Question about difficulty score of keywords

[espressob2b]

I have a question regarding keyword selection and the difficulty score. I get the idea that you need to temper your desire to go after keyword phrases that generate lots of traffic with the reality of competition for that keyword, which is conveyed by the difficulty score.

But how do we know when the difficulty score is too high? And isn't this relative to a website? If my website is in the top 1% of traffic, can't I go after more difficult keywords than if my traffic is in the top 10%?

Are there guidelines or best practices to help with this decision? How do I know whether my website is "strong" enough to compete for a keyword that has a high difficulty score.

If we already rank on page one of Google for numerous keywords with difficulty scores of 50 or so, is that an indicator that we can try to rank for other keywords with a difficulty score of 50?

When do we know that we can start trying to rank for more diffcult keywords?

[augustos]

I agree with James,

Try to evaluate also your competitors not just a keyword difficulty

If I don't have a powerfull website, I would like to work in the long tail and less competitive keywords and easier as well...

[JamesNorquay]

My advice is to not be turned away if a specific keyword has a very high "keyword difficulty" score if your own website is powerful and is a brand for example.

My advice is to look more into the link profile of each specific site ranking, I mean a "keyword difficulty" score of 50 is high but not that high, I rank in a niche where it is  67 score and my website is not too powerful.

Overall just look more into link profiles for specific keywords use various tools like OSE to graph this data.Don't be turned away keywords by looking at just the keyword difficulty score you have to research these things more in depth.