Semrush Review: Does It Offer Value For Money? Find Out

Want to know if Semrush is worth the money? Find out in our detailed Semrush review.

Semrush is a leader in search engine optimization (SEO) with a number of useful tools to help you find the best keywords, improve on-page SEO, analyze competitors, and a lot more. While it offers a free plan, its paid plans are among the most expensive in the market, starting at $139.95/mo.

Learn more about it in our hands-on Semrush review.

What Is Semrush?

Semrush is an all-in-one SEO toolkit with over 55 tools used by 10 million people for keyword research, backlink analysis, SEO audits, and much more.

Using Semrush, you can easily find profitable keywords for any niche, conduct link-building, manage social media campaigns, and more.

Whether you’re trying to analyze a competitor’s website or target long-tail keywords, Semrush has you covered.

Keep in mind that while Semrush provides over 55 effective tools for your SEO strategy, you may not need them all. For example, if you are a blogger, you may not be interested in Semrush’s Advertising Tool Kit or Local SEO tools.

As a result, you should start with Semrush’s free trial and examine how many exact tools you need.

Start Semrush Free Trial

Semrush Review: Key Features

Semrush is extremely feature-rich. It’s packed with so many tools that it would be impossible to cover them all in this Semrush review.

So, instead, we’ll focus on what we believe is the most important ones.

1) Domain Overview

Domain overview offers a bird’s-eye view of a domain’s online presence and performance in search engine results.

You can enter your own URL or any of the competitor’s website URLs to find out their website traffic, organic keywords, backlinks, traffic growth over time, and much more.

Below, you’ll find a screenshot of the popular website WPBeginner. As you can see, the tool provides a rich supply of data on this site.

Metrics provided by Semrush’s Domain Overview report include:

• Authority score (the overall quality of a domain)
• Overall organic search traffic
• The total number of backlinks pointing to the website
• Keyword and traffic share distribution by country
• Organic traffic growth over the months (or years)
• Top-performing keywords with search intent, position, volume, etc.
• Main organic competitors
• And more.

Of the above metrics, the one that gives you the quickest insights into site quality is usually the Authority Score.

Semrush calculates this based on the following:

• Backlink Data: The number of links linking to the site
• Spam Markers: How many low-quality or spammy links are contained within a site’s backlink profile
• Website Traffic: The amount of organic and paid traffic the site receives

However, the most notable feature that Semrush’s Domain Overview offers is the Keywords by Intent report.

It shows you the percentage of the ranking keywords that are informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional.

This is useful for reviewing your SEO strategy. For example, if you run a blog, you should expect most of your ranking keywords to be informational. However, if you run an online store, you would expect them to be transactional or commercial.

Overall, Semrush’s domain overview feature is really useful, and it provides a wealth of information on how a website performs in terms of SEO.

2) Keyword Research

Keyword research is generally about:

• Finding how many people are searching for a particular keyword
• Knowing how difficult it is to rank for that keyword
• Figuring out who is already ranking for that keyword
• Lastly, getting suggestions for other ones

Semrush provides a keyword research tool that makes it easy for you to find out all of the following information.

To find the basic keyword metrics in Semrush, you simply enter a term or phrase into its Keyword Overview tool.

This will show you a wide range of keyword analytics, the key ones being:

• The average monthly searches for that keyword over the last 12 months
• Its keyword difficulty score
• Global search volume for that keyword
• It’s search intent and trends
• Suggestions for alternative keywords to target

Above all the metrics, the most important one is the Keyword Difficulty score.

Semrush uses a percentage to indicate this. The higher the percentage is, the harder it is to rank for that particular keyword.

Furthermore, Semrush also indicates the number of backlinks it will take to rank for your target search phrase.

In general, this tool works well. However, Semrush does not always provide the number of links it believes are required to rank a piece of content for your target term.

Instead, you’ll occasionally see a mysterious message stating that ranking requires a “lot of on-page SEO, link building, and content promotion efforts.”

Keyword Magic Tool

To get detailed keyword suggestions based on a phrase you have entered, you’ll need to use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

It provides you with a list of keywords related to the term you entered, along with filters you can use to sort them.

For example, you can use the KD % filter to find out easy-to-rank keywords.

In addition to the keyword difficulty filter, Semrush provides several more options for segmenting keyword suggestions. You can sort by the number of searches each month, words to exclude, and how closely keyword ideas should match the text you entered.

If used correctly, these filters really let you hone in on the keywords that are going to work best for your project.

However, the one thing that differentiates Semrush from other SEO tools in the keyword research department is the Search Intent feature it provides.

