Glossary
Keyword Difficulty
Keyword difficulty is a score estimating how hard it would be to rank in the top results for a given keyword, usually based on the strength of the pages currently ranking there.
It's an estimate, not a guarantee — difficulty scores are typically modeled from signals like backlinks and domain strength of the current top-ranking pages, so they're only as good as the model and data behind them.
It's most useful as a relative comparison between keywords, to prioritize which ones are realistically worth targeting first, rather than as an exact prediction of ranking chances.
Related terms
See it in practice — check a real ranking free.