What is Semrush? Definition With Pros & Cons [2024 Edition]

Semrush is the world’s #1 SEO company, offering SEO software used by over 10 million people worldwide.

Semrush’s software helps you do this by helping you come up with topic ideas, create content, track website visitors, and grow your overall search traffic. 

Essentially, Semrush is an all-in-one SEO tool suite for improving online visibility. If you’re curious about what Semrush is, its uses, and what it could do for your business, this post is just for you.

Plus, we’ll give you a little history of Semrush and how it has helped shape the SEO industry. 

What is Semrush? Why do 10+ Million Users Use it?

What is Semrush?

Semrush is an all-in-one SEO software that offers over 55 SEO tools under one roof. You can do almost every SEO-related task, including keyword research, website audits, keyword rank tracking, brand monitoring, competitor analysis, and more with Semrush.

Here’s what the Semrush interface looks like;

As you can see above, you’ll find all its tools on the left side, along with your website details, such as;

• domain analytics
• keyword positions
• organic traffic
• referring domains, etc

If you’re searching for a powerful SEO toolkit – Semrush is what you need! Also, Semrush is one of the first companies to offer software as a service (SaaS) for SEO.

Looking for more details about this tool? Read our in-depth Semrush review to find our 8+ years of experience with the tool.

What can you do with Semrush?

With Semrush, you can do ALMOST every search engine optimization task, including;

• Find relevant and hidden keywords for ANY topic
• Track your keyword rankings performance over time
• Analyze your competitor’s websites and find out their traffic and backlink sources
• Audit your own website for technical SEO issues that are preventing your site from getting more traffic
• Track your website’s organic and paid traffic performance
• Monitor your social media performance and brand mentions online
• Create solid content and optimize it for search engines and the list goes on

Semrush also offers a 14-day FREE trial, which you can grab from the link below.

Try Semrush 14 Days Free Trial

Want to know the brief history of Semrush? Let’s find out.

Semrush Background: Who Owns Semrush?

Semrush was founded by Oleg Shchegolev and Dmitri Melnikov in 2008. 

Before launching Semrush, Oleg and Dmitri released Seodigger, which was then renamed to SeoQuake Company in 2007.

In 2016, Semrush reached its BIGGEST milestone of one million customers in 100+ countries.

As of 2023, Semrush company has over 1000 employees in 13 offices worldwide. It is currently used by over 10 million people and gives access to over 55 SEO tools under one roof.

What Does Semrush Do? 3 Major Features

Semrush is a powerful marketing platform that offers everything from keyword research to backlink analysis, rank tracking, and more.

If you’re curious to find out the KEY features of Semrush, this section is for you. Here are THREE significant tools from Semrush that you can use to build and grow your website or online business.

1. Keyword Magic Tool

Semrush has the world’s BIGGEST keyword database, with over 25 billion keywords.

That means you can easily find new ranking opportunities for almost ANY topic. 

Using the Keyword Magic tool, you can easily analyze each keyword’s total search volume, average difficulty, and intent.

Here’s what it looks like;

As you can see, the Semrush keyword magic tool suggests over 5.6K keywords for our example keyword.

You can also sort those keywords with;

• Broad match
• Phrase match
• Exact match
• Related 

For every topic or keyword term, you’ll get the following keyword metrics;

• Keyword suggestion
• Keyword intent
• Search volume 
• The trend for the keyword
• Keyword difficulty score
• Total search results
• Search features and much more

Using their keyword tool, you can also easily find question-based keywords for your topic.

To find question-based keywords, enter any topic or keyword and click on the “Questions” tab.

Have a look;

See that? Once you click on the “Questions” tab, you’ll get a list of question-based keywords that contain your seed keyword.

You can filter keywords by including/excluding keywords, search intent, word count, etc.

Here’s what it looks like;

As you can see above, you’ll find various filters to exclude unwanted keywords. Here are a few filters you need to know;

• Word Count filter allows you to find long-tail keywords.
• Cost-per-click and Competitive Density filters can help you find PPC keywords.
• Volume and Keyword Difficulty filters can help you find easy-to-rank and profitable keywords.
• Intent filter is useful for sorting and analyzing keywords by a specific intent type. 

All in all, the Keyword Magic tool from Semrush is the ONLY keyword tool you’ll ever need to find highly profitable keywords in your niche.

2. Backlink Analysis

Semrush probably has the largest backlink database in the world, as it has over 43 trillion backlinks from over 1.6 billion domains.

The Semrush Backlink Analytics tool is for you if you’re looking to analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles and compare multiple domains side by side.

The best part? Semrush has the FASTEST backlink database.

Here’s what the backlink analytics looks like;

As you can see above, you’ll find the backlink profiles of ANY domain, including;

• total referring domains
• total number of backlinks pointing to a site
• authority score, including its trend
• the overall toxic score of backlinks and much more

Also, Semrush updates its backlink database regularly. Have a look at the following illustration;

You can also find all the NEWLY acquired backlinks pointing to any domain.

Here’s what it looks like;

As you can see, you can find the domains linking along with their authority score, anchor, and target URL.

So if you’re looking to find your best link building opportunities with the largest and fastest backlink management tool – Semrush Backlink Analytics tool is exclusively for you.

You can also use Semrush’s backlink checker to analyze sponsored and user-generated content on any domain or website.

Here’s what it looks like;

As you can see, you can find the domains;

• Backlink types (text links, image links, etc)
• Link attributes (dofollow links, sponsored links, UGC links, etc)

In a nutshell, the Backlink Analytics tool is the most powerful SEO tool that you can use to find link building opportunities, keep an eye on your competitors’ backlinks, find toxic links of any domain, etc.

