Have you been looking for an SEO tool that allows you to do keyword research, track keyword levels, check backlinks, check competitors’ rankings, and do a complete SEO test for your blog?
If so, let me give you one tool I have been using for over 7 years and is trusted by many professional bloggers and SEO agencies. In this blog, The tool today I am talking about is Semrush One of the best SEO Tool
I am often asked this question:
“Should I start using Semrush?“
I will give an answer to this question in my review, but before that, let me give you some details about my Semrush experience. because I have used it on my own website.
Quick domain:
You can skip this section but it makes an important point in SEO for you.
When ShoutMeLoud was hit by the Google Panda and June 2019 algorithm update, I had to completely change the way I approached my SEO strategy. I realized that instead of just writing content that readers liked, I should have made sure that my content was also popular with search engines!
That’s when I started learning more and more about the use of search engines and link building.
I was able to bring back ShoutMeLoud to Panda, and while reading, I learned the importance of SEO driven by content.
I needed to ask myself what I did that might have caused the Google algorithm to hit my site hard.
The answer was right there on my mathematical board. With the exception of limited content, I have overlooked the importance of keyword research.
I quickly learned that having quality content is not enough! I also needed to build quality links, do timely SEO testing for my site, and pay attention to a few other important things.
I have tried many tools in this process (including Mangools, Ahrefs, Semrush, and a few others). While all of them work well, I liked Semrush very well because of its great features and how it allowed me to do all my SEO work in one place.
With just one dashboard, I can do it all. I’ll show you what I mean in a moment.
Before I proceed with my review of Semrush, it is important to inform you that my SEO knowledge is self-taught through trial and error and by paying attention to the latest SEO industry updates.
Note: If you browse the ShoutMeLoud SEO section, you can find the latest information in the SEO industry.
What is Semrush? – A Hands-On Review
Let’s take a look at what makes Semrush an amazing SEO and favorite tool among millions of users.
Semrush makes it easy to find a keyword for your site (or another site) listed. In short, nowadays it makes keyword research a piece of cake.
Once you’ve done your keyword research, you can add keywords and track their positions on all major search engines based on location.
I emphasize the local aspect as it is important for those who are referring to certain countries like Spain, UK, Australia, India, the US, etc. For global bloggers, you can also use this feature to see how your site ranks in certain search engines.
It is an important SEM (search engine optimization) tool that I believe every critical blogger and online marketer should have in their arsenal of SEO tools.
Semrush is a product from the maker of SEOQuake, a popular SEO extension for Firefox.
At the time of writing, Semrush has:
more than 130,000,000 domains as well
more than 800,000,000 keywords in their database.
Semrush will allow you to find all the keywords that any web page available on the Internet is ranked. You can also find a lot of statistical information about specific keywords and related keywords that you can edit.
Sounds a little confusing?
Top 6 Semrush Features
Semrush loaded with features and I have gone into many details of its SEO, competition analysis, and content marketing features in my free Semrush Playbook download.
I wish to update this eBook regularly to make it easier for Semrush users to get the most out of their Semrush subscriptions.
For the purpose of this review, however, I will be highlighting only those features that I find most useful and tools within Semrush for new users to start experimenting with right away.
Before starting your competitive analysis, it is always necessary to see how your site is performing at various parameters.
3 most important things you should know about your site:
- Top organic keywords
- Organic search rankings
- Total number of backlinks
Semrush helps you gather all this important information within minutes.
The Sewush’s Domain Overview report will give you an overview of how your website and competing websites are performing.
Just type in your domain name in the Semrush search bar, select “View All Domain” in the drop-down menu, and hit the “Search” button.
The report will give you an overview of how your site is performing in parameters such as traffic from organic search and paid search, backlinks, organic keywords, paid keywords, and more.
Next, visit “Organic Research” from the sidebar to get data on your site’s keywords, and total traffic, also you can see environmental changes.
