Semrush Tutorial for Beginners: Step-by-Step Guide to Using Semrush for Keyword Research [2025]
Published by SemrushWatch on YouTube
Updated Oct 4, 2026
SEO Tools
Semrush
SEO platform with daily rank tracking and competitor research
From $117.33/mofree trial
Semrush at a glance
from our research
Marketing platform for in-house teams and agencies, built around the SEO Toolkit and AI Visibility
Position Tracking updates daily for a chosen device and location, down to ZIP code
Local, Content, Advertising and other toolkits cost extra, and all users share a plan's limits
SEO plan: $139 a month, or $117.33 a month billed yearly, for 5 websites and 500 keywords
Overview
What is Semrush?
Semrush is an online marketing platform from Semrush Inc., a United States company founded in 2008 and based in Boston. According to Semrush's newsroom, Adobe completed its acquisition of the company on April 28, 2026. Every paid plan bundles the SEO Toolkit with AI Visibility features, and specialist toolkits, from Local and Content to Advertising and AI PR, are sold separately.
In Domain Overview you enter a domain, subdomain, folder or URL and get its organic and paid traffic, backlinks and AI visibility in one report. Position Tracking follows a campaign's keywords on a chosen device and location, down to ZIP code, on Google, Bing and other engines, including ChatGPT and Google AI Mode. It updates once a day and keeps daily results for 60 days, then weekly points for 140 weeks. Site Audit crawls within a page limit you set, on a daily, weekly or one-off schedule, and checks for more than 140 issues. From Pro+ up, SEO Writing Assistant scores drafts for readability, SEO, originality and tone against target keywords and top-ranking competitors, inside Google Docs, WordPress or Microsoft Word.
Semrush runs in the browser, and from Starter up, Semrush MCP connects AI assistants to its data. Domain Overview exports to Excel, CSV and PDF, and client reports that combine Semrush data with Google Analytics and Search Console are sold per report. A free account allows one demo project and 10 reports a day. Paid plans are tiered by websites, tracked keywords and AI prompts, each includes one user, and every added user shares the same limits.
Our verdict on Semrush
Updated Oct 4, 2026Pricing checked Oct 4, 2026
Semrush suits marketing teams that handle search as one channel among several and want competitor research, daily rankings and site audits under one login. Domain Overview puts a site's organic and paid traffic, backlinks and AI visibility on one screen. Position Tracking refreshes every day, by device and down to ZIP code, and it can track ChatGPT and Google AI Mode alongside Google and Bing. Data handling is spelled out, too: Semrush's AI terms say it doesn't train its models on what you enter into its AI features and doesn't let third-party providers do so.
The catch is how much sits outside the plans. Toolkits for local SEO, content, advertising, social media and AI PR are sold separately, and Advertising Research, the fuller paid-search tool, belongs to the Advertising Toolkit. White-label client reports need the Pro Report add-on, at $20 per report a month. Within the plans, the SEO plan leaves out historical data, SEO Writing Assistant, multitargeting and JavaScript rendering in Site Audit, all of which start on Pro+. Every user shares the plan's limits, and month-to-month subscriptions aren't refundable.
The SEO plan costs $139 a month, or $117.33 a month billed yearly with the year paid upfront. It covers 5 websites and 500 keywords tracked daily, plus keyword research, competitor analysis and Site Audit, which is enough for an in-house team running a site or two. Starter, at $199 a month or $165.17 billed yearly, keeps those limits and adds 50 AI prompts tracked daily, an AI-ready Site Audit and MCP access. Agencies and content teams will usually need Pro+, at $299 a month or $248.17 billed yearly, for 15 websites, 1,500 tracked keywords, historical data and the content tools. Extra users cost $45 a month on SEO and Starter, $80 on Pro+ and $100 on Advanced.
Choose Semrush when daily rankings and competitor data for several sites matter more than the lowest bill. If you want API access without moving to a top plan, Ahrefs includes API and MCP access from its Lite plan, at $129 a month, while Semrush's API starts on Advanced at $549 a month. If the budget stops near $100 a month and weekly rankings will do, Moz Pro Standard costs $99 a month for three tracked sites.
