SEMrush Review – Features, Pricing, and More

There’s no shortage of tasks when it comes to SEO. That’s why having good software is key to improving organic performance and your workflow. SEMrush is one of the best and most popular SEO tools on the market. I’ve been using it, among others, for years and couldn’t imagine doing marketing without it.

If you’re on the fence about SEMrush, though, you’re in the right place! I’m going to do a SEMrush review to cover its features, benefits, pricing, alternatives, and more.

Let’s get into it!

What is SEMrush?

Let’s start with the basics. SEMrush is an all-in-one digital marketing tool that provides insights and solutions for SEO, PPC, social media, and content marketing. It allows users to analyze their own websites and their competitors’ websites to identify areas for improvement and optimize their digital marketing strategies.

SEMrush provides features for keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, rank tracking, social media management, and advertising research, among others. It is a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes and industries that want to improve their online presence and performance.

Is SEMrush Free? (SEMrush Pricing)

Yes! SEMrush offers a free trial that lets you test pilot the software before upgrading to a paid plan.

SEMrush offers three main pricing plans: Pro, Guru, and Business. The Pro plan starts at $119.95 per month and includes features such as site audit, keyword research, position tracking, and on-page SEO recommendations, among others. This plan is ideal for freelancers, startups, and in-house marketers with a limited budget.

The Guru plan starts at $229.95 per month and includes all the features of the Pro plan plus additional features such as a content marketing platform, historical data, and multi-user management. This plan is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses, marketing agencies, and e-commerce businesses.

The Business plan starts at $449.95 per month and includes all the features of the Guru plan plus additional features such as API access, white-label reports, and extended limits and sharing options. This plan is ideal for larger businesses, enterprises, and agencies with complex marketing needs.

All plans come with a 7-day free trial and include access to the SEMrush Academy, which provides educational resources and courses on digital marketing. Users can also purchase additional add-ons such as extra projects, additional users, and additional data storage, among others.

Overall, SEMrush offers flexible pricing plans with features that cater to the needs of businesses of all sizes and budgets. Users can choose the plan that best suits their needs and upgrade or downgrade as their business grows or changes.

Is SEMrush Legit and Safe?

With SEMrush, you have nothing to worry about. The company has been around since 2008 and has since grown to become one of the most popular and widely used digital marketing tools worldwide. SEMrush has a proven track record of providing reliable and accurate data and insights to help businesses improve their digital marketing strategies.

One of the ways that SEMrush demonstrates its legitimacy is through the sheer number of online reviews and social proof it has. SEMrush has over 375 positive reviews on Trustpilot, making it one of the highest-rated digital marketing tools on the platform.

Additionally, SEMrush has over 95,000 paying customers worldwide (which generates $275.1 million in revenue), including many well-known brands and businesses, which serves as further social proof of its legitimacy and effectiveness. You can read their latest annual report I linked for more information about their company. It’s fascinating.

SEMrush also takes security and privacy seriously. The company uses the latest security protocols and encryption technologies to ensure that user data is protected at all times. SEMrush is also compliant with GDPR and other privacy regulations, ensuring that user data is handled responsibly and ethically.

What Are The Limitations of SEMrush?

While SEMrush is a powerful and comprehensive digital marketing tool, it does have some limitations that users should be aware of.

First, SEMrush’s accuracy is based on the data it has access to, which is limited to certain search engines and regions. For example, SEMrush’s keyword database is primarily based on data from Google, so it may not be as accurate for other search engines like Bing or Yahoo.

Additionally, the accuracy of SEMrush’s data can also be affected by factors such as search volume, keyword difficulty, and location targeting, among others.

Something you’ll notice over time as you do SEO is that certain keywords volume metrics and the traffic they generate don’t match up. I.e., SEMrush says it’s a low-volume keyword, but it ends up driving a significant amount of organic users.

Second, SEMrush’s pricing plans can be costly, especially for small businesses or individuals on a limited budget. While SEMrush does offer a 7-day free trial, the ongoing costs of the tool can be prohibitive for some users, particularly those who may only need access to certain features or have limited marketing needs.

