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SE Ranking vs Semrush is a continuous debate among intermediate digital marketers that continues to exist. As the content head of Demandsage, I spent most of my time using and testing the tools to find which one is the best SEO tool for us.
This article will highlight my experience with both SE Ranking and Semrush after thoroughly testing out the tools. I will compare their core features, pricing, and use cases so you can easily pick the best between these two tools.
SE Ranking and Semrush are both amazing SEO suites with a well-rounded set of features that can help with all SEO-related tasks.
However, both are better than the other in unique ways. Here’s a quick overview of that:
Before I start with an in-depth review of both platforms, you should be aware of their main benefits and drawbacks.
Pros
Cons
After learning about the pros and cons of SE Ranking, let’s focus on Semrush.
Pros
Cons
SE Ranking is a cloud-based and feature-rich platform for digital marketing professionals that helps you take care of all SEO-related tasks, such as rank tracking, competition analysis, website audit, and much more.
The best part is that you get everything in a single suite with an easy-to-use interface. SE Ranking aims to make SEO accessible to everyone, whether beginners or experts.
If you want to know more about SE Ranking, check our detailed SE Ranking Review here.
Semrush is also a Cloud-based SEO suite that provides many tools and features to help you improve your SEO. Like SE Ranking, it is an all-in-one marketing software you can use to strategize and even automate your SEO and other content marketing campaigns.
Apart from this, Semrush can also help you identify trends for your niche and your social media marketing.
If you are a beginner, Semrush makes the whole concept of SEO easier for you to understand and put to better use.
Check our Semrush Review to learn more about this SEO tool.
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Now, we’re ready to dive deep into comparing both these SEO suites. Let’s do that!
The SE Ranking UI is clean, with all the features easily accessible and well-organized.
The dashboard has a top bar incorporating all the essential features, such as keyword research, competitive research, etc. Then, you get a whole set of features on your left, which shows all the details about your project.
Semrush, on the other hand, divides all its features into various toolkits. And when you click on the toolkits, the tools and their associated features are displayed.
This organization helps it keep things less cluttered despite the large number of features and tools it has to offer. However, it can still be a bit more complex to navigate for a first-time user of SEO tools.
Despite the complex interface, Semrush tends to provide more in-depth data than SE Ranking.
After analyzing both platforms, I can say that SE Ranking provides a better user experience for beginners with easier access to all the features. While Semrush is also built with a well-designed interface, it might be a bit overwhelming for new users due to its sheer number of tools and features. Eventually, everyone can learn their way around it, and it can be quite easy to navigate.
Keyword research is the part where both Semrush and SE Ranking excel. Both tools offer three main sections for keyword research:
Keyword overview provides a spot-on overview of a specific keyword on the basis of search volume, keyword difficulty, search intent, and CPC for a selected country/region.
I searched for the keyword ‘best running shoes,’ I got two fairly different keyword overviews from both tools.
Since the last update (which was too basic), SE Ranking’s keyword overview is now similar to Semrush’s. Now, it has added more keyword metrics and infographics to show an in-depth overview.
The same goes for Semrush. It instantly came up with the keyword’s search volume, difficulty, and global data for top countries (high to low search volume).
As you can see in the images, both tools came up with keyword search volume, keyword difficulty, trend, CPC, and global data. The data didn’t exactly match, but they were pretty close.
Since it is a commercial keyword, the keyword difficulty should be higher. Semrush is showing a KD of 63, while SE Ranking came up with 35. So, how do we overcome this difficulty?
Semrush has a “Keyword Clusters” section where the tool simply breaks the keyword into hundreds of possible rankings and related keywords with a low KD. SE Ranking doesn’t have this instant feature, and you will need to use the Keyword Grouping tool to cluster keywords.
SE Ranking’s Keyword Suggestions and Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool are the tools to find related and semantic keywords. Since both tools offer tons of related keywords, filter them by:
Here is the result of using the respective tools to get related keywords.
SE Ranking’s result was simple and well-categorized. Semrush’s result was a little bit complex, but it was detailed. You can also break down the chart by the number and volume.
