Semrush review

What users like

• Keyword research is the most-praised area: users call it the best keyword tool after Google and say it is strong for keyword work and keyword clustering, even when they use Ahrefs for links^[1][2][3][4]
• Covers several jobs in one place: users run keyword research, site audits, competitor analysis, SEO content briefs and toxic-backlink monitoring with alerts and disavow from it^[1][2][3]
• One user who runs every project on it finds its organic keyword data closely matches Google Search Console, and prefers how it weights nofollow comment links over Ahrefs^[1]

What users complain about

• Backlink data trails Ahrefs and Majestic: users describe the link index as noisy, especially for lost links, say its crawler still needs work, and switch to Ahrefs for link-related tasks^{[1][2][3][4][5]}
• Seen as expensive for what many users actually use: comments call it a great tool but not worth the cost, no longer valuable, or bloated, and some consolidated onto other tools to cut spend^{[1][2][3][4][5]}
• Search-volume and traffic figures are estimates: keywords it reports at zero volume show 10 to 100 searches in Search Console or bring 150 to 250 clicks a month, and users say traffic estimates across these tools can be far off^{[1][2][3][4][5]}
• Some buyers hesitate over its future because of the Adobe acquisition^[1][2]

Best for

• Marketers who want keyword research, site audits and competitor research in one subscription
• Keyword-led content planning and SEO content briefs
• Teams that already budget for a paid SEO suite and will use most of it

Skip it if

• Link-building work that depends on the most complete backlink index
• Small sites or solo users on a tight budget who only need a few reports
• Anyone who needs search-volume or traffic estimates to be exact