7 ways to use the SEMrush keyword research tool

Search related keywords

Find keyword variations

Enter your starting keyword in the Semrush search field and you'll get related keywords.

Keyword Magic Tool

Find keyword ideas based on the category

Type your main keyword into the search field and select the appropriate keyword database. (Google United States is selected by default)

Keywords will be ranked primarily based on the number of keywords and search volume. Use subcategories to filter each keyword variation.

Organic Traffic Overview

Find keywords that are not provided in Google Analytics.

Connect your accounts Google Analytics and Google Search Console with Semrush and find keywords not provided and undefined as well as session data like bounce rate, goal completion percentage for each keyword.

Competitor Analysis

Find keywords used by competing websites

Type a website URL into the Semrush search field.

Semrush will break down keywords based on organic traffic share using click stream data and organic position distribution.

Click the “Show Details” button under the top organic keywords section to see all of a website's ranking keywords.

Find keywords based on the URL

Enter the competitor's URL in the Semrush search field. Make sure the “Exact URL” option is selected.

Click the “Show All Organic Keywords” button or the Positions tab at the top of the page.

Keyword Gap Analysis

Find keywords that are used by your competitors but not by you

One of the best ways to use Semrush for keyword research is to identify keywords that your competitors used but you didn't. The Keyword Gap (or Content Gap) tool allows you to find the content that is missing in your content marketing campaigns.

Domain comparison

Go to the Semrush Keyword Gap tool, enter your domain name, and list up to four competing websites.

Define organic keywords as the keyword type and select the database.

The following keyword report contains keywords from your site and your competitors. They are grouped into six groups:

1. Shared
2. Missing
3. Weak
4. Fort
5. Not exploited
6. One of a kind

Keywords shared by your site and that of your competitors

Comparing pages

Find keywords that are missing from a particular page on your site by comparing it to another page.

Comparing the keywords in a URL with those of its competitors gives you an idea of which keywords to add.

SEO content model

Find keywords based on the top 10 competitors in Google's SERPs for a keyword And an audience data.

Go to the SEO Content Template section and enter your starting keyword.

In the Semrush SEO Content Templates recommendations report, go to the Key Recommendations section and look for keywords to include.

Learn more on the Semrush SEO content model.

SEO Writing Assistant

Find keyword ideas from your written content

SEO Writing Assistant is a content optimization tool by Semrush. You can use it on your WordPress site, Google Docs, or Semrush. Learn more details in this beginner's guide for Semrush SEO Writing Assistant.

Look for recommended keywords in the SEO section of the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant.

How to use Semrush for keyword research (best practices)

In a recent Semrush 2022 review, I shared several ways to use the Semrush platform to build an online business. Here are several ways to use the Semrush keyword research tool properly.

Find related keywords (vertical growth)

If you already have a list of keywords but are not sure which keywords to include, use the bulk analysis of the Semrush keyword research tool.

Add these keywords to your keyword manager.

You can add new keywords (up to 1,000 per keyword list, depending on your Semrush subscription plan) on this page as well.

In Keyword Manager, you can get an overview of the top competitors in Google, SERP characteristics, competitive density (for Google Ads), keyword difficulty, search volume, and click potential.

Once you've found a set of keywords that are worth writing about, go to the Keyword Magic tool and find topic ideas.

Keywords like “funny email subject lines” have a decent overall search volume with an average keyword difficulty score (possible to rank). I don't trust KD to be an SEO tool because it tends to promote inaccurate results. Instead, I recommend checking the golden keyword ratio with a tool like WriterZen. To find out more.

Once you've found a decent keyword idea, check the SERP for that particular keyword, by entering it into the Keyword Overview tool. You can also use keyword variations, question-based keywords, and related search terms.

Find competitors' keywords

Previously, I shared two articles about competitive keyword research in Semrush. Read them below:

1. Competitor keyword research with Semrush
2. How to find competitors' keywords

If you want to get the traffic that your competitors are receiving, you need to start by doing a keyword gap analysis in Semrush.

Start by ranking yourself for the fruits that are at hand. (that is, the keywords that are the least competitive from competitors).

1. KD: Easy
2. Position: Top 10 competitors

The logic is this: if a competing site is ranking for a less competitive keyword, you have a chance of ranking for that word as well.

Find the key words for questions

One of the quickest ways to rank in Google SERPs is by writing useful content around keywords based on questions.

Additionally, you can use these questions in the FAQ sections of your site (with Schema tags) to get a ranking of FAQ sections in Google.

However, I would like to see a relevance score for keywords that are related to the main keyword phrase, as using irrelevant keywords will be harmful.

Optimization of existing content

Another benefit of Semrush for blogging and content marketing is that you can unblock keywords not provided with Organic Traffic Insights and use the data provided to optimize existing content. If not, your content may be penalized by Google. Visit Google Search Console and see potential alerts like usage issues.

Here are a few tips:

1. Start a SERP position tracking campaign in Semrush to monitor the ranking of keywords that are important to your business. Set up a trigger as soon as a keyword leaves the first page of Google.

If the keyword rank has dropped, maybe a competitor is offering better content or someone has acquired backlinks. Check Google's SERPs for the keyword in question and analyze competitor content.

2. Enhance existing content withSemrush SEO Writing Assistant tool. Use On-page SEO Checker or the plugin Semrush SWA WordPress to analyze content and optimize it.

Writing content adapted to SEO

You have now discovered how to use Semrush to search for keywords using the main tools. The next step is to create an SEO content model for the piece of content. It is essentially about:

• Help you determine what content to add based on the top 10 competitors in Google SERPs.
• Provide a word count estimate and a readability score to balance your content.

Use semantically related words to outline the content.

Summary

Using Semrush for keyword research is a main reason why many marketers, especially small business owners like bloggers, content writers, and freelancers use the Semrush platform. However, few of them are using Semrush keyword research to its full potential.

In this guide, you've learned how to use Semrush for keyword research in seven different ways and best practices. As I described, you should also do your own research - Don't rely on data from an SEO tool. Verify data and predict revenue from ranking a keyword on Google with tools like WriterZen.

So how do you use Semrush's keyword research features in your business? Share your thoughts below.