Semrush features: the research, create and optimise, and track groups mapped
Every feature group on one page, what Semrush says each does, and which to learn first for your job.
Published by AI Knows Us · Updated 13 October 2026
Semrush features fall into three groups: research, create and optimise, and track. Research covers keyword research, competitor analysis, market analysis, local search visibility, backlink analysis, and the AI-focused tools for AI visibility, prompt research and AI brand sentiment. Create and optimise covers content creation, the technical site audit and digital PR. Track covers rank tracking and marketing reports. This is how Semrush's own features page, read on 13 October 2026, lays them out.
The feature map in one table
| Group | Feature | What Semrush says it does | Our deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research | Keyword research | Finds the keywords customers search for, shows difficulty and traffic potential | Semrush keyword tools |
| Research | Competitor analysis | Shows how competitors get traffic, rank, get cited by AI and run ads | Keyword Gap |
| Research | Market analysis | Market size, audience demographics and traffic across an industry or region | Traffic checker |
| Research | Local search visibility | Listings, local rankings, reviews and Business Profile performance | Local SEO method |
| Research | Backlink analysis | Backlinks to your site, plus the citations that language models use when they mention your brand | Semrush backlinks |
| Research | AI visibility, prompt research, AI brand sentiment | How often your brand appears in AI answers, which prompts audiences use, and how models describe you | Semrush AI visibility |
| Create and optimise | Content creation | SEO-ready articles from a brief and optimisation of existing content | SEO blog post workflow |
| Create and optimise | Technical site audit | Crawls the site for broken links, slow pages, schema gaps and crawl blockers | SEO audit tools |
| Create and optimise | Digital PR | Outreach, media monitoring and prospect discovery for links and citations | Press releases and SEO |
| Track | Rank tracking | Daily keyword rankings across locations, devices and search engines | SEO KPIs |
| Track | Marketing reports | Branded reports and dashboards with scheduled delivery | Semrush report |
Research: finding the questions and the gaps
Most users start here. Keyword research is the base: it shows what people search, how hard each phrase is to win and how many searches it has. The difficulty percentage is a link-based estimate, and our guide to Semrush keyword difficulty explains the six bands and how to use them. Competitor analysis turns the same data on your rivals, and the Keyword Gap view lists the phrases they rank for and you do not. Market analysis and local search visibility widen the view to an industry, a region or a map.
Backlink analysis lists who links to a site. Semrush's description adds a newer use: the citations that language models use when they mention a brand. The AI group of features, namely AI visibility, prompt research and AI brand sentiment, is where Semrush has added tools for tracking how assistants describe a brand.
Create and optimise: fixing the site and the content
Content creation drafts SEO-ready articles from a brief and suggests changes to existing pages for target keywords and prompts. Treat the draft as raw material: the facts, the examples and the opinions that make a page worth citing still have to come from you. The technical site audit crawls the site and reports problems; Semrush says it checks over 140 issues. Digital PR adds outreach tooling for links and citations.
Track: knowing whether it worked
Rank tracking records keyword positions daily by location and device, and shows search features and competitor movement. Marketing reports bring the data from several tools into a branded dashboard, delivered on a schedule. The tracking pair is what turns a one-off audit into a monthly routine.
Beyond the toolkits: the platform around the features
Semrush's navigation, on the date above, also lists Semrush One, an Enterprise offering, the Semrush API and a Semrush MCP connection that brings its data into AI assistants, along with integrations and an App Center. For most small teams these matter later. The API and the integrations become useful once you want rankings or audit results to flow into your own dashboard, and the Enterprise route is aimed at larger organisations. Start with the toolkits, and look at the platform layer once a routine is in place.
Which features to learn first
| If you are | Start with | Then add |
|---|---|---|
| A small business owner | Local search visibility, keyword research | Rank tracking for five or six phrases |
| A content marketer | Keyword research, content creation | Competitor analysis for gap topics |
| A site owner with a traffic drop | Technical site audit | Backlink analysis, then rank tracking |
| An agency | Marketing reports, rank tracking | Competitor analysis for pitches |
| A brand worried about AI answers | AI visibility, AI brand sentiment | Prompt research |
Learn one feature well before the next. A user who works through the technical audit and a handful of tracked phrases gets more from the product than one who opens every report once.
Plans, trial and what to check on the pricing page
Semrush's features page offers a free 7 day trial of its toolkits, and the plans are laid out on its pricing page. Which feature sits in which plan, and how many projects, tracked keywords and reports each plan allows, can change. Our guide to Semrush pricing shows how to read the limits that set your cost, and the day-by-day plan in Semrush trial shows how to reach a decision inside the free week. If a different tool suits one specific job better, see Semrush alternatives.
Questions about Semrush features
What is Semrush mainly used for?
Researching keywords and competitors, auditing a site, tracking rankings and reporting. Its own features page groups them as research, create and optimise, and track.
Does Semrush have AI features?
Yes. Its features page lists AI visibility, prompt research and AI brand sentiment, and notes that the technical audit includes AI search checks.
Is there a free version?
Semrush offers free tools, including a keyword tool, a backlink checker and an SEO checker, and a 7 day free trial, per its features page on the date above.
Which feature should a beginner use first?
Keyword research for the topics you want to rank for, then the site audit to fix the basics.
Can Semrush replace Search Console?
No. Search Console shows Google's own data about your site, and Semrush adds competitor and market data. Use both.
Where the AI features fit and where else to look
Semrush has added AI visibility, brand sentiment and prompt research beside its search tools, which reflects where buyer questions are going: into assistants. Whichever product you use, test the result with an assistant yourself. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the five questions a buyer would ask about your category, and compare their answers with the dashboard. AI Knows Us (aiknowsus.com) is built around that question, recording which businesses ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews name and which sources they relied on.