By definition, Rank Tracker's Keyword Difficulty shows you exactly how hard it's going to be to rank in top 10 results for any given keyword in Google or any localized versions of your target search engine.
The algorithm behind the Keyword SEO Difficulty value is dead simple. Basically, Rank Tracker analyzes top 10 ranking pages for a certain keyword according to a wealth of important SEO metrics like:
A competitive keyword with high ranking difficulty may take years to rank in organic search. By combining the Keyword Difficulty with Search Volume metrics, you can find keywords that have the highest chances of bringing you tons of organic traffic and don't require much effort to rank for. And of course, Rank Tracker is the best of SEO tools for finding such keyword gems.
As a matter of fact, keywords with the score below 60 are the most difficult to find but the easiest to rank for. The lucky finds enjoy low competition and considerable search volume. They become perfect keywords to optimize your pages for.
You may also have a look at KEI, visibility, and CPC parameters for a deeper analysis. The most typical picture is that high volume keywords have higher competition. To improve the keyword rank for them, you will need great content plus strong domain authority.
Keywords with low search volume are usually long tail keywords that will be easier to rank for. They are less effective in terms of bringing much traffic. However, you will need them to kick off and build up your domain authority, thanks to increasing click-through-rate from organic search.
Keyword SEO Difficulty is the very first parameter to look at when comparing your pages to those of your best-performing competition. Now Rank Tracker lets you compare your top 10 ranking competitors' pages for every SEO keyword.
You will get an instant overview of the keyword competition, with domain authority for the ranking pages, and their backlinks strength. Such domain rating estimates how much effort you need in order to occupy a ranking position in the top 10.
If you've just collected a whole bunch of new keywords and want to get accurate Keyword Difficulty values for all of them at once, there's good news for you. With Rank Tracker, you can check and compare the difficulty index of the whole keyword list. This feature is especially useful for those who carry out keyword research and have to deal with a large amount of data.
Being an SEO, the last thing you probably want is to drown in tons of rubbishy keywords that have no chances to bring you profit and are too hard to rank for. So the only right solution is to filter them with an appropriate SEO difficulty index, leaving those that have the potential to maximize your SEO results and can be worked on.
With super fast-changing SEO and competition landscapes, Keyword Difficulty is the kind of metric that needs to be constantly monitored. The good news is, Rank Tracker can get your scores calculated (together with a bunch of other SEO stats) completely on autopilot.