Optimizely Web Experimentation vs. Semrush

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Optimizely Web Experimentation
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Whether launching a first test or scaling a sophisticated experimentation program, Optimizely Web Experimentation aims to deliver the insights needed to craft high-performing digital experiences that drive engagement, increase conversions, and accelerate growth.N/A
Semrush
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Semrush is a relatively popular search engine optimization tool set from the company of the same name based in Pennsylvania and founded in 2008. Largely the platforms relies on competitive intelligence, and features SEO staples like backlink checking, keyword analysis to refine SEO and PPC campaigning and locate low-cost / high-yield keywords, analysis of competitors who co-occupy desired ad and listing spaces, domain vs. domain analysis, as well as site audit and domain tracking. Semrush can…
$139.95
per month
Pricing
Optimizely Web ExperimentationSemrush
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Pro
$139.95
per month
Guru
$249.95
per month
Business
$499.95
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Optimizely Web ExperimentationSemrush
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional Details17% discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Optimizely Web ExperimentationSemrush
Considered Both Products
Optimizely Web Experimentation
Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
Better tools but more expensive
Semrush

No answer on this topic

Features
Optimizely Web ExperimentationSemrush
Testing and Experimentation
Comparison of Testing and Experimentation features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Web Experimentation
8.0
163 Ratings
5% below category average
Semrush
-
Ratings
a/b experiment testing9.0163 Ratings00 Ratings
Split URL testing8.5135 Ratings00 Ratings
Multivariate testing8.4139 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-page/funnel testing7.9126 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-browser testing8.197 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile app testing8.175 Ratings00 Ratings
Test significance8.4147 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual / WYSIWYG editor8.1133 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced code editor8.0125 Ratings00 Ratings
Page surveys6.217 Ratings00 Ratings
Visitor recordings8.418 Ratings00 Ratings
Preview mode7.6145 Ratings00 Ratings
Test duration calculator7.8112 Ratings00 Ratings
Experiment scheduler8.2112 Ratings00 Ratings
Experiment workflow and approval7.890 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic experiment activation7.574 Ratings00 Ratings
Client-side tests7.896 Ratings00 Ratings
Server-side tests7.250 Ratings00 Ratings
Mutually exclusive tests8.180 Ratings00 Ratings
Audience Segmentation & Targeting
Comparison of Audience Segmentation & Targeting features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Web Experimentation
8.2
152 Ratings
7% below category average
Semrush
-
Ratings
Standard visitor segmentation8.4147 Ratings00 Ratings
Behavioral visitor segmentation7.7122 Ratings00 Ratings
Traffic allocation control9.1144 Ratings00 Ratings
Website personalization7.8111 Ratings00 Ratings
Results and Analysis
Comparison of Results and Analysis features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Web Experimentation
8.3
149 Ratings
4% below category average
Semrush
-
Ratings
Heatmap tool9.313 Ratings00 Ratings
Click analytics8.833 Ratings00 Ratings
Scroll maps8.517 Ratings00 Ratings
Form fill analysis8.072 Ratings00 Ratings
Conversion tracking8.744 Ratings00 Ratings
Goal tracking8.2127 Ratings00 Ratings
Test reporting7.9137 Ratings00 Ratings
Results segmentation7.7103 Ratings00 Ratings
CSV export7.9102 Ratings00 Ratings
Experiments results dashboard8.049 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Web Experimentation
-
Ratings
Semrush
7.9
154 Ratings
3% above category average
Keyword analysis00 Ratings8.6154 Ratings
Backlink management00 Ratings8.3147 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking00 Ratings8.3150 Ratings
Page grader00 Ratings7.6129 Ratings
Competitive analysis00 Ratings8.5149 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics00 Ratings8.0150 Ratings
Site recommendations00 Ratings7.6139 Ratings
Task management00 Ratings6.691 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Web Experimentation
-
Ratings
Semrush
8.2
140 Ratings
8% above category average
Local SEO00 Ratings8.1128 Ratings
Social SEO00 Ratings8.0106 Ratings
Mobile SEO00 Ratings8.3113 Ratings
Global SEO00 Ratings8.2114 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
Optimizely Web Experimentation
-
Ratings
Semrush
8.5
125 Ratings
1% above category average
Multi-domain support00 Ratings8.2115 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools00 Ratings8.8119 Ratings
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Optimizely Web ExperimentationSemrush
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Score 9.9 out of 10
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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Dynamic Yield
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
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Score 8.5 out of 10
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User Ratings
Optimizely Web ExperimentationSemrush
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(253 ratings)
8.2
(154 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.4
(51 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(58 ratings)
8.0
(10 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(7 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(6 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(16 ratings)
9.9
(17 ratings)
Online Training
3.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(11 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Configurability
6.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(162 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Optimizely Web ExperimentationSemrush
Likelihood to Recommend
Optimizely
I think it can serve the whole spectrum of experiences from people who are just getting used to web experimentation. It's really easy to pick up and use. If you're more experienced then it works well because it just gets out of the way and lets you really focus on the experimentation side of things. So yeah, strongly recommend. I think it is well suited both to small businesses and large enterprises as well. I think it's got a really low barrier to entry. It's very easy to integrate on your website and get results quickly. Likewise, if you are a big business, it's incrementally adoptable, so you can start out with one component of optimizing and you can build there and start to build in things like data CMS to augment experimentation as well. So it's got a really strong a pathway to grow your MarTech platform if you're a small company or a big company.
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Semrush
This is suited to plan for keywords in a single market, but it struggles when you need to consolidate several markets. It is well-suited to discover new keywords directly related to the ones being used currently to expand the content the company is creating to get better results.
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Pros
Optimizely
  • The Platform contains drag-and-drop editor options for creating variations, which ease the A/B tests process, as it does not require any coding or development resources.
  • Establishing it is so simple that even a non-technical person can do it perfectly.
  • It provides real-time results and analytics with robust dashboard access through which you can quickly analyze how different variations perform. With this, your team can easily make data-driven decisions Fastly.
Read full review
Semrush
  • Great visuals for keyword position tracking, love that you can see the page that is ranking
  • Enjoyed the auto-generated reporting feature (specifically in the context of keyword position tracking)
