There are a lot of services that claim to be able to tell you everything about your website in order to improve its performance. Some even offer software to help you with this task.
One of them is called SEMrush and has been around since 2009. It's one of the most popular paid-for marketing analytics platforms out there.
In this article we'll look at what SEMrush is, how it works, whether or not it's worth paying for, as well as some other things related to the service.
We've also included a link below where you can get access to the SEMrush Ebook guides covering a large amount of topics so that you can learn more yourself.
Here are few questions usually asked by people when I talk to them about Semrush.
What is SEMrush used for?
SEMrush helps business owners optimize their online presence by helping them understand the keywords they should use on each page. This allows them to rank better in search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo! and others.
The platform provides detailed reports on keyword rankings, traffic sources, competitors, backlinks, social media activity, etc.
In addition to all these metrics, it also offers a rich suite of analytical features such as competitor analysis, content optimization suggestions, landing pages recommendations, site audit reports, keyword research, ad positioning, and much more.
You can see example of domain overview created using SEMrush below:
As you can see, SEMrush gives you a complete overview of the domain with just one click. It shows the overall domain authority, backlinks profile, types of keywords and competitors.
These are some vital parts of a website's SEO profile. All the important information for a website's digital marketing status can be seen for free in Semrush.
This information can be searched easily even with a free account at Semrush.
Is semrush safe?
Yes, SEMRush is completely safe. The security measures taken by SEMrush have received positive feedback from users.
As far as I know, no financial details (e.g., credit card information) are stored when you sign up.
All data sent to SEMrush servers happens securely through HTTPS encryption.
As mentioned above, none of your personal financial details are ever shared when signing up to SEMRush. Your password will never appear anywhere but inside of your SEMrush dashboard.
If someone were to gain unauthorized access to your account, they wouldn't be able to do anything because all your financial data is safely locked away behind two-factor authentication.
And if you are wondering if it will hurt your website's SEO rankings if you use it to analyze your website SEO status, then you are wrong. This is just a general analytics that can be found for free if you know how to use Google.
Using the right search operators on Google, you can find all the information of a domain. We have a post about Google search operators that explains how helpful they are.
All that SEMRush does is collect this information over the time and keep a record of it. It shows all the information that is usually available for free in one place in an easy to understand format.
Is SEMRUSH accurate?
It's hard to say if SEMrush is always 100% accurate because it depends largely on which type of results you want. The SEMrush crawlers are very good and store information pretty accurate.
Like every bot, it has it limits too. It might not show immediate updates about a domain but if the domain has a good age, it can show approximate results calculated over the time.
For example, if you just want to find new ideas for content creation on a recent topic, then SEMrush won't provide too many insights.
On the contrary, if you'd rather focus on optimizing existing articles for maximum effectiveness, then SEMrush would definitely come in handy.
There are various factors that play a role in determining the accuracy of SEMrush. These include: domain age, unique visitors/pageviews, mobile devices, location, browser, operating system, screen resolution, IP address, etc.
More often than not, SEMrush gives very close estimates as long as you take multiple measurements before making sweeping changes to your site.
Is SEMrush good for SEO?
Yes and No.
While SEMrush does provide hundreds of useful metrics, it doesn't necessarily mean that everyone needs all of those numbers. Sometimes, a simpler approach is enough. This applies to any SEO tool that you will use.
SEO tools like SEMRush are only indicators for the right direction. Selecting and walking on the right SEO path has to be decided by yourself.
This is where the role of SEO companies like ourselves, UnderWP, comes into play. We use tools like SEMRush and get you a well planned SEO strategy that can bring you the results that you wanted for your website.
That being said, anyone who wants to perform thorough SEO tasks may benefit greatly from having access to all the data provided by SEMrush.
Of course, you could easily build upon it by combining the best parts of the tool while eliminating its less desirable ones.
Another thing to note is that the “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)” section of SEMrush isn't focused solely on ranking improvements, but includes aspects like local SEO, PPC campaigns, branding, video marketing, etc.
Is Semrush Pro worth$99.95 per month?
Note that the $99.95 per month offer is applicable only when you pay annually. But if you just want to pay for one month then it is $119.95.
If you own a small start-up looking for a budget solution that still delivers decent quality, then yes, you might consider getting a subscription plan starting at $120/month instead of investing big bucks upfront.
You can plan ahead for few months of your SEO strategy and use the paid features of SEMRush tool for a month and unsubscribe later.
