What is SEMrush? Semrush Software Overview: November 2023

What is SEMrush?

SEMrush is an SEO tool that helps you create a killer SEO strategy and boost your rankings. The software collects insights to help optimize your website for better organic traffic. It gives you data that you can use to:

• Run SEO effectively
• Prepare against your competitors
• Research keywords for organic search & Google ad campaigns
• Explore new link-building opportunities
• Generate new and better leads
• Tweak technical aspects of your website for better ranking
• Create content marketing strategies
• Obtain and keep organic traffic & more

SEMrush gives you an opportunity to grow organic traffic by making the best use of SEO.

With that said, let’s move on to some interesting facts about this SEO tool.

Quick Facts about SEMrush

By consistently aiding businesses with SEO, content, social media marketing, advertising, and PR, SEMrush has become able to pique the interests of worldwide businesses. I am happy to share what I found interesting about SEMrush:

• The tool features 24.6 billion keywords with 20 million ideas per keyword
• Being the fastest backlink checker tool, it provides 43 trillion fresh links
• There are 543 million keywords and 774 domains available for desktops
• 80.1 million keywords and 32.1 million domains available for mobile devices
• Depending on data from 130+ checks, marketers can run an in-depth site audit
• Create and keep tabs on the PPC campaigns you run
• You can use 500 TB of web & traffic data on SEMrush.Trends (an intelligence solution) to understand a new market, and evaluate competitors, among others.
• SEMrush has outrun its competition (Moz, Ahrefs, Majestic) by finding new backlinks the fastest with 36.8% of cases

Now that I have discussed some quick facts about SEMrush, let me walk you through the SEMrush benefits to improve SEO.

What Is SEMrush Used for?

SEO. PPC. Competitor Analysis. Social Media. And what not! You can do all these things by using one single platform i.e., SEMrush. Personally speaking, it has made my digital footprint creation journey easier and now I am more than excited to share what I feel you can use the tool for. Without much ado, let me dive right in.

Search Engine Optimization aka SEO

Thanks to these easy SEO tools and workflow, I am able to grow my organic search traffic, the same thing can be done by any marketing professional. From gaining access to millions of keywords & backlinks, running website audits to tracking their SERP positions every day- performing SEO well has become a cakewalk.

Content Marketing

Don’t have enough expert knowledge on creating content that ranks? SEMrush makes it easy for you to find topics that attract relevant audiences. What’s more? It offers an SEO-friendly content template to help you identify your competitors for a given keyword.

It gives you access to real-time metrics and improves content accordingly. By successfully tracking content reach, this tool helps you easily solve the content puzzle. With this tool, you are in a better position to find trending topics and gain access to competitive insights.

Market Research

In the competitive era that we live in, it takes a lot to create strong brand awareness & recognition. And without proper data regarding the market or niche you are in, it becomes all the more hectic and virtually impossible to compete and stand out.

Researching the market would have been a lot more difficult if SEMrush was not there. By executing the job of market research on your behalf, SEMrush provides you with an opportunity to see what promotion strategies your competitors use, analyze the traffic of a given website, and more.

It is like a treasure where you get new ideas for increasing your market share, and discover the gap between keywords and backlinks.

Advertising aka PPC

What better way could be there to reach a sea of audiences at a time without spending a fortune than using SEMrush? SEMrush makes it easy for every marketer to take their marketing to the next level. How? By helping them find the best keywords for their PPC campaigns.

With that said, let me tell you the secret behind the success of my ad campaigns. I have used SEMrush as a guide to run my PPC campaigns. I am glad that I chose this tool as it has helped me reach my advertising goals. I got to understand the competitive landscape better and have been able to close the gaps between my paid and organic efforts.

It has helped me monitor the advertising copies of my competitors, analyze the ad campaigns of Google Shopping, and more.

Social Media

Content sell like hotcakes on social media. Creating a solid social media strategy with the help of SEMrush, guaranteed you stand ahead of the curve. And why not when it gives you the freedom to schedule and post content on social channels and monitor how each and every post is performing, track competitors, and create & optimize ads?

Now that you have a fair understanding of what SEMrush can offer, you might feel intrigued to learn whether it is free. Let’s find out below.

Is SEMrush Free?

