Keyword Difficulty As A Metric

Hi Folks,

I wanted to collect thoughts on Keyword Difficulty.

I know a lot of people are using Keyword Planner to find traffic keywords but in my niche I'm finding a lot of high difficulty stuff.

However, the keywords I'm getting are high difficulty but none of the results have answered the query?

For example, a keyword "How to repair a combi boiler" and every result is about something to do with combi boilers, but not repairing.

Is it still worth going for these keywords? On the chance I'll rank higher due to answering the query?

Keyword Planner is only showing the competition for google ads - how many advertisers the keyword has, it's for ads, not SEO difficulty.

For SEO keyword difficulty you want to use other tools, not the G Keyword Planner.

ygg said:

Keyword Planner is only showing the competition for google ads - how many advertisers the keyword has, it's for ads, not SEO difficulty.

For SEO keyword difficulty you want to use other tools, not the G Keyword Planner.

Click to expand...

Likewise with the other metrics in Keyword Planner.

I'm referring to the Keyword Difficulty for organic ranking, of course, the paid ads keyword difficulty is different.

this is a keyword that I would not use as main (so, I would not create a page named "How To Repair a Combi Boiler", but I might insert this keyword into an article that I might have that deals with repairing combi boilers... or even combi boilers in general, it doesn't have to specifically be about repairing combi boilers.

And the reasons for which I'd not use this keyword are:

1) it has ZERO search volume.

I have no problems with 0 SV keywords, and I do target them quite often, but only if they are really easy (when I would rank for them within a few weeks with just 500-600 words of content and no backlinks at all), and / or when they perfectly fit into an article that I'm writing (in this case, an article about repairing combi boilers, or just about combi boilers)

2) even though it has 0 search volume, it's not worthwhile ranking for it because of this:



As you can see in the image above the first organic search (if you were to rank #1 for this keyword) is waaaay at the bottom of the page. And you can see the 1st organic result only because I shrunk the screen for the #1 spot to be displayed, otherwise, the SERPs look like this normally:



So, why is this keyword bad? Well, the main reason (and I'll stop here) is because any traffic that this keyword - through some miracle - might get, will almost never even see your page, let alone visit it, and it's mainly because of all other things that show up in google before the organic search. The 1st thing your potential visitors will see see is 4 YT videos, followed by 4 PAA questions.

Now, if you were to create a video instead of an article... or if you were to be one of the 4 PAAs that show up below the videos, now that might get you traffic. But where would the traffic come from when this keyword has 0 search volume?

Again, even if it was easy to rank for this keyword, it would still not be worthwhile (at least for me it wouldn't, I obviously can't speak for everyone). But if you absolutely loved this keyword and you absolutely wanted to target it then I would probably slam an AI article as supporting content for an article about combi boilers, and be done with it! I wouldn't even waste a single backlink on this keyword because the 0 SV would not warrant the wasting of the backlink.

Anyway, to answer your questions:

Rnking said:

I know a lot of people are using Keyword Planner to find traffic keywords but in my niche I'm finding a lot of high difficulty stuff.

Click to expand...

yes, GKP is not very good at detecting easy (or long tail, in general) keywords. Or it might be able to detect it but it will not show them because google doesn't want every Dick and Tom to make money. They want everyone to engage in bid wars for the same ultra tough keywords so that google can make more money off the high bids. So, I'm not surprised that you only find tough keywords

Rnking said:

However, the keywords I'm getting are high difficulty but none of the results have answered the query?

Click to expand...

nothing new, just google shitting on the little guys (who usually provide value) even more to make room for the ultra rich and powerful sharks that have billions of $$$ a month to spend on advertising. This particular post by @SeoBacklinkGenie explains how a small ecom site that was providing value to people just got obliterated so that Amazon can take the #1 spot for keywords they don't even target:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/g...wrong-and-how-to-fix-it.1486129/post-16247285
If you don't have a lot of context on that post to understand it I suggest that you read the entire thread anyway because it's very useful (and it shows what google's latest update did, so you do need to read this if you're serious about SEO)

Rnking said:

For example, a keyword "How to repair a combi boiler" and every result is about something to do with combi boilers, but not repairing.

