Tool Review: Semrush

09 June 2021
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by Archie Williamson
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5 mins
Tool Review: Semrush

“Semrush does wonders for the type of projects we work on. We find the competitor comparison analysis a fantastic starting point for almost any assignment. It’s a particularly big help when looking to see how our clients can distinguish themselves from the pack. The user interface is easy to pick up and the variety of tools it offers produces the results we are looking for. These tools include vastly more options than many of the other SEO tools on the market, and the depth of them, and specificity that we can narrow results down to, is pretty remarkable.”

Eain Quantrill, Head of Outreach, Atlas SEO.

Semrush is an online visibility management platform designed to help marketers to conduct keyword research, competitor analysis and other tasks for content marketing, SEO and advertising.

With a suite of more than 40 products packed with powerful features, Semrush is an all-in-one tool capable of supporting a range of marketing processes. According to the company, millions of professionals are already using the platform and around 30% of Fortune 500 companies rely on it as their “go-to” marketing tool.

Its “data is good, strategy is better” tagline is a perfect summation of what it can bring to a modern business. While access to big data is soaring, making sense of it and turning it into something tangible that can improve decision making is critical for companies trying to gain a competitive edge in marketing.

Semrush says its users can tap into the “world’s largest database” of keywords, ads and URLs. Users can crunch all of this data to get instant recommendations for SEO, content, and advertising, which can then improve rankings in search, the quality of blogs, and the user experience of a web page.

One of the major benefits of Semrush is that it is a one-stop tool for online visibility. That means you can research competitor’s keywords and strategies and gather SEO insights, then move onto your content creation and link building, before posting and managing everything on social media.

How easy is it to access the right tools?

Semrush makes it easy for marketers to find exactly what they need via tailored “toolkits” that feature workflow categories. The SEO toolkit has five main categories including keyword research and link building, in addition to a range of other tools and reports that provide further depth and insights. The five other toolkits cover:

  • Advertising
  • Content Marketing
  • Competitive Research
  • Social Media
  • Management

Depending on the task at hand, you can use a specific toolkit to build out your marketing campaigns and manage projects. If you are using Semrush for the first time, it may be preferable to partner with an SEO agency who knows how to deploy each of these tools effectively for a specific task – they can become increasingly complex as you delve into them.

For example, a reputable agency will be able to use Semrush to conduct a free website audit that details your current domain authority and keyword rankings so you can start improving your SEO strategies.

What are Semrush’s major strengths?

Manage and improve organic rankings

You can quickly see how your content is performing for specific keywords using the Keyword Overview tool. Here, you will be presented with a wealth of metrics including keyword volume, keyword difficulty, global volume, and a list of sites where keywords are ranking. This is just one of 18 tools within the SEO toolkit that can be used to see how visible your site is.

You can also identify keywords that competitors are using via the Keyword Gap tool, a handy service that offers an in-depth side-by-side comparison with rivals in your industry. All of this information is invaluable in the quest for better organic rankings.

Transform content marketing and SEO

Google is adamant that high-quality content is the single-most important factor for SEO success. You can use Semrush to find new topics and subtopics related to your products and services, before crafting keyword-targeted copy that is tailored for search engines and end-users. The link-building tool can also help you to acquire backlinks that increase the authority of your articles and blogs, which is something that can be used alongside a professional SEO service for link building campaigns.

Improve data analytics and reporting

Semrush has built-in reporting functionality that enables you to generate customised, detailed reports from the data you have collected. These can be exported and sent to team members quickly via email. Semrush also offers integration with Google Analytics and Google Search Console so you can get all of the latest, most relevant data within one hub.

Create PPC campaigns

The Advertising toolkit features workflows including Competitive Research and Ad Creation that can supercharge your pay-per-click campaigns if you want to complement organic SEO with paid strategies. Semrush has everything you need to plan, implement and monitor paid search campaigns with the PPC Keyword tool and CPC Map among those that can give you an edge when using search ads.

Analyse social media marketing

One of the smaller but no less useful toolkits on Semrush is related to social media where you can use Tracker and Poster tools to grow your business on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. You can use these features to track competitor’s accounts and strategies, as well as manage your cross-channel campaigns .

If you want to work with an agency that has mastered Semrush and knows how to use it to improve your content marketing and SEO campaigns, we are here to help, so contact us today.

SEO

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