How to Do SEO with Semrush (The Honest Way)

Quick Verdict

Semrush is the Swiss Army knife of SEO — it does a lot of things well, but it’s also got more blades than you’ll ever use. You’ll pay a lot for features you might not touch. Still, if you’re serious about ranking and you’re not afraid of a little data, it’s probably your best bet.
Semrush ★★★★ (4/5) — best all-in-one tool, but god the learning curve.

I burned $200 on Ahrefs last March because everyone said it was the gold standard. Turns out I hate their dashboard — it’s like a spreadsheet had a baby with a filing cabinet. Switched to Semrush and never looked back. Not that Semrush is perfect. Actually, it’s kind of a mess in places. But here’s the thing: it works.

So you want to do SEO with Semrush. Maybe you’ve been guessing keywords and checking Google rankings manually like some kind of medieval peasant. I’ve been there. I once spent a whole afternoon cross-referencing search volumes in a notepad app like an absolute psychopath. Don’t be me.

Let me walk you through the stuff that actually matters. No fluff. Just the steps I use.

Step 1: Stop Guessing – Find Real Keywords

Open Semrush, go to Keyword Overview. Type in a seed word like "coffee grinder." It’ll spit back volume, difficulty, and SERP features. That’s the basics. But here’s what nobody tells you: the "Keyword Difficulty" score is a lie. Treat anything above 50 as "good luck, you’ll need it" unless you’ve got a massive domain.

What you actually want: scroll down to "Keyword Variations." This list is gold. Look for long-tail stuff like "best burr coffee grinder under $100" — volume under 300 but specific intent. Those are your low-hanging fruit.

What can go wrong: You’ll get obsessed with high-volume keywords and waste months. I did that. Ended up ranking #47 for "coffee" with a site that had 5 backlinks. Brilliant.

Shortcut: Use the "Keyword Magic Tool" and filter by "Questions" — find those "how to clean a coffee grinder" queries. People typing questions are ready to buy or solve a problem. They convert.

Step 2: Spy on Your Competitors (Without Being Creepy)

Domain Analytics > Organic Research. Type in a competitor’s URL. You’ll see all their top keywords. Copy those. No, really. Not the exact keywords — the ones they rank for that you don’t. That’s your target list.

But here’s the twist: don’t go after their main money keyword. They’ve got authority. Instead, look at their "newly lost" keywords. Competitors drop rankings when they mess up or stop updating a page. You can swoop in with a better post.

I once spied on a guy who was ranking for "best espresso machine under $500." He lost the top spot after his site got a penalty. I wrote a post, stole the keyword, and sat at #3 for six months. He never recovered. Not my problem.

What can go wrong: You’ll copy their entire strategy and end up with a shittier version of their site. Don’t do that. Use their data as inspiration, not a blueprint.

Step 3: Track Rankings Without Losing Your Mind

Set up a Position Tracking campaign. Add keywords, pick your target location, and let it run. Semrush checks daily and gives you a nice graph.

Here’s the thing: don’t check it every day. You’ll go crazy. The graph goes up, down, sideways — it’s noise. Look at the weekly or monthly trend instead. Also, the "Estimated Visits" number is pure fiction. Nobody knows actual traffic except Google. Use it as a relative guide, not a truth.

My 1am thought: And then you realize you’ve been looking at the wrong metric for an hour. Whatever. Just move on.

Shortcut: Use the "Share of Voice" metric in the campaign. It tells you how much of the click pie you own compared to competitors. If it’s under 5%, you’re not trying hard enough.

Step 4: Fix Your Website’s Technical Crap

Site Audit tool. Run it on your domain. It’ll crawl your pages and scream at you about broken links, slow load times, missing meta descriptions. That’s fine. But the real gold is the "Crawlability" tab — it shows pages Google can’t find. Fix those first.

I had a site where I’d buried the blog under three subdirectories and forgot to add internal links. The audit found it. I spent 20 minutes linking it from the homepage. Traffic jumped 40% in a month. That’s the kind of win nobody talks about because it’s boring.

What can go wrong: They’ll give you a list of 500 issues. Most are noise. Focus on errors (red), then warnings (yellow). Ignore most notices unless you’re OCD. Also, the site audit tool loves to yell about "H1 missing" on pages where it’s fine. Calm down, Semrush.

Step 5: Audit Your Content Like a Pro

Content Audit tool. Run it on your blog. It’ll show you which posts are dying, which are climbing, and which are cannibalizing each other. The "Content Optimization" feature is also pretty solid — it suggests keywords to add and gives you a score. But the score is a suggestion, not a rule. I once wrote a post that scored 12/100 and it ranked #1 because people actually liked it.

Here’s the ugly truth: Semrush’s content recommendations are good for structure, but they don’t replace writing for humans. If your article sounds like a robot wrote it, nobody will read it. Use the tool to find missing terms, then write naturally.

I accidentally emailed my entire client list with the subject line "Test" once. That’s the kind of failure that makes you double-check everything. So double-check your content before publishing.

Shortcut: Use the "Topic Research" feature to get a cluster of related questions and subtopics. Then write one big, comprehensive guide that covers everything. Google loves those.

Pros & Cons

Semrush

• Datasets are huge — keyword database covers 20+ billion keywords
• The dashboard is customizable, so you can hide the crap you don’t need
• Competitive analysis is flat-out the best in the industry – The UI is cluttered; it’s like walking into a control room for a spaceship you don’t know how to fly – Price is steep — $119/mo for the basic plan, and that’s not even including the good stuff – Some features are half-baked (looking at you, SEO Writing Assistant)

Pricing at a Glance

| Plan | Starting Price | What You Actually Get | |——|—————|———————-| | Pro | $119/mo | Up to 5 projects, basic keyword tracking, site audit. Enough for a freelancer or small site. | | Guru | $229/mo | 15 projects, content marketing toolkit, historical data. If you’re serious, start here. | | Business | $449/mo | 40 projects, API access, extended limits. For agencies and people who like burning money. |

FAQ

Q: Is Semrush worth it for a beginner? A: Honestly? Probably not. Start with the free tier — it gives you a few reports a day. Learn the basics before dropping $119/mo. You’ll just get overwhelmed.

Q: How is Semrush different from Ahrefs? A: Ahrefs has a better backlink checker and a simpler UI. Semrush has better keyword research and a wider feature set. If you want one tool to do everything, Semrush. If you just need links and basic rankings, Ahrefs.

Q: Can I trust Semrush’s keyword difficulty score? A: Take it with a grain of salt. It’s a good relative measure but not absolute. A score of 40 on an established domain feels like 70 on a new site. Use it as a guide, not a rule.

Q: Does Semrush help with local SEO? A: Yes, it has a "Listing Management" tool and local keyword data. But Google Business Profile is free and does most of the work. Semrush adds polish, not miracles.