SEMrush vs Google Search Console- Which Tool is More Helpful for Your SEO in 2023?

SEMrush vs Google Search Console in 2023…

Which tool can help your SEO more? How do they compare?

And should you be combining them?

Let’s find out!

 

What is SEMrush?

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What is SEMrush?

While Google tries to obfuscate its ranking algorithm so it can’t be gamed, SEMrush tries to do the opposite.

SEMrush is an all-in-one- marketing platform that offers a suite of 55+ tools to help you do wholesome marketing on any level your business is currently at.

SEMrush has dozens of features that can help you optimize your website to the max.

Some of these features include:

• SEMrush Site Audit Tool– SEMrush can crawl your website with the SEMrush bot to discover hundreds of technical SEO errors that are weighing your site down and preventing it to rank.
• SEMrush Keyword Magic– Besides Google, SEMrush has the largest keyword database in the world. Using Keyword Magic Tool you can uncover all the long tail variations and questions of your seed query. This in turn can help you optimize your pages so they rank the highest.
• Competitive Analysis– plug your main competitors in SEMrush and see how they compare to your business. Everything from keywords they target and you don’t, and from the backlinks they have and you don’t. You can even use SEMrush to constantly track your competitors and observe their SEO in almost real-time
• SEMrush Backlink Checker– Again, after Google, SEMrush has the largest backlink index on the planet and using their Backlink Checker tool you can get valuable insights into your competitor’s link building strategies.

There’s much more to SEMrush than just this, but let’s see how Google Search Console can help your SEO.

What is Google Search Console?

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Google Search Console is a free service provided by Google that lets webmasters get insights from Google on how their website is doing in Google search.

With Google Search Console you can:

• check internal links on your site;
• check backlinks your site has;
• check keywords each page ranks for and gets impressions for;
• see how Google crawls your site and with what user agents;
• monitor Core Web Vitals and Page Experience score;

You can even use Google Search Console to communicate directly with Goole by providing sitemaps and removing unwanted pages from your domain.

More on this below.

3 Excellent Reasons Why You Need to use SEMrush

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SEMrush has many excellent features. You can read my SEMrush features guide to learn all about it.

But, below are 3 reasons why SEMrush is an indispensable tool for you.

#1- SEMrush Gives You Insights Into Your Competitors

The major thing SEMrush can do while Google Search Console can’t is give you insights into your competitor’s marketing strategy.

When you plug in your competitor in the SERPs you can see how many backlinks they have, their domain rating, and all keywords they rank for, traffic geographic distribution, their paid ads spend…

Here’s an example:

This is valuable info to have s you want to size up your competitors before jumping into the fray.

But the real value is when you plug in a direct competitor that’s competing against you in the SERPs and preventing you from ranking.

Here, I plugged in my SEMrush vs Long Tail comparison post in SEMrush. And then I plugged in the pages that are currently ranking number #1.

The difference between the pages is why I’m currently number #5, while they’re number #1.

#2- SEMrush Enables You to Do a Complete SEO Audit of Your Website

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SEMrush has a comprehensive SEO Audit tool that can help you unearth all technical SEO problems your site has.

All you need to do is plug in your site’s root domain and start the process.

Depending on the size of your website it might take anywhere from 30m to 3-4 h, but when SEMrush finishes you’ll be given a laundry list of all the major and minute SEO problems clogging your site down.

My favorite report by far is the internal linking report where SEMrush shows me which pages are orphaned, which are underlinked, which get way too many links compared to the value they bring to my site, and all the anchor text I used through my site.

Internal link optimization is some serious SEO low-hanging fruit right then and there

#3- Backlink Analysis Suite

After Google, SEMrush has the largest link index in the world.

This is extremely important because links are still crucial for ranking in the SERPs, especially for those queries that can make you money.

By plugging a page into SEMrush Backlink Analysis tool, you can easily see:

• the number of the unique referring domains the page has;
• the number of links the page has;
• anchor text distribution your page has;
• nofollow/dofolllow ratio;
• and more

You can also see how many links you’re gotten vs lost in a given week, month, or year…

The lost link reportt is especially valuable as you’ll be able to recover some of those if you’re proactive.

