Most websites struggle to rank because they chase the wrong keywords. They either target terms so competitive that they’ll never break through, or they go after searches no one makes.
The solution lies in two numbers that most people ignore: keyword difficulty and search volume. Master these, and you’ll know which battles you can win.
What Keyword Difficulty Really Means
Keyword difficulty (KD) tells you how hard it will be to crack the first page for a specific term. Think of it as a competition score from 0 to 100. Zero means you’re racing alone. One hundred means you’re up against giants.
Three things drive this score up:
The pages that already rank are strong. They have solid content, good user signals, and Google trusts them.
Those pages have powerful backlinks pointing to them. Links from respected sites carry weight in search rankings.
The domains hosting these pages have built authority over time. Established sites get a head start in competitive searches.
Search Volume: The Traffic Potential
Search volume shows how many people search for a term each month. It’s your traffic ceiling – the most visitors you could get if you ranked first.
This number helps you in three ways. You can estimate how much traffic a ranking could bring. You can see if people actually care about a topic. You can compare different keywords to find the best targets.
But here’s what most people miss: high search volume usually means high competition. Everyone wants those big numbers.
The Smart Way to Choose Keywords
The best keyword strategy balances these two metrics. Here’s what to look for:
High volume, low difficulty – These are gold, but rare. When you find them, move fast.
Moderate volume, low to medium difficulty – This is where most successful campaigns start. You can win these battles and build momentum.
Take these examples. “Best SEO tools” gets massive searches but every major site targets it. You’ll burn resources fighting established players. “Free SEO audit tools” gets fewer searches but offers a clearer path to the first page.
Finding Keywords You Can Actually Rank For
Start with keyword research tools. Ahrefs shows detailed competition analysis. SEMrush includes cost-per-click data and trends. Ubersuggest keeps things simple with traffic estimates. Moz factors in SERP features that might steal clicks.
But don’t stop at the tools. Check the actual search results. Look at the pages that rank. Are they weak? Do they barely answer the question? That’s your opening.
Long-tail keywords work because they’re specific. Someone searching “WordPress SEO plugin for local business” knows exactly what they want. Less competition, clearer intent.
Tools like AnswerThePublic reveal questions people ask around your topic. Questions make great content angles and often have lower competition.
For deeper topical relevance, consider exploring semantic search strategies, which help align your keywords with user intent.
A Real Example: Choosing Your Battle
Say you want to rank for page speed content. You find “how to improve page speed” with 1,000 monthly searches and a difficulty score of 35.
That’s moderate volume and moderate competition. With good content, proper technical setup, and some internal links, you could compete even with a newer site.
Compare that to “page speed” alone – higher volume but dominated by technical documentation from major sites. You’d waste months fighting that battle.
Stop Guessing, Start Measuring
Most SEO fails because people guess instead of measure. They chase vanity metrics or copy what competitors do without understanding why.
Keyword difficulty and search volume remove the guesswork. They show you which opportunities exist and which battles you can win.
If you’re just getting started with tools like Google Search Console, track how your keyword changes affect your performance over time.
Start with keywords that balance opportunity against competition. Build wins with easier targets, then use that momentum to tackle harder terms. Your strategy grows stronger with each victory.
Interested in learning how keyword research can help your site? Book a call with me today to identify and fix the keyword issues that might be holding your site back. Or check out our other SEO topics for actionable strategies you can implement today.
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