3. Site Audit

Are you struggling to increase your website’s organic traffic even after publishing content regularly?

Then, your website might have technical issues.

Here’s where you need a site audit tool.

Fortunately, Semrush offers a site audit tool that helps you find and fix your website’s SEO issues and improve your search rankings.

With the Site Audit tool from Semrush, you can scan any website for over 140 technical site health and SEO mistakes.

Here’s what the site audit looks like;

As you can see, the Site Audit tool helps you find your website health by showing you all the errors, warnings, and notices that your website has.

It also gives you access to thematic reports that include;

• Crawlability issues
• HTTPS issues
• Core Web Vitals
• Site performance
• Internal linking issues
• Markup issues and more

Once you find those issues, start prioritizing those detected issues and fix them to start getting more traffic from Google.

The best part about the site audit tool from Semrush is that it also suggests how to fix your website issues.

Have a look;

As you can see, once you click on the “Issues” tab, it will show you all the errors or warnings your website has and suggestions for fixing them.

All in all, the Semrush site audit tool is essential for every website owner who wants to find and fix their SEO issues and grow their search traffic from Google.

Looking for more tools offered by Semrush? Check out our Semrush Free Trial post to grab its free trial and learn more about the tool.

Common Semrush Terms (Semrush Glossary)

Here’s a breakdown of the standard terms you’ll access while using Semrush. 

• Authority Score: Authority Score is Semrush’s proprietary metric used to measure the overall quality of the domain. It is based on the number of backlinks, referring domains, organic search traffic, etc.
• KD% (Keyword Difficulty): It shows you how hard it would be for a website to rank organically in the Google top 10 for the analyzed keyword. 
• CPC (Cost Per Click): It shows you the average price advertisers pay for a user’s click on an ad triggered by a given keyword (Google Ads).
• Competitive Density: The level of competition between advertisers bidding on a given keyword within their PPC campaigns.
• SF (SERP Features): SERP features are any results on a Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) that is not a traditional organic result. 
• Network Graph: It shows the domain’s backlink network.
• Toxicity Score: A website’s Toxicity Score shows you the number of toxic backlinks leading to an analyzed website or domain.
• Referring Domains: This shows you the number of unique websites linking to a domain or website you’re looking at.
• Semrush Rank: It shows you the domains that get the most traffic from organic searches.
• Anchors: It shows a breakdown of the most commonly used anchor text in a domain’s backlink profile.

How Much Does Semrush Software Cost in 2023?

So, what’s the pricing of Semrush software? Semrush offers the following THREE pricing packages.

1. Pro: This is the affordable plan from Semrush which costs you $108.33 per month (if billed annually) and is suitable for beginners and small teams. This plan offers the following limits.

• 5 projects
• 500 keywords to track
• 10,000 results per report

With this plan, you’ll get access to all the necessary tools including competitor analysis, keyword research, website audit, advertising and social media tools, and more.

2. Guru: This plan is perfect for agencies and mid-size businesses. It costs you $208.33 per month (if billed annually) and offers the following limits.

• 15 projects
• 1500 keywords to track
• 30,000 results per report

With Guru, you’ll get all the Pro plan features, Content Marketing Toolkit, historical data, multi-location and device tracking, GDS integration, and more.

3. Business: This plan is great for large agencies and enterprises. The Business plan from Semrush costs you $416.66 per month (if billed annually) and offers the following limits.

• 40 projects
• 5000 keywords to track
• 50,000 results per report

With the Business plan, you’ll get all the features from the Guru plan along with extended limits, API access, PLA analytics, and more.

Want to try Semrush?

Semrush offers a 14-day free trial, accessed using the following link.

Activate Semrush 14-Day FREE Trial (worth $108.33)

All the Semrush plans come with a 7-day refund policy. That means if you decide to cancel or downgrade your subscription within the first seven days, you’ll get a full refund. For more details, check out our detailed comparison of Semrush Pro vs Guru vs Business where you’ll find the differences between each of their plans.

Pros & Cons of Semrush SEO Toolkit

Pros of using Semrush:

• You’ll get access to 55 tools under one platform along with white-label PDF reports
• Access to over 25 billion keywords for keyword research
• It provides a HUGE database of 43 trillion backlinks for backlink research and analysis
• Access to historical data
• Product Listing Ads
• Multi-user management
• Offers a 14-day free trial
• Track your keywords on desktop and mobile
• Get actionable tips to create SEO-friendly content
• Track brand mentions
• Find the best-performing keywords for your PPC campaigns
• Schedule and post content on social media platforms 
• Automate client reporting 
• You can conduct an in-depth website audit based on 130+ checks
• Create and track your PPC campaigns
• Analyze any website in the world to find its traffic, brand mentions, backlink sources, and more

Cons of using Semrush:

• There’s a big learning curve with Semrush, as it offers over 55 tools in one place.
• It is bit expensive when compared to its competitors including Moz Pro, Serpstat, etc.

FAQs | What Is Semrush Used for?

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about the Semrush tool.

Related Resources on Semrush:

• Top 10 BIGGEST Benefits of Semrush SEO Tool
• Semrush Coupon: Grab Your 14 Days Free Account
• Ubersuggest vs Semrush: Which is Better In 2023?

Final thoughts on Semrush definition

No matter what your SEO needs including content marketing, competitor research, PPC, and social media – you can use Semrush to get all those things done from one platform.

You don’t need to invest in multiple tools, as Semrush offers 55 amazing tools. Also, Semrush is extremely easy to use and has many free resources on its website.

What are your thoughts on Semrush SEO software? Did you find it helpful? Have any more questions about it? Let us know in the comments.