No, Semrush is not a free tool. SEMrush offers a 7-day free trial to its new users. In my opinion, I would recommend checking out the free version before you commit to a paid plan. While the standard version is limited to 7 days, you can get an extended 14-day free trial of SEMrush and its unique features by clicking here.

If you are serious about improving your SEO performance and would like to invest one time and reap the benefits for a lifetime, it pays to know the pricing details. So, here I am providing you with some details:

SEMrush Pricing: How Much Does It Cost?

After using SEMrush, I must appreciate their unique pricing strategy. The tool offers several pricing options to suit different budgets. From newbies & small teams to SMBs to enterprises – the tool is ideal for any project no matter how big or small.

Compared to other types of SEO tools available, SEMrush does cost more. However, I believe it is a good deal because you are gaining access to a wealth of insights and data regarding competitor intelligence all in one place.

Not only the tool is more functional (which justifies the cost) than its key competitors but it also affords enterprise-level consumers an opportunity to create bespoke plans.

Below, I have provided you with their different plans along with the prices in a segregated manner. I hope this helps you decide which plan suits you most.

SEMrush Pro Plans & Pricing

Who is it ideal for? Newbies handling not more than 5 projects will find this plan suitable. The plan comes with a $119.95 /month price tag. When you subscribe to this plan, you can track around 500 keywords, 10,000 results per report, 3,000 reports every day, and 250 keyword metrics updates every month.

Tools that you’re getting:

• Competitor analysis
• Keyword research
• Website audit
• Advertising & social media tools and more

SEMrush Guru Plans & Pricing

Who is it ideal for? The Guru plan that SEMrush has in its offering is ideal for mid-sized businesses. It comes under the price package of $229.95 per month. In the paid version, you have access to 1,500 keywords for tracking, 30,000 results per report, 5,000 reports every day, and 1,000 keyword metrics updates every month.

Tools that you’re getting:

• Content marketing toolkit
• Multi-location and device tracking
• Historical data
• Looker Studio integration & more

SEMrush Business Plans & Pricing

Who is it ideal for? Large Agencies and enterprises looking to invest in SEO and make the most of it can opt for the Business plan. You will have to pay $449.95 every month to access all features. You can cancel your subscription anytime.

Tools that you’re getting:

• Share of voice
• PLA analytics
• API Access
• Free migration from third-party tools
• Extended limits & more

Now that I have discussed the pricing, Let’s move on to the next question, which is:

How to Use SEMrush for SEO

In this day and age, dominating the online industry via SEO is virtually impossible without the right data. When you have in your arsenal the right analytics and market research tools, specially built for marketers willing to make the most of data, you have an advantage over your competitors.

I have been using SEMrush as part of my SEO strategy for years and I think what it offers to its users is superior to its competitors. As I have had a unique experience with the tool, I wanted to share my opinion on how you can make the most of SEMrush.  

Below is how SEMrush can be used to stay ahead of the curve:

Keyword Magic Tool

Thanks to the easy-to-use keyword research tool, you can get your hands on a list of keywords to take your SEO or PPC campaign to the next level. All you need is to insert a phrase into the search bar and press the Enter button.

Then the tool will provide you with a list of related search terms, keywords, and popular relevant topics. It is like you have more avenues to research into the areas you need to develop content for. Whether you want to do comprehensive research, collect metadata, or explore opportunities for content creation, SEMrush delivers you the same.

Position Tracking

Without analyzing a website’s performance once in a while, it is impossible to move to rank higher on Google. What better way you can track a site’s daily rankings for your chosen keywords than using the position tracking tool that SEMrush has to offer?

From ranking positions, tracking Google algorithm updates, tracking performance, monitor competitors’ moves to finding out ways to optimize your effort: you have all in one spot.

Topic Research

As a digital marketer, you may find brainstorming content ideas excruciatingly difficult. You keep struggling to find new topics, but you need not.  

No matter what topic you want to look for, simply enter it in the search bar, and you will be given related subtopics, top articles about a given topic, and unique content ideas

I have been using this Topic Research feature for over a period of time. Believe it or not, it saved me the hassle of creating unique content strategies to outrun my competitors. Be it creating new headlines for a topic or getting blog topic ideas, this tool works wonders.  

