Item: Semrush
Rating: 10
Author: Mark Tietbohl

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are a small organization specializing in strategy, positioning, competitive analysis, and go-to-market strategies. We also assist with the customer experience. At GSA, we use SEMrush across the entire organization for competitive analysis, comparison to competitors, uncovering keywords (organic and paid), traffic analytics, as well as projects for our site.

Pros and Cons

Competitor comparison
Use as an evaluation for pre-client meetings
Paid and Organic Keywords
Comparing backlinks with competitors and uncovering toxicity
Site Audit is fantastic
Brand Monitoring is amazing
Love the up-yo-date support

It can be a challenge to pick up at first, but the tutorials, on line materials and mouse over help on the screens make it easy to pick up.

Return on Investment

It has helped me to be better prepared for meetings going in with a better understanding of the company
It has helped me better educate my students related to SEO
I have a better understanding of what SEO professionals expect

Alternatives Considered

I have used ahrefs and MOZ in the past, but it was handled by other people and I was one of the business leads. ahrefs is very solid in certain areas of links, but SEMrush has a very deep database and that is part of the appeal. They also have a solid connection to Google. which is a plus and a very solid support system.

Key Insights

Do you think Semrush delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Semrush's feature set?

Yes

Did Semrush live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Semrush go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Semrush again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Google Search Console, Tableau Desktop

Likelihood to Recommend

Projects: I run a project on my own website, one for WVU, and have a variety of other projects from time to time. Since I am not an agency, but a marketing strategist, I usually do not have access to their social and to their Google Analytics. However, even without that, it is amazing what I can find out about sites. I can see the state of their site (Site Audit) and can find other issues related to suggestions to improve their site (On-Page SEO Checker), can monitor their brand and key industry keywords and see the status of their links.

But what I really like is the left navigation bar, especially the SEO and Advertising sections. I will often get a better understanding of a company by taking their URL and running it through the various categories under each of these sections. SEMrush will often suggest competitors, but I can also choose my own. Looking at keywords (organic and paid) as well as backlinks is incredibly helpful to me. It tells me the focus of not just the company I am running but also the competitors. There are times when I will take one of the specific competitors and run them through the process as well.

SEMrush: Simply Amazing!

Overall Satisfaction with Semrush