How to Use SEMRush to Identify Search Trends and Competitor Insights

Any effectual hunt selling strategy should harvester some paid and integrated information and leverage tools to glean rival insights. This allows america to place gaps successful our ain strategy and emulate and amended upon tactics utilized by competitors.

But which tools bash we request and however tin we compile these findings successful an actionable, impactful way? Using almighty features and reports from SEMRush, we are capable to supply a Competitors Domain Trends Analysis to assistance clients recognize changes successful the hunt landscape, emerging trends, SERP features, and rival behavior. 

There are a fig of tools successful SEMrush that our squad members usage daily. We tin show keyword rankings for clients and competitors and look astatine paid and integrated hunt information connected an ongoing basis.

For the Competitor Domain Trends Analysis, we usage 2 circumstantial tools:

1. Organic Competitors Report
2. SEMRush API

Let’s look astatine the information that fuels these tools and however we tin usage our findings to trade a competitive, effectual selling and contented strategy that drives results for our clients.

Organic Competitors Report

The Organic Research Competitors Report helps america to place hunt competitors. Note that hunt competitors aren’t ever the aforesaid arsenic concern competitors. For our purposes, we privation to cognize which websites ain invaluable existent property successful the SERPs, which whitethorn not needfully beryllium the apical competitors crossed different channels.

We simply participate a client’s website into the hunt barroom and we’re capable to spot a database of the domains that fertile for the aforesaid integrated keywords, arsenic good arsenic the fig of keywords, estimated monthly traffic, and estimated outgo of that traffic.

Here’s an illustration utilizing our ain website:

Now that we person this data, we’re capable to find which 10 to 15 competitors we privation to comparison successful our analysis. Before we determination to the adjacent step, however, it’s important to reply the pursuing questions:

• Am I amazed by immoderate of the domains successful my results?
• Are immoderate competitors irrelevant to our concern goals oregon strategy?

You whitethorn besides privation to sermon this rival acceptable with your lawsuit earlier proceeding to corroborate the resulting investigation volition beryllium arsenic utile and impactful arsenic possible.

SEMRush API

The Application Programming Interface (API) allows america to export earthy information astatine standard without utilizing the modular website interface. We tin automate the process to get the information we request rapidly and efficiently.

💡 For much accusation connected however to usage the SEMRush API, present is an in-depth guide.

Using the API, we export 36 months worthy of humanities data. This allows america to see seasonality, shifts successful the marketplace, and industry and satellite events (think COVID-19) that whitethorn person influenced hunt behaviour oregon performance.

For our Competitor Domain Trends Analysis, we propulsion the pursuing information from the SEMRush API:

• Domain
• Date 
• Organic traffic 
• Keyword count
• Paid traffic 

Once we person each the information we need, our Data Strategy squad uploads this into our information warehouse and builds visuals utilizing Power BI. We analyse our findings and make a platform to contiguous our findings and recommendations to our clients.

What Can We Learn From This?

So wherefore is each this information important to some our clients and to america arsenic a consultant? Here’s what we’re capable to larn erstwhile we analyse the information from SEMRush:

• Understand astatine a high-level however the hunt scenery has changed implicit time
• Identify which hunt competitors person gained oregon mislaid marketplace share
• Analyze however competitors’ ownership of SERP features is shifting, and if determination are opportunities oregon threats if others successful the marketplace are changing their attack to winning the SERP.
• Understand if shifts successful SERP ownership is circumstantial to our tract oregon is dispersed passim the industry. 
• Pinpoint large increases oregon decreases successful rival visibility
• Assess if postulation whitethorn beryllium skewed towards 1 transmission implicit another; place seasonal trends wherever 1 transmission whitethorn increase. For example, are competitors decreasing their paid walk during definite times of the year, is this an accidental for us?

Findings and Recommendations: A Medical Client Example

For our lawsuit successful the healthcare industry, we analyzed API information for 26 hunt competitors implicit 36 months. We were presented the pursuing findings and recommendations:

• Finding: Organic postulation maturation outpaced keywords twelvemonth implicit year, which indicates we’re gaining visibility for keywords with higher hunt measurement oregon expanding CTR. 
  • Recommendation: Continue to prioritize contented improvement and contented optimization based connected precedence keywords
• Finding: All competitors are seeing accordant increases successful some Organic postulation and keywords, but 1 competitor’s complaint of maturation eclipsed the rest. Upon further probe of that domain’s keyword ranking past successful SEMRush, we discovered they created a determination circumstantial strategy (which our lawsuit already has) and are expanding concern successful section content. 
  • Recommendation: We request to prioritize data-driven contented optimizations to forestall being outpaced by competitors, and should revisit our section strategy to support marketplace share.
• Finding: People Also Ask are the astir prevalent SERP diagnostic owned by our competitory set.
  • Recommendation: Perform a People Also Ask Analysis to find opportunities to ain People Also Ask features successful SERPs.
• Finding: Competitor ownership of Featured Snippets saw increases, particularly during the summertime months. 
  • Recommendation: Create contented that offers clear, concise features to beryllium competitory for these SERP features. Perform a broad hunt seasonality analysis.
• Finding: Paid postulation accrued during the summertime months, which means definite campaigns whitethorn beryllium successful higher request astatine definite times of the year.
  • Recommendation: Adjust nationalist run fund readying to guarantee funds are disposable based connected seasonality.

Leveraging SEMRush Data to Inform Our Search Strategy

This is conscionable 1 illustration of however organic, paid, and competitory information tin assistance america thrust strategy and results for our clients.

What tools and information postulation methods bash you usage astir often to pass your hunt selling strategy and thrust results?

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