Semrush Review for SMBs and Solopreneurs
Is Semrush accurate (and useful) for SMBs, individual marketers and solopreneurs? Things to know before you invest…
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Many people consider purchasing Semrush for its SEO functionalities, but the platform goes way beyond that.
As an all-in-one tool, it’s user-friendly but also has a notable learning curve before most SMBs can fully grasp what they’re getting.
Demo the platform for yourself with a 7-day Semrush free trial.
Semrush is one of the top providers in SEO marketing and analytics. However, I’m not surprised that you’re combing through Semrush reviews, trying to figure out if this specific tool is the one for you.
With so many providers out there – all offering the same, yet different sets of SEO tools – it’s extremely challenging to figure out if Semrush is worth it for your business.
In this review, I want to focus on the usability and practicality of Semrush features, plans and tools – particularly when it comes to small or medium sized businesses (SMBs), individual marketers and solopreneurs.
Most importantly, I’ll aim to answer questions like, “Is Semrush worth it for businesses with limited resources? Is it accurate? Is it too complicated for me?”
If you’d rather jump in and see the platform for yourself, you can sign up here.
Criteria Affecting This Semrush Review
Businesses of all sizes choose Semrush over competitors. However, a significant portion of their clients are SMBs, individual marketers and solopreneurs… but that doesn’t mean this tool is necessarily the right fit for them.
So, as I write this Semrush review, what am I considering for SMB and solopreneur readers?
The technical complexity of Semrush: More data, more features and more in-depth analysis doesn’t always mean “better” for smaller businesses.
The useability of Semrush information and recommendations: When a small business owner or individual marketer logs into their Semrush account, is the information actually usable and actionable for them? Or, is Semrush ideal for more advanced professionals and large businesses with the ability to hire experts?
The learning curve for new Semrush users: As a small business owner myself, we’re an ambitious bunch, but learning a new tool can eat up a ton of our precious time!
The application of Semrush tools: Many small business owners need to know if the tools they’re investing in are applicable to their needs. Can Semrush accomplish what you want it to? Is using this software tool sustainable and useful long-term?
We will get into all these topics coming up!
As an experienced SEO copywriter and SEO writing instructor, I have experience with all sorts of digital marketing tools. So, let’s see how Semrush stacks up.
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My name is Amanda. I am an expert SEO copywriter who has been in the SEO game since 2017.
A large portion of my services include creating SEO content (e.g., SEO blogs, SEO landing pages) and SEO marketing materials for clients in various industries. While a bulk of my work focuses on creating on-page content, I also help clients create content marketing strategies that capture audiences during various stages of a marketing funnel.
I also teach other writers how to write for SEO as an SEO writing instructor. And within our training program, we dive deep into on-page SEO tactics, technical SEO and keyword research, which includes the use of various tools.
Beyond SEO, I’ve written many successful PPC campaigns, social media ad campaigns and more. Why does that matter? Keep reading this Semrush review to see what other non-SEO tools are offered by Semrush.
What Is Included in a Semrush Subscription?
Many people recognize Semrush for their SEO capabilities. However, Semrush actually offers way more than that! This was something I didn’t realize until I really started working within the platform, especially for client projects and teaching other SEO writers.
Let me help you start to wrap your head around everything that Semrush offers within their subscriptions. They offer a few different tiers, each with their own thresholds and feature limits, so check out the most updated Semrush plans here.
Semrush SEO Tools
Photo courtesy of Semrush platform.
When you sign up for Semrush, one of the first steps they encourage you to do is analyze the SEO-effectiveness of your own site to identify low-hanging fruit.
These are instances where you may be ranking on page 2, and your content just needs a little more “oomph” to get on the first page (even into the top spots).
One thing I really like about the Semrush SEO tools for this use case is that you can really filter down on the adequate volume, low competition keywords.
Semrush lets you filter keywords based on difficulty (so you can pick extremely easy and fairly easy keywords) and desired ranking spot (which actually may NOT be in the top 10).
Here are some notable Semrush SEO tools I want to highlight for SMBs and solopreneurs.
The Semrush SEO Content Template
Photo courtesy of Semrush platform.
This tool takes the keywords and topics you find and conducts competitive research for you.
It will look at the top 10 ranking websites for that keyword and generate a list of recommendations about what to include in your content and how to outperform them.
If you’re working with an experienced SEO writer, you could (quite literally) create a content brief from this auto-generated list of recommendations and send it to your writer.
This would eliminate much of the bottlenecks that SMB owners and managers run into: Yes, you’ve got SEO writers to offload the content writing task, but someone from your team has to give them clear, correct and accurate directions for them to succeed.
