Semrush: The key to online visibility

    Up until recently, I’ve had very limited knowledge about Web analytics and search engine optimization (SEO). While I feel more comfortable with these topics than I previously did, there is still more I can learn. This is where Semrush enters. Semrush has been a complete eye-opener to the world of SEO. I was introduced to this program less than two weeks ago and now have a basic understanding as to why so many marketers utilize this tool. Since not everyone is familiar with this program, I am looking forward to sharing my experience and new found knowledge with it in the upcoming weeks. Let’s begin!

What is SEMrush?

    Semrush is “an all-in-one tool suite for improving online visibility and discovering marketing insights” (Semrush, 2021). According to Semrush, marketers working in the following services would benefit from using the program:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Pay-per-click (PPC)
• Social media marketing
• Keyword research
• Competitive research
• Public relations
• Content marketing
• Marketing insights
• Campaign management

Why use it?

    Semrush makes it easy for marketers with limited knowledge in SEO to improve their rankings and online visibility. If that isn’t reason enough for a marketer to use the program, it also can help them find valuable keywords, understand the competition and earn valuable backlinks (WebFX, n.d.). Marketers start by creating a project on Semrush. Once a project is created, it takes the marketer to their Dashboard which features all the tools seen below. Each of these tools has functions that can help a marketer improve their search engine results page (SERPs).

Reprinted from Semrush. (2021). Dashboard: semrush. Retrieved from Semrush: https://www.semrush.com/projects/#/5150195/view/

What I’ve learned so far?

    As I mentioned previously, SEMrush is very new to me so I’ve only explored a few tools so far. The three tools that I have already worked with are from the first row on the Dashboard. You can see below that I have used the Site Audit Tool, Position Tracking and the On Page SEO Checker. I’ve created a project for the brand Kombrewcha as I am currently working on an academic assignment for them.

Reprinted from Semrush. (2021). Dashboard: Kombrewcha. Retrieved from Semrush: https://www.semrush.com/projects/#/5150093/view/

According to Semrush (2021), the Site Audit Tool is a “powerful website crawler that allows users to analyze the health of a website.” This website crawler scans all the pages on a Website and provides businesses or marketers with a list of issues that could be affecting that site’s SEO. In order to improve a Website’s SEO, a business should take into account the issues the website crawler found and work to fix them immediately. Semrush (2021) then breaks these issues down into three categories which are:

• Errors,
• Warnings,
• Notices.

Errors are the most pertinent issues a business needs to work on, followed by warnings and then notices. While Semrush (2021) states that notices are not considered issues, the program still recommends fixing them. The Site Audit Tool is a great first step after creating a project. It provides users with the most basic and pertinent information needed to improve SEO of a Website.

    The next tool I worked with was the Position Tracking Tool. Position Tracking allows a user to “track a website’s daily rankings for a custom set of target keywords” (Semrush, 2021). What I found to be the greatest asset of this tool is that a user is able to narrow the ranking down by geographic location and/or by device type (desktop, mobile, tablet). This customization of ranking can show a business how well a specific campaign is doing with a certain target market. A business or marketer can also track campaign-specific keywords or keyword phrases to see where their brand is ranking.

    Finally, the On Page SEO Checker was the last tool that I’ve worked with. I chose this tool because it “offers a complete and structured list of things you could do to improve the ranks of pages on your website” (Semrush, 2021). It provides a user with “on-page SEO ideas, semantically related words to include on its pages, target content length and readability, and backlink prospects” (Semrush, 2021). With semantic search becoming more utilized nowadays, this is a great tool for businesses to use. Semrush makes it extremely easy for me to see issues on certain pages. It also provided me with ways to fix and improve those pages. It doesn’t get any simpler than that!

Final Thoughts

    I still have a lot to learn with this program, but I can already tell how useful it is going to be in the future. What I loved most about it was how informative each page and section was. A user is able to hover over a specific word or an italicized ‘i’ and be provided with a description as to what that section provides and/or means. Semrush (2021) provides marketers with tools to help improve their brands “online visibility” while discovering new marketing insights. Whether it is for SEO, content marketing, social media marketing or pay-per-click (PPC), Semrush has the necessary tools to help.

 

I look forward to taking you all through my journey with Semrush and exploring this awesome platform together so don't forget to subscribe! If you have any questions or advice, please feel free to drop them in the comments below.

 

References

Semrush. (2021). Dashboard: Kombrewcha. Retrieved from Semrush: https://www.semrush.com/projects/#/5150093/view/

Semrush. (2021). Dashboard: semrush. Retrieved from Semrush: https://www.semrush.com/projects/#/5150195/view/

Semrush. (2021). On Page SEO Checker. Retrieved from Semrush: https://www.semrush.com/kb/292-on-page-seo-checker

Semrush. (2021). Position Tracking. Retrieved from Semrush: https://www.semrush.com/kb/32-position-tracking

Semrush. (2021). Site Audit. Retrieved from Semrush: https://www.semrush.com/kb/31-site-audit

Semrush. (2021). What is Semrush? Retrieved from Semrush: https://www.semrush.com/kb/995-what-is-semrush

WebFX. (n.d.). What is SEMrush and Why Should I Use It for My Business? Retrieved from WebFX: https://www.webfx.com/internet-marketing/what-is-semrush.html