What keyword difficulty measures
Difficulty scores estimate the competition for a search term, mostly from the backlink profiles of the pages already ranking. A high score means the top pages have strong links and content. A low score means they are weaker or fewer. The score says nothing about how many people search the term, or whether they are the buyers you want.
Why the same score means different things in different tools
The two guides we checked use different tools and scales. One, dated 2021, suggests that for a new site in Ahrefs, a score under 10 is a typical starting point. The other, an older guide last updated in 2024, describes SEMrush scores in the 60s and above as challenging. A 10 in one tool and a 60 in another can describe similar difficulty, or very different difficulty. Read the tool name before you read the number.
Use the same tool for every keyword in a report. Switching tools mid-year breaks the trend.
Thresholds from the two guides we checked
We checked four guides with usable content. Several are dated, none publishes a sample, and they do not agree, so treat the thresholds as starting points:
- Ahrefs, under 10: the 2021 guide's suggested starting point for a site with little authority.
- Ahrefs, under 25: a 2026 guide's suggested starting point. It gives KD 25 or below as realistic within three to six months for a site with domain authority under 20, KD 30 to 50 over six to twelve months, and KD 50 and above as a long-term bet. The guide cites no external source for these bands, so they are its own guidance.
- SEMrush, 60 and above: the older guide's description of a challenging keyword.
- A worked example: that older guide gives "CNC machining" as a term with a difficulty of 42 and about 110,000 monthly searches. It judges it too competitive for a new small website, and suggests the narrower phrase "CNC machining aerospace parts" instead.
The example makes a useful point. A high-volume term with a moderate score can still be the wrong target for a new site, while a narrow term with lower volume may be easier and more valuable.
Set a target from your own keywords
A fixed threshold ignores your site. For the full method behind the keyword list, see B2B keyword research. A better target starts from keywords you already rank for or have a clear route to.
Average your top keywords
Take your best-performing non-brand keywords, usually those in positions 1 to 3, or positions 1 to 10 if the list is short. Find the average and median difficulty for that group. That average is your benchmark. A new target above it is a stretch. A target well below it is a quick win that may bring little traffic.
Add a business value score
Rate each keyword's value to the business from 1 (little) to 3 (high). A keyword that brings in a qualified enquiry scores 3. A keyword that informs but does not sell scores 1 or 2. Choose keywords with a high value score first, then check whether their difficulty is within your reference range.
When there is no keyword data
Some teams have no paid tool. Use your own search data instead. Search Console shows the queries you already get impressions for, and those are the cheapest difficulty targets: you are already close. Sales conversations also surface the exact words buyers use, which often give narrower, lower-difficulty phrases.
Low difficulty does not mean worth pursuing
A low score is attractive, but it can mean low demand. B2B search terms often have far fewer monthly searches than consumer terms, so a winnable term may bring only a handful of visits a month. That can be enough for a high-value enquiry, but it will not carry a traffic target on its own.
Long-tail phrases, which name a specific problem or application, are where most low-difficulty B2B wins sit. Check search intent before you commit. A term that a practitioner types while learning is different from one a budget holder types while comparing suppliers. The second kind deserves a page even at a higher score. The buying group guide explains the roles behind each kind of search.