14 Semrush Benefits That Make It The Best SEO Tool

You’ve heard SEO specialists hype Semrush as the best SEO tool, and you are now curious to learn about its benefits to see if it works for you.

Well, you are in the right place because as a blogger, I use Semrush for keyword research and other SEO tasks. So, I’m in the best position to explain Semrush’s benefits to you.

In this article, we will look at 14 of them based on my experience as a blogger. I started with the Semrush free account and leveraged the 30-day free trial to see what the paid plans offer before I upgraded to Semrush Pro. 

Semrush Benefits: 14 reasons it’s the top-notch SEO tool you need

1. Detailed Keyword Report 

Semrush gives a well-detailed keyword report about a keyword you target. On your dashboard, using the Keyword Overview or Keyword Magic Tool, get all the reports you need about a keyword.

 For example, you got to know the search intent which could be informational, navigational, commercial, or transactional. You also see the search volume, keyword difficulty( KD), cost per click ( CPC), number of results on Google, and other key metrics that help you decide if you can target such a keyword. 

In addition, Semrush has an advanced filtering option that helps you modify your research to uncover target keywords you can easily rank for.

For example, you can use the KD and volume filtering option to pull keywords with low difficulty and high monthly search volume.

In the end, you can select all the keywords you have identified and add them to a list or even export them to a spreadsheet.

These features are what make Semrush stand out from its competitors like Google Keyword Planner when it comes to keyword research.

2. Simplified Site Metrics 

One of the challenges beginners to SEO face is understanding their site metrics. Semrush understands this and that was why it brought all your site metrics in one place. So, at a glance, you get an idea of the performance of your site.

To confirm this, leverage the Semrush free account and create a project by adding your domain. Within a few seconds, Semrush shows your website metrics in a single dashboard.  Or you can use the Domain Analytics feature to view the metrics of your domain in one place.

Some of these metrics are:

• Organic keywords – number of keywords you rank on Google 
• Position tracking – keywords you track and the position changes that occur
• Organic traffic – number of organic visitors your site got within a specific period of time
• PPC ads  – If you run Google ads, you see the number of clicks it gets within a period of time
• Backlink audit – backlinks you gave acquired including toxic links you should disavow 

Semrush provides these metrics for you to know if your SEO strategy is working and to know where to up your game.

3. Traffic Analytics Made Easy

If you’re one of those that complain of Google Analytics being too complex to understand in terms of traffic analytics, rejoice because Semrush Traffic Analytics is here. It does the heavy lifting by analyzing your website traffic or your competitor’s. 

No need to toggle different tabs. Just go to Traffic Analytics under Domain Analytics and enter your domain or that of your competitor. 

Look at the screenshot below.

You will see Semrush giving a detailed overview of a site’s traffic in a way that a beginner can understand. 

From the above, you see the following:

• Visitors
• Unique visitors 
• Page/visits
• Average visit duration 
• Bounce rate
• Audience insight
• Traffic source 

And lots more

If you do this for your competitor’s sites, you’re indirectly stealing their data from Google Analytics or Oribi which helps you strategize on how to outrank them.

4. Develop A Strong Content Marketing Strategy 

To rank on Google and drive massive traffic, you need a content marketing strategy that can outdo your competitors. Semrush has the Topic Research Tool which you can use to generate content ideas.

From the content ideas, you create topic clusters that are key to ranking for competitive topics in your industry and also position your site as an authority in a particular niche. And if you subscribed to Semrush Guru Plan which has a Content Marketing Tool Kit, you empower yourself to launch and manage SEO content campaigns that will yield returns on investment.

5. Provides Core Features You Need To Do Client SEO

If you do client SEO, Semrush offers different features and tools that help you deliver quality jobs to your clients.

To start with, you can create and manage SEO projects for different clients. Being on any of the paid plans allows you to manage from 5 to 40 SEO projects simultaneously. Another is the Semrush add-ons and one of them is the Semrush Agency Growth Kit.

