Tackling SEO as a small business can feel overwhelming.
A good SEO tool is one of the best ways to keep track of your SEO efforts and improve your strategy.
But with so many different tools on the market, which one is best for your business?
Two popular options are SEMRush and ProRankTracker. In this article, we’ll break down the features and price of each to help you determine which may be best for you.
Keep reading to learn more about SEMRush vs ProRankTracker.
Note: We enjoy a professional relationship with both SEMRush and ProRank Tracker. We have helped clients add each to their repertoire when appropriate before assisting with the analysis. As such, this article includes paid links.
About SEMRush
Created in 2008, SEMRush is a well-known software tool with over 55 features to aid in online visibility management. It contains a wealth of tools for search, content, and data for over 142 integrations. It contains most of what small businesses and medium businesses need for their SEO strategies, which is why over 10 million people use it.
The features help you to:
- Find top Google searches for your industry
- Create relevant new content to attract traffic
- Identify opportunities for link-building
- Improve technical aspects of your website so it ranks higher
Let’s take a closer look at its most popular features.
Domain Analysis
Most marketers use domain analysis to begin their SEO projects. This provides an overview of the overall SEO quality of the website. Generally, it’s helpful to perform a domain analysis of your own website or of a competitor.
SEMRush has a dedicated Domain Overview feature where you enter the URL to get an instant performance outline. It includes the following metrics:
- Authority score
- Number of website visitors per month
- Number of backlinks directing to the website
- The total number of keywords the website ranks for as well as the search intent of the words
- Anchor text that backlinks use to direct to the website
- Display advertising statistics
- A list of competing websites
Keyword Research
The keyword research tool makes it easy to find out search volume, difficulty, competitors, and suggestions for keywords.
Use the Keyword Overview Tool to enter a phrase, then view analytics on
- Monthly searches
- Keyword difficulty score
- List of sites ranking for the word
- Suggestions of variations and alternatives
The Keyword Magic Tool gives more detailed suggestions of alternatives for a phrase you’ve entered. The keyword research tools also break down the “search intent” of the word, allowing you to see if it’s informational, navigational, commercial, or transactional.
Rank Tracking
Using “Rank Tracking” and “Position Tracking” on SEM, you can monitor your website’s performance for specific keywords. Go to the position tracker and enter your domain name along with the target keywords you’d like to track. Then you, see how your website ranks currently and can track the phrases over time.
You can do the same process for competitor websites to compare your site’s performance to theirs for the selected keywords.
Backlink Analysis
Backlinks or links from other websites directing to yours play a huge role in site performance. On SEMRush, you can use the Backlink Analysis or Backlink Audit to assess yours.
With the Backlink Analysis, enter a domain name and view all of the backlinks that the software can find. It also shows the anchor text the backlinks use as well as top-level domain distribution.
Performing a Backlink Audit will also help you assess your backlink profile. The program will show you any suspicious or spammy backlinks that may harm your search ranking.
Link Building
SEMRush also has a Link Building Tool to help you generate backlinks. The tool assesses who your competitors are, examines your content, and asks for the keywords you want to rank for. Then, it provides a list of prospective websites to reach out to regarding backlinks and/or guest posts. It also includes the email address for each site and a reusable outreach template.
Content Marketing Toolkit
The program also includes Content Marketing tools for those with the Guru plan or higher. The content marketing toolkit helps you identify topics to write about, pick keywords that competitors use in their posts, examine your post, and monitor brand mentions.
For example, the SEO writing assistant tool provides real-time advice on the content you copy and paste. It offers suggestions for improving the performance of the content.
Social Media Tools
SEM also has tools for social media insights. Connect the platform to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or your other social channels. The dashboard contains insights on following, reach, and engagement. It also allows you to schedule social media posts to various channels.
Site Auditing
By auditing your site, SEM illuminates features that may be negatively impacting your ranking. It lays out the issues you should address including
- Keyword stuffing (overuse)
- Missing headers
- Core web vitals (what Google uses to determine site stability and speed)
- Crawl errors
- SSL problems
- Duplicate content
- Slow-loading content
SEMRush Plans
How much does SEMRush cost? They offer three different subscription options to choose from.
- Pro – $119.25 per month/ $99.95 per month when paid annually
- 2 key features
- 5 projects
- 500 keywords to track
- Keyword, domain, and backlink analytics
- Guru – $229.25 per month/ 191.62 per month when paid annually
- 4 key features
- 15 projects
- 1500 keywords to track
- Keyword, domain, and backlink analytics
- Historical data
- Content Marketing Platform
- Google Data Studio Integration
- Business – $449.95 per month/ $374.95 per month when paid annually
- 5 key features
- 40 projects
- 5000 keywords to track
- Keyword, domain, and backlink analytics
- Historical data
- Content Marketing Platform
- Google Data Studio Integration
- Share of Voice Metric
They also offer customized enterprise solutions.