Many SMBs understand that leveraging writers to create their content is advantageous, but then their in-house team is spending so much time on competitive research, creating content briefs and editing.
When a client I’m working with uses Semrush, they often copy and paste Semrush insights into the brief, and it works for everyone!
The Semrush SEO Content Template will also give you a list of semantically related keywords, (which is more bang for your buck), recommended readability, recommended text length and what sites to acquire backlinks from.
The Semrush Backlink Gap Tool
Speaking of backlinks…
When you hire an SEO writer – especially the more experienced ones who choose to focus on their craft – many will not offer backlinking services. It is simply not within their scope.
That means you have to find yet another professional to research and solicit backlinks and/or add another task to your to-do list.
With the Semrush Backlink Gap Tool, you can contact site owners directly from Semrush for a backlink inquiry. There is no need to solicit these sites yourself on your own time. Such a relief!
The Semrush SEO Content Creator
Semrush’s Content Creator can take all the relevant SEO information about your site, competitors and desired topic and will automatically generate content for you.
Or, you can paste in existing content that you have already created, and it will make suggestions. This particular feature is not available in certain subscription tiers, so be sure to check the Semrush pricing page for the most up-to-date information.
Semrush Local
Semrush does offer the industry standard when it comes to tracking changes in how you rank. However, if you own a local business, you can track how you’re ranking, even within certain zip codes.
This special focus on local SEO is so important for businesses that don’t operate solely online. Semrush Local is one of the special features that makes this tool stand out from competitors.
Semrush Keyword Research Tools
Not to be confused with Semrush’s suite of SEO tools, advanced Semrush keyword research tools are also available.
Like most other keyword research tools, you can research billions of keywords to find what’s profitable for your business.
However, Semrush also gives you great insights into user intent – which as an experienced SEO writer and SEO writing instructor myself – addressing user intent is now more important than the keywords themselves!
In fact, solving a user’s intent within your content is now one of the biggest ranking factors, even more so than making sure your main keywords show up enough.
Nowadays, you have to understand and write content for user intent, NOT keywords. While other SEO providers offer insights about keyword intent, Semrush goes deeper than competitors.
The Semrush Keyword Gap Tool
One of the most insightful and helpful Semrush keyword research tools is the Keyword Gap Tool. It measures what keywords and opportunities overlap between your site and competitor sites.
The benefit? This information can help you identify missed opportunities on your site, and target those opportunities to outrank competitors.
The Semrush Keyword Magic Tool
Another Semrush keyword feature I like in particular is something called the “Keyword Magic Tool.”
Photo courtesy of Semrush platform.
Yes, other SEO tool providers will give you detailed insights about any keyword or phrase you type in. That’s standard.
However, with Semrush, you can also sort these keywords and analyze them from different angles, which will ultimately help you in a few different ways:
It helps you create more unique content: Having a special “angle” creates more interest within the content. Plus, this angle can significantly improve your click-through rates in search engine results pages.
It helps you better address specific user intents: You can get extremely granular and better address the needs of your audience, especially if your competitors are taking a more mainstream approach.
It helps you create content for your most profitable audience: When you can identify the angle of your ready-to-convert audience, you can tailor your content to satisfy their needs, rather than appeasing the people who aren’t ready to convert.
It helps you avoid wasting time on less profitable or unprofitable angles: As you’ll see within the Semrush platform, you’ll notice that certain angles are less popular, nonspecific or downright incorrect for your audience. You can avoid creating content that addresses those angles.
It saves time by narrowing down your search for a targeted keyword list: Creating the right keyword list is difficult and time consuming! Or, it can be quick but you risk generating the wrong keywords, defeating the purpose of high-converting content altogether.
It helps you pinpoint long-tail keywords (usually questions your audience is asking): Long-tail keywords are great for SEO and addressing specific audience intent, but finding the exact phrases can be difficult, especially if you’ve already exhausted other methods to finding long-tail keywords like Google’s “People Also Ask” section.
The Semrush Topic Research Tool
This tool primarily helps with topic ideation. It’s most useful for SMBs and solopreneurs who are not totally aware about what topics your audience is interested in.
If you don’t have the resources to conduct extensive market research, you need all the help you can get. Semrush will categorize various topics and angles based on what is being searched. It will also give you quick insights about search volume and additional keywords to consider.
Semrush Competitive Research Tools
Overall, these Semrush functionalities help you better understand your audience and the competitive landscape you’re in.
For example: Within the Semrush platform, you can type in a competitor website’s URL and gain insights into what is working for your competitors (and how your content compares, if applicable).