With the Growth Kit, you can white-label your service, a sort of branding. Semrush lists your services in their directory of certified agencies which means that brands can easily trust your services.

6. You Discover Lucrative Advertising Opportunities 

Brands spent a lot of money on ads through Google Adwords. And it’s bloggers like you that the ads are displayed on their blogs. Semrush has a tool called Ads History which you can use to uncover brands that run ads using Google Adwords and lucrative keywords they target.  Next is to try and rank for these keywords provided they are in your niche. And then reach out to brands that bid for them to display their ads on your blog. 

This will earn you more than Google AdSense where you get a small chunk of the amount advertisers pay for a keyword. 

7. Develop An Effective Link Building Strategy 

No matter what some SEOs say about links, it’s still a key factor that influences ranking if done the right way. To rank for competitive and lucrative keywords in your industry, you need to build quality links that will move the needle. And it begins with developing an effective link-building strategy. 

Using Semrush Backlink Analytics, you can gain insight into your competitor’s link profile to see where their juicy links come from and think of ways to also acquire links from the same domains.

You can also use it to analyze the links your site has acquired with the aim of disavowing toxic ones that can hurt your rankings. 

8. Create SEO Friendly Template For Content

After doing your keyword research and having settled on a topic to write, Semrush can create an SEO-friendly template that will let you write content that is optimized for search engines.

On your Semrush account, navigate to SEO Content Template and enter the target keyword. Within a few seconds, Semrush generates a template for you. 

Semrush recommends lists of semantically related words that should be in your content. It also suggests the word count, readability target, and source of backlinks of competitors that rank for it just like Surfer SEO does. 

With the insights Semrush provides, you can analyze how your competitors optimize for these keywords without leaving your Semrush interface. Then take a clue and see how you can outdo them when writing your content.

9. You Can Track Your Past And Current Rankings For A Keyword 

While you try to rank for new keywords, you shouldn’t lose grip on keywords you already rank for. Otherwise, your competitors can outdo you, and you lose rankings meaning loss of organic traffic, potential leads, and sales. Semrush has a tool that automatically tracks the performance of keywords that are important to your business.

With Semrush’s Position Tracking Tool, you keep an eye on your lucrative keywords, their rankings, position, trends, organic traffic distribution, etc. All these inform you of when to optimize your page to maintain rankings.

10. You Can Spy On Your Competitors

If you’re a new brand that wants to leverage SEO to grow, you must spy on your competitors, especially established brands, to see what they are up to.

 Let’s assume that an established brand like Colgate ranks for the keyword ‘ tooth decay prevention. It will be an exercise in futility for you to target such keywords without uncovering the strategy that placed them on the first page for such keywords. 

First is to use Semrush’s Organic Research Tool to identify your direct competitors and keywords that drive most of their traffic. Then use the Keyword Gap Tool of Semrush to compare your keyword profile and your competitors to uncover keyword gaps in your site and theirs. Then create content that fills in such gaps as a strategy to outrank them.

11. You Have Access To More Functionalities 

Semrush understands that you may want more functionalities apart from what you get on Semrush pricing plans. That’s why it created Add-ons which give you access to more functionalities to scale your SEO. You incur additional costs using them, but it’s worth the value you derive. Some of them are:

• Impact Hero Add-on – To optimize your content for various stages in a customer’s journey.
• Semrush Agency Growth Kit  – To brand your services to clients. 
• Trends Add-on – Get insights into marketing trends that affect organic traffic, user engagement, and audience behavior.
• Local SEO Add-ons – Establish a huge presence on Google Maps, so target customers can easily find and interact with your business.

12. You Can Use It For Other Digital Marketing Tasks Apart From SEO

Beyond SEO, Semrush has tools for other aspects of digital marketing like social media and PPC (Pay Per Click). You can use social media analytics to track and analyze the performance of your social media content. There is also Semrush PLA ( Product Listing Ads) feature which is available on Semrush Business Plan. It’s for you to spy on your competitors for Google shopping ads.

