What is Semrush? The Plain English Guide to Semrush in 2023

Semrush is the world’s #1 SEO company that offers SEO software. 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving your website’s or business’s organic visibility in search engines like Google.

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. 

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Essentially, Semrush can help you grow your business using search engine optimization methods. If you’re curious about what is Semrush, 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. 

Let’s jump into the details without much ado.

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What is Semrush? What Is Semrush Used for? 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.

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.

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 2022, Semrush company has more than 1000 employees worldwide. It is currently used by over 10 million people and gives access to over 55 SEO tools under one roof.

Semrush also offers a 30-day FREE trial which you can grab from the link below.

Try Semrush 30 Days Free Trial

What Does Semrush Do? 3 Semrush Tools to Help Your SEO Plan

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 22 billion keywords.

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

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

Here’s what it looks like;

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

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

In case you want to find question-based keywords for your topic, you can also do that.

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 also 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.

If you’re looking to analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles and make comparisons between multiple domains side by side – Semrush Backlink Analytics tool is for you.

The best part? Semrush has the FASTEST backlink database.

Have a look at the following illustration.

See how fast is Semrush’s backlink database? Within a few minutes, you can find ALL the new backlink opportunities of ANY domain in the world.

Here’s what a domain’s backlink analytics on Semrush looks like;

See that? Just by entering a domain, Semrush Backlink Analytics tool will show you its in-depth backlink profile which shows you;

• Total number of backlinks
• Referring domains
• Estimated monthly visits
• Total number of keywords 
• Outbound domains

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

It also gives you access 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 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 along with suggestions on how to fix them.

All in all, Semrush site audit is an essential tool 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 review with 30 Days Free Trial if you want to grab its free trial and know more about the tool.

Common Semrush Terms

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 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 different unique websites that link 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 $99.95 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 a perfect choice for agencies and mid-size businesses. It costs you $191.62 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 features from the Pro plan along with Content Marketing Toolkit, historical data, multi-location and device tracking, GDS integration, and more.

3. Business: This plan is a great choice for large agencies and enterprises. The Business plan from Semrush costs you $374.95 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 30-day free trial which can be accessed using the following link.

Activate Semrush 30-Day FREE Trial (worth $119.95)

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:

Cons of using Semrush:

FAQs | What Is Semrush Used for?

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

Related Resources on Semrush:

Final thoughts on Semrush SEO software

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.