Semrush vs Ahrefs: Best SEO tools and their disadvantages
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We all know the importance of SEO in increasing online visibility and improving rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). Therefore, you must use an effective SEO tool that helps you optimise your website.
Semrush and Ahrefs are leading SEO tools that help businesses with several SEO components such as SEO analysis, content optimisation, keyword research, backlinking and competitor analysis. Although both are reliable and provide excellent SEO support, we understand it doesn’t always make financial sense to purchase both and you need to choose the tool that will help you achieve your business goals.
So you have all the insights you need to make an informed decision, I have broken down their similarities, differences, advantages and disadvantages. Wow – lots to get through. Let’s get started!
Semrush vs Ahrefs: what’s the difference?
Although both Semrush and Ahrefs are two of the best SEO tools, Semrush is a paid marketing tool, so as well as offering support with SEO, Semrush also helps with paid advertising, social media and content marketing. Ahrefs is solely an SEO tool and is used more for on/off-page and technical SEO.
Although both tools can be used similarly, they can be set apart in different areas.
Keyword research
Similarities: Both Semrush and Ahrefs show similar keyword metrics, such as such as volume, competition and cost per click. They both also update their keyword databases daily/weekly.
Differences: Semrush has a much larger keyword database: over 3x larger than Ahrefs. Semrush’s keyword overview report is more in-depth and uses AI features to provide further detailed data. Metrics unique to Semrush are keyword search intent, the number of results in SERPs, the number of ads for a keyword and keyword clusters. Ahrefs has a unique keyword feature too, known as keyword explorer; this shows the traffic potential for keywords.
Backlinking
Similarities: Semrush and Ahrefs both provide a backlinking report, which shows you data on referring domains, backlink charts, top anchor text and so on. Both provide unique metrics: Semrush’s authority score and Ahref’s URL rating.
Differences: Semrush has a larger backlinking index and measures backlink toxicity (which tells you which links could interfere with brand reputation). It also gives you a quality score for each backlink. Ahref offers a broken backlink report and is also found to be more accurate for backlink analysis and presented more clearly.
Competitor analysis
Similarities: Both SEO tools offer competitor information concerning backlinks, traffic keywords, paid keywords and changes over time.
Differences: Semrush updates each time a new competitor has entered the industry and how this impacts the rankings for a specific keyword as well as competitor lists. Ahrefs provides data on the top pages which drove the most traffic and Ahref’s ‘content gap’ feature also shows you which keywords your competitors are ranking for that you are not.
Ranking tracking
Similarities: Both Semrush and Ahrefs have accurate tracking systems where you can monitor your position in the SERPs for your keywords. They both show keyword tags and competitor comparisons.
Differences: Semrush updates its rank tracking more regularly than Ahrefs (daily vs once or twice a week). Semrush offers a ‘visibility’ score and Ahrefs offers automated ranking reports, so you can receive emails with your progress.
Site Audit
Similarities: Both provide an overall ‘health’ score and flag important issues.
Differences: Ahrefs provides issue descriptions, custom segments and audit history and Semrush offers a crawl comparison.
Customer support
Similarities: Semrush and Ahrefs both offer good customer service; email support and live chat.
Differences: Semrush also offers over-the-phone support.
Pricing model
Semrush:
Here are the latest piercing plans for Semrush.
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Semrush is a paid subscription with optional ad-ons. The entry-level plan offers all of its essential features. You can also have a 7-day free trial and only one user can view Semrush at a time.
Ahrefs:
Here are the latest pricing plans for Ahrefs.
Image source
Although the entry-level plan is considerably cheaper than Semrush, it is slightly less generous with many of its unique essential features inaccessible. It also operates on a credit system; credits are consumed each time a report is opened or filters are applied. If these limits are exceeded, Ahrefs will charge extra.
So now you know the similarities and differences between Semrush and Ahrefs, let’s explore why you should pick one over the other. Here are the key advantages and disadvantages of both SEO tools.
Semrush vs Ahrefs: advantages and disadvantages
Semrush advantages
- A huge keyword database – when you need a large volume of keywords and detailed keyword reports, Semrush is a great tool. It has a massive suite of keyword-tracking tools and generates automatic clusters, which can save keyword research time. It is also updated daily, so you can better refine your strategy with real-time data. Within its keyword research, Semrush also offers PPC data from Google, which is helpful when running Google ads and SEO at the same time.
- Goes beyond SEO – As Semrush is a paid marketing tool, its other features focus on local SEO, social media, paid advertising, and content marketing. All of which can impact rankings too, so it is useful to have more detailed insights.
- Generous results for your money – Even with the entry-level plan, you can receive 10,000 results per report and Semrush offers enterprise-level plans. Therefore, both small and large companies can benefit from Semrush.
Semrush disadvantages
- Hard to get to grips with – Because Semrush does offer such detailed insights and large reports, it can be tricky for those starting in SEO to understand. Therefore, it can take time to evaluate the data and use these insights to refine your SEO strategy.
- Only one user account allowed – With all Semrush subscriptions, only one user account is permitted. More users can be added (but it is fairly expensive to do this).
- More expensive option – It is no secret that Semrush’s prices are premium. Of course, you get a lot of data because of this, but their prices do exclude businesses that have a strict SEO budget.
Ahrefs advantages
- Accurate backlinking tool – Ahref’s accurate and clear backlinking reports are a key reason many businesses use this SEO tool. It is easier than Semrush when it comes to navigating through and finding backlink information. Due to its high-level crawlability, it updates its backlink reports daily.
- Unique features – Ahrefs offers a wide range of unique features. For example, it can compare current and historical website data, provide data on traffic potential for each keyword and help SEO writers by providing a top-ranking page word count, which can help you understand the optimum length for content.
- Less expensive – It is significantly cheaper than Semrush in all pricing plans except when it reaches ‘enterprise-level’. Of course, you need to weigh up whether the cheaper plans provide you with the insights you want but for those starting in the world of SEO, a cheaper plan could be the best way to go.
Ahrefs disadvantages
- No free trial – Unlike Semrush, Ahrefs requires you to pick a payment plan without a free trial. If you are skilled in SEO, this may not be a problem but for those who want to figure out the platform and whether it is of use, this can be an issue.
- Doesn’t have unlimited keyword lists – It has a less detailed keyword reporting system and a much smaller keyword database compared to Semrush. Although it can be easier to understand, Ahrefs keyword research tools don’t provide as many keywords as Semrush.
- The credit-based system – As Ahrefs operates a credit system, users could run out of credits and be unable to access specific features, despite being on a paid subscription. Although verified site owners can receive free access to Ahrefs, it doesn’t cover all the features needed.
Which one should you choose? Semrush or Ahrefs?
I know it sounds cliche but it depends! Both are reliable, accurate tools that can boost your SEO efforts and improve your rankings. As mentioned, both have their advantages and disadvantages; If you are more focused on keyword research then Semrush might be a better fit whereas if you are working on your backlinks and link building, Ahref’s is your best bet. Furthermore, if you want an all-in-one tool that covers multiple marketing departments, Semrush is the way to go.
It’s really important to outline your business goals and weigh up which SEO tool will be of most support to you based on its advantages and disadvantages.
Top tip: Determine your SEO priorities, goals and budget then choose the platform that best aligns with them.
Do you need SEO support? Embryo can help!
Our team of SEO experts are here to help you with all your SEO needs. If you want to fully optimise your site and increase your rankings in the SERP, Embryo is the team that can make that happen. Get in touch with us today and take your SEO game to the next level. We look forward to hearing from you.