To view your backlinks, click on “Backlinks” in the sidebar. Here you can see the backlink profile of your site, the number of target domains, the types of backlinks (text, image, form, etc.), and the percentage distribution of non-tracked links.
2. Identify Your Organic Competitors
Identifying your live competitors is one of the key factors in managing search results. The goal here is to understand what your competitors are doing and to make you better.
To identify your live competitors, simply enter your domain name in the Semrush search bar, select “Organic Research” from the drop-down menu, and then press the “Search” button.
From biological research reports, visit the “Competitors” tab to gain insight into your competitors:
You’ll first view the Competitive Positioning Map, a visual representation of where your website stands amongst your competitors.
On the map, you will see bubbles in different positions depending on organic keywords and organic traffic.
The more keywords the site lists, the more likely the site will appear on the right. Similarly, sites that receive more live traffic will appear higher on the map.
If you navigate over each bubble, you can see their organic keywords and traffic.
If you scroll down, you will find a table for biological rivals
Don’t be intimidated by a large number of competitors you will see here. Take a look at these metrics:
- Competitive Level
- Common keywords
- SE Keywords
These three metrics will show your closest competitors and these are the sites you would like to exit from search engines.
3. Keyword Research
Although it has a host of over 40 features and tools for optimizing your digital marketing, Semrush is best known for its keyword research capabilities.
For a complete breakdown of Semrush keyword research features, I would urge you to check out our Semrush keyword research guide.
In this review and because of the brevity, I will soon highlight a few aspects of keyword research.
There are 3 keyword research tools in the Semrush toolkit and each tool has its own purpose:
- Keyword overview – use it to get a quick summary of your search volume ‘monthly search volume, keyword difficulty, and other keyword metrics.
- Magic Keyword Tool – use it to generate a ton of unique keyword ideas with your seed keywords.
- Topic Research Tool – use it to generate a long list of new topics for your next content.
To start the Semrush keyword research process, connect your seed keywords to the search bar.
Semrush will promptly issue a comprehensive overview of your keywords, including all key metrics and high keyword variations based on your key keywords.
Pay special attention to search volume, keyword difficulty, and trend graph.
To view a variety of keywords for your keywords, press the “View All” button below the list of keywords in the “Keyword Variations” section.
This will open Semrush’s Keyword Magic tool, where you can use advanced filtering options to narrow down the list of keywords for your next campaign.
This is just a quick look at Semrush keyword research features
4. Do a Site Audit and Fix Errors
Semrush Site Performance Performance helps you to do a site checking of your website to see and fix the most troubling issues on the SEO page and SEO technologies for your site.
To do a site test in Semrush, click on “Add New Project,” and enter the details, then select “Setup Site Audit.”
Select the number of pages you would like SemrushBot to kick, skip all the other steps for now, and then click “Start Site Audit.”
This may take a few minutes, depending on the number of pages you select.
Once the research is complete, Semrush will display a report that will show the overall SEO life of your site in percentages and highlight any mistakes and warnings that may be harmful to your SEO.
The red highlighted errors are the most serious SEO issues your site is currently facing and the ones you should start fixing immediately.
5. On Page SEO Checker
On-Page SEO Checker is a very low Semrush tool, which identifies the specific weaknesses of your website and gives you practical recommendations.
With the SEO Checker page, you can quickly check to see if your content complies with all on-page and off-page SEO features, such as your content quality, reliability, and reputation for backlinks, page title, H1 tags, H2, with meta description.
To access the tool, navigate to:
SEO> On-page and Tech SEO> On-page SEO Checker
Select any of your active projects on this page and customize your domain. Enter the pages and keywords you’d like to use and hit “Collect Ideas.”
Each of these pages will be reviewed and you will receive quick suggestions on how to use them.
You should click the “Comments” button next to the page you would like to use to view suggestions from Semrush to improve your SEO.
If you would like recommendations for your site’s user experience signal, link your Google and Semrush account. This will allow Semrush to analyze your Google Analytics data and give you a complete UX image of your site to help you find any spaces you need to improve to improve the visibility of your search.
