Anyone else finding Ahrefs Keyword Difficulty unreliable?

I’ve been looking into long-tail keywords using Ahrefs for a small website with low DA. I’ve been targeting keywords with difficulty below 5, thinking these should be easier to rank for without many backlinks.

But after writing some articles, they’re only showing up on pages 5 or 6. When I check the top-ranking results, the first page is dominated by high-DA sites (some even with DA 90+).

Has anyone else experienced this? Is Ahrefs keyword difficulty reliable for long-tail keyword searches?

Don’t rely too much on the tool’s metrics; they’re just for general guidance.

Always do a manual SERP analysis to see who you’re competing with directly.

This should be a metric that the page can rank to the top with almost no backlink.

Not if you’re up against strong competition.

Honestly, I wouldn’t focus too much on DA as a metric—search engines don’t use it, and neither does keyword difficulty. Look at who’s currently ranking. If big sites with tons of traffic dominate, it might not be the best target.

Entity SEO could be worth exploring for better optimization.

@Basil
I use DA more as a reference point. And yes, the top results are big, well-known sites with a lot of traffic.