Semrush vs Google Analytics: A Detailed Comparison
Semrush vs Google Analytics: Summary
Semrush gives you insights into the performance of both your own website and competitors, including keywords, backlinks, and competitive research. Google Analytics focuses only on your own site’s data, including real-time traffic, user demographics, and behavior patterns. Google Analytics does not provide competitor analysis.
Here is a quick overview of the differences between Semrush and Google Analytics (now GA4):
- Google Analytics only provides data about your website, while Semrush provides data on all websites.
- Google Analytics offers insights on visitor profiles and website engagement, whereas Semrush provides data on the market, industry, keyword, and backlinks.
- Semrush lets you do competitor research on traffic, keywords, backlinks, and PPC, but Google Analytics does not provide any data on competing domains.
- With Semrush, you can do competitive comparisons to find opportunities for new keywords and backlinks, but you cannot do any competitor comparisons with Google Analytics.
- You can analyze the technical health of your website with Semrush but not with Google Analytics.
- Google Analytics is a free tool, but you can also subscribe to the paid version called Google Analytics 360 (previously known as Google Analytics Premium), which comes with more data limits and support. Semrush also has a free version with limited features, but the paid plan starts from $108.33 monthly for annual payments.
Here is a chart for Semrush vs Google Analytics.
If you’re a small business owner, blogger, or freelancer, you know that tracking your website’s analytics is key to understanding how it’s performing. Fortunately, there are a lot of great tools out there to help you do just that.
Semrush and Google Analytics are two of the most popular choices. If you have been using Google Analytics, you may be aware that it’s being replaced by Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — Google’s next-generation analytics tool.
According to Google, Universal Analytics stopped processing new data from July 1, 2023, and the customers will lose access to its interface and API from July 1, 2024.
Now, you may be wondering, “Semrush vs Google Analytics: what should be your choice?”
I will compare the similarities and differences of the tools so you know how to use each tool to get the most out of your website analysis.
What is Semrush?
Semrush is a comprehensive digital marketing toolkit that provides data and insights to help you improve your website’s online visibility and performance. It is primarily popular for its on-page and off-page SEO features, but you can also use it for your social media efforts.
You can use Semrush to perform various SEO-related tasks and get detailed insights. These include:
- Keyword research
- Website traffic tracking
- Monitor backlink profiles
- Improve your site health
- Create skyscraper content
- Landing page optimization
- Video creation
- Keyword or phrase creation
Semrush also provides insights into your competitor’s online marketing strategies, giving you an edge in the market.
Lastly, Semrush has educational resources, such as e-books, webinars, and blog posts, to help you stay up-to-date on the latest digital marketing trends and best practices.
With over 2 million users in 140+ countries, Semrush is one of today’s most popular digital marketing platforms.
Get a 14-day free trial for Semrush and see how the tool works.
Check out the Semrush overview and my full guide on Semrush to learn how to use Semrush to improve your SEO.
What is Google Analytics?
Universal Google Analytics is a free web analytics service that provides detailed insights into your website’s traffic, traffic sources, and engagement. It is the most widely used web analytics service on the Internet.
Universal Google Analytics is a tool for website owners that gives you information like:
- How your visitors found your site
- What your visitors did on your site
- Which content your website visitors consumed
- How long they stayed
- How many pages were viewed
- What keywords they search for to find your sit
- Which country you get the maximum visitors from
Google is set to replace Google Analytics with GA4, a new tool designed for modern marketing needs. GA4 focuses on:
- Collecting data from websites and apps to give marketers a clearer view of customer activities from start to finish.
- Using event-based data, which captures specific actions on a site or app, instead of just sessions.
- Enhancing privacy by not relying on cookies and providing more accurate models of user behavior.
- Providing simple, actionable insights without needing complex models.
- Enabling direct connections with media platforms to help drive specific actions on websites or apps.
Google Analytics 4 will let you see all of this data in one place so that you can make informed decisions about your website’s design, user experience, and marketing campaigns.
Like Universal Analytics, you can also use GA4 to track the success of your online campaigns or optimize your website for better search engine ranking.
Google Analytics Features and Data
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can provide a wealth of insights into your website traffic and performance. Here are 10 key data points that you can get from Google Analytics:
1. Audience information
Google Analytics can give you detailed information about your website and visitors, and GA4 collects data from both the web and the app.
