Complete Guide to Semrush 2026: SEO, PPC, and Content Marketing

What Is Semrush?

Semrush is the most comprehensive digital marketing platform, used by over 10 million marketers worldwide in 2026. It combines SEO, PPC, content marketing, social media, and competitive intelligence tools into a single platform. Whether you are a solo blogger trying to rank on Google or an enterprise marketing team managing complex multi-channel campaigns, Semrush provides the data and tools to make informed decisions.

What distinguishes Semrush from other SEO tools is the breadth and depth of its data. It maintains the largest keyword database (over 25 billion keywords across 142 countries), the most comprehensive backlink database, and provides traffic estimates that are among the most accurate in the industry.

Semrush SEO Tools

Keyword Research

Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool provides keyword data from a database of over 25 billion keywords. Enter a seed keyword and get thousands of related keywords with search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, competitive density, SERP features, and trend data. Filter by questions, broad match, phrase match, exact match, and related keywords to find opportunities that match your content strategy.

Keyword Gap analysis compares your keyword rankings against up to five competitors, revealing keywords they rank for that you do not. This identifies content opportunities and competitive gaps that you can target with new or optimized content.

Site Audit

The Site Audit tool crawls your website and identifies over 140 types of technical SEO issues. It checks for broken links, slow-loading pages, duplicate content, missing meta tags, crawl errors, HTTPS issues, Core Web Vitals problems, structured data errors, and more. Each issue comes with a severity rating and specific fix instructions. Schedule regular audits to catch new issues before they impact rankings.

Position Tracking

Track your keyword rankings daily across Google, Bing, and local search results. Monitor rankings for any domain (yours and competitors) across desktop and mobile, in any location. Position Tracking shows ranking changes, SERP feature appearances (featured snippets, local packs, image carousels), and estimated traffic for each tracked keyword.

Backlink Analysis

Semrush’s backlink database covers over 43 trillion backlinks. Analyze any domain’s backlink profile to see referring domains, anchor text distribution, link types, authority scores, and toxic links. Use the Backlink Gap tool to compare your link profile against competitors and identify link building opportunities they have that you are missing.

On-Page SEO Checker

Get specific, actionable recommendations for improving individual pages. On-Page SEO Checker analyzes your target keyword, compares your page against the current top 10 results, and suggests content improvements, technical fixes, SERP feature opportunities, and backlink targets. Recommendations are prioritized by potential impact.

Semrush Content Marketing Tools

Topic Research

Enter a topic and Semrush identifies subtopics, related questions, popular headlines, and content gaps. It shows what people search for, what competitors cover, and what angles are underexplored. Use this data to create comprehensive content plans that cover topics thoroughly and target multiple related keywords with each piece.

SEO Content Template

Enter your target keywords and Semrush generates a content brief based on the top 10 ranking pages. The template includes recommended word count, semantically related keywords to include, readability targets, backlink targets, and structural suggestions. Writers use these templates to create content that is optimized for search from the start.

SEO Writing Assistant

The Writing Assistant integrates with Google Docs and WordPress to provide real-time content optimization as you write. It checks readability, tone, originality, and SEO optimization against your target keywords. Similar to Surfer SEO but integrated within the broader Semrush ecosystem.

Semrush PPC and Advertising Tools

Semrush’s Advertising Research reveals competitors’ Google Ads strategies: their keywords, ad copy, landing pages, and estimated ad spend. Use this intelligence to refine your own PPC campaigns. The PPC Keyword Tool helps you organize keyword lists, set negative keywords, and estimate campaign costs before launching.

Getting Started with Semrush

Step 1: Set Up Your Project

Create a project for your website in Semrush. Add your domain, target keywords, and competitors. Semrush begins tracking your rankings, crawling your site for technical issues, and monitoring your competitive landscape.

Step 2: Run a Site Audit

Start with a comprehensive site audit to identify technical SEO issues. Fix critical errors first (broken pages, missing titles, crawl blocks), then address warnings and notices. A technically healthy site is the foundation for all other SEO efforts.

Step 3: Research Keywords and Competitors

Use Keyword Magic Tool to build your keyword list. Run Keyword Gap analysis against your top 3-5 competitors. Identify high-opportunity keywords: high volume, manageable difficulty, and clear commercial or informational intent that matches your business goals.

Semrush Pricing

Plan	Price	Projects	Features
Pro	$139.95/month	5	Core SEO, PPC, content tools, 500 keywords tracked
Guru	$249.95/month	15	Everything in Pro + content marketing, historical data, 1500 keywords
Business	$499.95/month	40	Everything in Guru + API, share of voice, extended limits

Semrush vs Alternatives

Semrush provides the broadest feature set of any SEO platform. Surfer SEO offers deeper content optimization but lacks Semrush’s technical SEO, backlink, and PPC tools. Ahrefs provides comparable SEO capabilities with a stronger focus on backlink analysis. Moz offers a simpler, more accessible experience for beginners. For marketers who want one platform for all digital marketing needs, Semrush is the most comprehensive choice.