What is Keyword Difficulty?
Keyword Difficulty (also called Competition Score) is a metric that estimates how difficult it is to rank for a particular search keyword. It is typically measured on a scale of 0-100, where higher scores indicate more competition and require more time, resources, and backlinks to rank. Lower difficulty keywords are easier to rank for and often represent better opportunities for SEO efforts.
For startups and smaller B2B SaaS companies with limited SEO budgets, targeting high keyword difficulty terms is a waste of resources.
- Competitive Benchmarking: When targeting a keyword, compare your Domain Authority (DA) and backlink profile to the top 10 competitors ranking for that keyword. If they have DA 50+ and you have DA 20, you'll need 2-3 years of consistent link building to compete. Target keywords where competitors have DA closer to yours.
- Long-Tail Opportunity: While broad keywords like "CRM" have difficulty 100, long-tail variations like "CRM for nonprofit organizations" often have difficulty 30-40, making them realistic targets for resource-constrained teams.
- Time to Rank: High difficulty keywords can take 12-24 months to rank for. Medium difficulty keywords might take 3-6 months. Low difficulty keywords can rank within weeks. Choose accordingly based on your timeline and business goals.
Example from Flowtrix Projects
For a B2B SaaS startup with a tiny SEO budget, we conducted keyword research and found that targeting broad keywords like "Marketing Automation" (difficulty 90) would take 2+ years and was unrealistic. Instead, we identified long-tail keywords like "Marketing Automation for Ecommerce Brands" (difficulty 35) and "How to Automate Abandoned Cart Emails" (difficulty 25). By focusing on these lower-difficulty keywords, the startup ranked page 1 for 30 keywords within 6 months.
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