Some types of gathered information include:
- Users: The number of new and returning visitors and real-time data.
- Demographics: You can check if your website visitors are mostly men or women and predominantly from which age group.
- Interests: The key interests of your website visitors, for example, shopping/ technology/ beauty/ travel, etc.
- Location: The geographic location of your website’s visitors.
- Devices: The type of device used by a website’s visitors (desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone).
2. Traffic sources
Google Analytics can also tell you where your website traffic is coming from. The key traffic sources are:
This data can help you understand which marketing channels are most effective for your website.
3. Content performance & user engagement
Google Analytics can tell you how well your website content performs and how engaged users are.
The key metrics it gives you are:
- Time spent on each page
- Bounce rate
- The number of pages viewed
This data can help you identify the most successful content and improve accordingly.
4. Conversions
Finally, Google Analytics can track conversions on your website.
The conversion data shows how many visitors are taking the desired action on a website — whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a contact form. This data is essential for measuring the success of a website in achieving its goals.
Semrush Features and Data
Semrush is a comprehensive tool with many features perfect for small and enterprise companies.
Here are the 5 most important data a business or website owner can get from Semrush:
1. Competitor Research
You can see how your competitors perform in terms of their SEO and visibility on search engines.
Some of the key metrics it gives you are:
- Search engine ranks of the entire site
- Keywords and ranks for each page
- Website traffic
- Backlinks to each page
- Top performing pages
This data can help you adjust your own SEO strategy to improve your ranking and visibility.
2. Keyword Research
The Semrush keyword research tool provides valuable data to help you decide which keywords and content topics to target.
- Average monthly search volume of a keyword
- Keyword difficulty (how easy or difficult it could be to rank for a keyword)
- Related and semantic keywords for a searched keyword
- Cost per click of each keyword
3. Technical site audit
Semrush scans your website for common SEO issues and provides step-by-step instructions on fixing them. This is great for keeping your website in tip-top shape and ensuring that Google can crawl it properly.
4. On-page checker
This checker is a great way to optimize your web pages for specific keywords quickly. Just enter the URL and target keyword to show you where to make changes.
This helps to fine-tune your on-page SEO.
5. Backlink checker
The Semrush Backlink Audit tool lets you see your website’s and your competitors’ backlink information.
You can analyze where your most powerful links are coming from.
It can help you to identify opportunities for link building. For instance, if you see that a particular website is linking to several of your competitors but not to you, this could be an opportunity to get a link from that site.
It can also help you to identify toxic backlinks so you can remove or disavow them, improving your site health.
Besides these tools for SEO, Semrush also provides toolkits for Advertising, Social Media, Content Marketing, and Local SEO.
Data Collection
Semrush and Google Analytics collect data in different ways.
How does Semrush collect data?
Semrush collects data through its own algorithms, with the Semrushbot, and with third-party providers to get the latest results from Google, the only search engine for which it provides data.
It has built up huge databases of backlinks and keywords from these sources.
Semrush is pretty accurate and reliable for making informed decisions in SEO and digital marketing, although it is important to note that like most SEO tools, it provides estimates rather than real-time figures.
While keyword search volumes and traffic estimates might differ slightly from actual figures due to the nature of estimation, and backlink data might occasionally miss new or less popular links, Semrush’s data is considered sufficiently precise by most users.
How does Google Analytics collect data?
Google Analytics collects data through code on your website and the app. This code collects data about the behavior of visitors to your website and then sends this data to Google Analytics.
However, when reviewing Semrush vs Google Analytics, it is essential to note that Semrush does not provide data on individual users, while Google Analytics does.
This means that Semrush is better suited for measuring overall traffic trends, while Google Analytics is more helpful in understanding the behavior of individual users.
Pricing
When we compare Semrush vs Google Analytics 4 for pricing, the biggest difference, as we saw in the table above, is that:
- Google Analytics is a completely free tool, but you can avail of more features with the paid version called Google Analytics 360 (previously known as Google Analytics Premium). These include advanced data limits and support.
- Semrush is a paid tool that starts at $129.95 per month for an annual subscription, though it does offer free trials.
Related: Semrush 14-day free trial
Semrush also offers coupon codes and lifetime deals to make it cheaper. There is also usually a Semrush Black Friday deal. Besides, there is a free version, but it has limited features.