Site Audit

I know how important checking and evaluating SEO issues in a website is. When you have a readily available tool with which you can conduct over 120 checks, managing your SEO efforts feels like a breeze.

The Site Audit tool in SEMrush enables you to keep tabs on your site’s technical health and look for areas you should improve upon. You are always in a better position as you can fix broken links, identify duplicate content, and configure HTML, among others.

Link building Tool

While link building plays a key role in SEO, it is often overlooked because not only it is difficult but it consumes a lot of time.

This is where SEMrush comes to one’s aid. It makes link-building much easier by fetching you a list of new link-building opportunities depending on the keywords and competitors searched by you.

Unlike its competitors, SEMrush has this unique feature (called the Link Building tool). It gives you every point of contact that is useful while you are building new links.

Not only you can contact your prospects but you will also be able to track your efforts in the Monitor section. When you click on the Monitor button, it will show you the domains you have reached out to.

This means you do not have to conduct manual checks that will again consume a lot of your valuable time.  

Brand Monitoring Tool

Another interesting feature of SEMrush is the Brand Monitoring tool, which allows you to keep a close eye on all the brand mentions available across the internet.  

While link building may seem tricky, this tool makes the process easy. All you need is to visit a domain and check if it is non-toxic and relevant to you. If it is then contact the site owner asking to use your link on their page where your brand name is mentioned.

Backlink Audit

There is no point in having hundreds of backlinks if they have a toxic impact on your SEO efforts. With the Backlink Audit tool, you can avoid penalties for toxic links. By conducting an all-inclusive audit of your links, you can analyze the toxicity scores, send emails to site owners (asking them to remove your link), and send a disavow file to Google.

SEMrush helps you level up your capability as a digital marketer. Competitive Research, Keyword Gap, Backlink Gap – these are yet other tools that it has to offer that you can use to improve your SEO performance.

Now that you know one or two things about how to use SEMrush for SEO, let’s move on to the next question, which is….

Is SEMrush Worth It?

Of course, I would definitely recommend SEMrush to anyone looking for ways to navigate today’s competitive landscape and stand ahead of the curve. Not only does it help you save a lot of time in the process but it is also worth your every penny.

This is not something only I believe but if you go through the review sites like G2, Trustpilot, or Capterra, you will know what others think about SEMrush. For example, SEMrush has got 4.5 stars out of 5 in G2, the most trusted review platform.

With that said, let’s look at what others have to say about SEMrush. That brings me to the next question….

SEMrush Reviews and Rating

Still unsure about whether to purchase SEMrush – the best SEO software suite?

It is natural for prospective users like you to doubt a service you have not yet used. And that is the reason you go and see the reviews left by other consumers. You want to rightfully know what they have to say before signing any contract.

Are you curious about what other users think about this software? Let me walk you through some interesting insights here.

The software has been trusted and tested by thousands of verified users. There are loads of reviews about SEMrush available on review sites like Capterra, G2, and Trustpilot. Those who have used this software are happy customers of SEMrush. The software got a rating of 4 stars out of 5 on Trustpilot. Almost 400 users have left their reviews about the software.

According to Capterra, the software is a top performer with 4.7 star rating. Approximately, 2,037 reviews have been posted there on the site. 

As I already mentioned, the software got 4.5 stars out of 5 on G2. The number of reviews available on the site is 1,700.

As we all know- numbers do not lie. And these are some interesting figures you can rely on.

How Does SEMrush Work?

SEMrush does exactly what you need in SEO. The tool helps optimize your website for search engines. To fetch you the data you need, SEMrush uses its own algorithms and trusted data sources.

It uses different methods to collect different types of information. To help you understand how it works, let me focus on:

A) Website Traffic Analytics

SEMrush works to estimate monthly website traffic and user behavior on a given website.

How does it do so? By giving users access to SEMrush traffic analytics and SEMrush market explorer panels. Let me elaborate:

• Collecting Data

The traffic analytics panel collects data from hundreds of clickstream data providers. The panel records over 2 million events (on the internet) every minute while keeping them anonymous to ensure user privacy.

• Using the Neural Network Algorithm

Based on statistical sampling and error testing methods, the tool runs the Neural Network algorithm to come up with a realistic estimation. The algorithm is used by the tool to ensure the highest level of accuracy. It is the same algorithm that collects and recognizes patterns in the same manner the human brain decodes patterns. After collection, thorough error testing and cleaning are done.