Going back to their annual report, SEMrush’s average ARR per customer is $2,868. This will give you an idea of how much you might pay.

Third, SEMrush’s interface can be overwhelming for new users. The tool has a wide range of features and data points, which can make it difficult for beginners to navigate and utilize effectively. It may take some time and effort to learn how to use SEMrush effectively and get the most out of its features.

Finally, SEMrush’s social media management features are not as comprehensive as some dedicated social media management tools. I.e., Buffer, Hootsuite, etc.

SEMrush Features

Okay. Let me break down the features and tools you gain access to with SEMrush’s platform.

Site Optimization

One of the most powerful features of SEMrush for site optimization is its Site Audit tool. It crawls your website and provides a detailed report on any technical issues that could impact your SEO.

This includes broken links, missing meta tags, duplicate content, and more. The Site Audit tool also provides recommendations on how to fix these issues, so you can quickly make improvements and boost your search engine rankings.

In addition to the Site Audit tool, SEMrush also offers an On-Page SEO Checker. This tool analyzes your website’s content and provides recommendations on how to optimize it for specific keywords.

The On-Page SEO Checker looks at factors such as keyword usage, meta tags, and content length to provide actionable suggestions for improving your content’s SEO.

SEMrush also offers a Backlink Audit tool, which analyzes your website’s backlink profile to identify any low-quality or spammy links that could be hurting your SEO. The tool provides recommendations on how to disavow these links to improve your website’s search engine rankings.

Finally, SEMrush offers a Content Analyzer tool that provides insights into your website’s content strategy. The tool analyzes your content to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement, such as missing keywords or topics that could be added to improve engagement and traffic.

Overall, SEMrush provides a powerful suite of site optimization features that can help website owners improve their SEO and drive more traffic to their sites.

With tools for site auditing, on-page optimization, backlink analysis, and content strategy, SEMrush is a must-have tool for any digital marketer looking to optimize their business for search engines.

Keyword Research

Anyone that does SEO knows that keyword research is one of the most important steps. And, the most time-consuming!

That’s why you’ll be happy to hear that SEMrush provides a suite of keyword research tools and features. These tools are designed to help you effortlessly identify the most relevant and profitable keywords for your campaigns, analyze competition, and track rankings over time.

Here are some of the main keyword research tools and features that SEMrush offers:

1. Keyword Magic Tool: The Keyword Magic Tool is one of the most powerful features of SEMrush for keyword research. It allows you to enter a keyword or phrase and generate a list of related keywords, as well as their search volume, competition level, and other metrics. You can also filter the results by various criteria, such as keyword difficulty, search volume, and CPC.
2. Keyword Difficulty: The Keyword Difficulty metrics inside SEMrush’s dashboard and reports allows you to analyze the competition level for a particular keyword or phrase. It provides a score from 0-100 that indicates how difficult it would be to rank for that keyword, based on factors such as the number of backlinks and domain authority of the top-ranking pages.
3. Organic search positions: Track your website’s organic search positions for specific keywords over time. You can see how your rankings have changed, identify keywords that are driving traffic to your site, and track your progress as you implement SEO strategies.
4. Competitive keyword analysis: Analyze your competitors’ keyword strategies and reverse engineer them. You can see which keywords they are ranking for, analyze their backlink profiles, and identify gaps and opportunities for your own campaigns.
5. Keyword CPC and volume: SEMrush also provides data on the cost-per-click (CPC) and search volume for specific keywords. This information can help you identify high-value keywords that are worth targeting in your campaigns.
6. Related keywords: You can instantly get suggestions for related keywords based on the initial keyword you entered. These related keywords can help you identify additional opportunities to target related search queries.