6. PPC Analysis
I would not be doing justice to Semrush if I did not mention its powerful PPC tools.
Monitoring competing PPC ads is an important step in staying one step ahead of your competition.
With Semrush, you can keep a tab on your competitors’ target keywords, their levels in the SERPs, and even look at their copy copies.
This way you can polish your copies of the PPC ad and improve your landing pages with great impact.
Ease of Use
Semrush is easy to use with a clean user interface. However, it can take some time to get used to the interface, especially if you are moving to tools like Moz or SpyFu. Also, it is loaded with features, so it can be very difficult at times.
That said, there is absolutely no reason to worry as Semrush has a wealth of resources to go through to get a step-by-step guide to mastering the tool.
You can also log into their webinars (both past and future) to keep yourself updated with all the new features and functionality.
Customer Support
Customer support can make or break a company’s reputation. Needless to say, it is one of the most important factors in a company’s success.
This is especially true in the case of services like Semrush where there will be questions and queries from the most active SEO community.
Semrush offers support mainly based on their in-depth knowledge and email. They also schedule regular webinars where they reveal new features and provide practical tips for improving your SEO and PPC.
Customer Feedback and Reviews
Semrush continues to be a popular tool among marketing professionals and bloggers. Top industry founders like Brian Dean of Backlinko, Neil Patel, and Larry Kim feature Semrush prominently on their blogs.
At the same time, it has very close ratings to review sites like G2, TrustRadius, and Chapterra.
Here’s how Semrush is rated on the three most popular review sites:
- G2 – 4.5/5 (1,034 reviews)
- TrustRadius – 8.6/10 (306 reviews)
- Capterra – 4.6/5 (1,194 reviews)
[The above ratings were last updated in January 2021]
How Semrush Compares with Other SEO Tools
In this section, I will quickly compare Semrush with its three aggressive competitors: Ahrefs, Moz, and SpyFu.
Semrush vs Ahrefs: Is Semrush Better than Ahrefs?
I personally love Semrush more than Ahrefs because it offers more than your belt. While Ahrefs has a better backlink analysis tool, Semrush excels in all other aspects: from keyword research to technical SEO to content marketing.
Having said that, both of these tools are amazing. So if you have a budget, subscribe to both tools. If not, I highly recommend Semrush.
Semrush vs SpyFu: Which Tool is Better for Competitor Analysis?
Both Semrush and SpyFu are two leading competitors and competitors in the market. While SpyFu has a kit of competing research tools and is much cheaper than other SEO tools on the market, it is simply not in the same league as Semrush.
Semrush is an all-purpose SEO tool, while SpyFu only focuses on competitive analysis. But even from a competitive research perspective, Semrush is a very advanced tool.
Semrush vs Moz: Is Semrush Better?
Semrush and Moz often clash because they offer similar features. But that’s where the only similarities are.
A few years ago, Semrush was a leading innovator in the online retail space. They introduced several new features and improved on existing features to provide more and more complete information to their users.
On the other hand, Moz looks and sounds like a tool stuck in the past. Its UI is old, cramped, and SEO reports leave a lot to be desired. The free tools offered by Moz still work, but I don’t think this tool should cost $ 100 a month.
Get 1-month free access to Semrush Pro (Price $ 119.95)
Final Verdict
Once you start using Semrush, it is easy to see why it is trusted by so many industry experts and prosecutors. The team behind Semrush regularly introduces new and exciting ways to do keyword research and competition analysis, making it one of the most premium tools in the SEO software industry.
The only thing I have with the tool can be its feature of backlink analysis. It’s been a staple in Semrush’s clothing for a while now. It’s a small gripe, and it’s a problem that Semrush seems to be facing in the 2021 product revival.
So that wraps up my review of Semrush. I suggest you try the tool yourself and see how it improves the SEO of your site.
Click on the link below to get a free 1-month trial for Semrush Pro:
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