Is Semrush Worth it? | For Bloggers, Freelancers, Agencies

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There is plenty of debate on the value of software; marketing and SEO software specifically.

Semrush costs money and like anything else, there are both benefits and drawbacks to making the investment.

In this article, I’ll offer my own personal experiences with using Semrush and provide you with reasons why it’s worth it and how you can get the most out of your investment.

Realistic Expectations with SEO Software

There really isn’t an all-in-one solution when it comes to SEO software.

An audit tool might be lacking in one tool you use but better in another. The same with a backlink checker or keyword research function.

The best thing you can do is get a tool that best fits your needs and helps provide the most value – in most cases, saves you the most time.

Let’s break it down for each type: Bloggers, Freelancers & Agencies.

Is Semrush worth it for Bloggers?

If you’re blogging, it’s tempting to dive right in and start writing without doing the research.

But if you’re looking to get the most amount of organic traffic possible, it’s important to do your keyword/topic research.

The Best Semrush Tool for Bloggers

If you’re a blogger, the Keyword Magic Tool makes it entirely worth it.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re an organic dog food blogger.

A quick first step would be to search for ‘organic dog food’. Your goal is to find something relevant but also less competitive.

To do that, you can set the difficulty from 0 – 29. This will give you keyword phrases that are listed as ‘easy’.

Another great feature is if you click on ‘questions’, you’ll get a list of questions related to your topic.

For this example, let’s say you’re going to write about ‘raw dog food’.

As you can see, the first result is for ‘how much raw food for dog’.

By clicking on the arrow, you can see additional information including global volume (if you’re targeting a worldwide audience, this is helpful) as well as a quick search engine results page analysis of which pages currently rank for this topic.

You might get discouraged by the search volume, seeing how it is only is searched 110 times per month but there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Being more specific is better – Instead of trying to satisfy a bigger, less relevant audience, you’re talking to folks who are interested specifically in raw dog food related topics.
2. The number shown might be a conservative estimate. For example, my recent post about ‘boba marketing‘.
   Semrush shows a monthly volume of 10:
   
   However, after 2 weeks of my post being published, I’ve already gotten at least 5 clicks for that keyword and I’m not even ranking in the top position. It’s safe to say that there are definitely more than 10 searches per month. Below is a snapshot from my Search Console reporting, 2 weeks after publishing.
   

Another extremely useful tool if you’re willing to invest in it (it’s on the Guru plan), is the SEO writing assistant.

As you write, you’ll see how well your content scores in terms of readability, SEO, originality and tone of voice. This is an extremely helpful tool to help guide you as you create your content.

Takeaway:

This is just one tool within Semrush and I’ve got to say that this alone makes it worth it for any blogger. It gives you a solid starting point. With a bit of additional research through the SERPs (Google/Bing searches), you’ll be able to narrow down your topics and give yourself a really good chance to connect with your audience.

Semrush is definitely worth it for bloggers.

Is Semrush worth it for Freelancers?

As a freelancer myself, I can Semrush is 100% worth it for freelancers and here’s why:

Keep track of client projects and progress:

On the projects page, it’s quick and easy to see how your client accounts are doing at a glance.

From there, you can check on the keywords you’re tracking, their visibility and link building opportunities.

You can also set up alerts within Semrush to let you know if keywords enter or exit the top 10.

This is particularly useful especially if a few keyword phrases and their positions make a big difference in terms of sales/conversions.

Backlink Research:

If you’re a freelancer, you’re likely having to do some backlink research as well as outreach at times.

The Backlink Gap tool within Semrush can help you discover an endless supply of opportunities.

In the example above, I’ve listed Nike and Adidas.  You can see which backlinks are for each including ones that are ‘strong’ in terms of authority and other options such as shared (both websites have backlinks from a particular domain) or unique (the backlink is unique to one site or the other).

Bonus:

If you’re a freelancer working on e-commerce accounts, a fun way to check on backlinks or even get ideas from competitors is to check the backlinks of Amazon products.

Takeaway:

If you’re a freelancer, Semrush can help you manage client projects where you can easily keep an eye on your keyword rankings. You can also do a ton of backlink research and discover opportunities.

This is all in addition to the keyword opportunities you can find using the keyword magic tool.

With all of these things considered, Semrush is worth it for you if you’re a freelancer.

Is Semrush worth it for Agencies?

When I previously worked for a marketing agency, I had done quite a bit of research before I recommended Semrush (over Raven Tools / Moz).

I realized that when it comes to a tool like Semrush for agencies, it’s not only important to think about what the tool can do but how it can help everyone using it.

Naturally, it makes sense to go with either the Guru or Business plans which are pricier but it’s going to be beneficial for all of the team members who use it.

In addition to all of the features listed in the previous sections, Semrush also has agency growth kit to help automate time-consuming tasks.

At an agency, it’s hard because everyone’s task list is often stacked at all times.

As shown below, the agency growth kit helps reduce time spent on certain tasks by automating them. Reporting is definitely one of those tasks.

To the agency owners and decision makers: any feature that can be used to reduce the number of tasks for your team members and employees is worth it.

With less tasks, more time can be spent learning and researching.

This leads to individual and team growth.

Give it a Try

The best part about Semrush is that you can at least give it a try, risk-free.

You can give it a fair shot and you can evaluate if it’s worth it for you and if you’re going to be willing to put in the time to use it to your advantage, whether you’re a blogger, freelancer or an agency.

What are you hoping to achieve with an SEO tool?