Semrush Review 2025: Complete Overview of Top SEO Tools and Features

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While hundreds of tools exist to help with different aspects of SEO, Semrush has almost everything necessary for search engine marketers in a single platform.

It’s certainly one of the most comprehensive SEO tools available in the market and is recommended by top marketers in the industry. But how good are those tools for your needs, and what can you achieve with them?

In this detailed Semrush review, I will discuss what the SEO platform offers and how it can help you achieve your SEO goals.

To begin with, let’s start with a short overview of Semrush, and then we can dive into detail of each of feature that make Semrush stand out from its competitors.

What is Semrush? – Overview

Semrush is an online visibility management platform used by businesses primarily for SEO tasks, including competitive research, pay-per-click campaigns, content optimisation, social media and more.

It offers an all-in-one suite of SEO tools that can help you understand your website’s performance, monitor your competitors, do keyword research and ultimately reach the right audience at the right time and through the right channels. The company was founded in 2008, and since then, it has become one of the most popular SEO platforms, with hundreds of thousands of customers.

Semrush offers an extensive list of tools to help you with all aspects of SEO. These include keyword research, competitor analysis, link building, analytics reporting, backlink tracking, and more.

The platform’s comprehensive suite of tools provides insights into the performance of your website, allowing you to make informed decisions about your SEO strategies. Additionally, Semrush makes it easy to find the right keywords for your website and monitor competitors’ activities.

It also offers a range of other features in the social media and paid ads space, which we will examine in the features section below.

Why Semrush? – Key Features

With its range of tools and capabilities, Semrush is extensively feature-rich. This can be both good or bad, depending on what you are looking for.

On the surface, Semrush can seem to be the jack of all trades covering everything from organic SEO to social media to writing and more. Nonetheless, the core tools and SEO capabilities of Semrush are outstanding enough to be the master in this category.

The amount of data on Semrush dashboards and features can be easily overwhelming for new users and there’s certainly some learning curve to be able to make sense of everything.

Let’s look at some of the key Semrush features and their use cases to help you decide if they are suitable for what you are looking for in your business.

1. Domain Overview: Domain and Website Analysis Tools

Semrush’s Domain analysis tool helps you quickly get an overview of any website from an SEO perspective.

If you had to choose one Semrush feature as your starting point, it would be the Domain Overview tool.

What Does Domain Overview Reveal?

Let’s say you are curious about analysing SEO aspects of your competitor’s website. Entering the domain name launches Semrush’s analysis, revealing several crucial metrics.

You can see some of the top metrics presented for the domain ‘google.com’ in the screenshot below.

We will look at some of the important metrics below, but here’s what you see that you should start considering;

Estimated Organic Traffic: Semrush provides a traffic estimate, giving you sense of the website’s overall popularity in search results. You can then compare this to another website’s traffic for benchmarking purposes.

Estimated Paid Traffic: If the competitor engages in paid advertising, you will get a glimpse into their potential keyword reach through pay-per-click campaigns.

Number of Backlinks: This crucial metric indicates the size of the competitor’s backlink profile, hinting at the strength of their link-building efforts.

Top Organic Keywords: Semrush instantly reveals a list of the competitor’s top-performing keywords. This is an absolute goldmine – I can spot lucrative target keywords and get a feel for the themes their content strategy revolves around.

Going Deeper: From Overview to Action

Each of the data modules within Domain Overview is clickable, seamlessly linking you to more detailed Semrush reports.

Investigating Keywords: Clicking on the “Top Organic Keywords” section takes you directly to that domain’s Organic Research report.

Here, you will see a massive list of their keywords, along with search volume, position changes, and even insights into keyword intent (informational, commercial, etc.). Using this, you can either reverse-engineer their content strategy or identify gaps in your own keyword selection.

Backlink Analysis: Clicking on the backlinks metric will take you to the Backlink Analytics report for that domain.

Here, you can analyze the quality and anchor text of their backlinks, again looking for insights into successful link-building strategies to emulate.

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Key Metrics to Look out for in Domain Overview:

At first glance, the Domain Overview might seem daunting, given the array of metrics and data points presented on the page.

However, these are precisely what make Semrush a powerhouse for SEO analysis. The overview page offers four critical metrics that serve as the gateway to deeper insights:

Let’s look into each of them briefly to solidify your understanding (Refer to the numbers in the screenshot above for their location).

1. Authority Score: This metric is a comprehensive indicator of a domain’s overall quality and SEO performance. It combines the trustworthiness of a domain, influenced by backlink data, into a single score.

