When it comes to growing an online business, there is no question that search engine optimization, or SEO, is a crucial process. And when it comes to finding organic keywords to improve your search rankings, a professional keyword research tool is essential.
Small business owners and budget-conscious marketers understand this significance, and their search for the best value SEO tool leads to one question: Which are the best SEO tools for my business?
There are obviously lots of options, such as Moz, Ahrefs, Majestic, Ubersuggest, SEMrush and Serpstat.
While SEMrush has long been seen as the default or industry standard, all of these keyword research tools have their own benefits.
So in this article, we’re going to look specifically at SERPstat vs SEMrush and help answer the question: which one should you invest in?
The Importance of Premium SEO Tools
When it comes to being found via search, there is no substitute for a paid keyword research tool. Being able to search a database of organic keywords, find keyword ideas and even access competitor analysis is the golden ticket for pretty much any business owner.
In fact, if we consider the internet to be a vast, bustling city, SEO is the guiding map that leads potential customers to your doorstep.
The strength of your SEO strategy can effectively determine the visibility of your business amongst a myriad of competitors. And so, with the right SEO tool, this process can be greatly streamlined. A premium SEO tool simplifies the decoding of search engine algorithms, aids in formulating strategies that increase organic traffic, and heightens your chances of achieving a top rank on search engine results pages.
In short: If you want your site to improve its organic search traffic, you’re gonna need one of these keyword research tools.
But which one is best?
SEMrush Review
Within the digital marketing world, SEMrush has carved out its place as a one-stop-shop. When it comes to SEO, SEMrush offers a broad suite of tools designed to foster growth and improve overall online visibility.
But that’s not all! SEMrush offers insight into social media too, and is invaluable when rank tracking for specific search terms, conducting competitor analysis and building backlinks.
What tools does SEMrush offer?
As one of the best known and most popular SEO tools, SEMrush is built to address every search marketers concern.
Some of the best features of SEMrush include:
- Keyword Magic Tool: This tool allows you to generate extensive keyword lists for SEO campaigns. You can get in-depth insights about search volume, keyword difficulty, competitive density, SERP features, and cost per click (CPC) data.
- SEO Content Template: Helps create SEO-friendly content, providing suggestions based on your target keywords, potential backlink sources, and readability score.
- Site Audit: Audits your website against 140+ checks to detect and fix on-page as well as technical SEO issues.
- Backlink Analysis: Elucidates your backlink profile and your competitors’, enabling a rich understanding of the link building landscape.
- Position Tracking: Monitors daily rankings for any keyword in any location, so you can respond to changes promptly.
Convenience and Other Key Features of SEMrush
SEMrush doesn’t stop at being an excellent SEO tool; it further ventures into other aspects of digital marketing:
- Social Media Toolkit: Comprehensive social media posting and analytics tool that lets you manage all social accounts from one window.
- Content Marketing Platform: Assists throughout your content marketing workflow. Content audits, topic research, content creation, optimization, and distribution can all be performed under one roof.
- Competitive Research: A comprehensive toolset to analyse the competition. From their organic search performance to their advertising strategies, and their content and PR strategies — you get a full view with SEMrush.
Whether you’re a marketer or a small business owner, SEMrush caters to your needs with these broad-ranging utilities. It becomes indispensable when managing complex projects or multiple clients, driving all your campaigns toward greater search engine visibility.
What I like about SEMrush
As a professional content marketer, there are a few nice touches that I enjoy in SEMrush. One of these is the option to view different keywords by their search intent, whether that is transactional, commercial, informational or navigational.
Their keyword magic tool is also very handy, and sometimes brings up some nice niche search terms.
While SEMrush is the premium (eg. expensive) option, it is the more full featured of these products we’re reviewing here.
What I don’t like about SEMrush
For a research tool, I do find that the search volume and traffic stats in SEMrush are often way out. For example, the organic traffic is usually inaccurate to a fairly hefty degree. I always found Ahrefs to be closer to the mark here.
To add to this, they don’t always spot the search ranking position changes or even new rankings for quite some time. This can be frustrating if you’re working with a client and you want to highlight a win you’ve had, which you might be able to see yourself, but which SEMrush missed.
How much is SEMrush?
SEMrush starts from $108.33 per month if you pay annually, which is $1298.64 for the year.
There is a free package where you can use SEMrush with limited access to the tools on offer. This can be a really good way to get the hang of using the features of SEMrush, and as there is a bit of a learning curve with working out where everything is and how it works, the free plan can be a good intro.
You can also access the premium features with a free trial for 7 days.
**BLACK FRIDAY UPDATE: Semrush are offering 30% off their annual pro deals. That’s a huge saving and well worth checking out. Check the Semrush Black Friday offers here.