However, if you run a large enterprise with dozens of websites, SEMrush's Guru or Business plan will be highly helpful. You can create upto 40 projects in Business plan which costs $449.95/month.
I believe its a right price for a digital marketing agency to go with Business plan of Semrush. You can easily make back the amount if you have more than 10 SEO clients. Each client will be paying only $50 a month for using the Semrush.
Also keep in mind that the price listed above is based on a monthly payment.
But if you are new to SEO and just started to learn SEO then there is no better SEO tool than Semrush. Because they offer a free account too with some limitations.
I remember my old days when Ahrefs was not born either. Semrush was the only reliable tool that gave a free account and helped in a good keyword research.
The free account of Semrush still offers very valuable informationi and is good enough for beginners of SEO. It has a limit of 10 searches a day. So that is like total of 300 searches a month.
A very good number of searches enough for beginners of SEO. This also shows the confidence of Semrush's team in their SEO tool. They know that once the users use it and know its power, they will go for the paid plans as it can offer more insights.
How can I get started with SEMrush?
It is very simple to get started with Semrush. Just click on any of the Semrush link we have on this page and sign up. If you haven't used Semrush ever, I would suggest to go with the free account.
Once registered and logged in, click on Start Free Trial under Get Started. After clicking that button, you'll receive instructions on how to set up your first campaign within minutes.
To save time, you can also check out our SEMrush Beginner Guide.
semrush vs ahrefs
This is the most widely searched comparision on Google.
Both Semrush and Ahrefs are great tools. They are expert SEO tools and have their own advantages.
Some aspects of SEO like keyword research can be done more easily on Ahrefs. But that will require you to gain the advanced SEO keyword research tactics.
With Semrush you can easily get started with low competition keywords with their Keyword Magic Tool. You do not need to understand the depths of keyword research to use their keyword research tool.
To learn more advanced knowledge of keyword research, check our blog post about keyword clustering: https://underwp.com/keyword-clustering-a-complete-guide-with-examples/ and also check these tags https://underwp.com/tag/keyword-clustering-seo/
We post regular posts on our blog related to keyword research. Do not forget to subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when we do that.
Coming back to our comparisions, Semrush has an advantage of free trial accounts which is not found in Ahrefs. So you can try the features of Semrush tool before deciding to go with their paid plans.
Ahrefs until the end of 2021 used to have a $7 free trial accounts. But starting 2022, they have changed their plans and no more offer free trial accounts. You need to subscribe to their $99 monthly paid plan to use their premium features like Site Explorer, keywords explorer, etc.
I would say that Semrush is both beginner friendly and helpful for advnaced SEO experts equally. While Ahrefs is more intended towards advanced SEO pros.
SEMRUSH vs Similarweb
Some people have also asked about Similarweb in comparision to Semrush.
Similarweb is a general website statistics analyzer. It can show you website statistics similar to what you see on the overview page of Semrush's page. Just because their reports look alike does not mean that both are same.
Semrush is way ahead of Similarweb when it comes to SEO analysis. It can show you details of a website's SEO status in depth that similarweb can't.
That is because Similarweb was built with a different aim. It's aim is to show you a general statistics of a webiste and then show similar websites related to a domain based on the traffic behaviour.
Semrush is much better than Similarweb in terms of SEO.
Final Words
Yes, we are affiliated with Semrush. Please do click on this Semrush link and sign up if you like to support us and our work.
But this does not mean that this review of ours is a one sided view. We use Semrush ourselves on a regular basis.
If you check our blog on keyword research, competition research and other topics, you will always find examples of Semrush tool and its screenshots. This is because we believe in the product.
We could write about many other SEO tools but we decided to go only for Semrush as it is one of the standard tools that we have been using for years now. It has never let us down.
We also listed it in the free SEO tools. Another great list that you should checkout.
So now you know that we only write what we believe in. And our intentions are pure to help our website users with the right SEO strategies and tools.
If you like this review and also like Semrush, do comment below and let us know.
A very good review about Semrush. As you said, Semrush is definitely the best tool for beginners and intermediate SEO pros. Ahrefs is a completely different beast and you need to be well versed with the SEO game before you dive into using Ahrefs.
Also the organic search feature of semrush is quite useful.
I have always liked SEMRUSH over other SEO tools. Its like a one stop destination for almost all my SEO requirements. Plus they are affordable.
And if you know how to use this tool in the right way, you can discover some really good keywords for ranking pages easily.
Please write more on discovering keywords using the SEMRUSH tool.