As you can see in the screenshot, for highly authoritative domains like google.com, it’s 100 (a full score).

2. Organic Search Traffic: This is the heartbeat of SEO efforts. The organic search metric in the Domain Overview not only reveals the volume of traffic a domain garners from organic searches but also offers a peek into the detailed Organic Positions report.

This granular view into organic traffic, including keyword intent distribution, offers strategic insights into user behaviour and search intent targeting.

3. Paid Search Traffic: For those balancing SEO with pay-per-click (PPC) strategies, this metric offers valuable data on the estimated traffic from paid searches.

The ability to dive into a detailed Advertising Positions report from this metric allows for a nuanced understanding of a domain’s paid search landscape.

4. Backlinks: Backlinks are the backbone of SEO, and Semrush’s Domain Overview doesn’t disappoint in offering a quick overview.

Providing a count of total backlinks, with the option to explore them in detail, underscores the importance of a strong backlink profile for domain authority.

You can continue to explore more of the Domain Overview graphs and reports to find the data points you are interested in.

2. Keyword Overview: Keyword Research Tools

Another important use case of Semrush is for the overall process of keyword research.

Semrush’s keyword research tool allows you to to discover new search terms as well as related kewords that you can use to target with your content.

It offers a range of metrics for any keyword you might be interested in. Metrics including keyword difficulty and average monthly searches can help you refine keywords that you want to target based on your strategy.

For example, if you want to target low keyword difficulty with higher search volume, you can further use the filters available in the tool.

You can continue researching for more keywords with the related keyword suggestions generated by Semrush based on your initial search term.

It provides comprehensive data on 1. search volume (see number 1 in the screenshot for both volume in the selected location and Global Volume), 2. keyword difficulty, 3. Intent of search, 4. CPC, and more.

You can also use the tool with various filters and options to help you find the right keywords for your SEO campaigns.

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Keyword Research Tool Use Cases

Here are some of the use cases that I would recommend exploring with the Keyword research tool;

Identify high-volume keywords with low competition: Use the Keyword Difficulty filter to find keywords that are relevant to your business and have a low level of competition. This can help you prioritize your SEO efforts and focus on keywords that are more likely to drive traffic to your website.

Research your competitors’ keywords: Use the Organic Research tool to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for. This can give you insights into their SEO strategy and help you find new keywords to target.

Track your keyword rankings over time: Use the Rank Tracking tool to track your keyword rankings over time. This can help you see how your SEO efforts are performing and identify areas for improvement.

Generate content ideas: Use the Keyword Magic Tool to generate content ideas based on your target keywords. This can help you create content that is relevant to your audience and optimized for search engines.

The Keyword Research Tool can save you time by providing you with all the data you need to make informed decisions about your SEO campaigns. Semrush’s extensive database of keyword data is constantly updated to ensure accuracy.

Overall, I find the keyword overview tool easy to use, even for beginners. Its intuitive interface and clear instructions make it relatively easy to get the required insights for your keywords of interest.

3. Backlink Analytics: Linkbuilding Tools

Another key tool (or set of tools) that Semrush offers is backlink analysis, which allows you to analyse the backlinks of your own or your competitor’s websites. You can also use these tools to master the link building strategy.

Let’s dive into how you can use these tools to improve your website’s backlink profile.

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Backlink Audit: Detoxifying Your Backlink Profile

A strong backlink strategy starts with a clean slate. The Backlink Audit tool is designed to root out potentially harmful links that could be dragging your search rankings down. Here’s how it works:

Setting Up Your Audit: Starting a new audit is simple. Semrush allows you to choose whether to analyze your entire domain or just a specific subdomain.

To make the most of the tool, I usually opt for the full domain audit. Additionally, you can input your brand name, relevant categories, and target countries to help Semrush refine its analysis.

Reviewing Links and Toxicity Scores: Once the audit’s complete, you’ll be presented with a list of backlinks. Semrush assigns each link a Toxicity Score, giving me a quick gauge of their potential risk.

Clicking on a backlink reveals detailed toxic markers, highlighting specific reasons for the high score. Don’t forget, connecting your Google Search Console and Google Analytics accounts can provide a more nuanced view, sometimes reducing Toxicity Scores for links driving actual traffic.

Taking Action: Each backlink offers several action options: whitelist, move to a removal list, or add to the disavow list.

Semrush’s Profile Insights feature is incredibly helpful. It provides actionable recommendations regarding your backlink profile, directly linking you to relevant sections of the Audit tool to streamline your work.