When you’re given a list of keyword recommendations, they’re represented by little letters like I, N, C, or T.

These labels tell you whether a keyword suggestion is informational, navigational, commercial, or transactional.

These labels provide more context about a single keyword than search volume alone. It also lets you make more informed decisions about whether a particular keyword is worth targeting.

Overall, Semrush’s keyword research tools give you all of the key information to decide which keywords to target as part of an SEO strategy.

Quick Tip: When conducting keyword research using Semrush, avoid selecting keywords with a search volume of over 1000 per month. This is because it needs a lot of effort to get traffic for your site. Choose keywords with a monthly search volume of less than 1000 to get top three or first-page rankings, even if you have a new website.

3) Organic Research

This tool provides detailed insights into a website’s organic traffic, keyword rankings, and competitor analysis, offering a comprehensive view of a website’s presence in search engine results pages (SERPs). It allows you to identify the keywords that are driving traffic to your own or competitors’ websites and find new organic opportunities by analyzing the top-performing pages and content.

By creating better content on those targeted keywords of your competitors, which are already performing, you can increase your own site’s organic traffic.

The goal here is to create high-quality content around those keywords to outrank your competitors and get more search traffic to your site.

This is what Semrush Organic Research Tool dashboard looks like:

You will not only be able to see keywords but also the competitor’s organic traffic volume and costs.

Click on the Positions tab allows you to analyze a complete list of the domain organic keyword rankings.

You can filter the results by traffic to find which ranked keywords drive the most clicks or by any other metric.

In the Position Changes tab, you’ll see a complete list of the domain’s organic ranking position changes.

For example, if they have suddenly jumped up from position three to position one for a given keyword, you can see that here.

Furthermore, going to the Pages tab allows you to see your competitor’s top-performing articles, which are bringing the most traffic to them. You can get useful information about the type of content and topics that your target audience prefers. Based on this information, you can create a content strategy that easily attracts and engages your target audience.

In a nutshell, using the Semrush organic research tool is similar to accessing the competitor’s Google Search Console. You can discover any keyword and its current ranks and include them in your keyword research strategy.

4) Traffic Analytics Tool

Semrush’s traffic analytics tool is similar to SimilarWeb.

Semrush Traffic Analytics is found just above the Organic Research tool. Its primary function is to offer domain traffic source data. You get a detailed overview of how traffic flows via a certain competitor’s website.

Remember that Semrush only tracks desktop traffic, not mobile. It is only an estimate based on keyword search volume, organic ranking, and average click-through rates.

You may also compare or research five competitors at once.

5) Link Building Tools

Whether you believe it or not, backlinks are one of Google’s top 3 ranking factors. You can do keyword research without using an SEO tool, but link building requires a powerful tool like Semrush.

Semrush offers different Link Building Tools, allowing you to handle all of your link management from one place.

Backlinks Analytics (Backlink Checker Tool)

Semrush Backlink Analytics tool helps you find backlinks to any website or particular URL in the world.

It contains a massive database of over 43 trillion quality backlinks. It outperforms other link explorer tools such as Ahrefs (29.8 trillion) and Moz (43.1 trillion).

If you want to uncover the link-building strategies of your competitor along with their backlink sources, you need the Semrush Backlink Checker Tool.

Here is what the Semrush Backlink Checker dashboard looks like when you request any domain link-building profile:

Here, you can find an overall overview of the backlink profile:

• Authority score
• Referring domains
• Total number of backlinks
• Monthly visits
• Outbound domains
• And lot more

Furthermore, if you want to find the domain’s backlink sources, simply click on Backlinks.

Here, you can easily find out all the incoming links (do-follow links) of your competitors.

Backlink Audit Tool:

You can use it to remove any bad links that are preventing your site from ranking higher.

Here’s what the Semrush Backlink Audit Tool looks like:

As you can see, it is easy to find the toxic domains that link to your website. Simply use Google’s Disavow Tool to remove all of the bad backlinks.

Backlinks Gap

If you are looking to improve your website backlink profile, this is one of the best link-building tools.

It allows you to compare the backlink profiles of your own website against those of your competitors. By identifying the sites that link to competitors but not yours, you can uncover new opportunities for backlink acquisition.

6) Site Audit

Site Audit is one of Semrush’s most valuable features. You can use it to crawl through all of the pages on your site to find issues that can be negatively hurting your website ranking, such as:

• Crawl errors
• Duplicate content
• Slow loading times
• SSL issues
• Missing headers
• And lot more

Once the audit is complete, you will get a report explaining all of the issues that need to be addressed.