Backlink Building

I don’t know about you, but backlink building has always been one of the more difficult parts of search engine marketing for me. That’s why SEMrush’s features for backlink building have been a lifesaver. They include the following:

1. Backlink Audit: SEMrush’s Backlink Audit tool analyzes your website’s backlink profile and identifies any low-quality or spammy links that could be hurting your SEO. The tool provides recommendations on how to disavow these links to improve your website’s search engine rankings.
2. Backlink Analytics: The Backlink Analytics tool provides in-depth insights into your website’s backlink profile. You can view information such as your website’s referring domains, backlink types, and anchor text distribution. You can also compare your website’s backlink profile to that of your competitors, allowing you to identify areas for improvement.
3. Link Building Tool: Want more links? Who doesn’t? The Link Building Tool provides a streamlined way to find high-quality backlink opportunities. You can search for potential link partners based on various criteria, such as their domain authority or the type of content they publish. You can also reach out to potential link partners directly through the tool.
4. Backlink Gap: The Backlink Gap feature helps you to compare your backlink profile to that of your competitors. You can identify the backlinks that your competitors have that you don’t, allowing you to identify potential opportunities for building new backlinks.
5. Broken Link Building: SEMrush’s Broken Link Building feature allows you to find broken links on other websites and suggest replacement links to the website owner. This can be a great way to build high-quality backlinks to your website at scale.

Track Organic Rankings

If you don’t know how your organic rankings change, you won’t know if your SEO efforts are paying off. With SEMrush, it’s easy to track your website’s organic rankings and positions in search engine results pages (SERPs).

The first step is to add your website to SEMrush and select the keywords you want to track. You can add keywords manually or import a list of keywords from a file. Once you’ve added your keywords, SEMrush will begin tracking your website’s rankings for those keywords.

You can then view your website’s ranking position for specific search engine results pages (SERPs) by using SEMrush’s Position Tracking tool. This tool allows you to track your website’s ranking position for specific keywords on specific SERPs, so you can see how your website is performing against your competitors.

Paid Ads

Running paid ads alongside your SEO efforts? You’re in luck!

SEMrush provides a variety of features for paid advertising that can help you optimize your PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns and improve your ROI (return on investment). Here are some of the key paid advertising features offered by SEMrush:

1. Advertising Research: SEMrush’s Advertising Research tool allows you to analyze your competitors’ advertising strategies and see which keywords and ad copy they’re using in their PPC campaigns. You can use this information to optimize your own PPC campaigns and gain a competitive advantage.
2. PPC keyword tool: SEMrush’s PPC keyword tool helps you find new keywords for your PPC campaigns and provides data on search volume, competition, and CPC (cost per click) for each keyword. You can use this information to identify high-value keywords to target in your campaigns.
3. Display advertising: Get display ad insights that help you analyze your competitors’ display ad campaigns and see which websites they’re advertising on. You can use this information to identify new advertising opportunities and improve your targeting.
4. Ad management: Manage your paid social campaigns directly from the SEMrush platform. You can create, edit, and monitor your campaigns, as well as track your performance metrics and adjust your bids.
5. Reporting: In-depth insights into your PPC campaigns’ performance, including data on impressions, clicks, conversions, and ROI. You can use this information to optimize your campaigns and improve your ROI over time.

Social Media Marketing

SEMrush offers a suite of social media marketing features that can help you plan and execute your social media campaigns more effectively. One of the key features is the Social Media Poster, which allows you to schedule posts to multiple social media platforms from a single dashboard.

With the Social Media Poster, you can save time and streamline your social media marketing efforts by planning and scheduling your posts in advance.

In addition to the Social Media Poster, SEMrush provides several other social media marketing features. The Social Media Tracker allows you to monitor your social media performance and track your engagement metrics across multiple platforms.

With the Social Tracker, you can see how your social media campaigns are performing over time and identify areas for improvement. Just click “Social Tracker,” add your accounts, and you’ll be good to go!

As I covered earlier in this SEMrush review, the platform provides a paid social ads feature, which allows you to create and manage social media advertising campaigns directly from the SEMrush platform. You can use this feature to manage your ads and drive more revenue.

Competitive Analysis

Understanding what your competitors are doing in terms of link building, content marketing, and so on is crucial to success as a marketer.

SEMrush provides a variety of competitive analysis features that can help you gain insights into your competitors’ SEO strategies and identify areas for improvement in your own strategy.

One of the key features offered by SEMrush for competitive analysis is the Organic Research tool, which allows you to analyze your competitors’ organic search traffic and see which keywords they’re ranking for.