Outreach for Removals: For links deemed toxic after thorough review, the “Removal” option lets you compile an outreach list. Here’s where the platform really shines – if you have an email address for the domain owner, you can initiate contact directly within Semrush, seeking link removal or a “nofollow” attribute.

Disavowal: The Last Resort: Occasionally, reaching out to site owners doesn’t work. In these cases, you can generate a properly formatted disavow file, instructing Google to disregard problematic links. This is a serious step, so please use it with caution, ensuring that you have tried other options first.

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Link Building Tool: Expanding Your Reach

With toxic links addressed, it’s time to secure new, high-quality backlinks, and that’s where the Link Building Tool comes in.

Setup: Enter relevant keywords you want to rank for and a list of your strongest competitors. Semrush uses this data to generate a vast pool of backlink prospects.

Prospecting: The “Prospects” tab breaks down potential backlinks by source (keywords, competitors, etc.). Semrush’s Authority Score and link ratings simplify the decision-making process. I find it helpful to prioritize domains relevant to my niche and with strong authority.

Outreach Made Easy: After selecting promising prospects, it’s incredibly convenient to connect my email within Semrush and initiate outreach. The email addresses are usually pre-populated, streamlining the process. If not, Semrush offers tips on finding contact information.

Monitoring Your Progress: The “Monitor” tab lets me track my link-building efforts over time, giving me a clear picture of my progress.

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Backlink Analytics: Benchmarking Against the Competition

Once your link-building campaign is rolling, Backlink Analytics will prove invaluable for assessing its effectiveness and comparing my performance to competitors.

You can analyze the overall Authority Score, backlink counts, and organic traffic of up to five domains side-by-side. This helps you spot successful strategies employed by competitors and areas where you can gain additional ground.

Semrush truly streamlines backlink analysis and management. Its intuitive interface, detailed scoring system, and in-app outreach capabilities offer a powerful combination that saves both time and headaches.

With their guidance, you can definitely improve your website’s backlink profile, boost search rankings, and continue to increase valuable organic traffic.

Semrush Ease of Use

With such a vast array of powerful features, it’s understandable that some users might find Semrush a little overwhelming, especially when first diving in.

That’s the common thread I see in online reviews, and honestly, I felt the same way when I first began exploring this SEO powerhouse. But fear not – Semrush goes to great lengths to guide you through its rich dataset, making your SEO exploration journey as smooth as possible.

Intuitive Design at the Core

Upon logging in, you’ll find the Semrush dashboard remarkably well-organized. You will have your own websites or websites of interest added as Projects to keep track of important details.

Each section tackles a specific aspect of your digital marketing efforts: Competitive Research, Keyword Research, Link Building, On-Page & Technical SEO… the list goes on.

Think of these as specialized rooms in the house that is Semrush, each room carefully designed to serve a distinct purpose.

Beyond the basics, you’ll discover even more focused zones for Local SEO, Advertising, Social Media, Content Marketing, and Trends. This clear structure creates a sense of order within the platform’s extensive capabilities.

Visually Appealing Data

Semrush understands that data is only as valuable as our ability to understand it. That’s why they’ve made significant strides in how they present information.

Features like the Backlink Network Graph and the Keyword Cluster Mind Map transform raw data into visually pleasing and readily-digestible insights.

This focus on visualization empowers you to quickly grasp complex SEO concepts with a single glance.

Learning on the Fly

While the intuitive design and visualizations go a long way, exploring the full spectrum of Semrush tools takes time and practice. Thankfully, Semrush provides excellent in-app guidance.

Hover your mouse over specific elements within the interface, and you’ll see handy pop-up explanations, eliminating the need to constantly navigate to help articles or external guides.

These streamlined explanations allow you to learn at your own pace without disrupting your workflow.

A Steep but Rewarding Learning Curve

Realistically, mastering Semrush’s full potential won’t happen overnight, especially for those new to the world of SEO.

However, give yourself a week or two of regular interaction, and you’ll soon be navigating the platform with the confidence of an SEO veteran. The thoughtfully designed interface, along with visualizations and in-app tooltips, make the process smoother and more intuitive.

Is Semrush the easiest SEO tool to pick up instantly? Perhaps not.

But does its depth of data, combined with intelligent design choices, make the learning curve less daunting and, ultimately, more rewarding for your SEO needs? Absolutely.

Semrush Pricing Plans

Choosing the right Semrush subscription comes down to your needs– you need the right level of support and features to tackle your unique goals.