If you’re not totally sure who you’re competing against from an SEO perspective, Semrush will generate a list for you.
You can also learn what kinds of audiences your competitors attract and HOW they’re attracting them (via traffic volume, traffic sources, most visited pages, audiences, etc.).
This is helpful for newer online businesses who need some insights about their ideal target audience – or, if you’ve tried digital marketing in the past, but you’re not getting the right kinds of traffic (AKA traffic that will often become your customers).
Semrush Social Media Marketing (SMM) Tools
Another big draw to using Semrush compared to other tools is their social media marketing (SMM) tools, all of which are accessible within the Semrush platform. But please note, some of these features are unavailable or limited depending on your chosen Semrush subscription.
Within the platform, you can track engagement and compare your metrics to competitors. With Social Poster, you can also post and schedule new content and even reply to comments.
Semrush SMM tools eliminate the need for multiple social media tools to “talk” to each other, which also eliminates the headache and saves time for your small team.
The Semrush BuzzGuru App
There’s just one SMM tool I’d like to highlight since it is pretty unique to the Semrush offerings.
Within the Semrush App Center (more on that below) you can take advantage of a tool called BuzzGuru. This tool falls into both SMM and PPC.
In essence, you can go to one platform to discover and connect with social media influencers who would complement your marketing campaigns. This eliminates the need to scroll through social media and DM random influencers yourself.
Semrush PPC Advertising Tools
Photo courtesy of Semrush platform.
Just like the Semrush organic SEO tools, you can also gain detailed insights about your ad performance and those of your competitors.
For those selling products on Amazon, you can optimize your product descriptions with a connection within the Semrush App Center.
The Ecommerce Keyword Analytics app helps you identify the best, most profitable keywords that will draw more customers directly to your products.
See all the Semrush PPC features and tools here.
Semrush App Center
The Semrush App Center is a marketplace for third-party integrations. It allows users to connect specialized tools to their Semrush account, streamlining workflows and providing access to niche functionalities beyond the platform's core offerings.
This customization helps users tailor the platform to their specific digital marketing needs.
Additional Insights About Semrush
Now, let’s take a high-level overview of Semrush. When we look at all the Semrush products, features and plans, what makes it stand out?
“User-Friendly” Platform
I put “user-friendly” in quotations because the visual look of the platform itself is very clean and color coded. However, the extensive functionalities and detail that the platform provides can be very overwhelming, especially for new users and people who are not familiar with comparable tools.
The user interface is by no means outdated or difficult, but Semrush packs in so much information. In some cases you have to hone in on what exactly you're looking for.
To remedy this, I highly recommend watching all tutorial videos and product overview videos at the outset. You’ll get a high-level view of everything that is included. Then, you can start poking around the platform and inputting your own website’s information.
Depth and Breath of Information
As I’ve hinted several times in this Semrush review, Semrush is saturated with data and information, which is great if you know what to do with it...
If you’re not experienced in the world of SEO and digital marketing, you may start using Semrush and be a little overwhelmed by all the information available. That’s normal and okay! It may take some time getting used to the platform and understanding how to set up relevant alerts and filters.
However, once your preferences, domain and competitors are set up in the platform, much of the work is complete. All you have to do is review the reports that come in.
More Semrush FAQs from SMBs and Soloprenuers
Here are some questions I’ve heard business owners ask. I’ve also had some of these myself when working within the Semrush platform!
What Does Semrush Actually Do?
Semrush is best known for its SEO functions (e.g., keyword research, competitor analysis). However, Semrush goes beyond just SEO.
It's designed to support a wide range of marketing activities, including:
Improving Search Engine Rankings: Semrush helps you optimize your website to rank higher through detailed site audits, backlink analysis and keyword research.
Content Creation and Optimization: Semrush provides insights on readability, SEO-friendliness, originality and even tone of voice. It's great for ensuring your content resonates with your audience and performs well.
Data-Driven Decision Making: Semrush pulls together a lot of online data, allowing you to understand market trends, competitor strategies and customer behavior. This helps you make informed marketing decisions.
Local Business Growth: Semrush has tools to manage online listings and track local rankings, helping you attract more nearby customers.
Agency Client Management: Semrush streamlines client management with audit tools, reporting features and campaign management capabilities.
Competitive Market Penetration: Semrush helps you analyze competitors and find opportunities to gain a market advantage, even in a competitive market.
Content Creation for New Websites: Semrush can provide the data needed to create content that has a chance to be found in search. Plus, you’ll know you’re publishing the best content from the start.
Content Improvement for Existing Websites: Semrush provides the data needed to improve existing content and outrank the competition.
