Many of us I feel get what we need out of a product and do not always take the time to see all the bells that come with a product. I have been using SEMrush for a number of SEO clients but not like how you think. My approach to this work is normally a current SEO agency may reach out to have some assistance in knocking some work out, or a client may come to me for consultation and already have SEMrush. With this said I am normally just looking at the site health score and making the proper adjustments to get them back up to par. This is also not how SEO is done or how I recommend how someone goes about it but I just have been approached to do this many times.
SemRush Features
Like I already said there is a health check to see if you are following all the major areas of SEO, and depending on your score you can
First thing first is when a client approaches me and says “hey can you assist me with some SEO services?” I am like well it normally does not work that way but let me see how I can help. The Domain Analytics is right where to start, you can simply add a URL and from there you get details of their domain at your finger tips that can help you gauge the next steps. Or if they are just not sure where to start just simply ask who is your biggest competitor and boom put there domain in there and see what is working for them.
- organic search
- paid search
- backlink profile
- and more
The point is that you can easily see what is going on and from there dive even deeper. There is an organic research section that will let you see ranking keywords, competitors to that domain, or even position changes that have happened over time. Way more than the just basic SEO dashboard I was using before.
How To Learn
I am not a documentation nerd which if I was there would probably be more success in my development carrer ….just saying. They have a wonderful set of courses that are on the house once you sign up. Using this product for years never thought I needed what they offered. I was wrong went through the main one along and literally feel like I leveled up my SEO for all my clients.
One of the bigger takeaways was that each section had videos of people that use that portion of the tool and why it really points out to you how to also utilize it which I like. The point is that if they take the time to create courses to help you maximize the value do not pass it up.
Ideas For Your Next SEO Project
Like I said at the beginning of this start at the top and work your way down, but if you have not had the chance to check out the SEMrush tools all the way start with that first toolkit course to make sure you are getting the most out of it.
Start with Competitor Research
Begin by looking at the competitors of your clients and see where they are spending ad money at, how there traffic is looking, where they are getting back links from, and what words they are ranking for.
Put the client in the SemRush Eco-system
Build that profile out and connect your Google Analytics account along with your webmaster console. You will start to the see the data roll in, and make sure you do the site audit. This will show you the low level SEO errors that can be fixed quick.
Build the Plan Based on the Data
If you have not quoted the client yet this is the time to see what work is truly in front of you and build out a plan. You can see your baseline so easy from here, get aware of seasonal drops, or even better the sensor score will let you see how the business is doing in the Serps. So if that category is taking a hit you may find out why, or be able to let the client know for expectation reasons.
Use The Reports
Nothing like having that weekly, monthly call with a client and having to explain everything, but instead there is an amazing PDF reporting area that you can customize based on your clients needs. If you have the right plan you can even have it branded.
Conclusion
This did not even touch the surface of all the assistance that SEMrush can provide. The main reason for even writing this was to state that it is important to really see what tools are out there when you buy a product and you may find out that your job can get a whole lot easier if you check stuff out. I do recommend that if you are interested in SEMrush to look at the other tools out there and this is not a selling focused article but from my recent experience it has helped me out a lot, but more so and the most important is allowing me to better serve SEO clients.