In the world of SEO and digital marketing, Semrush is synonymous with the most powerful suite of competitive intelligence and insights. With robust capabilities around keyword research, backlink analysis, site audits, and more – it’s trusted by leading agencies and brands globally.
But here’s the catch – most features sit within Semrush’s premium paid plans charging upwards of $129 monthly. Does any free version exist allowing basic access without paying? Let’s find out.
Understanding Semrush’s Paid Plans And Premium Offerings
For readers new to Semrush, let me quickly summarize what the tool provides through different paid subscriptions before we analyze what’s available for free. Semrush is used by SEO experts and companies for:
- Keyword tracking and ranking performance to optimize website content
- Researching competitor’s domains to benchmark strategies
- Backlink analysis to identify new link-building opportunities
- Technical site audits flagging issues hurting performance
- Downloadable reports, analytics, and visual data representation
As you can gauge, these features provide tremendous visibility for improving website traffic, conversions, and overall authority in the niche. However full access requires paying monthly charges depending on the plan selected.
Now the question is – does Semrush offer any part of these capabilities via a free version?
Evaluating free Semrush version
The good news is – yes – Semrush does provide a forever free account with access to:
- Semrush Keyword Magic Tool
- Position Tracking Dashboard
- Backlink Audit Tool
- Site Audit Checklist
While the capabilities are restricted compared to paid plans – these free tools within Semrush can still provide immense value, especially for bloggers, small business sites, and early-stage startups without large marketing budgets.
Let’s analyze briefly what each free tool provides access to:
Semrush Keyword Magic Tool
This allows the generating of new keyword ideas around the seed keywords you input. Available data includes monthly searches, keyword difficulty scores, and seasonal fluctuations. Helps assess the viability of targeting specific phrases.
Position Tracking Dashboard
You can add up to 3 domains and track current ranking positions in SERP for 10 keywords per domain. Great for monitoring your most important target keywords driving organic traffic.
Backlink Audit Tool
As the name suggests, you can run backlink analysis reports on 5 URLs per 7-day period. Study top pages and domains linking to a competitor for backlink opportunities.
Site Audit Checklist
Get access to 50-page full-site audits monthly checking 200+ parameters around optimization best practices, site health, indexability, and performance.
As visible from the breadth of free offerings – Semrush provides tremendous value without paying provided you optimize usage of the quotas smartly. Let’s see how next.
Tips To Use Free Semrush Tools Optimally
While free Semrush access has limits on tracking keywords, backlinks analysis, site audits, etc – you can stretch capabilities by:
- Adding just the highest priority domain for rank tracking: Monitor your main site driving maximum business
- Select the top 10 revenue-driving keywords for the limited rank tracker slots basis Google Analytics data
- Use backlink audit to study links of market leader sites in your niche for backlink opportunities
- Focus site audit on parameters like site structure, internal links, metadata, etc rather than full technical SEO
- Use Semrush Keyword Magic Tool to find fresh long tail keywords to target around popular topics
- Export and save every useful report and chart even if for limited keywords as access can expire
With some smart optimization, free Semrush usage can still provide the foundation of an excellent data-driven SEO strategy for your website.
Gain Temporary Full Semrush Access Via Free Trials
In addition to the free Semrush account with limited use constraints – they also offer time-bound free trials to their various paid software bundles occasionally.
Typically, such Semrush free trials provide full unlocked access to all paid plan capabilities for 7 days including:
- Unlimited keyword tracking
- Complete backlink analysis
- In-depth site audits
- Competitor domain studies
- Rankings and traffic analysis
- Content audit/gaps identification
- Custom reporting dashboard
So for that 1 week duration, you have unconstrained access equivalent to paid Semrush users! This allows you to download reports, analyze competition, get site optimization insights, and craft data-backed strategies.
Of course, free trials are not perpetual – but savvy marketers can extract enough intel during those 7 days for months of execution. You just need to monitor the Semrush website routinely to check when the next free trial offer opens up!
Semrush Discounts – Cheaper Access Opportunities
Finally, while free Semrush usage forever or through trials is great – their paid tool access does not come cheap at a monthly charge of $129 upwards depending on capabilities.
However, some discounted access options do exist:
- Semrush offers 20% off for students via academic program eligibility
- Annual subscription plans have lower effective monthly costs vs monthly contracts
- Certain bundle deals with complementary tools provide joint discounts
- Limited-time seasonal sales around events like Black Friday/Cyber Monday
So while full-paid Semrush does need significant investment – evaluate the above avenues to see if cheaper legitimate access is possible before paying recommended retail rates.
Wrapping Up!
To summarize, while Semrush is a paid tool – through:
- Free forever account with limited access
- Temporary full access free trials
- Student discounts
- Annual contracted rates
- Bundled pricing deals
You can evaluate Semrush at low or zero cost before committing to paid plans long-term. Hopefully, these pointers help you maximize your Semrush usage without emptying your wallet!