  • Shows many different and useful views for competitive research
  • Great templated keyword research tools for those who are not as hands-on with SEO
  • I LOVE the Keyword Magic Tool for honing in on longtail, high-opportunity keywords
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Cons
Optimizely
  • JavaScript is hard to implement sometimes especially for JQuery elements
  • ROI reporting should be part of the overall experimentation reporting
  • CMP integration: where we can easily show status of test on the HPT request
  • CMS integration
  • More widgets like social proof banners, etc.
Read full review
Semrush
  • Extra seats can be expensive, as [an] agency with multiple team members this can be frustrating
  • Backlink data is not great, misses out a lot of backlinks (better off using a specialist backlink tool like Link research tools LRT)
  • Tracking multiple keywords, across multiple clients can be costly
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Likelihood to Renew
Optimizely
I rated this question because at this stage, Optimizely does most everything we need so I don't foresee a need to migrate to a new tool. We have the infrastructure already in place and it is a sizeable lift to pivot to another tool with no guarantee that it will work as good or even better than Optimizely
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Semrush
I [previously] used Semrush for many years and I cannot find any other tool being so complete and easy to use.
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Usability
Optimizely
Optimizely Web Experimentation's visual editor is handy for non-technical or quick iterative testing. When it comes to content changes it's as easy as going into wordpress, clicking around, and then seeing your changes live--what you see is what you get. The preview and approval process for sharing built experiments is also handy for sharing experiments across teams for QA purposes or otherwise.
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Semrush
The interface is a little less intuitive than it could be. The data is often available but filtering and manipulating the data can be a little difficult at times. Expanded comparisons would be helpful since most of the time seeing more than a few competitors at a time allows for a better sense of how to forecast.
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Reliability and Availability
Optimizely
I would rate Optimizely Web Experimentation's availability as a 10 out of 10. The software is reliable and does not experience any application errors or unplanned outages. Additionally, the customer service and technical support teams are always available to help with any issues or questions.
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Semrush
Semrush available when you need it!
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Performance
Optimizely
I would rate Optimizely Web Experimentation's performance as a 9 out of 10. Pages load quickly, reports are complete in a reasonable time frame, and the software does not slow down any other software or systems that it integrates with. Additionally, the customer service and technical support teams are always available to help with any issues or questions.
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Semrush
SemRush performs well with few errors!
Read full review
Support Rating
Optimizely
They always are quick to respond, and are so friendly and helpful. They always answer the phone right away. And [they are] always willing to not only help you with your problem, but if you need ideas they have suggestions as well.
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Semrush
I'm in a FB group for Semrush paid users and it amazing! They are fast to respond, take suggestions and help with questions. I have not felt alone in using this product at all. Highly recommend their support team. When I had an issue I can jump into the group and they will help get me the right person to help or even tag their programmers to look at something that is going on. Love the group!
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Online Training
Optimizely
The tool itself is not very difficult to use so training was not very useful in my opinion. It did not also account for success events more complex than a click (which my company being ecommerce is looking to examine more than a mere click).
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Semrush
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Optimizely
In retrospect: - I think I should have stressed more demo's / workshopping with the Optimizely team at the start. I felt too confident during demo stages, and when came time to actually start, I was a bit lost. (The answer is likely I should have had them on-hand for our first install.. they offered but I thought I was OK.) - Really getting an understanding / asking them prior to install of how to make it really work for checkout pages / one that uses dynamic content or user interaction to determine what the UI does. Could have saved some time by addressing this at the beginning, as some things we needed to create on our site for Optimizely to "use" as a trigger for the variation test. - Having a number of planned/hoped-for tests already in-hand before working with Optimizely team. Sharing those thoughts with them would likely have started conversations on additional things we needed to do to make them work (rather than figuring that out during the actual builds). Since I had development time available, I could have added more things to the baseline installation since my developers were already "looking under the hood" of the site.
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Semrush
I did it by myself and do not have a comment!
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Alternatives Considered
Optimizely
The ability to do A/B testing in Optimizely along with the associated statistical modelling and audience segmentation means it is a much better solution than using something like Google Analytics were a lot more effort is required to identify and isolate the specific data you need to confidently make changes
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Semrush
We have used both Ahrefs and Semrush extensively at our agency and Semrush remains the tool of choice. We find that Semrush has the largest selection of tools & features to use, with the highest accuracy, and provides top-tier analysis recommendations. It's really is the ultimate all-in-one tool when comparing other performance measurement tools in the digital marketing space.
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Scalability
Optimizely
We can use it flexibly across lines of business and have it in use across two departments. We have different use cases and slightly different outcomes, but can unify our results based on impact to the bottom line. Finally, we can generate value from anywhere in the org for any stakeholders as needed.
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Semrush
Semrush is flexible and scalable software which can be deployed across multiple departments and sites as needed.
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Return on Investment
Optimizely
  • We're able to share definitive annualized revenue projections with our team, showing what would happen if we put a test into Production
  • Showing the results of a test on a new page or feature prior to full implementation on a site saves developer time (if a test proves the new element doesn't deliver a significant improvement.
  • Making a change via the WYSIWYG interface allows us to see multiple changes without developer intervention.
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Semrush
  • Using Semrush on behalf of our clients, we have seen some impressive growth in organic visibility, traffic, conversion and revenue, across multiple industries.
  • The site checks available with Semrush have helped us to pitch and sell our services, securing new clients.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Optimizely Web Experimentation Screenshots

