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Semrush Review: Is It Still Worth Using in 2023?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a core component of many digital marketing campaigns. The fight for organic trafficOrganic search traffic (sometimes called natural or unpaid search) is the traffic that's driven to a website because of unpaid placement on a search engine results page. is a fierce one, and it’s vital for marketers to utilise…
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Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a core component of many digital marketing campaigns. The fight for organic traffic is a fierce one, and it’s vital for marketers to utilise every advantage at their disposal to climb the search rankings. With so much work to cover – think keyword research, link building, competitor research, etc. – professionals will turn to SEO tools for support.

One such tool is Semrush.

Before selecting any SEO tools, reviews are needed to see if they’re up to the mark. That is the case with our Semrush review. How accurate is Semrush? Is Semrush reliable? Does it deserve to be part of our Ultimate List of SEO Tools?

Let’s answer all of those questions and more!

What is Semrush?

What does Semrush do, exactly? It is important to have a clear idea before delving into a review.

Semrush, sometimes misspelt as “Semrusah,” “Semrsh,” “Semrusch,” and “Semrusdh” – yes, seriously! – is a search engine marketing (SEM) platform. That’s right: not SEO, although a lot of their tools are built for generating organic traffic. As an SEM, however, they also have tools for optimising paid search efforts.

The main features of Semrush include:

  • Perform website audits to reveal and correct technical errors
  • The ability to uncover relevant keywords to target
  • Monitor how your website is performing on the search engine results pages (SERPs)
  • Conduct a backlink analysis for not just your site but also your competitor’s

Released in 2008, Semrush quickly became one of the most popular SEO and PPC platforms for marketers. As of today, the platform has over 450,000 active users. Although less than 15% of the user base is signed up for a paid plan.

Now we have that Semrush overview out of the way, let’s delve a little deeper into what tools are available with this platform.

Semrush Domain Overview

When first using Semrush, there’s only one place to start: the Domain Overview tool. As the name suggests, this analysis tool allows you to gain a detailed SEO-related breakdown of whichever URL you input. Yes, it’s not just for your own website.

The biggest metric supplied is the Semrush authority score. This is effectively Semrush’s domain score rating, an overall score for a site’s SEO performance and quality. What is a good authority score on Semrush? “Good” sits between 50 and 60 on their 100-point scale, while anything above 60 is deemed “excellent.”

That means if you find a competitor with a high Semrush authority score, it’s worth taking a closer look at what they’re doing with their marketing campaigns. Similarly, if your site is in the doldrums, it’s clear work is required to bring those SEO performance levels up to speed. The result: the Domain Overview doubles as both an excellent audit and competitor analysis tool.

Read more: how to perform a successful audit with the Ultimate SEO Audit Checklist

It’s not just about the authority score. Semrush provides a lot of other metrics, such as:

  • Organic search traffic volume
  • Organic keywords
  • Number of backlinks
  • Traffic by country
  • Paid search traffic online
  • SERP features

Ample data is also given for each metric. Select the organic keywords section, for example, and you get to see information such as the top keywords, position tracking, PPC keywords, etc., for the domain you analyse. This extra data is valuable when refining the process behind your keyword research.

Speaking of keyword research…

Semrush Keyword Overview

When it comes to Semrush SEO tools, perhaps the most used one is Keyword Overview. This is for a good reason. If you get it wrong with the keywords you target, your entire SEO efforts will struggle to get off the launchpad.

With the Keyword Overview, Semrush’s dashboard for all keyword-related topics, you get a lot of juicy keyword-related data. This includes:

  • Keyword difficulty score
  • Monthly search volume on Google
  • Websites ranking for specific keywords
  • Alternative keyword suggestions
  • Country and global keyword search volume
  • Common questions and long-tail phrases which contain a specific keyword
  • Keyword cost per click (CPC)

Take the Semrush keyword difficulty score. With a quick look at this percentage, you can see how much effort would be required to rank for a certain keyword. If the keyword is closer to 100%, you might decide to explore alternative routes. Yet, if it’s a lower percentage, this could be the green light to add it to your keyword strategy.

Then with data that offers common questions that include a specific keyword, this is an effective Semrush keyword intent solution. As a result, you can better understand why people are searching for a particular keyword, building more targeted content around that intent.

