SEMrush Rank

SEMrush rank is used for ranking domains. This metrics ranks the domains based on their value of their free search traffic. It is similar to Alexa rank in the sense that the domains are ordered, the lower value indicates higher search value. E.g. SEMrush rank of 10 000 means that the domain gets the 10 000th search traffic in the world.

SEMRush is usually more accurate than Alexa rank, as search traffic is calculated as follows: the domain in question is analyzed for keywords, then the keyword search volume is derived from Google search and is then weighted by the domain’s position to the keyword to give a search value. Finally, the search volume is multiplied by the CPC of the keyword to give the “traffic cost”. Thus, traffic cost tells you how much it would cost to buy the organic traffic the domain possesses.

The domains are ranked according to their traffic cost, and this number is the SEMRush rank. As the CPC is country dependent, the traffic cost is calculated by taking the country specific Google searches into account.

SEMRush one of the most accurate metrics, as it is based on Google search position, thus, it is hard to manipulate the rank.
Besides SEMRush rank, the website, semrush.com serves with many additional useful data about the domain.

• you can check the historical organic traffic of the domain, paid and organic searches are separately indicated
• the top keywords, their search volume and the domain’s position to the given keywords is also indicated. This serves as a great tool for checking the real quality of a domain. Also the keywords’ position distribution can be seen, which indicates the overall strength of the domain
• a useful feature is the presenting of Google Ads (if there were any) of the domain

Opposite to Alexa rank, a domain with no content will have no SEMRush rank. However, longtail search traffic is not properly taken into account and is not listed in the free version. e.g. rebloggy.com’s rank is underestimated as this site’s traffic comes from many, low search volume keyword.

SEMRush Tips

• Check the domain SEMRush rank first. Things getting serious below 1M, and domains below 100k are surely making some real money. A domain with a SEMRush rank below 10k is most probably a huge money maker.
• Check the country distribution of the organic traffic by clicking on the different flags.
• Check for the traffic trends, learn from growing sites only.
• Check for the existence of any paid traffic. Try to analyze, why does this website pay for that keyword and what kind of ads do they have?
• Check the main keywords. Are they related to the main business of the website? Sometimes there are big surprises here. If it is a competitor website, check for keywords that are related to your business. Google for that keyword, to analyze the target page of the search. Can you write a better target page for that given keyword? Than do it!
• Collect 50-100 keywords with a monthly traffic 10-1000 as a list of article ideas.
• It is always easier to start with low competition keywords. As a general rule, more words mean less competition.
• Users don’t like spammers and Google respect their users. Don’t make your site for Google, just optimize it for Google, big difference. Never build a site if you don’t like and know that given topics. It will not work without your hearth in long term.
• CPC is just an approximation, real users clicking on real ads could cost much less or much more.

Example SEMRush analysis

WordPress themes are popular among affiliate marketers, since almost every theme maker has an affiliate program and bloggers are ready to pay for premium themes and plugins. Not long ago, colorlib.com entered this field and just after several months they are in first position for many keywords. There is a good reason why they are successful: they produce a constant flow of high quality content so users spend lot of time on their site and will not bounce back immediately.

Their SEMRush rank is fantastic, 28.8K, they must make a lot of money with it! SEMRush knows about 3500 keywords which this website gets organic traffic from. Traffic trend is fascinating, it started growing May, 2014 and seems unstoppable. Their traffic is fully organic and the country distribution is healthy.

Check these keywords in more detail. The first ranked ‘print screen mac’ keyword does not seem related to WordPress themes. Google for it: they wrote a great article about it and added Adsense banners around this article to convert the traffic to money. So maybe they will not sell WordPress themes from this traffic but it is still useful. If we go further on the list, they have a first page position for WordPress Themes – this is they are mainly looking for I think. They have an article about 50 best responsive themes, which is the target page of this search. This article should be an affiliate goldmine. If you are not a SEMRush subscriber, your list will stop right here. Less competitive keywords will be at the bottom of the list and those are the best ones to try first. Colorlib is a great example how to build a website: be expert in something, write exceptionally high quality articles including technical details, figures and your hearth. And meanwhile you can consider what are internet users searching for anyway. SEMRush is one of the best tool to assist you in a journey like this.

Final Words

In summary, SEMRush rank is one of the most accurate metrics for domain value. The semrush.com website provides many useful information about domains that can be a great help for both the domain owner and its competitors. Its main advantage is that this metric is very hard to manipulate.