Screenshot of AI-Powered Experimentation with Opal:

- Instant Test Ideas: Generates high-quality A/B test ideas based on any goals and audience insights.
- Smarter Experimentation: The AI can suggest impactful variations, reducing guesswork and increasing test velocity.
- More Than Just Ideas: From hypothesis generation to analyzing results, Opal helps optimize every stage of the experimentation process.Screenshot of the Web Experimentation Visual Editor :

- Tweak experiments using the visual editor or dive into custom code when needed.
- Modify elements, update styling, or add dynamic behaviors.
- Ensure perfect variations while keeping control over every detail of the experiment.Screenshot of AI Content Suggestions:

- Generates copy variations to supercharge experiments.
- The AI suggests high-impact messaging for tests when hovering over a field.
- AI-powered content suggestions help skip the brainstorming process.Screenshot of Advanced Audience Targeting:

- Delivers personalized experiences by targeting users based on behaviors, attributes, and real-time conditions.
- Defines precise audience segments using first-party data, geolocation, and device type.
- Can test and optimize for different audience groups to maximize impact and engagement.Screenshot of Custom Templates in the Visual Editor:

- Offers pre-built templates for common test setups.
- Standardized variations and maintains brand integrity with reusable templates.
- Templates can be customized visually or tweak them with code for full flexibility.Screenshot of the Web Experimentation Results Page:

- Data visualizations help interpret experiment performance.
- Displays which variations are winning with built-in statistical significance calculations.
- Results can be filtered by audience segments, events, and conversions to uncover key trends.