My Personal Keyword / SEO Difficulty Tool based on Ahrefs Data (DR, RD, Organic Keyword etc.)

SERPreach · Jan 2, 2020

Hey Guys this is my 2nd share on 2nd day of this New Year after that 1st Share talking about grabbing SEO clients using Ahrefs! I believe this guide would add great value to this BHW community for intermediate level + SEO (maybe not for Newbies)! However I will try to be straight and simple as possible.

Disclaimer: Whatever I suggest, assume or conclude is solely based on my personal understanding and observation of SEO (been doing it aggressively for the past 11 years). Everyone has a right to differ based on their own experiences or observation...

I will start by stating some self-observed and self-experienced rules about SEO difficulty for keyword. But before that let me explain how SEO difficulty is analyzed by SEO tools.

It is based on competitive analysis of top 10 websites on SERP on targeted keywords. Most of the keywords tools focus on authority metrics of either domain or page (usually DA/PA by moz) or both and few of them (mainly Ahrefs / Semrush) rely on the acquisition of number of backlinks of top 10 pages on SERP (not entire domain).

I personally rely 20% on tools and 80% on my manual analysis of URLs in SERP.

I will cover this guide with PAQs (Possibly Asked Questions)?

1. What is the Keyword Difficulty Formula based on your RULE?

It is the average of difficulty score calculated for each competitive sites on 10 SERP.

We don't consider websites with DR:60+ on top 10 SERP as the treatment of Google for ranking those website is just based on their brand and domain authority. Then can rank well with zero backlinks.

2. What websites you consider for competitive analysis in Top 10 SERP to calculate SEO / keyword difficulty?

I ignore each and every website with Ahrefs DR:60+ and consider only those with Ahrefs DR equal to or lower than 59.

3. What if there is no website with DR:59 & below on top 10 SERP?

There must be at least 2 websites in top 7 SERP with DR:59 or below, otherwise we won't waste our time targeting that keyword unless we reach that authority level.

4. How is difficulty score calculated for each website?

The score will range from 1 to 100 with 100 being the most difficult factor. Once we assume what is the most difficult parameter we'll be able to assume that the easiest score of 1 by dividing 100 by the most difficult parameter assumed.

We'll calculate the difficulty score for each of the following metrics/factors and then take their average to determine the overall difficultly score of the competitive website:

Let's put the 5th point first as it doesn't require any formula calculation:

5. Niche Relevancy of Websites Considered for Analysis in SERP
60 Difficulty Score is assumed for Micro Niche Sites
30 Difficulty Score is assumed for Broader Niche Sites like (Health, Travel, Outdoor etc.)
5 Difficulty Score is assumed for General Sites with Different Broader Niche Categories

It is easier to outrank general sites with broader or micro niche sites if their DR is lower than 60.

1. DR (Domain Rank)
100 Difficulty Score is Assumed for 100 DR Parament.
1 Difficulty Score will be 100 divided by 100 DR Parament = 1 DR
So difficulty score for this factor will be: DR x 1

2. RD for Page (Referring Domains for Ranked Page on SERP)
100 Difficulty Score is assumed for 50 and more RDs
1 Difficulty Score will be 100 divided by 50 RDs = 2 RD for Page
So difficulty score for this factor will be: # of RDs x 2 (until it exceeds 50)

3. RD for Domain (Referring Domains for Entire Domain on SERP)
100 Difficulty Score is assumed for 1000 and more RDs.
1 Difficulty Score will be 100 divided by 1000 RDs = 0.10 RD
So difficulty score for this factor will be: # of RDs x 0.10 (Until it exceeds 1K)

4. Organic Keywords for Domains (Expansion of Organic Visibility of site in top 100 SERP)
100 Difficulty Score is assumed for 10000 Organic keywords
10 Difficulty Score will be 100 divided by 10000 = 0.01
So difficulty score for this factor will be: # of Organic Keywords x 0.01 (Until it exceeds 10K)
Note: The expansion of organic visibility seems easier in case of Broader Niche as compare to Micro Niche sites. Micro niche sites are able to outrank broader niche sites by expanding their organic keywords visibility to 30% to 50% off it. It is possible with longer content with all LSI keywords included.

Case Study
Keyword: Best Socks for Sweaty Feet

I have created an Excel Sheet to Automatically
Calculate the Overall Keyword Difficulty of SERP
based on factors discussed above.
(All Formulas are Embedded within the Sheet)

The green shaded cells are editable, where you've to put values manually looking at SERP stats based on Ahrefs Extension:

This is a Custom Keyword Difficulty Calculator where
You Can Set Your Own Maximum Difficulty Parameter
or Niche Relevancy Score based on your own Preferences:

(These Green Shades are Editable)

It will also give you an Idea on how many RDs you are supposed to create per Week for a new domain or page based on 8 months and 2 months period respectively!

Download Excel Sheet Below:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/y5g8tpg9fuuzpiw/SEODifficulty.xlsx/file

I will appreciate the Questions, Suggestions and Feedback for this!

Purush · Jan 2, 2020

appreciate your effort mate. great reading and will make use of it.

SERPreach · Jan 2, 2020

My Next Thread Would be:

How to Search Easy to Rank Keywords Using Ahrefs
based on KD factors mentioned above!