SERPstat Review
If you’re looking for a keyword research tool with a lower price tag, you’ll see SERPstat come up as an option.
When it comes to Serpstat vs Semrush, the former secures its place by offering potent SEO tools and unique features at a competitive price. But what does SERPstat do to tempt you for your annual subscription?
Well, before we dive in, we’re gonna hit you with a spoiler alert.
SERPstat actually offers some great keyword research and tracking features, for more than half the price of SEMrush. The catch is that there are less bells and whistles – so no social media tracking or top notch backlink analysis. But if if you’re looking for a quality SEO keyword tool then here is why we think SERPstat might a fantastic tool for digital marketers.
Want to try SERPstat? Sign up for free.
Boosting SEO with SERPstat
SERPstat shines bright with its potent SEO functionalities, which is what you’re here for. Yes, the tool allows you to find keywords, run a site audit and check out your competitors domain to steal their keywords too (if that’s what you’re trying to do).
To summarize, the benefits of SERPstat include:
- Keyword Research: An expansive keyword database that offers an in-depth look at keyword use among competitors, helping develop an effective keyword strategy. And yes, we think it is on par with SEMrush here.
- Keyword Clustering and Text Analytics: Innovative features allowing more efficient strategy building. Group keywords based on search engine result similarities, and use AI to guide content creation.
- Site Audit: Similar to SEMrush, SERPstat conducts a thorough audit of your site, pinpointing and suggesting solutions to SEO issues.
- Backlink Analysis: Gives insight into your link profile while monitoring your competition.
- Rank Tracker: Tracks the daily changes in your site’s rankings while providing analytical data on your competitors.
Additional features of SERPstat
Whole SEO software is usually bought for keyword research, you obviously want more features in one tool so that you can get value from your subscripton. Luckily, SERPstat delivers.
In fact, beyond SEO, SERPstat offers several other handy tools for marketers:
- Ads Analysis: This tool provides comprehensive reports on your competitors’ PPC efforts, helping you shape your own successful PPC strategies.
- Content Marketing Ideation: Enables ideation based on the SEO performance of different types of content ideas.
- Plagiarism Check: To ensure the originality of your content, SERPstat can scan and identify duplicate content.
- Competitor Research: Research your competitors on all fronts, from SEO and PPC efforts to content marketing strategies.
We like the built in plagiarism checker, which is a nice touch, especially if you’re using external writers for your contemt.
What we like about SERPstat
For starters, we find SERPstat to be very user friendly, with a nice user interface and not too many complex feaures. By contrast, SEM rush can be slightly overwhelming with A LOT going on in the side bar.
But SERP stat offers many of the same features, including tracking those search results and backlinks.
While there is no free version of SERPstat, they are much cheaper than SEMrush, and there is a free trial for you to check it out.
How much is SERPstat?
With prices starting from $50 for an annual subscription, SERPstat offers one of the cheapest professional SEO tools on the market. That’s $600 for a full year! Even their pro package comes to $1200 for the year, which is slightly less than SEMrush.
Try your own SERPstat review for free here.
BLACK FRIDAY DEAL ALERT: Get your Serpstat Black Friday discount here.
Comparing Reviews
Across the internet, both SEMrush and SERPstat have accrued many positive reviews.
SEMrush is lauded for its robustness and comprehensive set of tools. Reviewers often highlight the convenience it brings to large projects or to those managing multiple clients. However, some mention that its pricing is a tad hefty compared to other tools.
On the flip side, SERPstat receives high praise for its in-depth SEO analysis and affordability. The majority of its users appreciate the value for money it offers, and its unique features – especially keyword clustering and Text Analytics. However, it’s noted that its interface might seem a tad complicated for beginners.
To synthesize these reviews, it becomes evident that the choice between SEMrush and SERPstat largely depends on your needs and budget.
SEMrush is best suited to:
Large businesses or agencies with multiple clients. It’s perfect for those who are in need of an all-encompassing solution, with great depth in SEO and content marketing.
SERPstat is best suited to:
Smaller businesses or individual marketers on a tighter budget who are looking for powerful SEO tools and functionality without a substantial financial drain.
The Final Verdict
In the battle of Serpstat vs Semrush, we think the choice might just come down to function and price. If you need simply keyword research and backlink analysis, go for the cheaper SERPstat.
If you want full featured SEO software with all the essential bells and whistles, plus more, then you’ll need to sign up for SEMrush.
Both tools offer numerous benefits; SEMrush with its comprehensive suite of features, and SERPstat with its robust SEO tools and affordability.
Check out our guide to the best tools for entrepreneurs.