With the Organic Research tool, you can compare your website’s performance to your competitors’ and identify opportunities to improve your rankings and increase your organic search traffic. You can also see which keywords your competitors are targeting and use this information to optimize your own content strategy.

In addition to the Organic Research tool, SEMrush offers several other features you can use for analyzing competitors that I’ve already covered. For instance, the Advertising Research tool allows you to analyze your competitors’ paid advertising strategies and see which keywords and ad copy they’re using in their PPC campaigns.

The Backlink Analysis tool helps you analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles and see which websites are linking to them. You can use this information to identify new link building opportunities and improve your own backlink profile.

Lastly, the Keyword Gap tool allows you to compare your website’s keyword performance to your competitors’ and see which keywords you’re not ranking for that they are. With the Keyword Gap tool, you can identify new keyword opportunities and optimize your content strategy to target high-value keywords.

SEMrush Pros and Cons

Here are some of the pros and cons of using SEMrush:

Pros:

1. Keyword research: SEMrush offers one of the most comprehensive keyword research tools in the market. It allows users to find relevant keywords, analyze the competition, and identify new opportunities for their SEO strategy.
2. Competitive analysis: SEMrush’s competitive analysis tools help users understand their competition, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and develop effective strategies to stay ahead of the competition.
3. Backlink analysis: SEMrush’s backlink analysis tools help users identify the backlinks of their competitors, monitor their own backlink profile, and identify new opportunities for link building.
4. Site audit: SEMrush’s site audit feature helps users identify technical issues on their website, such as broken links, duplicate content, and other issues that can affect their SEO performance.
5. Social media management: SEMrush offers social media management features such as social media scheduling, analytics, and tracking to help businesses manage their social media presence more effectively.

Cons:

1. Pricing: SEMrush’s pricing plans can be expensive, especially for small businesses or individuals with a limited budget. Some users may find it difficult to justify the ongoing costs of the tool.
2. Learning curve: SEMrush’s interface can be overwhelming for new users, and it may take some time to learn how to use the tool effectively and get the most out of its features.
3. Limited data: SEMrush’s data is based on the search engines and regions it has access to, which may not be as accurate or comprehensive as some users would like. Additionally, some features, such as social media management, are not as comprehensive as dedicated social media management tools.
4. Focus on SEO: While SEMrush offers a wide range of features, its primary focus is on SEO, and some users may prefer a more all-in-one digital marketing solution that includes other channels, such as email marketing or PPC advertising.

SEMrush Alternatives

If you’re looking for tools like SEMrush, here are some options I’ve used in the past.

1. Ahrefs: A comprehensive SEO toolset that includes features such as keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis.
2. Moz Pro: A suite of SEO tools that includes keyword research, link building, on-page optimization, and site audits.
3. Majestic: A backlink analysis tool that allows you to track and analyze backlinks to your site and your competitors’ sites.
4. Raven Tools: A complete SEO platform that includes features such as keyword research, competitor analysis, on-page optimization, and link building.
5. SERPstat: A comprehensive SEO tool that includes keyword research, site analysis, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis.
6. BrightEdge: A content optimization platform that includes features such as keyword research, content analysis, and performance tracking.
7. CognitiveSEO: An all-in-one SEO toolset that includes features such as keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis.
8. SEO PowerSuite: A comprehensive SEO toolset that includes features such as keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis.
9. SpyFu: A competitive intelligence tool that allows you to spy on your competitors’ keywords, ad campaigns, and backlinks.
10. WebCEO: A complete SEO platform that includes features such as keyword research, site audit, rank tracking, and backlink analysis.

SEMrush Review Summary

Is SEMrush worth it? Absolutely. Like any other SEO suite, there are advantages and disadvantages but I can say from my SEMrush review and personal experience, it’s a great investment for digital marketers.

The platform has features for everything, like backlink building, social media scheduling, paid advertising, keyword research, website audits, and position tracking. It’s truly an all-in-one software.

It does have some limitations, though. The pricing can be steep for some customers, and its paid advertising and social media features are less than stellar compared to other tools.

If you want to take your marketing skills to the next level, check out my free and paid courses.