If you’re a brand that runs ads to sell products on Google, you will find this feature valuable.

13. Easy To Use

As someone that uses Semrush, I found it easier to use compared to its competitors like Ahrefs and Moz. You don’t have to be tech-savvy as most of the basic features are self-explanatory. Where you will find it a bit confusing as a beginner is when you dive into advanced and sophisticated functionalities like historical data, and looker studio integration.

14. It Offers Free Account &  Trial

Apart from having pocket-friendly plans that range from $119.95/month to $499.95/month, Semrush also has a free account. So, there is no reason not to have a feel of what Semrush offers. Although the free account comes with lots of limitations, you can still do keyword research and get a report limited to 10 results. You can also track up to 10 keywords per month and analyze up to 10 domains daily using the domain overview tool. 

You can also try Semrush Pro and Semrush Guru for 30 days without paying. The idea is for you to explore their features and see if they meet your requirements before you commit to any of them. 

 Keep in mind that the Semrush 30-day free trial requires that you enter your billing details before you can start. And to avoid Semrush charging your account at the end of the free trial, I recommend that you cancel the free trial on the 28th day. That’s if you aren’t ready to subscribe to a paid plan. 

Read this article where I compared Semrush Pro, Semrush Guru, and Semrush Business.

Now let me show you the strategy I used to derive maximum value from the Semrush Pro 30-day free trial before I decided to subscribe to the monthly plan.

Having explored the Semrush Pro in the first two days and discovered that the features are worth the hype, I quickly did keyword research targeting low competition, and moderate search volume lucrative keywords. I identified over 70 of them with 20 being related keywords which I used to develop topic clusters to gain topical relevance in 2 topics. 

I exported them to Google Sheets and sorted and saved them. Next was to run a site audit to identify technical issues with my site and fix them using recommendations from Semrush. 

I also analyzed my competitors to uncover their overall SEO strategy and most importantly pick content gaps and close them. 

This was enough to get my SEO going for 6 months before I started making money from my blog and subscribed to the Semrush Pro monthly plan.

You, too, can do the same if you don’t have the budget at the moment to pay for any of the premium plans of Semrush.

It’s not all rosy with Semrush as there are a few disadvantages to keep in mind.

Disadvantages of Semrush 

• Gives you data for Google only 
• Pricing isn’t affordable for beginners on low budget 
• Some features especially on the Semrush Business Plan can be difficult to use for a non-tech-savvy users

FAQs on Semrush Benefits

Let’s answer the core questions you ask that relate to Semrush benefits and reasons you should use this SEO tool that has over 10 million users that have already tried it including brands like IBM, Samsung, Walmart, Tesla, etc.

Is Semrush worth the money?

Yes, Semrush is worth the money. As a top SEO tool, it offers basic and advanced tools you need to scale your SEO. Whether you are a blogger, affiliate marketer, small business, SEO/content marketing agency, large business, or enterprise, there are features that suit your needs.

Why is Semrush the best SEO tool?

It offers valuable features SEOs need to compete favorably in the search engine market. It has add-ons and an app center for you to acquire additional features, pricing plans are affordable according to your need, and it offers a free trial apart from its free account. Above all, it’s a bit easy to use and generous when it comes to data reporting compared to its competitors.

Do you really need Semrush?

Yes, you need Semrush to get your SEO right. You can’t guess your way to the top or just copy what first-page ranking sites are doing without first understanding their strategy. Semrush helps you uncover all these plus make recommendations you need to outdo them.

Final thought on Semrush benefits 

For the last few years I have been using Semrush, and I can tell that it offers more value than other SEO tools I have tried. 

The benefits are far beyond what we discussed here. This is not to say that there aren’t downsides to it which I mentioned above. It’s an SEO tool you should have in your stack if you want to stay long in the SEO game. 

Agreed, the pricing plans may be expensive, but the features are worth it to ensure you get a higher return on your investment. You can start with the free account or try the Semrush Pro or Semrush Guru 30-day free trial to have a first-hand experience.