Semrush

At Seyfmark, SEMrush is one of the tools we use for our clients. We use this tool more for backlinking/competitor backlink research and they have a robust reporting feature that it makes it easier on our end to send highly detailed metrics to our clients.

Pros: serves our objectives

Cons: We could do more with it

Pros: Automated

Cons: New algorithm needs to be updated

Pros: I don’t really use it as much, but it shows me everything I need to see at a glance.

Cons: Difficult to navigate if you don’t know a thing or two about SEO/terminology.

I use this for all aspects of SEO from backlink analysis to rank tracking and keyword research.

With other all-in-one SEO platforms, I have found that the individual tools aren’t as accurate as other more dedicated platforms, however with SEMRush, this simply isn’t the case. Each tool is comprehensive, easy to use and regularly updated.

The only downside is the price. As Freelance Digital Marketing Specialist of JCS Digital, I think the basic level pack is OK for freelancers, but if you’re managing a large number of projects, you’ll need the Guru package which will cost almost $200/month.

When I am asked about ‘all in one’ SEO software, I would recommend – SEMrush. For the SEO work of my website Online Turf, we personally moved to SEMrush several years ago. One of my favorite features of SEMrush is its gap analysis tools. These features allow me to enter several domains and measure the keyword & backlink gap between each domain. This is great for finding new keyword & backlink opportunities that I may have missed that my competitors are taking advantage of.

In my search for the best optimization tools, I always seem to stay with my favorites, namely SEMRush. SEMRush gets a hands-down for robust offerings of reports, scaling, and dependability of data. SEMRush encapsulates everything I need to do competitive research, keyword research, trends, site audits, and more for my website ACA Web Consulting.

I work for an in house marketing group(Bay Area Christian Church) that does marketing for several religious and community service nonprofit organizations. We use SEMrush to manage our SEO strategies. 

What do I like?

• Tons of great metrics including backlink analysis, content gap analysis, and more
• Keyword gap analysis lets me see where our competitors are outranking us 
• Backlinks for top ranking pages on competitor sites gives us insights as to what content to create, as well as who to reach out to for backlinks.
• Affordable, especially with the nonprofit discount

What don't I like?

• Somewhat clunky interface. Not intuitive in some instances.
• Difficult to create a workflow, since some of the tasks are somewhat detached from each other 
• Missing key features available from competition like ahrefs, such as youtube search data and backlinks in organic research report.

The tool I use most in my business (Web Focused) is SEMrush. With it, I'm able to see the exact search terms any website is ranking for, where it appears for those terms in search results, and how much traffic it's receiving from them. There are only a few tools out there that provide this information, and SEMrush is my personal favorite due to its level of detail and ease of use.

In addition to competitive (and general) keyword research, I regularly use both their Site Audit and Position tracking tools as well. Their Site Audit tool scans an entire website and reports on a wide range of technical issues that may be hindering both its' search engine rankings and overall user experience. Their Position tracking tool allows you to track positions (i.e. "rankings") for specific search terms on a daily basis. There are a LOT of tools that offer rank tracking - many of which come more bells and whistles - but I prefer the simplicity and accuracy of SEMrush for this task.