Click to expand...

I noticed. And this is because of what I just explained above, and also because google absolute crushes everyone to make room for the authority sites. If you don't have authority (high DA or DR, like 40+ but preferably 60+) you'll make less and less money. And even high authority is not enough sometimes, you also need to meet google's idiotic EEAT requirements. And sometimes not even that is enough because as soon as you have authority and good EEAT they'll simply wipe you out of the SERPs anyway to force you into buying ads. So, expect to slave your life away for google, or quit SEO altogether

Rnking said:

is it still worth going for these keywords? On the chance I'll rank higher due to answering the query?

Click to expand...

it is worth going for keywords that don't address their intent, just not this particular keyword...

But yeah, it's definitely worth it, if you don't aspire to become the next billionaire you can still afford bread and water with SEO, but you need to find the right keywords

tazarbm said:

this is a keyword that I would not use as main (so, I would not create a page named "How To Repair a Combi Boiler", but I might insert this keyword into an article that I might have that deals with repairing combi boilers... or even combi boilers in general, it doesn't have to specifically be about repairing combi boilers.

And the reasons for which I'd not use this keyword are:

1) it has ZERO search volume.

I have no problems with 0 SV keywords, and I do target them quite often, but only if they are really easy (when I would rank for them within a few weeks with just 500-600 words of content and no backlinks at all), and / or when they perfectly fit into an article that I'm writing (in this case, an article about repairing combi boilers, or just about combi boilers)

2) even though it has 0 search volume, it's not worthwhile ranking for it because of this:

View attachment 249099

As you can see in the image above the first organic search (if you were to rank #1 for this keyword) is waaaay at the bottom of the page. And you can see the 1st organic result only because I shrunk the screen for the #1 spot to be displayed, otherwise, the SERPs look like this normally:

View attachment 249100

So, why is this keyword bad? Well, the main reason (and I'll stop here) is because any traffic that this keyword - through some miracle - might get, will almost never even see your page, let alone visit it, and it's mainly because of all other things that show up in google before the organic search. The 1st thing your potential visitors will see see is 4 YT videos, followed by 4 PAA questions.

Now, if you were to create a video instead of an article... or if you were to be one of the 4 PAAs that show up below the videos, now that might get you traffic. But where would the traffic come from when this keyword has 0 search volume?

Again, even if it was easy to rank for this keyword, it would still not be worthwhile (at least for me it wouldn't, I obviously can't speak for everyone). But if you absolutely loved this keyword and you absolutely wanted to target it then I would probably slam an AI article as supporting content for an article about combi boilers, and be done with it! I wouldn't even waste a single backlink on this keyword because the 0 SV would not warrant the wasting of the backlink.

Anyway, to answer your questions:


yes, GKP is not very good at detecting easy (or long tail, in general) keywords. Or it might be able to detect it but it will not show them because google doesn't want every Dick and Tom to make money. They want everyone to engage in bid wars for the same ultra tough keywords so that google can make more money off the high bids. So, I'm not surprised that you only find tough keywords


nothing new, just google shitting on the little guys (who usually provide value) even more to make room for the ultra rich and powerful sharks that have billions of $$$ a month to spend on advertising. This particular post by @SeoBacklinkGenie explains how a small ecom site that was providing value to people just got obliterated so that Amazon can take the #1 spot for keywords they don't even target:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/g...wrong-and-how-to-fix-it.1486129/post-16247285
If you don't have a lot of context on that post to understand it I suggest that you read the entire thread anyway because it's very useful (and it shows what google's latest update did, so you do need to read this if you're serious about SEO)


I noticed. And this is because of what I just explained above, and also because google absolute crushes everyone to make room for the authority sites. If you don't have authority (high DA or DR, like 40+ but preferably 60+) you'll make less and less money. And even high authority is not enough sometimes, you also need to meet google's idiotic EEAT requirements. And sometimes not even that is enough because as soon as you have authority and good EEAT they'll simply wipe you out of the SERPs anyway to force you into buying ads. So, expect to slave your life away for google, or quit SEO altogether


it is worth going for keywords that don't address their intent, just not this particular keyword...