3 Excellent Reasons Why You Need to use Google Search Console

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Here are 3 main reasons why you need to be using Google Search Console. But there are many more.

#1- Accurate Google-Sourced Data

Google has the data. The data you need.

The data they’re (partly) willing to share with you via Google Search Console (previous name Google Webmaster Tools).

This is a major advantage of Google Search Console over SEMrush. Because SEMrush has to source its data in many different ways to complete it into a usable product while Google is the source of the data and they own the source.

This means for you that your Search Console will give you accurate data and the best representation of how your site is performing in the SERPS.

That can’t be beaten by any third-party tool or software.

#2- Unique Crawl Data

Google Search Console offers you unique insights into how Google bot is crawling your site.

This is useful because you can gauge the quality of your hosting based on what’s Google reporting.

Namely, if in the hosting report you see all green checkmarks, that’s good. But if you see red it’s something to investigate because Google will warn you when your host can’t handle the crawl rate.

If you don’t pay attention to this report your site might go now and in the worst-case scenario, you might get de-indexed.

This would destroy your SEO.

You can also check Google bot crawling patterns to predict Google updates.

Namely, I’m writing my comparison guide on SEMrush and Google Search Console in the midst of the Helpful Content Update. I was surprised by it, but I could’ve predicted the update a few weeks earlier.

How?

By seeing that Google has spent 93% of its crawl resources revisiting my site and refreshing data about it, while only 7% on discovering new content.

#3- Feedback from Google on Security and Manual Penalties

Google doesn’t want you to take advantage of its algorithm.

If you do and are caught you might get a manual penalty.

If you have a manual penalty you will see a notice in your GSC

Also, if your site is hacked you will see a notice in the same area.

This is crucial because Google will label your site as hacked in the SERPs and will be visible to people on the SERPs.

Should You Start With SEMrush First? or Should You Pick Google Search Console?

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It depends.

It depends on who you are and what need.

I mean, are you an experienced marketer who’s launching his 10th online business? Then sure, buy a paid SEMrush plan, open a GSC account and get cracking with SEO.

But, if you’re just starting out and have never done this before, my strong advice is to first go with Google Search Console.

It’s a wonderful tool that can tell you how Google sees your site and what you can improve.

After a while, when your site is out of the sandbox and you’ve started to seriously compete with other businesses, then it pays to invest in SEMrush because SEMrush can show you the data GSC can’t and data your competitor would like to hide from you.

The data from SEMrush is going to prove invaluable to you as time passes.

Finally, to answer your question:

“you need to use BOTH SEMrush and Google Seach Console to see better results quicker”.

SEMrush vs Google Search Console- Pricing

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Learn below how much SEMrush and Google Search Console cost.

SEMrush Pricing

SEMrush offer 4 paid plans:

• Pro – $119.95 per month;
• Guru – $229.95 per month;
• Business – $449.95 per month;
• Custom – negotiable.

You can buy a monthly SEMrush subscription which is ideal if you only need SEMrush for short time, up to a month.

Then there’s really no need to invest in a long term subscription.

Yearly SEMrush plans come with a 17% discount that’s unlocked upon purchase. These are best if you know you’ll be using SEMrush all the time and you want to save some money.

Take a look:

SEMrush Plan	Monthly Price	Yearly Price	Free Trial	Discount
Pro	$119.95/mo	$99.95/mo	Yes	17% discount on yearly pricing
Guru	$229.95/mo	$191.62/mo	Yes	17% discount on yearly pricing
Business	$449.95/mo	$374.95/mo	No	perhaps, upon agreement with SEMrush
Custom	Price determined upon agreement with SEMrush	Price determined upon agreement with SEMrush	Free trial availability determined upon agreement with SEMrush	Discount availability determined upon agreement with SEMrush

Google Search Console

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Google Search Console is free and always will be:)

SEMrush vs Google Search Console 2023 FAQ- Your Questions Answered!

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My SEMrush vs Google Search Console guide for 2023 would be incomplete without a thorough FAQ section. agree?

#1- Does Google Search Console Offer a Free Trial? What About SEMrush?

Google Search Console is a free tool from Google and doesn’t offer a free trial.