Written by Lokesh Kapoor
Pros & cons
Semrush pros and cons
What it does well
- Domain Overview shows a site's organic and paid traffic, backlinks and AI visibility together
- Site Audit checks 140+ issues on a daily, weekly or one-off schedule
- Semrush doesn't train its models on what you enter into its AI features
- Free account allows 10 reports a day with no credit card
Where it falls short
- Historical data, SEO Writing Assistant and JavaScript rendering start on Pro+
- White-label reports need the Pro Report add-on, at $20 per report a month
- Month-to-month plans aren't refundable, and trials disable exports
Editor's assessment from vendor documentation and published pricing
Pricing
Semrush pricing
Semrush's paid plans start at $117.33/month, above the $49 median across the 5 tools in our SEO Tools ranking. A free plan is available, and you can test it on a 7-day free trial.
Free
$0
Free plan
- 1 demo project
- 10 reports per day across core tools
- Limited AI Visibility features
- Help Center and basic onboarding
Usage: No credit card required. One demo project and 10 reports a day across all tools combined.
SEO
$117.33/mo
per month, 1 user included
or $139/mo billed monthly
- 5 websites to monitor
- 500 keywords tracked daily
- Basic keyword research, competitor analysis
- Position Tracking and Site Audit
- AI search tracking and sentiment monitoring
Usage: Billed $117.33 a month when paid yearly (about $1,408 upfront for the year) or $139 month to month. One user is included; added users start at $45 a month. No set AI prompt quota; that starts on Starter.
Starter
$165.17/mo
per month, 1 user included
or $199/mo billed monthly
- 5 websites, 500 keywords tracked daily
- Keyword research and optimization tools
- 50 AI prompts tracked daily
- 1 domain for AI brand performance
- AI-ready Site Audit and MCP access
Usage: Billed $165.17 a month when paid yearly (about $1,982 upfront) or $199 month to month. Added users cost $45 a month each. SEO and AI Visibility share one subscription.
Pro+
$248.17/mo
per month, 1 user included
or $299/mo billed monthly
- 15 websites, 1,500 keywords tracked daily
- Historical SEO data
- Content optimization tools
- Keyword cannibalization analysis
- 100 AI prompts tracked daily
Usage: Billed $248.17 a month when paid yearly (about $2,978 upfront) or $299 month to month. Added users cost $80 a month each.
Advanced
$455.67/mo
per month, 1 user included
or $549/mo billed monthly
- 40 websites, 5,000 keywords tracked daily
- SEO share of voice
- API data integration
- 200 AI prompts tracked daily
- Everything in Pro+
Usage: Billed $455.67 a month when paid yearly (about $5,468 upfront) or $549 month to month. Added users cost $100 a month each.
Enterprise
Custom
Tailored pricing for larger teams
- Unlimited projects and custom limits
- Custom large-scale AI prompt tracking
- SSO, team governance and audit logs
- Dedicated account manager
- Enterprise SLA and 24/7 support
Usage: Custom pricing set through a demo request; limits are negotiated.
Checked against Semrush Holdings, Inc.'s pricing page on October 4, 2026 · see the full breakdown
Capabilities
Semrush features
Checked against the same feature list as every other tool in its category.
Platform
- Included:Data APIProgrammatic access to the tool's data for dashboards and internal reporting.Advanced plan and up
- Included:White-label reportingClient-ready branded reports on a schedule.Paid add-on (Pro Report)
Research Data
- Included:Backlink index & analysisA crawler-backed index of links pointing at any domain, with history and anchor data.
- Included:Competitor traffic analysisEstimates which keywords and pages drive a competitor's organic traffic.
- Included:Keyword research databaseVolume, difficulty and intent estimates across a large keyword corpus.
- Included:Paid search & ad dataCompetitor ad copy, spend estimates and paid keyword coverage.
Site Auditing
- Included:Automated site auditScheduled crawls that flag technical issues with severity and guidance.
