, we can also rank for it (with a better piece of content, that is). I like to make the lowest DR to something like 10 or 15, in the top 5 or 10 results on the first page of Google. ![Omid Ghiam](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Omid-Ghiam.jpeg) “Fluffy” content Sometimes high-authority sites rank simply because of their domain strength, even if their content is 1,000 words of filler. These are prime targets for you to outrank with high-value, concise content. 3\. Review the “authority” of your competitors As mentioned, you want to assess the authority of your SERP competitors. This includes checking factors like DR, URL rating, and ownership of content clusters. A high website authority can indirectly contribute toward a higher ranking on Google: A. Internal links High authority means that a given website has lots of strong pages. And the page that you see ranking on Google may be receiving lots of “link juice” from such pages, making it a high-authority page too (even in the absence of backlinks from other websites). B. Familiar brand When shown a list of search results, people often prefer familiar websites. This behavior ends up reshuffling the SERPs since Google has its own ” [Click probability model](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AQ9UDqES80) “, which uses SERP CTR data to assess user satisfaction and inform re-ranking. That’s how “familiar websites” often tend to rank high, and benefit from compounding awareness. 4\. Investigate the search intent Your ability to address the [search intent](https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-intent/) is crucial for ranking well on Google. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, search intent is basically the expectation that searchers have. Google’s goal is to fulfill people’s expectations when they perform a search. You can better understand intent when you review the top-ranking pages for a keyword, and analyze what searchers get from them. To do this, head to the SERP Overview report in Keywords Explorer and hit “Identify intents”. This will give you a breakdown of the intent of each ranking result, so you can understand what kind of content searchers are looking to find. ![Ahrefs SERP overview for "backlink checker" query showing top 8 ranking pages with Intent sidebar highlighting two dominant search intents: "Free Backlink Checking Tools" (58%) and "SEO Tool Exploration" (20%), plus "Backlink Analysis" (20%)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-serp-overview-for-backlink-checker-query.jpg) As you can tell from the example above, ~60% of the top-ranking pages for the keyword “backlink checker” are “free backlink checking tools”, so this is the dominant search intent. The remaining 40% belongs to paid or more “comprehensive” backlink checking tools. In other words, if you try to target this keyword with a blog article or a landing page, it won’t work. We know this for a fact because we actually tried it. ![Ahrefs organic traffic graph showing successful search intent optimization with annotation "Nailed the search intent" pointing to inflection point where traffic begins steady growth from around 150K to over 600K monthly visits between 2018 and 2025](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ahrefs-organic-traffic-graph-showing-successful-se.png) Above is the graph of organic search traffic to [our backlink checker page](https://ahrefs.com/backlink-checker). Originally, we had just a simple landing page explaining that Ahrefs has a backlink checker tool, and offering people to sign up for our paid trial. No matter how much we optimized that page, it never ranked higher than \#8 for that keyword. Then we studied the pages that were outranking us and realized that all of them were free online tools. And as soon as we converted our landing page into a free tool, it shot up to \#1 for the keyword “backlink checker” and started ranking high for many other relevant keywords. ![Before and after comparison of Ahrefs' Backlink Checker landing page redesign, showing the original landing page version, and the updated tool page](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/before-and-after-comparison-of-ahrefs-backlink-ch.jpg) So, in short, browse the top-ranking pages and figure out what exactly people expect to get from it. 5\. Gauge the quality of content The famous [Skyscraper technique](https://ahrefs.com/blog/skyscraper-technique/) has led lots of content marketers astray by suggesting that a longer and more detailed article equals a better article. But just making your article longer doesn’t necessarily make it better. A better article is one that provides more value in less time (and without boring you to death). So here are some pointers that will help you gauge the quality of content that already ranks at the top for your target keyword: Does it provide accurate and up-to-date information? Is it written by a subject matter expert? Does it contain unique information? Is it well-written? Is it properly formatted? Is it well-designed? The first three are the most important ones. Google wants to provide its users with accurate information that comes from credible sources. We know that for a fact because the latest edition of its [Search Quality Rater Guidelines](https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf) has lots of focus on the concept called [E-E-A-T](https://ahrefs.com/blog/eeat-seo/) , which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. So instead of making your pages longer than those of your competitors, try investing in E-E-A-T. What is a good Keyword Difficulty to target? As with many things in SEO, the answer is it depends: On the authority of your website. On your credibility in a given space. On your ability to acquire backlinks. On whether you have the ability and/or resources to cater to search intent. Etc. A good exercise that may help you get used to Ahrefs’ KD metric is to look up the KD scores of the keywords that your website is already ranking for. You can do this by entering your website into Ahrefs’ [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer) and visiting the Organic keywords report: ![](https://ahrefs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/word-image-141873-15.png) This gives you a nice benchmark. But it’s by no means a substitute for the process I’ve outlined above. If you want to accurately estimate your chances of ranking for a given keyword, you should thoroughly study the top-ranking pages and factor in your own skills and resources. And please don’t shy away from targeting high-KD keywords. When it comes to many of the KD 70+ keywords that we rank for today, it took us four to five rewrites, lots of promotion, and many years of patience to get there. So the sooner you “attack” a high-KD keyword that you really want to rank for, the sooner you’ll get there. Final thoughts It would be quite awesome to have a Keyword Difficulty metric that could accurately predict your chances of ranking for a given keyword. But as you can probably tell by now, such a metric doesn’t exist. So the only way for you to make the right SEO bets is by thoroughly studying the search results for the keywords that you want to rank for. I hope the process I’ve outlined above is helpful for you. And if you have any further questions, feel free to ping me [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/timsoulo).
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