If you’re new to search engine optimization or the SEO tool SEMRush, then you’ll want to tune in to these SEMRush tips shared in this article. SEMRush is an SEO tool you use in digital marketing to help improve your visibility in Google searches, link-building efforts, keyword research, and overall SEO and page ranking.
From content ideas to keyword ranking, marketing insight metrics, and more, SEMRush is one of the top tools you should use to smash your SEO goals!
In this article, learn about 10 SEMRush tips to boost your SEO and how to use SEMRush to its full ability so you can truly get the best use out of this SEO tool.
Let’s dive in!
10 SEMRush Tips To Grow Your Business
SEMRush is great for giving you a solid baseline for your website’s performance today and tracking progress over time.
Here are 10 SEMRush tips to help you get the most out of this powerful platform.
1. Find Low-Competition, High Volume Keywords
One of the most important ways to use SEMRush is for keyword research. Identify target keyword ideas to use in your content to incorporate those keywords and related keywords, rank for those terms in Google search and search engines, and increase your web traffic.
By targeting these keywords, you can drive more traffic to your website and increase your visibility in search engine results pages.Â
How It Works
First, go to the Keyword Magic Tool and type in a keyword or keyword phrase.
Your seed word, like “snowboards,” will display results, which you can apply modifiers to for more specific results:
Once you get the results, you can do things like:
- Review keyword groups
- Look at Questions
- Sort keywords by volume, KD%, or other filters
- Find keywords that trigger SERP feature opportunities
This is one of the best ways to use SEMRush for keyword research. Once you find the keywords you want, you can incorporate them into your content!
2. Identify Your Top Organic Pages
Identify your top organic pages to learn which pages drive the most traffic from search engines.
From here, you can optimize these pages, identify more content ideas to write about and add them to your content marketing strategy.
How It Works
Go to the Organic Research Pages report to see the results of the top 100-ranking web pages for a specific URL.
Tip: Use sorting and filters to find specific results, like 4-word keywords, for example.
3. Track Keyword Rankings
SEMRush can track your website’s keyword ranking on Google and other search engines. This helps you identify areas for improvement and create a plan to target those problem areas.
For example, if your keyword ranks in position 5 on page 1 of Google, you can craft a plan to optimize that webpage better so it climbs the search results to the very top.
How It Works
You can again use SEMRush’s Keyword Magic Tool, and also Keyword Manager Tool, and Position Tracking Tool to see where you rank and track keywords over time.
The Keyword Magic Tool helps you discover keywords to target.
- Enter a seed keyword in Keyword Magic Tool
- Filter keywords (i.e., keyword difficulty, search volume, etc.)
- Develop your keyword list
Then, you’ll add your keyword list to Keyword Manager.
In Keyword Manager, you can group and organize your keywords, tracking up to 5,000 keywords. You can also analyze keyword performance and export to other tools if needed.
The Position Tracking Tool allows you to check and monitor your website’s (or your competitors’) search engine rankings.
You’ll be able to learn about keywords and data on rankings, landing pages, devices, locations, and more.
This is also one of the best SEMRush tools for generating content ideas! Get ideas for related keywords, see search volume, and gain other insights using Keyword Manager.
4. Identify Top Competitors
To stay competitive, you must know your top competitors and track them regularly.
Use this information to uncover opportunities to improve your content, compete on keywords, and improve your presence in the search results.
How It Works
Finding competitors is one of my favorite tasks at SEMRush. It’s exciting to uncover competitors, especially new competitors you didn’t know existed. Then, create your SEO strategy so you can outrank them!
To find competitors, you’ll do these 3 things:
- Competitive Analysis
- Backlink Analytics
- Optimize your backlinks
First, go to Organic Research, enter a URL, and then click the Competitors tab.
You can see the Competitive Positioning Maps, which give you an idea of your competitors’ size relative to their traffic volume and the number of keywords they rank for.
Then, the Organic Competitors list unlocks insights like keywords, traffic, and traffic cost.
Next, you’ll research backlinks to find backlink competitors. This is incredibly helpful for link building.
Go to Backlink Analysis, input your domain URL, and then go to the Competitors tab.
You’ll see your competitors and their backlink profiles. From there, you can find link-building opportunities for your site.
Use Backlink Gap to compare the backlink profile of your competitor and your website.
Optimize your backlinks using SEMRush tools like Backlink Audit to review your backlink profile, see your toxicity store, and reach out to remove unwanted backlinks.
5. Discover Link-Building Opportunities
Nearly 80% of marketers say link building is an important part of their SEO strategy. One of the top SEMRush tips is to use this SEO tool for link-building opportunities.
Find websites that are linking to your competitors and try to get a link from them as well.
Here’s how you do it…
How It Works
Link building is an important part of SEO, no doubt.
Two tools to help you audit your backlink profile and see a side-by-side comparison of your backlinks against competitors are:
- Backlink Analysis
- Backlink Gap
In the Link Building Tool, go to the Prospects report to find prospects.
