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Along the lines of what Bryan said, it depends on the niche you are competing in, and the authority of the website you are working for. If you have a large domain with lots of pages and content that is relatively optimized, it will be easier to compete. If you have a new domain with just a few webpages, most keywords with traffic will be tough to compete for. Slow and steady wins the race, but you can add targeted content consistently to move quicker!