Anyone who has ever created a website where getting organic traffic is important, such as a blog, affiliate marketing or e-commerce site, knows how important SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is, and how difficult it can be despite what all the online gurus tell you. Not only do you need to create relevant keyword research and back-links, but you need some kind of analytic tool to track your progress. SEMrush is one such tool.
When you first visit the SEMrush website, you will have an opportunity to download a free 55-page SEMrush Ranking Factors study PDF. I would recommend starting here to learn about all the features that are offered. Also, they have an extensive YouTube video library that would be worthwhile to examine before deciding if it is worth the monthly investment.
Packages start at $99.95/month with a free 7-day trial. My first thought upon browsing the packages was, “why would I not just use Google Analytics for free instead?”. At first glance it appears that SEOrush taps into Google for it’s data but offers many more usable features to improve your SEO. Because of brevity concerns, I’ll just cover the basic features of this service and refer you to their YouTube channel for more detail.
In the free PDF, SEOrush describes itself as “a SaaS (Software as a Service) product used by over 1,500,000 marketers worldwide” and later goes on to state “SEMrush has grown into an all-in-one marketing suite consisting of more than 30 tools and reports that help companies market better online”.
Anyone who has used Google tools to analyze and improve their website SEO knows that it’s very non-intuitive and navigating all the tools means keeping open multiple pages such as Trends, Analytics, Search Console and AdWords. SEMrush seems to lay out everything on one page seamlessly. Among the 30 tools that SEMrush offers are content marketing tools that help you write articles that are SEO friendly or improve articles you have already written, keyword and topic research tools, competitor analysis tools and lead generation tools. It offers much more than Google and would take quite some time to master all that’s available. One feature that I thought was pretty cool is that they have an anti-plagiarism tool that scans the internet for similar content.
Another benefit of SEMrush over Google is that they have many educational resources such as a blog, webinars and their own academy where you can become SEO certified. And if that’s not enough, they also have phone, chat and email support.
So the question remains, is SEMrush worth subscribing too? My opinion is that it IS worth it if coughing up 100 bucks a month is not a hardship. They also have available packages for larger businesses that cost up to $400/month. But if you are starting a website on a shoestring budget, I suggest opening a Google account first and familiarize yourself with all the tools they have to offer.