SEMrush

Driving traffic to a website is hard work, and it is more work when the competition is fierce.

One strategy I’ve adopted is copying what works for my competitors.

After all, why put in all that hard work testing what works when you can use a formula already proven to give you solid results?

That’s where SEMrush comes in.

This SEMrush review shows you exactly how to find out what your competitors are doing.

We’ll find out what SEMrush does well, where it falls short, the pricing, and more.

What Is SEMrush?

SEMrush offers an all-in-one suite of digital marketing tools that help you research and track multiple critical elements of your online business, including paid advertising, social media, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

SEMrush is a true Swiss army knife for competition analysis and keyword research.

It’s also the preferred SEO tool for many marketing experts looking for an all-in-one platform that offers content marketing, social media, and advertising toolkits.

Having one place for all these features can help you go from a steady decline in traffic to improved incoming numbers.

SEMrush History

SEMrush is the brainchild of a small group of IT and SEO specialists who came together in 2008.

The objective was to create a single online marketing tool that provides accurate and relevant keyword research and competitor analysis to help level the playing field for all sizes of businesses.

Decades later, SEMrush now employs over 1,000 employees in nine offices spread across North America and Europe.

From only two tools in 2008, SEMrush now has a suite of over 50 tools offering comprehensive, reliable, and accurate data.

The platform is the recipient of several awards, including the 2018 German Search Marketing Award (SEMY), the 2019 Interactive Marketing Awards, and the 2020 European Search Awards.

SEMrush claims they have served over 10 million users as of July 2022.

Pros and Cons of SEMrush

Every tool has its positives and negatives, and SEMrush is no exception.

The platform is a useful tool with many features, but it has some limitations.

Pros of SEMrush

SEMrush has several advantages for businesses looking to improve their SEO results.

Some top benefits of using the platform include:

• Users get reliable and up-to-date SEO and PPC data
• A one-stop solution for all your digital marketing, SEO, and business intelligence needs
• An impressive number of PPC and SEO features
• Helps users identify toxic elements, such as spammy backlinks
• Detailed information on the demographics of users to help you identify your target audience

Cons of SEMrush

Here are some things about SEMrush users aren’t too fond of:

• The SEMrush organic traffic results are not always accurate
• You don’t get a total breakdown of keywords
• The platform has many features, which means it takes three to five clicks to get a specific report and may not be as efficient as other tools in this way
• Only one user can use a single SEMrush login
• Some users complain the platform sends too many warnings, which can be interruptive and a turnoff

How Much Does SEMrush Cost?

You get multiple pricing plans that meet different business requirements.

Here are the different pricing plans SEMrush offers users.

• Pro: $119.95/mo
  • 5 projects
  • 500 keywords tracking
  • 10,000 results in each report
  • Competitor analysis
  • Keyword research
  • Website audit
  • Advertising and social media tools
  • $45/mo for each additional user

• Guru: $229.95/mo
  • 15 projects
  • 1,500 keywords for tracking
  • 30,000 results in each report
  • All tools in the Pro plan
  • Content Marketing Toolkit
  • Historical data
  • GDS integration
  • Device and multi-location tracking
  • $80/mo for each additional user

• Business: $449.95
  • 40 projects
  • 5,000 keywords tracking
  • 50,000 results for each report
  • All tools in the Guru plan
  • Extended limits
  • PLA analytics
  • Share of Voice
  • API Access
  • Free migration from other tools
  • $100/mo for each additional user

SEMrush also offers extra tools that you can add to your plan at an extra cost.

• $200/mo per user for SEMrush.Trends
• $150/mo for the Agency Growth Kit
• $200/mo for the ImpactHero AI tool

The Problem SEMrush Solves

SEMrush has many tools within its package, but SEO is one of the biggest reasons people use the platform.

SEMrush helps you solve SEO problems so you have a friendly website and engaging content.

It also helps you identify keywords for a PPC campaign and track those the competition uses.

Why Would Somebody Want To Use SEMrush?

SEMrush comes with tons of features and reports that can help marketers climb the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

SEMrush can assist you in carrying out effective keyword research by finding variations associated with the root word for a better understanding of what the target audience is searching for online.

The platform can take a deep dive into your website’s performance for a snapshot of backlinks, paid and organic traffic, search performance, and more.

The Organic Research tool in SEMrush also takes a deeper look at competitor sites, so you find out what keywords are generating the most traffic for them.

Who is SEMrush Best For?

We highly recommend SEMrush for businesses looking to increase traffic to their website.

Maybe you don’t have the best experience or the hours to dedicate to researching SEO for yourself.

SEMrush makes the process simple, heavily reducing the time you need to spend on driving traffic to your page.

Why SEMrush Is Best for Businesses

Having all your data in a single place is an incredibly valuable benefit, and the data from SEMrush is more accurate and robust than you get from free tools.

