SEMrush is a best of breed competitive intelligence tool used by online businesses, internet marketers, and advertising agencies. SEMrush started as a backlink analysis tool and has since grown to include a full suite of organic search, paid search, and competitive traffic analysis tools. Of all the tools we review on this website, SEMrush is the full package of what the active digital marketer needs to stay competitive.
In the post, we’ll review the SEMrush service as well as the features, pros, and cons that we’ve found over the years.
Software Overview
- Features: Full suite of organic, paid search, display, and traffic competitive analysis tools.
- Interface: Busy, but easy to get used to. Lot’s of features.
- Customer Support: Good, email/phone, very responsive
- Website: www.semrush.com
- Pricing: 7 day free trial, $99/month
SEMrush Provides the Following Competitive Research Tools
| Feature Type | Details | Learn More | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Technical SEO Analysis | Search your website to find errors and look for technical SEO issues | Learn More | @semrush @seopowersuite @raventools |
 | Backlink Research | Review current backlinks on a website | Learn More | @semrush @spyfu @mangools @seopowersuite @raventools |
 | Backlink Management | Stay on top of link building efforts | Learn More | @semrush @spyfu @seopowersuite |
 | Keyword Rank Tracking | Your website rank for keywords | Learn More | @semrush @spyfu @mangools @seopowersuite @raventools |
 | Ranking History | Track historical SEO data to compare performance | Learn More | @seopowersuite |
 | Organic Traffic Estimates | See estimates of how much organic traffic a website gets | Learn More | @semrush @spyfu @mangools @seopowersuite @raventools |
 | Local Rankings | Analysis of ranking based on a location | Learn More | @semrush @mangools @seopowersuite @raventools |
 | Local Citation Tracking | Analysis of information on local business listings | Learn More | @semrush |
 | Keyword Competitors | Identify which competitors rank for specific keywords | Learn More | @semrush @spyfu @mangools @seopowersuite |
 | Paid Search Research | Analysis into competitors advertisments | Learn More | @semrush @spyfu |
 | PPC Keyword Research | See keyword volume and cost per click | Learn More | @semrush @spyfu |
 | PLA Research | Analysis of competitor product listing ads | Learn More | @semrush |
 | Display Ad Research | Research competitor display ads | Learn More | @semrush |
 | PPC Ad Research | Analysis of competitor search ads and landing pages | Learn More | @semrush @spyfu |
 | Competitor Traffic Analysis | Estimates of competitor traffic and on-site metrics. | Learn More | @semrush @seopowersuite |
How SEMrush Works
Through a variety of data aggregation activities and partnerships, SEMrush scrapes the web to deliver data most-specific to researching backlinks, keyword rankings, advertising intelligence (competitors keywords, landing pages, ads, etc.), as well as estimates of competitor website traffic. Through the SEMrush interface, marketers can slice and dice all this data with no technical skills needed. Want to know who links to your comepetitors? Easy. Want to know what keywords your competitor is bidding on in Google? Done.
Here’s what we use SEMrush for the most:
- Backlink data: As active SEOs, we need a streamlined process for identifying new backlink opportunities. SEMrush not only has tons of data on this, but also allows for segmenting backlinks based on type of domain (edus, orgs, government), domain authority, keyword anchor text, etc. Every way we like parsing this data is available at a click.
- Google PPC ad research: Before launching a PPC campaign, we reference SEMrush to see what competitors are bidding on, how much they are spending, which landing pages they are using, and what ad text is being used. Simple shortcut to brainstorm approaches.
- Local SEO Rankings: It’s tough to track keyword rankings when it comes to Google’s map pack and when accounting for the GEO of the searcher. SEMrush provides the tools to do it easily.
- Local Citation Analysis: SEMrush has a pretty good tool which searches your business’s NAP (name, address, phone number) and identifies consistency across Google My Business, Bing Local, Yahoo, Yelp, and the other major local business directories.
If you haven’t used SEMrush before, take advantage of the free 7 day trial. Easy to cancel and you’ll get the point in just a few minutes.