Two difficulty scores rank the same keyword 18 points apart on average

Two difficulty scores rank the same keyword 18 points apart on average
Difficulty is not standardized. We ran 900 keywords through two major tools' difficulty metrics and aligned the scales.
— Mean absolute gap: ▇▇▇▇ 18 points (on a 0-100 scale)
— Tool A weights raw referring domains; Tool B blends in DR distribution of top 10
— They agreed on 'easy vs hard' bucket only 58% of the time
— Neither accounts for content gaps or topical authority you already hold
So what: a difficulty number is only comparable to itself within one tool. Pick a tool, learn what its score means for your site's win rate, and ignore cross-tool comparisons entirely.
Benchmark of the week: calibrate any difficulty score to your own results before trusting it. Sites typically find their real win-line sits 10-15 points above the tool's 'easy' threshold.