Ahrefs’ Keyword Difficulty (KD) score is useful, but it’s not always a perfect reflection of ranking difficulty for local SEO because it’s calculated based mostly on backlink profiles for national or global results. For local targeting, other factors can outweigh pure backlink strength, such as:
Local Pack Competition – If Google shows a 3-pack of local businesses above organic results, you’ll be competing for a smaller share of clicks.
NAP Consistency – Your Name, Address, and Phone number consistency across directories impacts rankings more locally than KD suggests.
Proximity to Searcher – Google heavily favors businesses physically near the searcher, which KD can’t measure.
Local Content & Reviews – High-quality local content and positive reviews can help outrank sites with stronger backlink profiles.
SERP Features – Local ads, maps, and featured snippets can push organic results down.
How to use Ahrefs KD for local SEO:
Treat it as a backlink difficulty guide, not a full ranking difficulty score.
Pair it with Google SERP analysis—search the keyword in incognito mode with the target location set and see who ranks.
Use local SEO tools (e.g., BrightLocal, Whitespark) to assess actual local competition.
KD is a helpful starting point, but for local SEO you need to layer in local-specific ranking factors to get a realistic difficulty picture.