Item: Semrush
Rating: 8
Author: Katie Wojciechowski

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In this role, I used Semrush for keyword research to help determine Article topics for the editorial team Headers, title tags, meta data, and body copy for "core" informational landing pages on the site Keyword-rich templated title tags and headers for e-commerce pages I also used it to track and report on rankings for high-value keywords and those we selected/incorporated. Additionally, I used it to track our competitors' rankings for those same keywords. I also used it for higher-level industry research to get a better idea of the competitive landscape. Occasionally I used the platform to look at site health metrics and other technical data, but not on a super consistent basis.

Pros and Cons

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

The auto-generated reports don't get nearly as specific with drilled-down info as I would like. It seems the options are broad but shallow. Especially compared to how good some of the visuals and tables are in-app.
Some of the views/research features (like Organic Research/Keyword Gap) are a little redundant in my opinion.
I wish keywords for Position Tracking weren't so expensive
Some of the keyword data from Google - like volume - is slow to update, so you may be seeing data that is weeks old, which in certain scenarios can be a hindrance.

Most Important Features

Keyword research
Competitor reporting
Keyword position tracking

Return on Investment

Got up to 50k monthly click-throughs to site
Ranked #1 for a keyword stakeholders had particular interest in

Alternatives Considered

Moz Pro

Honestly, Semrush is the only product like it that I've used extensively. Although I have used Moz free version before and didn't love it.

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?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Semrush go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Semrush again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Google Search Console, Google Data Studio

Likelihood to Recommend

Semrush is not perfect, but in my experience, it's the one-size-fits-most SEO tool I would recommend to almost anyone (who works on a team/does not mind upgrading to a paid version). It's great for diverse teams - there are features that are basically plug and play, like the Content Marketing tools, that may be good for some team members, while more experienced SEOs can find a lot of value as well from research tools like the Domain Overview tool to take a deep dive into competitors. I'd say research and tracking functions are where Semrush shines. The reporting features will get the job done, but a lot of the data views are much more restricted in the generated reports than they are in-app, which I found annoying. I got a lot of questions in meetings about what some reporting data meant because the options were limited - ie, a "competitor organic performance" metric that was only month-over-month, and super vague, whereas in the app you could look at week-over-week, drill down on metrics, etc. The free version is just okay. I recommend this more for someone whose team is willing to pay for at least the Business level. A lot of the better, more unique functions, like Position Tracking for more than 10 keywords, costs more.

"Sehm-rush" or "Ess EE Em Rush" - either way, it gets the job done!

Overall Satisfaction with Semrush