When it comes to online marketing tools, Semrush is one of the best SEO tools for businesses, if not the absolute best. It has some alternatives, but they don’t really provide the full extent of features as Semrush does.
But you might be wondering if you really need it. Is it worth the investment of almost $130 per month?
Semrush has pros and cons, so whether you need to get Semrush depends on your needs and goals. If you’re starting out in online marketing, you might not need all of the bells and whistles that Semrush has to offer.
However, if you’re serious about SEO and looking for a comprehensive tool to help you with keyword research, competitor analysis, SEO auditing, and more. In that case, Semrush is definitely worth it.
I personally use Semrush daily, and it’s helped me to grow my business significantly. If you’re serious about online marketing, then I would definitely recommend giving Semrush a try.
You can get a 14-day free trial (only with this link) to check out the Semrush features and see if it works for you.
Integration with Other Tools
Both Semrush and Google Analytics have great tools for integrating with other platforms, but they each do different things for your digital marketing.
Semrush
Semrush works really well with Google products like Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
This means you can mix SEO insights with data on how your website is doing.
Semrush also connects with social media platforms, so you can handle your social media strategy right alongside your SEO and content tasks.
For your PPC campaigns, Semrush’s ability to link up with Bing Ads and Google Ads can really help you fine-tune your keywords and improve your ad performance.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is part of the Google family, so it fits perfectly with other Google services like Google Ads, Google Search Console, and Google Tag Manager.
This setup lets you closely track your campaigns, SEO efforts, and online sales through the Google system.
Google Analytics also links up with various CRM software, email marketing platforms, and other third-party APIs.
This helps you get a full picture of how customers interact with your business across different channels.
Competitors or partners? How to use Semrush & GA together
If you are using Google Analytics, do you really need Semrush as well? Is it really a question of Semrush vs Google Analytics, or Semrush AND Google Analytics?
While Semrush and GA are both essential tools for any website owner, they have different strengths.
Semrush and Google Analytics (GA) are tools you should use together to boost your website’s performance. Each tool has its own strengths: Semrush helps you understand how to attract more visitors, while GA shows you what visitors do once they’re on your site.
Here are two simple ways to use Semrush and Google Analytics (GA) together to help your website perform better:
Method 1: Start with Semrush for ideas, make changes, and check results with GA
- Explore with Semrush: Use Semrush to analyze SEO opportunities like keyword gaps and competitor strategies.
- Implement: Update your website with these new keywords, backlinks, and other improvements.
- Track: Monitor the impact of these changes in GA by observing changes in traffic, engagement, and conversions..
Method 2: Identify issues with GA, get solutions from Semrush, apply them, and track progress
- Identify with GA: Start in GA to pinpoint underperforming areas such as high bounce rates or low conversions.
- Research with Semrush: Turn to Semrush for deeper insights on how to fix these problems or improve your content
- Apply and track: Make the changes suggested by Semrush and then use GA again to to track improvements.
By switching between these tools, you can keep improving your website based on solid data about how people visit and interact with it.
Connecting Google Analytics with Semrush for complete insights
You can connect Semrush to Google Analytics Universal for specific tools within Semrush:
- Position Tracking
- On-Page SEO Checker
- Backlink Audit
- Organic Traffic Insights
- Site Audit
- Content Analyzer
- My Reports
- Link Building
- Marketing Calendar
- Social Media Ads
You can connect Semrush to GA4 for the following Semrush features:
- Organic Traffic Insights
- SEO Dashboard
- My Reports
How you connect each tool will depend on the features of that specific tool.
For example, for Position Tracking, you can integrate Google Analytics with Semrush by importing the keywords from GA. For Site Audit, you go to the Site Audit tool in your dashboard and click on Google Analytics in the menu.
You can check out the step-by-step directions on how to connect each tool in this post.
You can disconnect Google Analytics from Semrush anytime by following a few simple steps.
Semrush vs Google Analytics — Conclusion
We can complete this post on Semrush vs Google Analytics 4 with the conclusion that if you’re looking to boost your website traffic with a customized SEO strategy, I recommend using both Semrush and Google Analytics.
You can also use a Semrush 14-day free trial to get a closer look at how this tool can help improve your SEO.
What do you think about Semrush vs Google Analytics or GA4? Do you use one tool or both? Or something else? Would love to know in the comments!
Originally published at https://weignitegrowth.com on June 2, 2024.