Keyword Magic

With keyword Semrush tools, we have to give a little mention to Keyword Magic. This is essentially a tool for keyword suggestions wrapped up in a showy name. Yet as far as keyword suggestion tools go, this is one of the better options around today. Due to the filters available, you can generate specific results that bring up a lot of practical secondary keywords.

Semrush Content Marketing Suite

The Semrush content tool is what you use when help is required with optimising the content you produce. The Content Marketing Suite is home to a range of tools, including:

  • SEO Writing Assistant
  • Topic research
  • Content calendar
  • Content audit
  • Post Tracking
  • Brand Monitoring

As for Semrush SEO tools, the Writing Assistant is one of the more helpful solutions. It analyses your written content, produces a report spotlighting its positives and negatives, and shows which areas require improvement. When used in real time, the Writing Assistant is a real timesaver.

The Semrush audit tool for content is also great for learning if your blog posts and articles are resonating with your audience. If it’s lacking, the tool will note where improvement can be made with your content. As for the Semrush Brand Monitoring tool, this allows you to track brand mentions across social media, other sites, forums, and so on.

Semrush Backlink Audit

No Semrush review is complete without discussing its backlink capabilities. This is because it’s the aspect that is perhaps the most highly regarded out of everything it offers. Let’s first begin by looking at the backlink audit Semrush offers.

This audit is necessary for clearing up your backlink profile. The Semrush Toxic Score will note how many “toxic” links are present, giving you a checklist of backlinks to disavow. Along the same theme, the Semrush Broken Link Checker can help to identify – and fix – any links that have become broken.

Get the backlinks you need with our Resource Link Building

Semrush Backlink Analysis

Simply enter a website URL, and the Semrush Backlink Analysis tool will give you a full list of every backlink pointing back to the site. You can do this for both your site and your competitors. Along with the backlink itself, other information it provides includes the anchor text used, link attributes, and referring domains.

Although it’s not quite as thorough or useful as our backlink analysis service, it is still a worthwhile tool to have in your repertoire.

Semrush Link Building

The Semrush Link Building tool is one of the most useful components of the entire platform. The reason is that it saves you a lot of backlink research time. With Semrush, backlink opportunities are presented with “prospect websites.” These prospects are viewed by Semrush as having great potential to be added to your link profile.

Of course, you still have to manually go out there and get those backlinks. This is where assistance from a Blogger Outreach Agency helps fill that gap.

How Much Do Semrush Plans Cost?

Current Semrush pricing plans are as follows:

  • Pro ($129.95 monthly): 5 projects, 500 tracked keywords, 10,000 results per report.
  • Guru ($249.95 monthly): 15 projects, 1,500 tracked keywords, 30,000 results per report.
  • Business ($499.95 monthly): 40 projects, 5,000 tracked keywords, 50,000 results per report.

If you’re searching for the cheapest option, you won’t find it with Semrush. Similar tools are available with more affordable price tags. Furthermore, you may consider sticking with Google’s free tools as part of your SEO stack – even if they’re not quite as well-rounded overall as Semrush’s offering.

Learn how our expert quotes Link Building service can help your business

Semrush Review 2023: The Verdict

Even though this review is a lengthy one, it still doesn’t cover everything the platform has to offer. There’s the Semrush Position Tracking tool. There’s Semrush Share of Voice. We could go on and on.

Basically, it’s one of the most feature-packed SEM platforms on the market today. That’s why it has a spot on our list highlighting 6 Powerful Link Building Tools.

There’s no doubt there is plenty of substance behind all of these tools. Is Semrush accurate? Absolutely. Is it a well-rounded tool that can assist in all areas of SEO? That’s clear for all to see. Should you add it to your SEO toolset? That depends on if you can afford the rather steep pricing.

It’s also down to how much help you need with your SEO. If you only require assistance with link building, for example, it makes more sense to opt for our dedicated Link Building Services. This way, you benefit from cutting-edge link building tools, our advanced knowledge of the subject, and our outreach expertise.

James Owen, Co-Founder & Head Of Search

James has been involved in SEO and digital marketing projects since 2007. James has led many SEO projects for well-known brands in Travel, Gaming and Retail such as Jackpotjoy, Marriott, Intercontinental Hotels, Hotels.com, Expedia, Betway, Gumtree, 888, Ax Paris, Ebyuer, Ebay, Hotels combined, Smyths toys, love honey and Pearson to name a few. James has also been a speaker at SEO and digital marketing conferences and events such as Brighton SEO.

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