Essentially, Semrush gives you the data and tools you need to improve your online visibility, drive traffic and achieve your marketing objectives. It's a comprehensive platform that can be valuable for businesses of all sizes, but even for SMBs.
Can Regular SMB Owners and Solopreneurs Handle Semrush?
Yes, but there will be a learning curve (just like with any tool). By “regular,” I’m referring to business owners who don’t have an extensive background in SEO.
For an SMB or a local business, Semrush will definitely provide all the insights you need, and even extra information.
If you follow the training videos and know what you’re looking for, Semrush gives you a fast, easy and very informative perspective about where you stand in terms of SEO, PPC and more.
In order for SMBs to leverage the full depth and breadth of Semrush’s offerings, you may need to dedicate time to understanding each tool. Or, you can hire additional professional help to offload some of the analytical tasks and content creation.
Can I Hand Off My Semrush Account to an SEO Professional to Work on Behalf of My Company?
Yes! While many SEO experts rant and rave about Ahrefs, Semrush also provides very detailed insights that professionals can easily use to help your business improve its online visibility and marketing effectiveness.
If you want to hire an experienced SEO professional or team, the Semrush platform will be very easy for them to use. And if you want to hire a less experienced SEO professional (to save on costs), they’d still be able to leverage your Semrush account as well.
Compared to other online digital marketing tools, Semrush offers a happy medium between user-friendliness and more in-depth data insights.
Does the Semrush Tool Create Ready-to-Publish Content?
It can. As I mentioned before, an additional step you can take from the SEO Content Template is having Semrush generate new content or annotate your existing content. The process is very easy – but as AI writing tools are notorious for – the content is almost always pretty lousy.
More and more people are now able to easily identify if the writing was written by AI, mostly because AI has a signature tone, sentence structure and mediocrity – even if you add prompts to make it more original.
Business owners and marketers need to be very careful of what AI content creators spit out. And almost always, they lack any ounce of thought leadership or authority on a subject, which is an important ranking factor.
Many AI writing tools – including those from Semrush – need a lot of work in order to use the content they create. If you still want to leverage Semrush’s AI content generator, I strongly suggest that you also have the content optimized by a real, human, experienced writer. Doing so will ensure your content is indeed original, readable and decorated with the authority you need to actually rank higher.
Does Semrush Help with Technical SEO?
Yes! In fact, the Site Audit tool is specifically designed for this. One of the main perks is that it works faster than Google, which can take weeks to analyze a new page you recently published. The Semrush Site Audit tool is readily available to conduct 140+ technical SEO checks and can check up to 100,000 site pages (dependent on your Semrush plan/subscription).
Compared to other SEO tools, which do offer similar site audits, Semrush is a little more detailed than others. However, other SEO tools, especially those used by SEO professionals, offer even more technical focus.
Even though Semrush comes in at the middle of the pack for technical SEO needs, what I like about it is that you can subscribe to periodic (e.g., weekly) reports that will alert you when your site health changes. This is perfect for smaller teams or solopreneurs, because you don’t have to schedule manual self-checks. The tools will automatically monitor and alert you of changes.
What Support Does Semrush Offer for New Users?
Like I mentioned before, any business tool you choose will have a learning curve. In my experience, Semrush can seem overwhelming at first, especially if you don’t have a basic understanding of all the tools and functionalities available in your Semrush plan.
However, Semrush users can gain more clarity within the Semrush Academy, which is chock full of tutorials and walkthrough videos. You can also search relevant topics on their blog and within Knowledge Base, which is a mini search engine of Semrush support.
How Much Do Semrush Subscriptions Cost?
For the most up-to-date Semrush pricing information, check out their website.
However, like many tools, you can grab onto some savings when paying annually versus monthly. They have a Semrush Pro, Guru and Business plan – all of which offer many of the core functions and additional features when you enroll in the higher-priced plans.
Semrush Pricing
Compared to other SEO and digital marketing tools, Semrush can be more expensive than others. However, Semrush also provides more insights and capabilities than other tools.
To cut back on Semrush pricing, many of their additional features are optional, so you won’t have to pay for tools you don’t need. Luckily you can still gain valuable insights, even with a Semrush free plan or the lower tier options.
Semrush Review: The Takeaways
While I can’t make any decisions on behalf of your business, I hope you found my Semrush review insightful and helpful.
In my experience working with Semrush alongside my clients, SEO teams and within my own business, there is no shortage of useful information when it comes to boosting online visibility and running better campaigns.
I highly encourage you to (at least) demo the platform with a free trial. It may take a little poking and prodding to gain a good understanding of what is offered and if it is right for your business.
