Semrush and Google Analytics are world-class SEO tools that track and monitor the performance of various websites.
This is very helpful while doing market research and competitive analysis to determine how to give your website an edge.
With more than a decade of experience as an SEO expert, I will explore the pros and cons of both platforms to help you understand how they stack up against one another.
Table Of Contents
Quick Summary
Semrush offers a curated dashboard and a set of SEO tools to make it easier for beginners to understand the complexities of SEO.- Google Analytics helps you understand your site better to see if there are any improvements that need to be made in content and marketing.
- Google requires that you satisfy certain requirements before you can successfully integrate Google Analytics into Semrush.
What Is Semrush?
Semrush is an all-in-one SEO software that individuals and businesses use to promote their online presence and gain insights into current marketing trends in the internet space.
This SEO tool is highly valuable for marketers and SEO agencies that specialize in any of the following: SEO, PPC, SMM, Keyword Research, Competitive Research, PR, Content Marketing, Marketing Insights, and Campaign Management.
Semrush started in 2008 as a small group of SEO and IT specialists, but it has evolved to become a powerful platform highly rated worldwide by marketers, individuals, and businesses who want to improve their online presence.
What Is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a web analytics service that collects data from your website to create reports to help you make smarter decisions.
This platform tracks all forms of website activity, such as session duration, pages per session, bounce rate, conversions, and provides a detailed report on the source of the website traffic.
Google Analytics is also quite flexible and capable of integrating well with other Google products, such as Google Ads and Google Search Console, so that you can better understand your marketing levels and improve your performance.
Semrush vs Google Analytics: Features Comparison
Semrush
Semrush has some of the best features you can find in an SEO tool. Here they are below:
- Rank Tracker – The Semrush rank tracker is a position-tracking tool that allows you to regularly monitor the rankings of your site and your competitors. All you need to do is enter the domain and click “set up tracking,” and you will be provided with the domain’s position, visibility, and estimated traffic alongside other SERP features.
- Site Audit – Semrush has a free SEO audit tool that you can use to detect issues within your website and get them fixed appropriately. You can also use this tool to collect technical SEO reports showing if your website is crawlable and determining your site performance and internal linking issues.
- Keyword Research – Semrush has a keyword research tool called the “Keyword Magic Tool” that delves into keyword research and analysis to help you build your SEO strategy to have the edge over competitors. When you use the keyword magic tool to search for a keyword, you will see related keywords searched for by website visitors and top domains that focused on that keyword and had a PPC ad running for over 12 months. You will also be able to see the amount of ad traffic, the ad traffic price, and the total number of ads for that keyword.
- Backlinks Analysis – Semrush backlink analytics tool studies your website and your competitors to see if your website is competing favorably and if you can get any quality backlinks. This backlink analytics tool will also help your website by providing reports on domains that use similar backlinks to you and will show you your competitors’ top-performing pages so that you can acquire high-quality backlinks.
Rank Tracker – Google Analytics
- Built-in Automation – With Google Analytics’ built-in automation, you can get quick answers to your questions regarding various factors such as analytics data, user behavior, and even modeling capabilities. Google Analytics’ built-in automation provides predictive capabilities, proactive insights, and privacy-safe modeling.
- Reporting – Google Analytics offers insights through its reports on how to customize the view of and interact with your website. These reports vary and usually include real-time reporting, acquisition reports, engagement reports, and monetization reports.
- Advertising Workspace – This feature allows you to understand the return on investment of your marketing campaigns across all channels, make informed decisions on budget allocation, and determine your campaign performance.
- Data Collection And Management – Data collection and management allows you to collect, organize, and manage data using tools such as Google BigQuery, Analytics 360, and Analytics custom tables. You can also collect data on the performance of your website content using the User Engagement Google Analytics.
Pricing
Semrush
Semrush has three different pricing plans, which you can subscribe to monthly. These pricing packages begin with the Pro plan at $119.95 per month, the Guru plan at $229.95 per month, and the Business plan at $449.95 per month.
You also get to save up to 17% if you pay annually. These plans differ in terms of the number of projects, traffic analytics, tracked keywords, and results per report, among other features.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool since you can use its features and products as much as you want without subscribing to a paid plan.
Data Collection
Semrush
Semrush gets its data with the help of its machine learning algorithms and from trusted data providers.
Semrush also guarantees that it uses the most up-to-date data sources and ensures that the data is cleaned to present the most trusted solution on the market.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics collects data from websites and apps to create reports that benefit your business. It is also with this data that Google Analytics uses in measuring websites and providing reports for your benefit.
Are Semrush and Google Analytics Competitors?
Contrary to what many people may think, Semrush and Google Analytics are not competitors; they are simply partners because they have different strengths.
Google Analytics is an internal analytics tool that focuses on the user behavior of various websites through the collection of internal data for the benefit of your website.
Semrush focuses on collecting external data from third-party data providers for your website’s benefit.
Also, Semrush cannot replace Google Analytics because the data that Google Analytics can give you is highly valuable, which is why these two should be used as complements rather than seen as competitors.
Establishing A Connection Between Both Tools
You can connect any of the tools offered by Semrush to Google Analytics once you have been given certain levels of permission in your Google Account.
For example, if you want to connect Google Analytics with Site Audit, you will have to:
First, go to your Site Audit and navigate to your settings. Find the item in the menu that says “Google Analytics” and choose the account and property for your auditing domain.
Then you will be prompted to select the account, profile, property, and view for the Google Analytics account associated with the site you’re auditing. You can find your account in the initial dropdown if you’ve already connected Google Analytics to Semrush in another tool.
If this is the first time you are attempting to connect Google Analytics to Semrush, you will be asked to log in to that account before you can connect to Semrush.
Remember that you may need to wait around 15 minutes for your GA data to appear under your crawled pages. After this initial crawl, your GA data will automatically be updated whenever you re-run your Site Audit.
Google algorithms use keywords and locations to increase your website’s rankings in those searches. Your online presence should be a unified effort, so if you target certain keywords on your website, it helps to include them elsewhere.
– Hannah Trivette, Digital Marketing Expert at NUVEW
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does Semrush Use Google Analytics?
Semrush does not use Google Analytics. However, you can integrate Semrush with Google Analytics if you wish to use both tools to optimize your own website.
Is Google Analytics Good For SEO?
Google Analytics is good for SEO, which is why you should use it alongside other SEO tools such as Semrush or Ahrefs to enable your website to achieve better performance results.
Are Semrush And Google Analytics The Same?
Semrush and Google Analytics are not the same. They have different features and strengths, with Semrush being more versatile in terms of search engine optimization.
What Are Three Examples Of Data That Google Analytics Can Collect?
Three examples of data that Google Analytics can collect include the number of users, session statistics, and browser and device information.
Start Using Semrush And Google Together
Semrush and Google Analytics are excellent tools that can be used hand-in-hand to achieve better SEO results.
I recommend Semrush because of its amazing tools, which you can use to yield impressive SEO features that will boost your site.
If you are a marketer or an SEO professional looking for the best SEO tools to use, Semrush and Google Analytics should be included in your toolkit if you want the best for your website and business.
Our #1 Recommendation: Semrush
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