The number of keywords was also different. Semrush listed over 25k keywords, while SE ranking listed only 6.5k keywords. It shows how big Semrush’s database is compared to SE Ranking.
However, you can filter all the keywords by relevancy, intent, exact matches, and KD with both tools.
The third section is SERP Analysis, where you can get an overview of top-ranking pages for the related keyword. With both tools, you can check organic traffic, page authority, and keywords they are ranking for.
Both tools show search total traffic and backlinks, while other metrics are different. SE Ranking only showed the top 10 results for the first page, but the metrics were pretty relevant and helpful. You can see the search results of 100+ pages with Semrush, but the data metrics were basic.
SE Ranking focuses more on organic traffic and keywords, so you can also see the changes in rankings. The sheet exactly shows how the page has moved up or down in its position rank.
Semrush is more reliable and data-centric than SE Ranking for keyword research. It provides more data points that help the user be more specific with their keyword research and, as a result, understand the search intent.
Our team has conducted many tests to know how accurate Semrush is. You can go through this guide and find out whether this is reliable or just a so-called tool referred to by marketers.
SE Ranking has many SEO tools and features that can help you with link building and other off-page SEO activities. Its backlink checker tool gives you access to your and your competitor’s backlink profile.
Through this profile, you can get data regarding your competitors’ domain and page authority scores and identify the websites lending to their authority. You can also analyze the dofollow-nofollow backlinks ratio, broken backlinks, etc.
A keyword rank tracker in SE Ranking can track your rankings for different keywords in popular search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and YouTube.
The rankings can be tracked based on location and device, providing data on positions and SERP features driving your traffic.
Semrush, on the other hand, helps you with your link-building and off-page SEO by offering 5 tools — backlink analysis, backlink audit tool, bulk backlink analysis, backlink gap analysis, and link-building tool. With the help of these tools, you can compare your backlink profile with up to 5 competing domains at a time.
It also provides a keyword rank tracker that works like the rank tracker of SE Ranking but provides a better understanding of movement in your rankings with charts and graphics. It also incorporates a filter to analyze the data and single out those keywords, generating traffic through SERP features other than the main rankings.
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Semrush provides more detailed backlink profiles than SE Ranking, and its rank tracker is also more visually appealing and well-designed. You can also use its link-building tool to automate your backlink outreach campaigns. Overall, I find Semrush to be a better choice than SE Ranking for off-page SEO.
Bonus tools lists:
The on-page SEO checker by SE Ranking provides an on-page performance score based on how well you have optimized your website. Then, it suggests the various steps you can implement to improve your on-page SEO.
The suggestions are based on the top 5 competitors of SERP on the page you are looking into. There’s also a website audit tool that can tell you the overall health of your website.
Semrush, on the other hand, has 3 tools for on-page SEO. The site audit tool by Semrush crawls your website in the blink of an eye and provides actionable solutions to fix the issues.
Next, the on-page SEO checker crawls the individual pages and gives you a detailed report on content lengths, readability, markups, and keyword usage.
Lastly, you can use its log file analyzer to analyze your error logs and discover the crawl errors that occur when a Google crawler interacts with your site.
The features concerning site auditing are more or less the same, which shows the site’s health and several signals, such as loading speed, usability, and localization. However, Semrush seems to provide a more detailed report about each.
The on-page SEO features are on par with each other and do not differ significantly. However, Semrush digs deeper and provides more precise and detailed recommendations regarding on-page SEO. Also, its integration with Google Analytics, Search Console, and log file analyzer makes it better than SE Ranking.
SEO offers a basic local marketing tool instead of a fully-fledged SEO tool. You can conduct local marketing audits and add Google and business listings to track rankings, reviews, ratings, etc.
Semrush, on the other hand, has a complete toolkit for local SEO that will help you create the perfect strategy to get your website ranked in local search results. The listing management tool lets you track your local ranking progress on a ZIP code level.