Semrush offers three core plans, each designed for a different type of user. Here’s how I break it down:

Pro Plan: The SEO Starter Kit

If you’re a freelancer, blogger, or small business owner just dipping your toes into the world of SEO, the Pro plan is the most budget-friendly way to try out Semrush’s core features.

You’ll get access to essential tools for competitor analysis, keyword research, and limited on-page SEO insights.

Guru Plan: The Serious Marketer’s Choice

This is Semrush’s most popular plan, and for good reason. It’s ideal for growing businesses and ambitious marketers.

Guru unlocks more in-depth SEO tools, including Content Marketing toolkit features, historical data, and expanded limits. This is the plan I personally use for my business.

Business Plan: The Agency Powerhouse

Large agencies, e-commerce ventures, or anyone with an extensive web presence will likely find the Business plan a worthwhile investment.

This opens up API access, PLA research, the ability to crawl larger websites, and a greater allowance for users and reports.

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Subscription Pricing Plans Comparison

Here is the most general description of how subscriptions differ:

Pro	Guru	Business
⇢ Analyze Competitor’s Strategy (keywords, ads, backlinks) ⇢ Keyword Research ⇢ Link Building ⇢ On-Page & Technical optimization Insights ⇢ Project sharing	All in Pro plus: ⇢ Content Effectiveness Audit ⇢ Topic Research ⇢ Content Optimization ⇢ Compare performance ⇢ Cannibalizing pages tools ⇢ Historical Data ⇢ Google Looker Studio integration	All in Pro Plus: ⇢ Content Effectiveness Audit ⇢ Topic Research ⇢ Content Optimization ⇢ Compare performance ⇢ Cannibalizing pages tools ⇢ Historical Data ⇢ Google Looker Studio integration
Limits
⇢ 5 Projects  ⇢ 500 Keywords to track ⇢ 100,000 Pages to crawl ⇢ 10,000 Results per report ⇢ 250 Keyword metrics updates per month ⇢ 500 SEO Ideas Units ⇢ 5 Scheduled PDF reports	⇢ 15 Projects ⇢ 1500 Keywords track ⇢ 300,000 Pages to crawl ⇢ 30,000 Results per report ⇢ 1000 Keyword metrics updates per month ⇢ 800 SEO Ideas Units ⇢ 20 Scheduled PDF reports	⇢ 40 Projects ⇢ 5000 Keywords track ⇢ 1000,000 Pages to crawl ⇢ 50,000 Results per report ⇢ 5000 Keyword metrics updates per month ⇢2000 SEO Ideas Units ⇢ 50 Scheduled PDF reports
Price
Monthly subscription ⇢ $129.95/mo Annual subscription ⇢ $108.33/mo	Monthly subscription ⇢ $249.95/mo Annual subscription ⇢ $208.33/mo	Monthly subscription ⇢ $ 499.95/mo Annual subscription ⇢ $416.66/mo

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Choosing Semrush Plans: Which is Right for Me?

Semrush’s pricing page neatly lays out the core differences in feature access and limits across all the plans. However, translating these limits into real-world needs can be tricky. Here’s my take:

• Projects: Consider how many distinct websites or SEO initiatives you actively manage. Each project gets its own set of reports.
• Keywords to Track: If your keyword research revolves around a few hundred keywords, Pro might suffice. However, scaling up your content strategy means tracking more keywords, making Guru (or even Business) a wiser long-term choice.
• On-Page & Technical SEO: The Pro plan provides limited technical auditing features. For a deeper dive into site health, Guru or Business is necessary.
• Content Marketing: If content is central to your SEO strategy, the Guru plan’s Content Marketing toolkit features, like Topic Research and SEO Content Templates, are incredibly powerful.

Pricing: Monthly vs. Annual

Like most SaaS tools, Semrush offers discounted pricing for annual subscriptions, so if you’re ready to commit, it’s definitely the most cost-effective option.

Test Driving Semrush

The best way to figure out the ideal plan is to try Semrush yourself. Luckily, they offer free trials for both the Pro and Guru plans.

This allows you to explore the platform, get a handle on how limits apply to your workflow, and choose the subscription that best aligns with your SEO ambitions. Don’t hesitate to reach out to their support team if you have questions, they’re usually quite helpful.

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Personal Tip: Before committing to a subscription, carefully consider your SEO goals for the next 6-12 months.

Do you foresee needing to expand your keyword tracking significantly? Is comprehensive content optimization a priority?

Choosing a plan that allows for some growth will save you the potential hassle of upgrading mid-cycle.

