If you are looking for a detailed feature analysis of the Ahrefs vs SEMrush 2023 comparison then you are at the right place as we have indicated all the features of the industry’s two leading marketing tools.
These two tools are in the tongue of every digital marketer. Some even get subscriptions to have both platforms as both have some unique features besides some common features.
Let us know more about Ahrefs and SEMrush.
What Are Ahrefs And SEMrush?
Ahrefs and SEMrush are the marketing tools used for the enhancement of websites. They show the keywords related to your niche and also tell the difficulty in ranking them on search engines.
Every essential factor that is required to rank your website is shown in these tools. You can also analyze your competitor’s web page and have an idea for your content.
Link building, domain analysis, keyword research, web page ranking, traffic estimation, etc. are the main features of these two SEO tools.
Ahrefs Vs SEMrush 2023 Comparison
Ahrefs vs SEMrush comparison is done here based on a variety of factors that are listed below.
Ahrefs Vs SEMrush: Keyword Research
Basically, the keyword is a collection of two-three words for which you want to rank your blog post or articles. Let us take the example of this post, if we want to rank our article we will use keywords like “Ahrefs vs SEMrush” or “Ahrefs vs SEMrush comparison”.
Ideally, keyword research includes the following features:
Let us know the keyword research features of Ahrefs and SEMrush individually.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs has a keyword explorer for keyword research that shows all the keywords data. For performing the keyword research, enter your keyword on keyword explorer and select the country for which you want the data.
For demonstration, we entered the keyword “Keto recipes”.
Now you will be shown a keyword difficulty score between 1 to 100, the best thing about Ahrefs keyword difficulty is that it also shows the number of backlinks your site needs to beat the competitor.
Other data like monthly search volume, global volume, traffic potential, CPC, SERP, and keyword ideas are also shown.
If you are not sure which keyword you should use then click on matching terms in the keyword overview section, then you will get a list of keywords with their keyword difficulty, search volumes, etc.
You can filter the low competition keywords by setting the less keyword difficulty score from the top bar as shown in the snap below.
Now let us check for SEMrush.
SEMrush
Keyword analytics of SEMrush includes the overview, keyword magic tool, keyword manager, and ad history.
Similar to Ahrefs, global volume, keyword difficulty, SERP history, keyword variations are available in SEMrush also. With the keyword magic tool,
you can get the related matches and other info of many keywords and using the keyword manager tool helps you in comparison and management of multiple keywords.
SEMrush also has the feature that tells about the ‘search intent’ of the user for a particular keyword which is not available in the case of Ahrefs.
Winner
SEMrush has more than 20 billion keywords database whereas Ahrefs has only half of it which is 10 billion. On the other hand, Ahrefs tells the keyword data for multiple search engines whereas SEMrush data is limited to Google. Also, Ahrefs is more accurate in keyword difficulty data than Semrush.
So, in keyword research Ahrefs is the winner.
Ahrefs Vs SEMrush: Backlink Analysis
A backlink is very important for ranking your website on Google. Both do-follow and no-follow link plays a vital role. The biggest problem an SEO person or the website owners face is from which sites to get backlinks, both Ahrefs and Semrush allow to check the backlink profile of any website.
Ahrefs
By using the site explorer of Ahrefs, you can easily check the backlink profile of any website in just one click. You can also get the idea of the websites that are referring to your competitor’s website and then you can also approach them for linking to your site.
Ahrefs uses the UR (URL Rating) and DR (Domain Rating) by assigning the number to your website based on backlink profile, the higher the number, the more the chances of ranking in the top positions of search results.
Ahrefs classify the total link into separate components like follow and no follow, government or educational site, .com or .in links, higher or lower rating links, etc. This makes us easy to determine the backlinks based on specific requirements.
Ahrefs also shows the elaborated data of backlinks like its DR, UR, traffic of the referral page, ranking keywords of that URL, and anchor text.
SEMrush
Semrush offers some additional information about backlinks than Ahrefs which are of significant importance.
For analyzing the backlinks of any domain from Semrush, type the URL of the domain in the domain overview and then click on backlinks. You will get a detailed breakdown of backlink data.
By backlink audit, one can easily determine the toxic links from Semrush, and the rest features of backlinks are same as Ahrefs.
Winner
Since for analyzing the backlinks of domains from any tool, the most prior thing that matters is the size index of links in which Semrush is way ahead of Ahrefs.
Experimentally also, it is found that Semrush is much more efficient in finding the backlinks than Ahrefs. Hence, Semrush is the winner in terms of backlink analytics.