SEMrush free trial exists and is 14 days long; you can activate it by clicking here.

#2- Does Google Search Console Offer a Lifetime Deal of their Services? What About SEMrush?

Google Search Console doesn’t offer a lifetime deal because it’s a free service provided by Google.

SEMrush lifetime deal is another name for taking advantage of SEMrush’s yearly pricing which gives you a 17% discount.

SEMrush Plan	Monthly Price	Yearly Price	Free Trial	Discount
Pro	$119.95/mo	$99.95/mo	Yes	17% discount on yearly pricing
Guru	$229.95/mo	$191.62/mo	Yes	17% discount on yearly pricing
Business	$449.95/mo	$374.95/mo	No	perhaps, upon agreement with SEMrush
Custom	Price determined upon agreement with SEMrush	Price determined upon agreement with SEMrush	Free trial availability determined upon agreement with SEMrush	Discount availability determined upon agreement with SEMrush

#3- Does Google Search Console Offer a Coupon Code? What About SEMrush?

Google Search Console doesn’t offer a coupon code because it’s a free service provided by Google.

SEMrush coupon code is sometimes available so click the link to learn more about it.

#4- Does Google Search Console Offer a Refund Guarantee of their Services? What About SEMrush?

Google Search Console doesn’t have a refund guarantee because it’s a free service provided by Google.

SEMrush refund guarantee exists and is 7 days from the moment of purchase.

#5- Is There a Cracked Version of Google Search Console I Can Download? What About SEMrush?

There is no cracked version of Google Search Console.

There is also no SEMrush cracked version and if you see a site offering you one, be wary as it’s a scam.

Neither Google Search Console nor SEMrush are downloadable software.

#6- Can I Google Search Console via Group Buy? What About SEMrush Group Buy?

Neither Google search Console nor SEMrush group buy are viable options to get these tools for free.

GSC is free so you can go and just sign up, while SEMrush group buy option is best avoided if you want to use SEMrush long term.

#7- Can I Get Google Search Console via Premium Cookies? What About SEMrush Cookies?

Google Search Console premium cookies don’t exist.

Premium SEMrush cookies are an ineffective way of getting SEMrush for free.

#8- Does Google Search Console Have a Chrome Extension I Can use? What About SEMrush?

Google Search Console doesn’t have a Chrome extension.

SEMrush does offer SEOquake, the proprietary all-browser SEO extension.

#9- Is Ahrefs A Better Alternative than Google Search Console or SEMrush?

Ahrefs is not a suitable replacement for Google Search Console because it can’t replace the data Google delivers to you for free.

Instead, you need to use either Ahrefs or SEMrush in conjunction with Google Search Console for best SEO results.

Pro tip: in the ideal scenario you’d use all three tools for the best results.

Read my SEMrush vs Ahrefs guide next!

#10- Is Spyfu A Suitable Alternative to Google Search Console or SEMrush?

Spyfu is not a suitable alternative to either Google Search Console or SEMrush.

Spyfu is a competitor analysis tool that has similar capabilities to SEMrush but is limited to the US and UK markets.

This makes it unsuitable for anyone targeting people outside of those two countries.

Read my SEMrush vs Spyfu guide to learn more about it.

#11- Is Google Analytics A Better Alternative to Google Search Console or SEMrush?

Google Analytics is not a suitable alternative to Google Search Console.

Instead, it’s a free Google service you need to use to get a handle on what’s really going on with your website.

Use Google Analytics with Google Search Console and SEMrush for the best results.

Read my SEMrush vs Google Analytics guide next!

SEMrush vs Google Search Console 2023 FAQ- All Your Questions Answered! Click To Tweet

SEMrush vs Google Search Console in 2023 (Conclusion)

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You’ve read my guide and now you know…

You can’t really compare Google Search Console and SEMrush because they’re tools that complement each other and are not direct competitors.

My suggestion for you is to start with Google Search Console as a basic SEO tool everyone needs to be using to improve their standing in Google.

And as soon as you can afford it, pick a paid SErush subscription and get the data you need to be competitive in your niche (note: SEMrush also offers a forever free account which is a good starting point).

Have questions?

Shoot them in the comment section below!