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In today’s digital-first world, having a solid online presence is essential. Whether you’re a small business owner, content creator, or just someone looking to get started with Search engine optimization or SEO, you’ve likely fallen down the YouTube tutorial hole and come across tools like Similarweb and Semrush. Both are popular choices, but if you’re starting and want an easy way to gain access to verified and powerful tools to help you increase your website’s organic search visibility, Semrush is your go-to choice to consider.
In this blog, we’ll cover why Semrush is the top choice for those new to SEO, especially compared to other tools such as Similarweb. By the end, you will know why we chose Semrush and how you can utilize it to simplify your journey through SEO.
What is Semrush?
Semrush is an all-in-one digital marketing tool to help users improve their online presence and website visibility. With tools for keyword research, site audits, competitive analysis, and content optimization, Semrush has become a go-to platform for marketers, small businesses, and SEO experts.
Why Semrush over Similarweb?
When comparing Semrush and Similarweb, it is apparent that they both offer valuable insights and research tools. Still, Semrush is a more versatile, user-friendly, accurate, and extensive keyword database 5X larger than Similarweb!, creating a better keyword research data set to increase your visibility. For those who are new to SEO, here are the main reasons why Semrush is a top choice to get started with:
User-friendly Interface and Small Learning Curve
For non-techies, figuring out how to get started with any tool is vital to the longevity of use with the tools that can change the trajectory of your business. Semrush makes it easy to navigate the tool and learn SEO concepts with helpful blogs and tooltips.
Unlike Similarweb, which forgets about new SEO learners and non-techies who don’t grasp new information as fast. Semrush is designed with clarity in mind and keeps its tools and information straightforward, making it easier to learn the essential piece of SEO without feeling overwhelmed.
Comprehensive, Yet Simple SEO Features in One Platform
Having all-in-one software for your business is key when choosing where to spend the money you worked hard to earn. Similarweb provides features and information based on website traffic analysis and competitive insights from various sources, along with basic SEO tools. At the same time, Semrush goes above the norm and provides a toolkit with every tool you may need to increase your website’s visibility, including keyword research and paid ads management. Semrush covers social media marketing, SEO, content management, market research, and advertising channels, allowing you to run your crucial business marketing tasks from one dashboard.
Your online presence includes more than PageSpeed and current standings, and it is a complex set of analytics that build on the visibility of your website. Using Semrush, you have access to every tool needed to move the needle in the right direction, including:
Keyword Research
The built-in tool lets you find keywords and phrases for your website pages and posts. Choosing the right ones could make or break the traffic to that specific phrase that your visitors are looking for. Semrush allows you to see easily:
- The search volume, keyword difficulty, and cost per click for paid advertising on keywords you search for.
- Analyze competitor’s SEO metrics, including page authority, referring domains, backlinks, and search traffic.
- Review domain-based keyword research and let you know how difficult it is to rank for a specific keyword on your domain
- See other similar keywords and keyword phrases and how they rank in difficulty.
Similarweb currently gives you a keyword research tool using keyword lists and website explorers. Still, you need more information to build an SEO plan around the selected keyword.
Test keyword for results: Shopify Help
With Semrush, your dashboard includes metrics about the selected keyword that Similarweb does not, including queries in Questions, keyword variations, and keyword strategy to expand your visibility. Since Semrush has over 26 billion keywords in its database compared to Similarweb, as you can see below, it offers more valuable information that allows you to make more informed decisions when it comes to your SEO plan.
Here’s a visual comparison of Similarweb and Semrush dashboards:
On-Page SEO Suggestions
Keyword research is only a part of the battle; once you have the keywords to optimize your content, you must implement it into your website. Similarweb has a site audit option that goes over the overall health of your site but doesn’t require an honest SEO review. They focus more on the errors and optimization for performance and only performance over time against benchmark metrics for SEO, a custom package option not included in their lower tier options.
In contrast, Semrush provides Free users access to their on-page SEO checker, which checks not only technical issues but also strategy ideas, backlink ideas, user experience ideas, SERP ideas, and content ideas. Running your domain through the Semrush Site audit tools works hand in hand with the on-page SEO checker; you would be covering your whole site for complete optimization using just two of the many tools provided through Semrush.
Here’s an example of a page report of a selected keyword: Square Gift Cards
Semrush’s scan also helps make big SEO and technical issues easy to fix to help raise your website pages in rankings using their site audit tool.
Keyword Position Tracking
Once you have done as much research as possible for the right keywords, you need a way to view how they perform. Similarweb only provides a competitive tracker that doesn’t give you any personalized keyword performance information, just comparing your selected site to a list of competitors.
However, Semrush allows users to track keywords easily and includes vital information such as :
- Your visibility under the keyword
- Your website ranking for top keywords
- List of pages that have an active ranking and its status
Semrush’s keyword position tracking tool offers information unique to your website based on a custom analysis completed; using the same analysis, they update you on keyword gaps in your website content so you can maximize your reach.
