ahrefs certification exam
How is "Keyword Difficulty" (KD) calculated in Ahrefs?
Correct: Based on the number of referring domains pointing to the top-ranking pages.
In the context of the Ahrefs platform, Keyword Difficulty (KD) is calculated based on the number of referring domains pointing to the top-ranking pages because Ahrefs uses a link-based model to estimate how hard it will be to rank on the first page of Google. Unlike other metrics that might factor in search volume or advertiser competition, Ahrefs' KD specifically correlates with the backlink profile strength of the current top 10 results for a given keyword. By analyzing the median number of unique linking websites (referring domains) these top-ranking pages have, Ahrefs can provide a numerical score from 0 to 100 that represents the "link equity" threshold a new page would likely need to reach to be competitive. This focus on referring domains makes KD a highly reliable indicator of the technical authority required to break into the top search results, regardless of how many people are searching for the term or how much "on-page" optimization is performed.