But yeah, it's definitely worth it, if you don't aspire to become the next billionaire you can still afford bread and water with SEO, but you need to find the right keywords

Click to expand...

Firstly, thank you for your lengthy reply, it really does help!

Secondly, that keyword was an example but the same SERP as my actual keyword with 0 SV.

So overall, it's worth targeting keywords where the difficulty may be slightly high in tools but where the existing results don't answer the query or match.

I'm planning on targeting a bunch of easier keywords as a way to boost some traffic and clicks overall to an existing site.

Overall just looking for ways to secure a few easy wins through content before they are all taken over by AI...

Rnking said:

Firstly, thank you for your lengthy reply, it really does help!

Secondly, that keyword was an example but the same SERP as my actual keyword with 0 SV.

So overall, it's worth targeting keywords where the difficulty may be slightly high in tools but where the existing results don't answer the query or match.

I'm planning on targeting a bunch of easier keywords as a way to boost some traffic and clicks overall to an existing site.

Overall just looking for ways to secure a few easy wins through content before they are all taken over by AI...

Click to expand...

yes, if you can address the intent of the keyword when no one else does, it's worth targeting if you're happy working for 0 SV keywords

tazarbm said:

yes, if you can address the intent of the keyword when no one else does, it's worth targeting if you're happy working for 0 SV keywords

Click to expand...

I've had a few 0 SV that have turned out to drive a few hundred clicks. Ideally I don't want to target 0 SV and would like to be targeting more traffic keywords.

But overall the concept of targeting a difficult keyword when the other results don't match the intent is a good one and worth doing?

Also, what's your thoughts on Word Count? Is it worth writing to meet a word count depending on the other results? Your knowledge is exceptional so figured it was worth asking!

Rnking said:

Is it still worth going for these keywords? On the chance I'll rank higher due to answering the query?

Click to expand...

If you can get an aged domain, there's a high chance you could rank for these queries
More room to rank for snippets as well

HustleTong said:

If you can get an aged domain, there's a high chance you could rank for these queries
More room to rank for snippets as well

Click to expand...

Great, and just on the versa, what about without an aged domain? If it was new but out of the sandbox?

Did you try SEmrush to find these keywords?

CheapestContent said:

Did you try SEmrush to find these keywords?

Click to expand...

I found the KW in keyword planner, then put into SEMRush to check the KW Difficulty

Rnking said:

I found the KW in keyword planner, then put into SEMRush to check the KW Difficulty

Click to expand...

Paid Semrush?

CheapestContent said:

Paid Semrush?

Click to expand...

Of course, why?

Rnking said:

Also, what's your thoughts on Word Count? Is it worth writing to meet a word count depending on the other results? Your knowledge is exceptional so figured it was worth asking!

Click to expand...

my knowledge is not exceptional at all (I remind everyone on the forum that I'm NOT an expert and that I'm still learning), but thanks for the appreciation

I usually don't stress about word count, in the sense that I try to get as close as possible to what my competitors are writing and if I'm off - in either direction - by 100+ words I don't care as long as I've written everything that I had to say. More important than the word count is addressing the topic / intent of the keyword in detail, and if a keyword can be addressed in 250-300 words only, so be it!

But there's also the other flip of the coin, as well, which is: keywords that can be fully covered with so little content are better off being grouped together into a larger piece of content. So, in this regards I guess there IS such a thing as word count

In general I try to get at least 500-600 words of content for my keywords and if there's not enough info to write 500+ words I either skip that keyword or try to fit into a relevant article somehow.

I hear a lot of folks saying that 1000-1500 words is the sweet spot for most keywords, but I don't know... I mean, I would love to be able to find enough info for 1500 words long articles but sometimes that's just not possible, so I oftentimes end up with 800-900 words and I roll with that

Anyway, like I said, I don't stress too much about word count in the sense that I panic and can't sleep at night if I'm 200 words short of my competitor's content. But I do try to get at least 500 words of valuable info, and if more info is needed to cover the keyword in detail I go for it, but I rarely go over 2000 words to be honest. I mean, when I read an article I usually get bored after reading 200-300 words (and more recently I don't even read anymore because of the Table of Contents sections, I simply skip to the part that interests me, so...)