Ahrefs Vs SEMrush: Site Auditing
Site auditing is one of the favourite features of every professional digital marketer in the industry. It allows you to rectify all the errors and mistakes that are preventing your site to rank and performing better.
Ahrefs
Thousands of marketers use site auditing from Ahrefs to fix their website problem. You can click on the site audit option on Ahrefs dashboard and then add a new project to audit your website. You need to prove your ownership to get a better audit of your website.
Ahrefs tells the health score which represents the number of pages with no issues out of 100, internal pages and the number of pages with errors, the number of pages crawled, content types of internal URL, HTTPS status code, content types of internal URL by depth.
Ahrefs site audit tool has many advanced technical specifications. If you are new to Technical SEO you can check the issues from the overview section, otherwise, you can apply the custom filters in various options like data explorer, site structure.
In the overview sometimes the pages which are not indexed are also shown as the issues, but it may not be an issue as this can be voluntary action from the website owner to not index the selected pages.
Ahrefs also lists out the pages or posts that have copied meta description, no meta description, title short or missing, SSL errors, etc. which you can fix to improve the overall health score.
SEMrush
Site audit from Semrush is much faster than Ahrefs and it also does not require any verification. Similar to Ahrefs, Semrush also shows the overall health score.
Issues in Semrush data are classified into three groups: critical errors, warnings, and notices.
Critical errors are the ones that need immediate action and are negatively affecting your site. You also get to know the top issues and how to solve them. After resolving the issues completely, you can recrawl your site and you will see a better health score with fewer issues.
Winner
Ahrefs site audit is highly technical and requires the user to have a vast knowledge of SEO to completely use it, while Semrush provides all those data in simple terms, and hence it is better to understand. So, for site auditing Semrush is the winner.
Ahrefs Vs SEMrush: UI Or UX
UI and UX of any software play a key role in deciding its fate as there are many tools in the market that have quite good features but due to poor user interface (UI), they failed to run in the long term.
Let us know about the UI of Ahrefs and Semrush.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs interface is very simple with all necessary data put together in one place, interface is quite user-friendly and hence can be used by beginners to professionals without any issues.
The only interface of Ahrefs that is difficult to operate for beginners is the site audit feature. Most of the visual information at the top dashboard is available in the form of bar graphs that is easy to understand by anyone.
SEMrush
When it comes to interface, Semrush represents data in the form of pie charts, line graphs, and bar charts together at a place that makes the interface a little chaotic.
But it does not mean that Semrush is hard to use but it is due to the fact that Semrush provides more additional information than Ahrefs that too at a single screen which slightly decreases its feasibility.
Winner
You have clearly got the point that Semrush data is quite chaotic while Ahrefs uses the fashionable styles to keep it as a simple interface as possible. Hence, in terms of UI or UX, Ahrefs is the winner.
Ahrefs Vs SEMrush: Plans And Pricing
Now let us check the plans and their costs for both Ahrefs and Semrush.
Ahrefs: Plans And Pricing
Ahrefs provides 4 plans to its customers that are described below. You can get the two-month subscription for free by paying the bill for the whole year of any plan. Check the full specifications of all plans of Ahrefs.
| Lite Plan | Standard Plan | Advanced Plan | Agency Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost: $99 per month. (20% off on annual billing) | Cost: $179 per month. (20% off on annual billing) | Cost: $399 per month. (20% off on annual billing) | Cost: $999 per month. (20% off on annual billing) |
| Keyword reports: 175 per week. | Tracked keywords: 1500 per week | Tracked keywords: 5000 per week | Tracked keywords: 10,000 per week |
| Tracked keywords: 500 per week | Domain research: 700 per week | Domain research: 1750 per week | Domain research: 7,000 per week |
| Domain research: 175 per week | URL research: 3500 per week | URL research: 14,000 per week | URL research: 35,000 per week |
| URL research: 700 per week. | Keyword reports: 700 per week. | Keyword reports: 1400 per week | Keyword reports: 7,000 per week. |
Note: If you need more customization in your plans then you may opt for an enterprise plan on request as it allows more flexibility and team management features.
SEMrush: Plans And Pricing
Semrush offers only three plans to its users. Like Ahrefs, here also you get a discount when you pay for annual plans. Check full specifications of all plans.
| Pro Plan | Guru Plan | Business Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Cost: $119.95 per month (save 17% on annual billing). Projects: 5 Keywords to track: 500 per day. Domain and keyword reports: 3000 per day. All 50+ Tools | Cost: $229.95 per month (save 17% on annual billing) Projects: 15 & Keywords to track: 1500 per day. Domain and keyword reports: 5000 per day. Google data studio integration Access to historical data All Pro Tools+ | Cost: $449.95 per month (save 17% on annual billing) Projects: 40 & Keywords to track: 5000 per day Domain and keyword reports: 10000 per day Google data studio integration and access historic data Product listing ads Share of voice metric All GURU Tools + |
| Click Here To Start 7 Days Free Trial Now | Click Here To Start 7 Days Free Trial Now | Click Here To Start 7 Days Free Trial Now |
Like Ahrefs, you can request a custom plan in Semrush also.