Using its position-tracking tool, you can also follow your performance in local search results. Lastly, the social media toolkit has special tools to track and enhance your social media performance within a region.
Semrush is a perfect choice here as it has all the features related to local SEO, which can take your business to another level. SE Ranking, on the other hand, has just a local rank tracker. It is on the verge of acquiring other local SEO features, but it currently doesn’t have them.
SE Ranking has an SEO report generator that gives you access to unlimited data and information-rich reports. Also, it takes only 15 mins to come up with a report.
This report generator also integrates with Google Analytics and Search Console to provide you with a detailed report of your website’s performance in one place. The reports can also be white-labeled with your brand name and logo.
Semrush is also packed with a wide range of reporting features and templates that can help users easily generate reports of their choice.
You can also create custom reports from various marketing channels and white-label the reports with your brand name and logo. However, reports generated by Semrush are heavier in numbers and less in graphics and visual representation of data.
Both SE Ranking and Semrush integrate with Google Analytics and Search Console, and both can generate any kind of report. Both also allow you to white-label the reports.
However, Semrush reports are heavier in numbers and less in graphics, so they may be difficult to analyze. So, I’d recommend SE Ranking over Semrush for easy-to-understand traffic analytics.
In this section, I’ll talk about other supporting features that both of these SEO suites offer their customers.
Apart from the features mentioned above, SE Ranking has some additional features that can help you with other tasks related to your website’s SEO. They include:
Now let’s talk about the extra features offered by Semrush:
SE Ranking and Semrush both have some additional tools that are unique to each and can help the user improve the SEO of their website in many ways. These tools are all equally important, so there is no clear winner on this criterion.
SE Ranking provides multiple options for contacting its support team if you need help. Its website has a contact form for submitting support requests.
You can also contact them via email and WhatsApp for support. However, they are only available on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Semrush also offers three customer support channels: chat, email, and phone. There’s a help chat box at the corner of each page to help you whenever you get stuck. They generally respond within a business day.
Semrush has been in the market for over a decade, so unsurprisingly, it has robust customer support. They usually get back to you within a day whenever you try to contact them.
On the other hand, you can contact SE Ranking’s customer support only on weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm. Therefore, Semrush provides better support than SE Ranking and is more reliable.
SE Ranking recently hiked its pricing on all three plans but also increased keyword limits. However, the company is still offering a 14-day free trial on every plan without needing to add card details. Here are the plans:
*The pricing mentioned is for the annual subscription. If you go for the monthly plan, you will have to pay 20% extra than the annual plan.
If you want a long-term subscription, you can subscribe to SE Ranking’s annual plans and get a flat 20% discount on monthly plans along with free website migration options.
Semrush SEO toolkit also has three different plans based on the size of your business. Among these, two of them have a free trial period of 14 days so that you can have a better understanding of their offering. Here they are:
Price: $139.95/month
Price: $249.95/ month
Price: $499.95/ month
You can check our detailed Semrush pricing.
You can also save up to 17% on the annual plans of Semrush.
After comparing the pricing of both tools, I can see that Semrush is more expensive than SE Ranking. However, it also doesn’t impose any restrictions on the number of keywords. So, SE Ranking is the best choice for people short on budget, but Semrush is the better choice for people who can afford to pay.
When comparing SE Ranking and Semrush, one key consideration for many users is the cost of premium SEO tools. While both platforms offer great value, Semrush can feel a bit pricey for beginners or small businesses. Github Semrush Promo provides access to exclusive discounts and promo codes that can help users save on their subscription. Taking advantage of such offers can make top-tier SEO tools more accessible and budget-friendly.
After comparing all the major features, Semrush is undoubtedly a superior tool to SE Ranking.
However, both SEO tools target audiences with different budgets and needs. Here’s a quick verdict:
Regardless of the complexity and pricing differences, both platforms offer risk-free 14-day free trials to new users. That means you can use both tools and decide which one is perfect for your SEO needs.
So what are you waiting for? Sign up for your preferred SEO suite today, and thank us later!
You can also explore our list of top SEO tools!
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