N.B: This is the method that allows SEMrush to study the audience’s behavior in the most accurate way.

B) Backlinks Data

The tool makes it easier for its users to learn about a site’s backlink profile. To ensure you get the right data, it uses its own database of trillions of backlinks to find out all domains referring to a given site.

To collect all the backlinks, SEMrush uses its own backlink crawler to get access to over 25 billion web pages every day. After that, it adds the newly explored links to its database.

C) Search Engine & Keywords Analysis

From domains, subdomains, and URLs to keywords, SEMrush provides its users with a wealth of data under one roof.

• Data collection

For search engine rankings and keywords, SEMrush uses third party-data providers to collect search result pages for the most popular 500 million keywords. Data regarding websites listed in the top 100 positions are collected thereafter.

Both organic and paid search results are assessed to give you a fair idea of a site’s visibility on Google.

• Analysis and presentation

From the domains and keywords collected, SEMrush compares both live and historical data regarding position changes and rankings. After that, it creates a report containing data regarding a website’s position changes, the search volume of every keyword, cost-per-click, and more.

• Update cycle

By using a proprietary algorithm, SEMrush analyses the search engine result page data. The keywords are scheduled every month for an automatic refresh on their rankings.

D) Social Media Data

Tracking the performance of social media profiles and engagement is vital in your SEO. SEMrush works to collect these data for you. How?

The social media tracker collects public information including likes on social media networks, along with the number of followers, retweets, video views, hashtags, and comments from pages you want to track. After collecting and organizing the data, it presents the same to its dashboards.

So, this is a brief overview of how SEMrush works to fetch marketers the data they need. With that said, it is time to draw a conclusion.

E) Keyword Rankings

SEMrush uses a web crawler to scan the internet and collect data from various sources, including search engine results pages (SERPs), Google Analytics, and Google Search Console.

After collecting the data, SEMrush uses a complex algorithm to analyze and rank the keywords based on their search volume, competition, and other factors. This data is then presented in an easy-to-read format on the SEMrush dashboard, which allows you to track keyword rankings over time and identify areas for improvement.

In addition, SEMrush also offers a feature called the Position Tracking tool. The tool helps you to keep tabs on keyword rankings on specific search engines and in specific regions. This tool uses a combination of desktop and mobile devices to simulate real search queries and gather accurate ranking data.

In a nutshell, it uses a combination of web crawlers and complex algorithms to collect and analyze keyword ranking data. This gives you valuable insights into your site’s performance, which you can use to make data-driven decisions to improve your SEO.

Now it is time to walk you through a few alternatives to SEMrush if you are still unsure.

Top 3 SEMrush Alternatives

In my SEO journey, I have conducted significant research into a multitude of SEMrush alternatives or competitors. Below I have listed the ones that met my expectations.

SE Ranking

SE Ranking, a comprehensive SEO toolkit enables you to establish a balance between ease of use (powerful interface) and functionality. For those looking for a more cost-efficient solution, SE Ranking is the way to go.

Ahrefs

From in-depth backlink monitoring, competitive analysis, finding the best keywords for PPC, and identifying broken links to creating a killer content strategy – Ahrefs gives you the best of both worlds. To know more, read my detailed Ahrefs vs SEMrush comparison in November 2023.

Mangools

Thanks to its user-friendly interface beautiful design and powerful features, Mangools is a good SEO tool for beginners. From keyword research, backlink analysis, and ranking analysis to traffic analysis, it is a perfect SEO tool for newbies in the market.

Final Thoughts

SEMrush is an incredibly powerful and versatile SEO tool that provides marketers and website owners with valuable insights into their website’s performance. From tracking keyword rankings, and analyzing backlinks to conducting competitor research and identifying technical SEO issues, SEMrush offers a comprehensive suite of features to help improve the website’s visibility and drive more traffic to the site.

Whether you are an SEO professional looking for a tool to streamline your workflow or a website owner looking to improve your online presence, SEMrush has something to offer.

Plus, it has a free trial of 14 days.

With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive support resources, it is easy to get started and make the most of this powerful tool.

If you are looking to take your SEO to the next level, give SEMrush a try and see how it can help you achieve your goals!

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