SEO & analytics
SEMrush
The research engine behind our SEO: keywords, competitors and rankings in one place.
SEMrush is a leading SEO and digital-marketing research platform. It reveals the keywords a business (and its competitors) rank for, search volumes and difficulty, backlink profiles, and how rankings change over time. HDC uses SEMrush to plan SEO and content around real demand, see exactly what competitors are winning on, and track progress, so the strategy is grounded in data rather than opinion.
Where it shines
- Reveals the real keywords and search volumes worth targeting
- Shows what competitors rank for, their gaps become your opportunities
- Tracks keyword rankings over time so progress is measurable
- Audits a site's technical SEO and flags what to fix
- Backlink analysis to understand authority and outreach targets
- Turns SEO from opinion into a data-led, prioritised plan
Trade-offs to weigh
- A paid, professional tool, its cost suits agencies more than one-off use
- Powerful and broad, so it takes expertise to turn data into action
- Its metrics are strong estimates, best read alongside Search Console's real data
What SEMrush is
SEMrush is a professional SEO and digital-marketing research platform, one of the most widely used in the industry. It reveals the keywords a site ranks for, the search volume and difficulty behind them, what competitors are winning on, backlink profiles, and how rankings shift over time. In short, it turns the invisible mechanics of search into data you can actually plan around.
Its strength is breadth and competitive insight. Where Google’s own tools tell you about your own site, SEMrush lets you see the whole landscape, including what rivals rank for, so you can find the demand worth chasing and the gaps worth filling.
How HDC uses SEMrush
We use SEMrush to make SEO evidence-led rather than a matter of opinion:
- We research real demand, the searches your customers actually make, with volumes and difficulty, so effort targets terms worth winning.
- We study competitors, seeing what they rank for and where they’re weak, and turning those gaps into your opportunities.
- We audit technical SEO and build a prioritised plan, quick wins first, bigger pushes next.
- We track rankings over time, so progress is measured and the strategy is adjusted on evidence.
Why we apply it
“Doing SEO” without research is guesswork, chasing terms that are too competitive to win or too obscure to matter. SEMrush replaces that with a clear map: what people search for, how hard each term is, and who already ranks. Strategy built on that map spends effort where it can actually pay back.
It also keeps everyone honest. By tracking rankings against the work done, SEMrush shows whether SEO is genuinely moving, so a client sees real progress rather than vague promises. That accountability is a big part of why we lean on it.
How SEMrush fits our stack
SEMrush is the research and planning engine in our SEO work. We validate its estimates against the first-party data in Google Search Console, tie ranking gains to real traffic and enquiries in Google Analytics, and let the same keyword research inform paid campaigns in Google Ads. Bing Webmaster Tools extends the picture to Bing. Together they turn SEO into a measured loop: research, build on a fast Astro site, track, refine.
When SEMrush isn’t the right tool
SEMrush is a paid, professional platform, its cost and depth suit ongoing, expert use more than a one-off look, which is exactly why it makes more sense delivered as part of a service than bought and learned alone. Its metrics are excellent estimates, best read alongside Google’s first-party data rather than treated as gospel. And the data only helps if someone can turn it into action. For serious, data-led SEO, though, it’s a tool we rely on, and one clients get the benefit of without the overhead.
Worked example
An SEO plan built on evidence, not hunches
Picture a business wanting to "do SEO" but with no idea which terms are worth chasing. In SEMrush we find the searches their customers actually use, with real volumes and how hard each is to rank for, then look at competitors already winning that traffic and spot the gaps they've left open. That becomes a prioritised content and SEO plan: the pages to build, the terms to target, the quick wins first. As the work goes live, we track the rankings climb, so the strategy is evidence-led from start to finish. (Illustrative, every engagement is scoped to your goals.)
Better together
How SEMrush fits with the rest of our stack
SEMrush: your questions answered
What is SEMrush?
SEMrush is a professional SEO and digital-marketing research platform. It shows the keywords websites rank for, how much search volume and competition those keywords have, competitors' strategies, backlink profiles, and how rankings move over time. It's one of the most widely used tools for planning and tracking SEO.
How does HDC use SEMrush for my SEO?
We use it to plan and measure. First, to find the searches your customers actually make and judge which are realistic to win. Then to see what competitors rank for, so we can target the gaps. We audit the site's technical SEO, build a prioritised plan around real demand, and track the rankings as they improve.
Is SEMrush's data accurate?
Its metrics, search volumes, difficulty, traffic estimates, are strong, well-regarded estimates rather than exact figures. That's normal for third-party SEO tools. We read SEMrush alongside Google Search Console's first-party data, so the strategy combines SEMrush's breadth (competitors, keywords) with Google's ground truth about your own site.
Do I need SEMrush myself?
Not usually, it's a professional tool that earns its cost when it's used regularly and expertly, which is part of what you get by working with us. We bring the platform and the know-how to turn its data into a plan, so you get the benefit of the research without paying for and learning an enterprise SEO suite yourself.
Why does HDC use SEMrush?
Because effective SEO starts with knowing what to target and why, and SEMrush provides that evidence: real demand, competitor gaps and measurable rankings. It lets us build SEO and content strategies grounded in data rather than guesswork, and prove progress over time, which is how SEO actually delivers.
Want SEMrush working for your business?
Tell us what you're trying to achieve, we'll show you, honestly, whether it's the right tool and how we'd apply it.
What are you looking for?