Issues are grouped as ‘errors,’ ‘warnings,’ or ‘notices’ according to their importance. This could help you prioritize your SEO efforts. Semrush also fully explains each issue and tells you how to fix them.

In addition, the Site Health bar gives your site a percentage score, allowing you to measure progress over time.

7) On-Page SEO Checker

Want to get actionable suggestions for On-Page SEO issues, Semrush got you covered.

It performs a detailed analysis of all SEO factors, including content length, keyword usage, meta tags, and internal linking.

It then generates ideas based on top competitors’ pages. This makes it easy to compare your content with the best in the industry.

8) Position Tracking

Semrush Position Tracking allows you to monitor your keywords ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). It allows you to track the daily changes in keyword positions across various search engines and geographic locations, offering a granular view of a website’s search visibility.

Furthermore, the tool supports tracking for both desktop and mobile searches, enabling a full understanding of performance across devices.

9) Content Marketing Tools

Semrush Content Marketing Tool helps you streamline the process of content creation and optimization. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help you quickly create SEO content, making it one of the best AI SEO tools for website owners.

Topic Research Tool

This feature helps you uncover trending topics and untapped content opportunities within your niche. It provides a wealth of ideas based on user queries, competitor content, and popular questions on various online forums. This enables you to identify what your target audience is interested in and what kind of content is likely to resonate with them. By understanding these trends and preferences, you can produce more relevant and engaging content.

SEO Content Template

This tool acts as a guide for creating SEO-friendly content. It generates customized recommendations for specific keywords, offering insights on how to structure articles, the optimal use of keywords, and suggestions on backlinks from domains with high authority. The template also provides a comparison with top-ranking competitors for the same keywords, giving an understanding of what works well and how to tailor content to outperform rivals in search engine rankings.

SEO Writing Assistant

It provides real-time guidance and feedback on SEO optimization, readability, tone of voice, and originality of the content. The SEO Writing Assistant ensures that the content not only adheres to SEO best practices but is also engaging and accessible to the target audience.

Other Semrush Tools

Aside from the key features, Semrush has many other tools and features worth mentioning. Depending on the plan you select when you sign up, some of these features will require an upgrade or a paid add-on to use.

1) Local SEO Tools

Semrush’s Local SEO tools boost your online presence in local search results by providing specialized features.

One of them is Listing Management. It synchronizes and controls your business’s web presence across top local directories, assuring consistent and accurate information. In addition, the Local Rank Tracker tracks your website’s local search performance.

2) Advertising Tools

Semrush Advertising Tools lets you manage and improve online ad campaigns across several platforms. It offers features like analyzing competition, researching keywords, creating ads, tracking, and offering detailed reports to maximize ROI.

3) Social Media Tools

Semrush’s Social Media Toolkit includes tools for streamlining the social media management process. The toolkit helps you create and share interesting content across many social media platforms. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google My Business are some of the platforms available.

4) .Trends

The .Trends feature is a useful tool for complete competitive intelligence. It offers essential details on competitor website traffic, user behavior, market share, content, and ad strategy. It then offers you with actionable insight to help you improve your business.

Semrush Pricing

Semrush may appear to be quite expensive at first look. It’s an industry-leading toolbox with access to the most comprehensive datasets and the greatest features—and the pricing reflects that.

However, while Semrush is not cheap, it provides excellent value for money. Prices are comparable to those of competitors such as Ahrefs and Moz but have significantly more usage limitations.

And, unlike Ahrefs, you will not be automatically billed if you mistakenly exceed your plan limits. In addition, there is a free trial available.

Semrush offers three plans based on the number of projects, keyword metrics, and features. Remember, yearly plans can save you up to 17%, so choose wisely.

• Pro: It costs $117.33/mo (billed annually).
• Guru: It costs $208.33/mo (billed annually).
• Business: Contact them.

In addition to the monthly plans, Semrush also offers various paid add-ons.

• Additional Users: It costs $45/mo per user.
• Semrush Local: It costs $20/mo for the basic plan and $40/mo for the premium plan.
• Semrush .Trends: It costs $200/mo per user.
• Semrush Social: It costs $19.75/mo.
• Agency Growth Kit: It costs $69/mo for start, $149/mo for scale, and $249/mo for advanced.
• ImpactHero: It costs $200/mo.

You can also use Semrush for free. However, you won’t be able to pull up all the data you get as a paid user.

As a free user, you are limited to 10 analytics reports per day, can only create one project, and can track up to 10 keywords.

