If you’re aiming to elevate your website’s optimization and enhance your online brand presence, Semrush is the tool you need.
As a frontrunner in the realm of keyword research, website SEO, and PPC (pay-per-click) campaign management, Semrush offers a suite of powerful features that benefit both newcomers and seasoned professionals. Our SEO agency in Brisbane uses Semrush extensively, leveraging its vast database for everything from keyword research to backlink audits and beyond.
If you’re new to the platform, don’t worry—we’ll guide you through the essentials of Semrush, explaining how it can seamlessly fit into your ongoing marketing strategies. Plus, we’ll introduce you to some of our top Semrush tools to help you maximize results right from the start.
Read on to discover why Semrush is the go-to platform for marketing teams worldwide and how you can harness its capabilities to drive success for your brand.
Why You Should Leverage Semrush for Search Engine Optimisation?
For business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs focused on strengthening their brand’s online presence, Semrush is indispensable.
Why is it so essential? As a leader in the search engine data space, Semrush helps businesses with everything from keyword research and website SEO audits to tracking Google rankings and competitor analysis. This comprehensive tool enables you to uncover new leads, position your brand as an industry leader, and gain a competitive edge by analyzing your competitors’ strategies.
Semrush’s core features and benefits include:
Organic Keywords & Keyword Research:
Whether you’re designing a new marketing campaign or fine-tuning product pages, Semrush’s keyword research is extensive and invaluable, but you may also want to compare it with Google’s free Keyword Planner for additional insights.”. The platform offers insights for both organic and paid search opportunities, helping you pinpoint what your target audience is searching for and position your brand in their path.
Optimise for Search Engines:
Your website can act as a continuous lead generation tool by ranking high in Google search results. Semrush gives you deep insights into your audience’s search behaviour and learning SEO optimization basics through Moz’s Guide to SEO can complement these insights, showing you which elements of your website are working well and which areas could use improvement. This enables you to optimize your site for the keywords that will help you secure and maintain a page-one spot on Google.
PPC Campaign Research:
For those with the budget to run paid advertising campaigns, Semrush’s PPC research tools are essential for maximizing your return on investment. With some keywords costing upwards of $2 AUD per click, researching and choosing the right keywords can help you balance your budget and get the most out of your PPC efforts.
If these features sound a bit overwhelming, don’t worry. We’ll walk you through the basics of using Semrush, so you can start gathering valuable data about your business and audience today.
How to Use Semrush: A Beginner’s Guide?
Before we dive into our favorite tools and features, let’s go over the fundamental steps for setting up your Semrush account and making the most of its offerings.
Setting Up Your Semrush Account:
The first step is to set up your Semrush account, which will lay the foundation for all your marketing efforts on the platform.
Since Semrush is a comprehensive marketing data platform, it’s important to provide as much relevant information as possible about your business. This helps Semrush recommend the best tools and features for your needs.
Here’s how to get started:
- Sign Up: Create a new account using unique login details or through Google’s SSO (Single Sign-On).
- Assess Your Experience: Semrush will ask if you have used SEO tools before. If not, no worries—there are plenty of beginner-friendly features.
- Budget: Indicate your monthly marketing budget. This helps Semrush suggest tools and strategies that align with your investment capabilities.
- Business Type: Whether you’re a startup, an established brand, or an agency, Semrush has tools tailored to your needs.
After setting up your account, you’ll be prompted to choose a subscription plan. Don’t worry—each paid plan comes with a 7-day free trial, so you can test out the features before committing. If you’re working with a tighter budget, many Semrush features are available for free with limited functionality.
Create a New Project & Run a Website Audit:
To begin, we recommend launching a new ‘Project’ in Semrush. Projects are external websites (like your business site) that you can track and optimize using Semrush’s tools.
As a first step, set up your company website as a new project and run a full website audit. This audit will give you a snapshot of your site’s current performance, revealing areas that need attention before you start optimizing.
Review Your Website Audit Results
Even with a free Semrush account, you can access valuable insights into your website’s SEO performance. The website audit will give you a report card on the following areas:
- Site Health Score: This overall score takes into account various factors affecting user experience and search engine rankings. As you work through the identified issues, this score should improve.
- Internal Linking: A well-structured internal linking system helps Google understand your site’s structure and can improve your SEO rankings. If your site is a single-page landing page, internal linking isn’t a concern, but for multi-page sites, it’s crucial.
- Site Performance: Factors like page load speed and image optimization are key to keeping visitors engaged. Slow websites lead to high bounce rates. Aim for a site load time of under 3 seconds to meet modern user expectations.
Resolving Major Errors
Some quick fixes can have a significant impact on your site’s performance:
- Improve Site Speed: Compress images, optimize videos, and stick with widely used fonts and templates to improve loading times.
- Fix Broken Links: Broken or dead links frustrate visitors. Regularly check your site for errors, such as 404 pages, and ensure all links lead to live content.
- Internal Linking: Create connections between related pages or content. Not only does this keep visitors on your site longer, but it also helps Google understand your site’s relevance and structure.
Begin Keyword Research & Optimise Your Content
If you’ve never conducted keyword research before, Semrush’s tools make the process easy. Start by brainstorming short-tail and long-tail keywords that align with your target audience’s search intent.
Use Semrush’s keyword tool to discover related terms, assess keyword difficulty, and evaluate the search volume for each keyword. The goal is to find a balance between high search volume, low competition, and relevance to your brand.
Semrush Tools You Should Know
Among the many tools Semrush offers, these are some of our favorites:
- Keyword Magic Tool: This is a powerful tool for discovering semantically related keywords and topics that your audience is searching for.
- Keyword Gap Tool: This tool helps identify keyword opportunities your competitors are targeting that you might be missing.
Answer the Public & QuestionDB: These features uncover the questions your audience is most likely searching for, allowing you to create content that directly answers their queries.
Mastering Semrush with Expert Help
We understand that marketing platforms like Semrush can feel complex at first. But don’t worry—you don’t have to navigate it alone.
At DigiTotal, we specialize in SEO, website development, and digital marketing campaigns. We’re here to break down complex tools into actionable steps, helping you get the most out of Semrush.
To stay up-to-date with the latest digital marketing practices, check out our blog. We dive into topics like Google Ads, analytics, organic traffic strategies, and SEO tools regularly—so be sure to follow along!