Winner
Ahrefs pricing starts from $99 and Semrush at $119.95 per month. If affordability is the issue then Ahrefs is preferred but if the value for money is considered then Semrush is the ultimate winner.
Ahrefs Vs SEMrush: Customer Support
Quality of customer support matters the most for all premium software as it will be the only means of solving the problem whenever an issue occurs. Let’s know about the customer care services of Ahrefs and Semrush.
Ahrefs
You get the two options to interact with the customer care team either from live chat or email. One thing that lacks in customer service is the unavailability of telephonic support.
The best thing about Ahrefs customer care service is you can contact and chat with them in multiple languages hence the barrier in the language is not there. You can contact the customer team by emailing at support@ahrefs.com.
SEMrush
Three options of customer support are given to the Semrush users which are phone, email, and live chat support. The customer support team of Semrush is extremely helpful. For email support, you can mail them at mail@semrush.com and you will get a reply within one business day.
Winner
Since phone support is not available with Ahrefs but available in SEMrush. Hence, Semrush is the winner in terms of the quality of customer support.
Unique Features Of Ahrefs And SEMrush
There are some features of both the tools that make them stand top in the market and almost no other tools have such features. So let’s check the unique features of Ahrefs and Semrush.
Ahrefs
It has a very unique feature which is known as Content Explorer, it needs you to enter keywords of the topic, and then it presents the best content on that topic which is available on the internet in terms of backlinks, SEO, and content quality.
The second coolest and unique feature is research and automate internal linking, and this feature makes you know about the internal linking of any website without actually crawling it.
also you can check which pages have the most internal backlinks and what are those links without any extra effort.
SEMrush
Semrush has many unique features. The first is two Semrush addon, Semrush trends and local SEO.
But these are paid, $200 for Semrush trends and from $20 for local SEO. Semrush trends let you reveal and know the marketing tactics used by your competitors and analyse their traffic, behaviour, etc.
Local SEO helps in growing your business digitally in your location, it distributes your business profile to various platforms to expand your reach, tracks local rankings, monitors users’ suggestions, responds to reviews, etc.
Another unique feature that Semrush offers is the ‘Agency Growth Kit’ which costs $100 per month additionally after the basic price of the plan. This add-on is helpful in increasing the revenue as you can set up new leads via the agency partners platform, find high-value bids from bid finder, etc. features that an agency requires in general.
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Overall Which Tool Is Better SEMrush vs Ahrefs?
After checking and using all the features based on ease of use, interface, value for money, customer care quality, the accuracy of data Semrush has an edge over Ahrefs. Hence we conclude Semrush as a better tool than Ahrefs.
Also when it comes to the marketing sector, Ahrefs stands nowhere in front of Semrush. If you have planned to go for SEMrush then do not forget to use its Free Trial of 7 Days. This trial is available only for the Pro and Guru plan of Semrush but not for the Business plan.
Note: Ahrefs never run any discounts or offers. The only way to get a discount from Ahrefs is to pay for its annual plan and you will get two monthly subscriptions for free.
Latest News: Semrush Acquired Backlinko In 2022
Backlinko is an online SEO training website which is highly reputed among all SEO specialists. It receives monthly traffic of more than 5 lakhs. On January 19, 2022, Brian Dean, founder of Backlinko announced that the company has been sold to Semrush.
Now this will result in more SEO enhancement of Semrush and will also act as a funnel to drive the customers to Semrush from Backlinko. It will result in the expansion of Semrush among digital marketers.
FAQs: Semrush Vs Ahrefs 2023
Check the most commonly asked questions and their answers in this FAQ section.
What is the refund policy of Ahrefs?
What is the refund policy of Semrush?
Which tool is best: Ahrefs or Semrush?
Does Ahrefs provide a free trial?
Does Semrush provide a free trial?
Conclusion: Ahrefs Vs Semrush
All the perspectives related to Ahrefs vs Semrush have been covered in this article. We can not conclude directly which tool is best but it depends on the number of factors and the needs of users.
Once again we summarize the best tool – Ahrefs – for less budget and Semrush- for more features.
If you have any queries related to Ahrefs vs Semrush, comment below and we will help you.