Semrush Customer Service

While Semrush’s interface is sleek and intuitive, the amount of data presented in the dashboards can be overwhelming, especially for SEO beginners.

That’s where Semrush’s customer support shines, offering multiple approaches to help you navigate their powerful platform and unlock its full potential for your use case.

Onboarding Tailored to Your Needs:

Unlike some SEO platforms that bombard you with tutorials on every single tool, Semrush takes a smarter approach. They understand that you might not be interested in every single feature they offer.

Instead, Semrush provides targeted onboarding processes specific to the tools you’re using.

For instance, if you’re diving headfirst into backlink analysis, you’ll receive a curated email series with tips and tricks to optimize your link-building efforts using Semrush. This personalized approach ensures you’re not bogged down with irrelevant information and allows you to focus on mastering the tools that matter most to your current SEO goals.

For paid plans, the experience gets even better. A dedicated Account Manager will reach out to you to schedule a free training session. Such personalized interaction allows you to ask specific questions about your workflow and get a clear roadmap for maximizing Semrush’s capabilities within your business’s digital marketing strategy.

Self-service Support for the Go-Getters:

If you prefer to take charge of your learning, Semrush offers multiple self-service resources to explore in your own time.

The Semrush Blog: Widely regarded as one of the best marketing publications online, the Semrush blog boasts over 250 in-depth articles.

You’ll find a wealth of SEO tutorials, industry insights, and actionable guides to equip you with the knowledge to tackle any SEO challenge.

Semrush Knowledgebase: Need to find an answer quickly? The Semrush Knowledgebase is your one-stop shop.

This searchable database houses a comprehensive collection of articles, FAQs, and troubleshooting guides to address any technical issue or question you might encounter while using Semrush.

Semrush Academy: Level Up Your SEO Skills: As part of your Semrush subscription, you’ll gain access to Semrush Academy.

Here, you’ll find high-quality video courses led by industry-renowned marketing experts. Whether you’re looking to master technical SEO or craft a winning content strategy, Semrush Academy provides the perfect platform to elevate your digital marketing skills.

Personalized Support When You Need It Most:

Sometimes, you might encounter a situation that requires personalized assistance. Semrush offers two avenues for such scenarios: email ticketing and live chat.

The support team, available Monday through Friday, will respond to your email ticket within one business day. While 24/7 support might be ideal, especially for those working outside traditional business hours, the one-business-day turnaround is commendable, ensuring you’re not left hanging for days on end.

Finally, if you’re still on the fence about using Semrush or want a more personalized introduction to the platform, you can book a free demo. Here, a Semrush representative will walk you through the platform’s core functionalities and showcase how it can address your specific SEO needs.

Overall, Semrush’s customer support system offers a well-rounded approach, catering to both self-directed learners and those who prefer a more hands-on experience.

Semrush Alternatives – Looking at Competitors

There’s no shortage of SEO tools in the market, and Semrush has several competitors. If you’re looking into alternatives, some excellent options that might be worth considering include Ahrefs, Moz Pro, and Similarweb (see our Similarweb alternative guide).

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is one of the best competitors to Semrush and offers a great selection of tools to help you with SEO. It has an extensive keyword database and provides many useful features like site audits and content research. Ahrefs also offers comprehensive link-building data, which is more intuitive to explore compared to Semrush in my opinion.

While both Ahrefs and Semrush offer equally powerful SEO tools, I find that Semrush has more features included in their plans, offering the most value for money.

Nonetheless, there are some features where Ahrefs has a better implementation, and it’s not surprising to see many other SEOs using both of these platforms.

Moz Pro

Moz Pro is another popular tool for SEO and offers features like keyword research, link-building tracking, and competitor analysis. The platform also has a suite of tools that can help you with content optimization and social media engagement.

With my limited experience of using Moz Pro, I wouldn’t place it in the same league as Ahrefs and Semrush. It used to be really good with local SEO features and that’s what I mostly used it for.

Semrush Review Conclusion

To summarise this Semrush review, it’s not difficult to see why the platform is highly ranked and considered a must-have in the toolset of professional marketers.

Deciding whether it meets your business needs will ultimately come down to the specifics of what you are looking to achieve from an SEO tool, but Semrush certainly has a bit of everything that can enable you to implement and achieve SEO results.

Even if you aren’t fully convinced yet, I highly suggest giving Semrush a try, experimenting with the available tools, and taking time to decide for yourself.

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Our exclusive Semrush coupon offer makes it easy to try the extended trial version of the platform, giving you additional time to make an informed decision.