Between the two, Semrush would be the option to choose if looking to track keywords easily and have the tools needed to implement a better strategy in one place.
Local SEO for Small Businesses
Suppose you are looking to gain customers in your business’s service area. In that case, local SEO is essential to reach those potential customers. Similarweb currently doesn’t support any local SEO campaigns or strategy.
Semrush does have an add-on called Semrush Local. They help increase your visibility locally, allow you to automatically distribute your business information to different directories, optimize your Google business profile, and more.
Why we choose Semrush over Similarweb
Here is a quick look at why Semrush stands out as the better choice for beginners:
- More competitive features: Semrush stands out regarding the features needed to gain more personalized visibility of your business. They don’t just provide generic information you can find with any tool; they inform you about how your website can reach greater heights.
- Local SEO capabilities: Semrush had an option that catered to the needs of small businesses, which is a niche that is usually overlooked but has a great need.
- Easy to use and understand: Semrush has many tooltips that help you understand everything in almost every section of their dashboard, helping you navigate and utilize what you need for your business.
- More affordable for new users: Semrush offers a free plan that gives you untimed access with enough credits to utilize it for your business’s major needs before even starting a paid plan. Similarweb, unfortunately, did not have an untimed access level. They offer a 7-day trial to test the platform. Still, half of it is hidden behind an upgrade screen, so you can’t utilize the tool effectively.
Ready to get started with Semrush?
Step 1: Create Your Semrush Account
The first step in using Semrush is to create an account. You can do this in two ways: by entering your domain, keyword, or URL directly on the homepage, or by clicking the sign-up button.
For this tutorial, I’ll enter a domain to get started. After entering the domain, click “Start Now,” which will redirect you to the account creation page.
Here, you’ll need to provide your email and create a password. Once you’ve filled in these details, click “Create Account.”
After this, check your email for a verification code to confirm your account. Enter the code and click “Confirm Email.”
Step 2: Complete the Startup Flow
Once your email is confirmed, you’ll go through a startup flow. The first question will ask why you came to Semrush. Choose your reason and click “Continue.”
If you’re new to marketing, there’s an option to indicate that. You’ll also need to select the number of people working at your company and how long you’ve been involved with SEO.
After these selections, you’ll be prompted to choose a trial plan. Semrush offers a seven-day free trial as well as a restricted free plan if you’re not ready for a paid subscription.
If you opt for the free trial, I recommend the Pro plan, which allows tracking of five projects, five hundred keywords, crawling of a hundred thousand pages, and PDF exports. Click “Get Free Trial” to proceed.
Step 3: Enter Payment Information
You’ll need to enter your credit card information to access the free trial. Once you do, you’ll have instant access to all Semrush features for the duration of the trial.
On day one, you can enjoy all features, and on day seven, your trial will end, at which point you will be charged unless you choose to cancel or downgrade to the free plan.
After completing the trial setup, click “Continue.”
Step 4: Domain Overview
Once you’re in, the domain you entered initially will automatically be added to your Semrush account. You’ll see a dashboard that displays the root domain, where you can analyze data from various regions like worldwide, the US, and the UK.
Additionally, you can switch between desktop and mobile views and adjust the dates for historical data analysis. Semrush will perform an initial run of your domain to provide key metrics such as authority score, organic search traffic, paid search traffic, and backlinks.
Note that since this is a new account, some of the information may be limited until Semrush collects more data.
Step 5: Setting Up the On-Page SEO Checker
If you wish to optimize your site further, you can set up an on-page SEO checker. Click on the left-hand side menu and enter your domain there. After entering your domain, click “Get Ideas.”
This will run an on-page SEO analysis that assesses various factors, including strategy ideas, backlinks, technical SEO, user experience, SERP, and other elements that can enhance your website’s performance.
Once the analysis is complete, you’ll receive a profile summarizing your SEO opportunities. You can submit pages and target keywords to optimize.
Step 6: Collecting Optimization Ideas
For each page you want to optimize, enter a keyword you would like to target and click “Add Page.” You can continue adding more pages as your site is crawled and Semrush gathers more information.
After adding your keywords and pages, click “Collect Ideas.” This will generate a list of suggestions and potential optimizations for the specific URL you are targeting.
Review these ideas to understand how you can improve your SEO and enhance your website’s visibility in search engine results.
Final thoughts
When choosing an SEO tool that covers all the basics and more, Semrush is a clear winner for non-techies looking to get started, with its beginner-friendly interface, comprehensive feature set, and valuable tools covering different areas of your business marketing tasks, helping you achieve your goals. If you are looking for a tool that can grow with you as you learn more about SEO, try Semrush- you’ll find it the ideal partner in your journey to better online visibility.