ProRankTracker
ProRankTracker is another SEO tool with a simple, intuitive interface. It offers colored graphs, charts, and lists to simplify common analytics and information. With plenty of customization and a rich suite of features, it’s helpful for marketers, business owners, and experienced SEO professionals. You can try it out for 30 days for free, which can help you decide if it’s the right tool for your business.
Here are a few of the most notable features:
Search Engine, Device, and Location Support
In the “Advanced Add” interface, you can select the search engines to track keyword rankings as well as the location and tracking type. PRT supports many search engines, including
- Bing
- Yahoo!
- YouTube
- Ask
- Yandex
- DuckDuckGo
- And more
For tracking type, you can choose:
- Mobile
- Desktop
- YouTube Video
- Amazon Listing
Choose the country, state, or city you want to examine the rankings for in the drop-down menu.
These customization options stand out from many similar tools, as they allow a more detailed view of your rankings.
Full SERPs
PRT recently added this feature. Full SERPs is similar to SEMRush’s Keyword Gap tool in that it allows you to see where you rank for a keyword compared to competitors.
However, you can’t click the pages to see what competitors are saying on the topic. Instead, you’d have to copy and paste the URLs to view the articles.
Additionally, the keyword does not show the search volume. It shows the top position, bottom position, and longevity of the keyword.
So, while this feature can help you compare your rankings to competitors, the overall information it provides is lacking (especially compared to similar features on SEMRush).
ProRank Tracker Reports
One of the top features PRT offers is the reporting feature. It provides highly detailed reports with graphs, charts, and lists that help you easily view your SEO performance.
Examples of the reports include:
- Progress – View changes in your website’s term rankings
- Benchmark – See how your rankings change between two different months, weeks, dates, etc
- Client – Create custom, shareable reports to easily send to your team members or clients
- Automated – Schedule reports for PRT to deliver via email, Drive, or Dropbox
- Comparison – View a comparison of the term rankings for two different URLs or search engines
- Overview – This report shows a complete overview of the rankings for the chosen terms or URLs
Site Audit
PRT crawls your website and compares it to several SEO parameters. It will assess your on-page SEO, loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and more. The audit feature gives a good overview of your overall SEO performance while identifying areas of improvement.
Some examples of what the audit identifies are:
- Duplicate content
- Most frequently used keywords
- Heading problems
- Issues with meta titles and meta descriptions
- Pages lacking keyword optimization
- Other elements of your website that need improvement regarding SEO
Rankings Discovery
Rankings Discovery provides simple keyword suggestions. Basically, this feature shows the words your website already ranks in the top 100 for and allows you to track them.
The good news is that it also shows which device and search engine the keyword ranks for.
The Keyword Suggestion feature is different, as that one recommends keywords you do not currently rank for. Therefore, those suggestions offer opportunities to drive more organic traffic.
API Access
With any agency plan, enjoy API access and integrate PRT rank-tracking into your existing tools. This can simplify and streamline your SEO efforts in several ways.
Plans and Subscriptions
Much like SemRush, ProRankTracker offers multiple subscription options. All of their plans include Local and Mobile Tracking, Unlimited URLs, Unlimited URLs, Daily Updates, and Full SERPs. Here’s an overview of the cost and plan differences:
- Starter – $13.5-$69/ month
- Up to 750 tracked terms
- Pro – $89- $149/month
- 2,500 tracked terms
- 10 Sub-Accounts
- MyRanks Client App
- Update-on-demand
- Agency – starts at $180/month
- Up to 20,000 tracked terms
- Unlimited Sub-Accounts
- MyRanks Client App
- Update-on-demand
- API access
- Dedicated CSM
ProRankTracker vs SEMRush: Which is Best?
Both SEMRush and ProRankTracker provide standard SEO features. API Access, Auditing, Multilingual, and SEO are core features of ProRankTracker. For SEMRush, Content Marketing, PPC, Social Media, and Content Marketing are core features.
Generally, ProRankTracker is a more customizable option, whereas SEMRush provides more standard features for diverse user bases. Another key difference is that PRT focuses a bit more on user experience, while SEMRush more on functionalities. In general, SEMRush is also on the more expensive side.
Ultimately, there are many similar features available in the two platforms, but also a range of differences. In some cases, a business may benefit from having a plan on each platform. The most effective way to determine which is right for your business needs is to complete the free trial and demo for each.