Review the opportunities, pick the ones that are the best fit, and then move them to the To In Progress tab. Next, connect your email and prepare your pitch to them for link insertion.
6. Fix SEO Errors
Identify and fix SEO errors on your website, with the help of SEMRush. This is part of technical SEO which deals with the infrastructure of a website and how a search engine can access, crawl, and interpret the results.
SEO errors can boil down to things like:
- Website speed
- Mobile-friendliness
- Crawlability
- Canonicalization
- URL structure
- Schema markup
- Site architecture
Broken links, server, and crawl errors can cause technical SEO errors when using SEMRush. Here’s how to spot these issues and fix them with SEMRush.
How It Works
To uncover SEO errors, run a site audit.
First, run your site audit. Then, review it for errors, notices, and other flagged issues.
SEMRush makes it easy to understand what any error is and shows you how to fix it:
Click on an issue to see a list of all URLs on your site related to that issue.
You can also view all the issues in a clickable menu, pick the issue you want to review and check out the report.
The Advanced Filters menu is great to check out for specific pages.
Other things you can do:
- Hide/unhide issues
- Hide pages
- Hide site check sections in bulk
- Integrate Trello
7. Spy On Competitor Ad Strategies
In this SEO game, you can learn a ton from competitors. Use SEMRush to spy on your competitors’ ad strategies. Find out what ads they’re running and how much they spend on them. Then, use that information to your advantage in your own ad strategy.
Here’s how…
How It Works
First, identify your competitors by going to the Advertising Competitors report.
Review Google Ad Competitive Analysis
- Go to Advertising Research Positions
- Input your competitor’s URL in the search bar
The Ads Copies report shows you the ads your competitor is running.
This is a quick and simple way to see your competitor’s ad copy all in one place.
- See what specific messaging they are using in their ads
- Test ad copy variations
- Capitalize on missed opportunities you identify in their ads
- Monitor changes in your competitors’ ads
Reviewing the Advertising Research Pages report helps you see the various landing pages your competitor is using. Click into the pages and review messaging, uncover the CTA, and other helpful insights.
Ads History will show you the month-by-month breakdown of keywords and ad ranking for your competitor. You can also see the best-performing ads, including display, video, and social ads, ad spend, and other helpful metrics.
8. Identify and Fix Keyword Cannibalization Issues
Keyword cannibalization happens when multiple web pages target the same keyword in content marketing. They compete with each other.
It’s pretty common and can happen when you publish similar kinds of content over time, optimize pages for the same keyword, or create different paths to the same keyword, among other reasons, according to SEMRush.
SEMRush can help you identify keyword cannibals and fix the issues to improve your website’s overall SEO.
How It Works
Use SEMRush’s Position Tracking tool to find keyword cannibalization and go to the Cannibalization report.
- Go to Position Tracking, input your domain and click Set Up tracking
- Add location and click Continue To Keywords
- Add target keywords (you can also import your keywords from Google Analytics)
- Click Add Keywords to Campaign and Start Tracking
- Go to Cannibalization report
Review the report and then start applying the fixes, which can include redirecting, adding Canonical Tags, using noindex tags, etc.
9. Analyze and Compare Keyword Gaps to Competitors
Analyze and compare your keyword gap to your competitors. Find out where you’re falling behind and improve your content strategy to close the gap.
How It Works
You can see a side-by-side comparison of keywords across five competitors.
See where you stand against the competition, see keywords your competitors are ranking for, and compare subdomains, subfolders, and URLs, depending on your SEMRush plan.
In Top Opportunities, you’ll see the best keyword opportunities for your website to tackle.
Other tools, like Keyword Overlap and Keyword Table, will help you see your site’s weaknesses compared to competitors.
10. Complete an SEO audit
One of the best ways to use SEMRush is to do an SEO audit of your website.
An SEO audit will:
- Help you identify areas of improvement within your SEO strategy
- Point out how to get better visibility in search engine results pages
Here’s how to do it…
How It Works
You’ll run the site audit to evaluate your website’s overall health. You’ll see strengths and weaknesses and identify issues to correct.
- Over 140 checks
- Can crawl desktop or mobile website version
- Checks up to 20,000 pages
- Provides AI-assisted recommendations
Here’s an example of a site audit:
You’ll get an overview of your site audit results and top issues. Then, you can dive into each area and address each issue.
Bonus Tip: Book a demo with SEMRush, as suggested by this Redditor who has been using the tool for a decade and still books demos to brush up on new tools periodically!
SEMRUSH Tips: Final Word
There you have it! You just learned SEMRush tips to help you improve your SEO content and level up your SEO game! Keep in mind that SEO is constantly evolving in digital marketing, so stay up to date with the latest trends and practices. Â
By implementing these SEMRush tips, you are on your way to improving your SEO and driving more traffic to your website.Â
