Semrush is an all-in-one digital marketing intelligence platform that combines SEO, PPC, content marketing, competitive analysis, and AI search visibility tools under one roof. With over 26 billion keywords and data spanning 140+ countries, Semrush serves marketers, agencies, and businesses tracking everything from organic rankings to AI-generated mentions in ChatGPT and Perplexity. The key mental model: Semrush treats visibility as currency—whether in Google search, paid ads, social media, or AI answers—and every tool connects back to measuring, improving, or defending that visibility against competitors.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This topic spans 15 focused tables and 156 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.
Table 1: Core Keyword Research Tools
Semrush's keyword research suite reveals search demand, competition intensity, and content opportunities through multiple lenses—from broad discovery to precise gap analysis. These tools form the foundation of any SEO or PPC strategy, with real-time data on search volume, keyword difficulty (KD%), cost per click (CPC), and search intent patterns across global and local markets.
| Tool | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
Search "espresso machine" → returns 2.3M variations grouped by intent | Largest keyword database (26.4B+ keywords) with filters for search volume, KD%, intent, SERP features, and question-based queries | |
Enter "best laptops 2026" → see volume 450K, KD 78%, CPC $2.40 | Single-keyword deep dive showing search volume, trend graph, keyword difficulty, CPC data, SERP feature triggers, and regional variations | |
KD 85% = extremely hard; KD 15% = beginner-friendly | Percentage score (0-100%) predicting ranking difficulty based on backlink profiles and Authority Scores of top 10 results | |
Your site's Personal KD for "vegan recipes" = 42% vs. global 68% | Customized difficulty score calculated against your domain's topical authority and existing backlink strength | |
"buy running shoes" = Commercial; "how to tie shoes" = Informational | Automatic classification into Informational, Navigational, Commercial, or Transactional intent based on SERP analysis | |
Compare yoursite.com vs. 4 competitors → find 2,300 missing keywords | Side-by-side domain comparison revealing keywords competitors rank for but you don't, with filters for Missing, Weak, Strong, Shared, Unique |