Mr Positive · Jan 2, 2020

Thanks this is interesting stuff I’ll have to carefully study this and looking forward to your next thread

Busan · Jan 2, 2020

Thanks for sharing this, it's really going to help with keyword research!

Start Earning · Jan 3, 2020

Excellent share. Thank you. Made me think whether the "Niche Relevancy" could be quantified, too.
My first thought would be to click through to each of those sites and use the (Total Organic Traffic / Traffic for that one keyword) ratio for each site.
(This would also be an indicator of competitive reaction to my activities for that keyword - the more they have to loose, the more they will fight)

Roger Marquez · Jan 3, 2020

Shouldn´t we need to take into account PA/UR whenever we manually analyze the true/real keyword difficulty? Or how hard would it be to rank in the top 10 of Google for that particular keyword?

As i understand, we rank pages, not domains.

With this, by no means, i am stating that DA/DR it´s not important.

But i feel PA/UR should be a bigger factor.

For example, let´s take a hypothetical situation...

Let´s assume on one hand we´re facing a post from a DA/DR of 75 but has a PA/UR of 20 and, in the other, we´re facing an article from a site with a DA/DR of 60 but with a PA/UR of 40.

What would you consider to be easier to outrank?

Also, this doesn´t take into account the relevancy of the SERP results in relation to the keyword we´re analyzing nor the SERP Position History (since you´re using Ahrefs)

I´ve found this feature to be extremely valuable/helpful to determine Google´s position in regard to a keyword´s search intent.

The rule of thumb is, the less volatile this SERP graph is the surer we can be about Google´s position about what pages/content are the most relevant and/or what satisfies more the user´s search intent.

So, we can have a much better idea of what content we should be focusing on.

Anyway, thanks a lot for taking the time to share this knowledge with us and open the door for a debate to take place on this topic i am currently trying to learn as much as possible.

Looking forward to this to further develop into an active and genuine exchange of valuable opinions.

Cheers!

rafark · Jan 3, 2020

How do you know which is micro, broad and general niche? The line seems too blury, especially between the last two.

Mia Jane · Jan 3, 2020

Thanks for your share. Looking forward for your next thread.

Turbo SEO · Jan 3, 2020

Thanks good stuff waiting for next useful information

Jay Yadav · Jan 3, 2020

Thanks For Share!

nik2016 · Jan 3, 2020

Thanks for share & its really important thing

SEO JOKER · Jan 3, 2020

Excellent Share Buddy

SERPreach · Jan 3, 2020

rafark said:
How do you know which is micro, broad and general niche? The line seems too blury, especially between the last two.

Micro Niche - The entire content of site is based on 2nd or 3rd Tier Niche (The first Tier is considered Broad or Broader)

For e.g.

1st Tier (Broader): Fashion
2nd Tier (Broad): Apparel
3rd Tier (Micro) Men's Footwear
4th Tier (More Micro): Socks

I didn't make things completed. Just categorized this into tow.

What is General? It is not a General Niche .. Its is a General Website that is not targeting a single broader niche. Like Amazon.com (Targeting a lot of different broader niches)

Start Earning said:
Excellent share. Thank you. Made me think whether the "Niche Relevancy" could be quantified, too.
My first thought would be to click through to each of those sites and use the (Total Organic Traffic / Traffic for that one keyword) ratio for each site.
(This would also be an indicator of competitive reaction to my activities for that keyword - the more they have to loose, the more they will fight)

I appreciate your input. Would see how I could integrate this into my excel : )

Roger Marquez said:
Shouldn´t we need to take into account PA/UR whenever we manually analyze the true/real keyword difficulty? Or how hard would it be to rank in the top 10 of Google for that particular keyword?

As i understand, we rank pages, not domains.

With this, by no means, i am stating that DA/DR it´s not important.

But i feel PA/UR should be a bigger factor.

For example, let´s take a hypothetical situation...

Let´s assume on one hand we´re facing a post from a DA/DR of 75 but has a PA/UR of 20 and, in the other, we´re facing an article from a site with a DA/DR of 60 but with a PA/UR of 40.

What would you consider to be easier to outrank?

Also, this doesn´t take into account the relevancy of the SERP results in relation to the keyword we´re analyzing nor the SERP Position History (since you´re using Ahrefs)

I´ve found this feature to be extremely valuable/helpful to determine Google´s position in regard to a keyword´s search intent.

The rule of thumb is, the less volatile this SERP graph is the surer we can be about Google´s position about what pages/content are the most relevant and/or what satisfies more the user´s search intent.

So, we can have a much better idea of what content we should be focusing on.

Anyway, thanks a lot for taking the time to share this knowledge with us and open the door for a debate to take place on this topic i am currently trying to learn as much as possible.

Looking forward to this to further develop into an active and genuine exchange of valuable opinions.

Cheers!

Thanks for your input. I agree with you that UR may make some difference but RD for Page may have taken its place.

The tool actually focuses on helping new to medium sized niche websites (which we common marketers here on BHW tend to create).

And the estimated amount of work they need to acquire the SERP and the possibility to acquire based on few of the most important factors assumed by me.

If you want I can add this UR factor as well in excel.

What do you think should the maximum difficulty stats assumed for UR? (100?)

My Personal Keyword / SEO Difficulty Tool based on Ahrefs Data (DR, RD, Organic Keyword etc.)

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