SEMrush also syncs up with your Google Webmaster and Google Analytics tools accounts, so you get the latest and accurate data.

On top of being a tool for online business website owners or blogs, SEMrush is ideal for anyone running a small agency or freelance SEO business.

Keep in mind that your competitors are likely using the same tool, so going down the route means investing in a premium platform.

Other reasons that make SEMrush the perfect tool for businesses include:

• The platform helps businesses avoid losing out on high-quality organic traffic that converts to revenue or sales
• SEMrush helps websites generating some revenue grow via strategic measures
• Businesses facing steep competition can get ahead of the curve
• When businesses are looking for new ideas to open new channels for acquiring customers in different geographies, categories, and segments, SEMrush can help you identify potential new audiences and frame your site in a way that appeals to them.

Who Should Not Use SEMrush?

SEMrush is a suitable tool for people with intermediate to advanced skills in the digital marketing space.

The platform is not suitable for anyone in the beginner stage or doing normal blogging tasks.

Why Beginners Should Not Use SEMrush

Investing in the premium services of SEMrush will not provide value to a beginner.

Instead, it’s advisable for beginners to put their money into creating a site and publishing content.

After your posting schedule, target audience, revenue goals, and overall intent are established, then you can look into an SEO tool.

Beginners also have access to many free tools for each service SEMrush is offering.

An investment in SEMrush is also not worth the money if:

• You have little to no online business experience, especially one where lead generation and customer acquisition are critical
• There’s no content in your blog or website
• Free keyword research tools satisfy your current requirements
• You don’t know what SEO is
• You’re not looking to turn your website a source of high-revenue

Features and Benefits of SEMrush

SEMrush comes packed with many features.

Here are the most notable.

1. Keyword Research

SEMrush is best known for its keyword research capabilities.

The platform offers three primary keyword research tools, and each has its purpose:

• Keyword Magic Tool—A tool for generating tons of unique keyword ideas based on your original word.
• Keyword Overview—Use the tool for a fast summary of critical metrics of your target keywords, including monthly search volume and difficulty.
• Topic Research Tool—Use it to generate long lists of new topics for your next content.

Reverse engineering the competitor’s keywords is an excellent keyword research strategy, and SEMrush is a great SEO tool for this approach.

The platform’s database contains 21.1 billion keywords, and the list is growing daily.

2. Traffic Analytics

The SEMrush Traffic Analytics tool shows non-Google sources of traffic coming into your site.

You also get an overview of how the visitors interact with the site on arrival.

The estimates include SEO and traffic from social media, YouTube, other sites, and direct traffic.

3. Competitive Research

The SEMrush competitor analysis toolkit is the ultimate spying tool.

Type in your keywords, and SEMrush compares several competitor sites with yours.

It shows high-ranking keywords for these sites with extra information on whether you can or cannot compete with the same keywords.

4. Keyword Gap

The SEMrush Keyword Gap analysis tool lets you identify the search queries your website should target to get more traffic.

Keyword gap reports show specific keywords working best for your competitors.

You stand to gain if you target these keywords because they’re already performing well for your competitors.

Further, you’ll get more traffic while your competitors will get less.

5. SEMrush Site Audit

The Site Audit functionality in SEMrush looks for issues harming your search ranking.

Finding the small details is a real headache, so having the tool find them for you saves you a lot of time and energy.

Some things the tool looks for include:

• Duplicate content
• Crawl errors
• Missing headers
• Keyword overuse
• Slow-loading content

Site Audit allows exporting tasks to popular project management tools such as Trello and Zapier.

The feature also gives you suggestions on what to do to improve your site using a “Why should I do this?” link next to each tip.

6. Local SEO

The SEMrush Local SEO feature helps improve your search visibility when operating directly in the community.

This tool lets you have a real-time view of your site’s online visibility while tracking online reviews so you can respond fast through SEMrush.

You can also use the Local SEO app to make quick updates to your Google Business Profile (GBP) directly from the platform.

7. Rank Tracking

Rank tracking involves monitoring your site performance in search engines for a specific keyword over time.

SEMrush makes tracking your rank easy, and you can also do so on a per-country basis.

More data coming into SEMrush about your website allows easy monitoring of the attempts to rank high.

The tracker tool can also help you track competitor website data and compare it to your site.

Plus, you get regular rank tracking email notifications whenever content enters or drops from the top 10 results.

SEMrush Customer Service

Customer support can break or make a company’s reputation.

This is especially true for companies that offer complex services, such as SEMrush.

Customer support is critical if you have questions to do with anything from getting started to billing, from how to create a content plan, to how to automate reporting.

Does SEMrush Offer Customer Service?

SEMrush provides links to all customer support outlets.

You get little tips when scrolling over the features.

What Types of Customer Service Does SEMrush Offer?