- Not included:Custom data extractionScrape arbitrary elements from pages during a crawl with XPath or CSS selectors.
- Included:JavaScript renderingRenders JavaScript so single-page applications are crawled as a browser sees them.Pro+ plan and up
- Included:Log file analysisReads server logs to show what search engines actually crawled.Enterprise plan only
Content & Rankings
- Included:Automated content briefsGenerates an outline and requirements for writers from SERP analysis.Content Toolkit, sold separately
- Included:Daily rank trackingTracks positions daily across locations and devices.
- Included:Local SEO toolsListing management and local pack tracking for physical locations.Local Toolkit, sold separately
- Included:On-page content editorScores a draft against currently ranking pages and suggests terms and structure.Pro+ plan and up
Ecosystem
Semrush integrations
- Google Search Console
- Google Analytics
- Google Ads
- Looker Studio
- Trello
- Zapier
Videos
Watch Semrush in action
Product walkthroughs from Semrush's own YouTube channel.
Beginner's Guide to SEO in 2025
Published by SemrushWatch on YouTube
Alternatives
Top Semrush alternatives
Tools that do the same job, from the same category.
Moz Pro
Best for in-house marketers tracking a few sites' rankings and crawl issues week to week
Free plan
Surfer SEO
Best for content teams that brief writers and check each article against the search results
From $49/mo
Fit check
Will Semrush fit your team?
Support
- Email support
- Live chat
- Phone support
- Knowledge base
Training
- Live online
- Webinars
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
Deployment
- Web
Typical users
- Freelancers
- Small businesses
- Mid-size companies
- Enterprises
FAQs
Semrush FAQs
Written by our editorial team.
Is Semrush free?
Semrush has a free plan with tight limits and a 7-day free trial of its paid plans. The free account needs no credit card and allows one demo project and 10 reports a day across all tools combined. The trial covers the SEO + AI Search plans, once per account, with exports disabled during the trial, and the first payment is charged automatically when the trial ends unless you cancel. Paid plans start at $139 a month, or $117.33 a month billed yearly. See Semrush pricing.
How much does Semrush cost?
The SEO plan costs $139 a month, or $117.33 a month billed yearly. Starter costs $199 or $165.17, Pro+ $299 or $248.17, and Advanced $549 or $455.67, and Enterprise is priced on request. Yearly billing is charged upfront for the whole year. Each plan includes one user, extra users cost $45 to $100 a month depending on the plan, and toolkits such as Local, Content and Advertising cost extra. For how this compares with Ahrefs, see Ahrefs vs Semrush.
How much do extra users cost on Semrush?
Extra users cost $45 a month each on the SEO and Starter plans, $80 a month on Pro+ and $100 a month on Advanced. Every plan includes one user. Adding people doesn't add capacity: everyone on the account shares the plan's limits, such as its websites and tracked keywords, so a growing team may need both more seats and a higher plan. A team of three on Pro+ pays for the plan plus two extra seats.
Can you get a refund from Semrush?
Only on a first annual subscription or a first add-on purchase. Semrush offers a one-time, 7-day money-back guarantee on an initial subscription of 12 months or longer and on initial add-ons, and month-to-month subscriptions can't be refunded. A cancellation takes effect at the end of the term you committed to. If a lapsed subscription isn't reactivated within 30 days, Semrush may delete its monitoring data.
Is Semrush owned by Adobe?
Yes. Semrush's newsroom says Adobe completed its acquisition of Semrush Holdings, Inc. on April 28, 2026, and the newsroom now describes the business as Semrush, an Adobe company. Semrush still sells its own plans on semrush.com, from the free account to Enterprise, and its terms of service name Semrush Inc. of Boston as the contracting company.
Sources & methodology
Product details come from Semrush Holdings, Inc.'s public website and documentation (United States). Every plan and price was checked against the vendor's pricing page on October 4, 2026. We haven't tested this product hands-on; the verdict is a desk assessment. How we research and rank tools
- Founded 2008
- 9 languages supported
- semrush.com
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