Or you can check out semrush free trial before committing to a paid plan.

Start Semrush Free Trial

Semrush Customer Support

Complex SEO tools with effective features should provide priority customer support. And if this is not the case, investing a lot of money each month will be a waste.

Fortunately, Semrush support is excellent and available through three primary channels:

• Email
• Phone
• Live Chat

Other options for help include the Knowledge Base and Semrush Academy.

Semrush User Reviews

Before purchasing any tool, it is usually good to read user reviews.

Below are the Semrush ratings on different platforms.

On Trustpilot, Semrush got 4.2 out of 5-star ratings from more than 550+ reviews.

On Capterra, the Semrush got 4.7 out of 5-star ratings from more than 2,150+ reviews.

On TrustRadius, Semrush got 8.6 out of 10-star ratings from more than 700+ reviews.

Semrush Review: Pros and Cons

So, we have discussed Semrush’s best features and how much it costs. Now, let’s look at some of its pros and cons.

Pros:

• It’s an all-in-one SEO tool (keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, competitor insights, and a lot more).
• Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool database has 25.1 billion keywords, making it the world’s largest keyword database. As a result, it can help you find keyword ideas that other tools may overlook.
• Semrush provides more usage limitations than Ahrefs and Moz, its two main competitors. If you choose one of the premium plans, you should have enough credits to get started.
• Semrush has a lot of positive aspects, but its link-building feature deserves special mention. It not only helps you identify new link-building opportunities but also gives you the tools you need to organize and track your full outreach campaign.
• Its site auditing features are comprehensive.
• The keyword intent data is extremely useful for focusing on the phrases that are most likely to be relevant and profitable for your business.
• It offers a lifetime free plan and a free trial before upgrading to a premium plan.

Cons:

• One of Semrush’s main disadvantages is that it only provides data for Google. If you require data from other search engines, such as Bing or YouTube, you may want to use a different platform.
• All Semrush plans come with one user account, and buying extra seats is expensive.
• To use Semrush’s free trial, you need to enter your credit card details.

Semrush Alternatives

Not sure if Semrush is the right tool for you? Here are some Semrush alternatives that might be a better fit:

1) Ahrefs

Ahrefs is, without a doubt, the #1 Semrush competitor, and it competes strongly with Semrush. Ahrefs is quickly gaining popularity among top SEO tools, and it is regarded as one of the most popular Semrush alternatives due to its similar features and price options.

If you’re searching for a strong alternative to Semrush that doesn’t break the bank, Ahrefs is your best option.

With Ahrefs, you can do everything from keyword planning to backlink analysis to website auditing, which is essential for identifying SEO issues and opportunities for your website.

Pricing:

Ahrefs plan starts from $99/mo.

Get Started With Ahrefs

2) SE Ranking

SE Ranking is an affordable alternative to Semrush.

It offers a wide range of SEO tools, including keyword research, website audits, backlink checking, competitor analysis, and more.

SE Ranking is a great option if you’re looking for an SEO tool that provides 100% accurate keyword rank tracking.

For more, check out our in-depth comparison between SE Ranking vs Semrush.

Pricing:

SE Ranking plan starts from $65/mo.

Start SE Ranking Free Trial

3) Serpstat

Serpstat is extremely useful for keyword research and SEO analysis. However, when it comes to the user interface, learning resources, and overall suite of tools and features, Semrush frequently takes the lead.

While both tools offer strong SERP functionalities, the decision between Semrush and Serpstat is usually based on pricing.

Pricing:

Serpstat plans start from $59/mo.

Start Serpstat Free Trial

For more, check out our list of the 10 best Semrush alternatives.

Semrush Review: The Verdict

Semrush is a top-tier SEO tool offering comprehensive data for a successful SEO strategy. Its standout features include advanced link-building and site auditing tools. The link-building tool uses a CRM-style approach for efficient backlink management, while the site auditing tool provides a straightforward checklist to enhance your technical and on-page SEO.

Additionally, Semrush’s search intent feature is highly valuable, enabling users to pinpoint target keywords that are most likely to drive sales and boost conversions. While the free plan is limited, the premium plans deliver a full suite of SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing capabilities, making Semrush an indispensable resource for marketing professionals.

Click the button below to sign up for a free trial of Semrush and see if it’s a good fit for your needs.

Start Semrush Free Trial

For more, check out these other helpful resources:

• KWFinder Review: Is It The Best Keyword Research Tool?
• 22 Best Free SEO Tools for Bloggers
• 14 Best Free Keyword Research Tools
• 10 Cheap SEO Tools

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