SEMrush customer service is available through various channels, including:

• A comprehensive knowledge base 
• SEMrush webinars
• All social media platforms (look for links at the bottom of any page on the SEMrush website)
• Online form
• Free phone support at +1 (800) 815-9959 (Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 6 PM EST)
• A chat option (as long as you log in)
• email at [email protected] 

Why Should You Trust Us?

Bloggingtips.com is an industry-leading site where people across different niches come together to share their expert knowledge and experiences.

We have a continuing commitment to providing actionable, well-researched, and high-quality reviews, insights, and guides to help you run a business more effectively.

What SEMrush Users Are Saying

SEMrush is a popular tool among professional bloggers and marketing experts.

Here are a few things SEMrush users are saying about the platform:

• “SEMrush is the ally SEO tool for any digital marketing agency. It unifies in a single platform the main SEO and Local SEO indicators….”
• “SEMRush is undeniably the best tool that caters to all SEO needs. SEMRush is a dense feature tool and second to none for SEO Requirements and suggestions to improve as we progress. It is much more reasonable and easy to use than its competitors…”
• “We use this for a wide range of things: Competitor research to help us find great M&A targets and value them correctly, we use it to assess inbound linking, we use it a TON for SEO work, and we even explore PPC opportunities with it. We find it to be a very flexible tool that meets a lot of business needs.”

SEMrush Alternatives

SEMrush broadly belongs to the SEO services category.

Before you decide whether the platform is the right SEO tool for your business, let’s look at the features the alternatives offer.

1. Ahrefs

The closest competitor to SEMrush is Ahrefs.

It offers comparable features with a few bonuses.

If you want an in-depth review of the two tools, check out this SEMrush vs Ahrefs comparison post.

How Does Ahrefs Differ from SEMrush?

Ahrefs does everything you’d need from an SEO standpoint, from powerful competitor analysis to advanced keyword research.

The platform boasts the largest backlink database, second to Google, making it one of the best for link-building research and analysis.

Ahrefs’ spider crawls an impressive 5 million web pages every 5 minutes, so you get a lot of data.

You also get access to Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free.

Who is Ahrefs Best For?

Ahrefs is the best tool for agencies looking for advanced capabilities to track keyword movement across multiple projects and accounts.

If that sounds like you, give it a go before you commit!

2. Moz Pro

Moz Pro is another all-in-one SEO platform that offers users the best in competitive analysis, content marketing, and keyword research.

The Moz layout is easy to navigate, making it a user-friendly and practical option for many.

Users can access most Moz Pro features with limitations while in the free tier.

How Does Moz Pro Differ from SEMrush?

Critical SEO tools, such as backlink research and keyword explorer, are available free in Moz Pro.

The platform also offers users a Google Chrome Extension, MozBar, which provides a look into your website domain authority and page authority.

Open Site Explorer feature allows tracking your link profile to uncover new link-building opportunities.

Who is Moz Pro Best For?

Moz Pro is perfect for smaller businesses looking for a way to improve their SEO strategies using powerful free tools.

If you’re looking to try your hand at SEO but aren’t ready to commit monthly payments, try Moz!

However, the platform doesn’t offer in-depth data.

3. Majestic

Majestic offers users up-to-date, reliable information.

You get access to a massive link database that will help when digging down into the finer SEO details.

The biggest Majestic advantage is that it can explore a URL or domain using a unique site explorer tool.

How Does Majestic Differ from SEMrush?

The Majestic Clique Hunter feature gives you information on websites linking to your competition and not you.

A full backlink profile helps improve website link building, while custom reports make understanding data easy.

The platform boasts unique trust and citation flow metrics for sites with a similar link profile, and the result is a score and link quality report that will help improve your backlink profile.

Who is Majestic Best For?

Majestic is the best tool for marketers looking to compare their website backlinks to their competitors for an advantage.

Try it and see how Majestic can serve your business!

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some of the most popular questions about SEMrush.

Wrapping Up

A steady stream of organic traffic is critical for your website’s long-term success.

But you need to carry out keyword research, target profitable keywords, understand what the competition is doing, and stay 10 steps ahead.

If you’re serious about growing your online business site, SEMrush is a strong contender that will undoubtedly provide massive advantages—as long as you can afford it.

If you’re on a tight budget, consider using the other alternatives!

Remember; while they may not cover everything SEMrush does in one single platform, you can save money by utilizing multiple free ones.

Overall, SEMrush offers you an extremely powerful set of tools to uncover almost all SEO aspects, taking your digital marketing strategies to the next level.

If you are looking for a suite of robust search engine marketing tools, then it’s time to check out SEMrush!

By Brett Helling

Brett has been starting, growing, and monetizing websites since 2014. While in college, he began to learn about digital marketing. After graduating, he continued to build a diverse portfolio of websites while working a full time job. After years of building the portfolio on the side, he made the jump to run his websites full time.