Generic difficulty scores are useless for local businesses. High-end software now allows you to check difficulty based on geo-location (e.g., "pizza near me" in Chicago vs. rural Montana) and device type (mobile SERPs often prioritize different domains than desktop).
Most tools (like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz) generate a score from 0 to 100. A score of 10 suggests a new blog could rank overnight; a score of 90 suggests you are going head-to-head with The New York Times and Amazon.
But the most successful marketers are moving past the "Easy Mode" filter. They are using these tools to find the uneven playing fields —keywords where the current results are weak, outdated, or irrelevant.