Digital marketers often find themselves stuck in a dilemma of choosing between SEMrush vs Moz. And why not? Both are excellent tools, assisting marketers in attaining their search engine optimization goals. It doesn’t matter whether you are a rookie or a pro; these software suits ensure that the search engines identify your website and boost ranking.

That said, there are two things that you can do to decide among SEMrush vs Moz. Either integrate both tools in your digital marketing strategy to comprehend their features. However, it’ll be a time-consuming and costly affair. Or, you can save your time yet make a well-versed decision by reading and sharing this guide. 

Since you are already at it, let’s cut to the chase:

What is Semrush?

“What I appreciate most about Semrush is that it covers all areas of search with its tools, So I can have a 360-degree view of my projects.” – Esther Gimenez. 

It is an all-in-one software aiding marketing professionals in building, managing, and computing marketing campaigns across different channels. It enhances brand visibility via SEO, PPC, competitive research, keyword analysis, and more. You simply name it, and Semrush will provide valuable insights to assist your marketing and website optimization needs. 

In short, it is an online visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform.

About the company: Semrush Inc is an American public company offering a SaaS platform named “Semrush.” Established in 2008, its headquarters is located in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2016, the software even celebrated one million users. 

What is Moz?

“Moz Pro gives us the data we need to justify our projects and strategies. It helps us track the ROI of our efforts and brings significant transparency to our industry.” – Jason Nurmi. 

It is an SEO and data management platform that drives organic traffic and boosts website ranking. Moz asserts itself as best-in-class software for local SEO, enterprise SERP analytics, and a powerful API. And we surely have no doubt about it. 

Some of the renowned features of this all-in-one tool include website audits, keyword research tools, rank tracking, and backlink analysis. It further offers access to the proprietary metrics, including Keyword Difficulty, Page Authority, Spam Score, and DA (Domain Authority). (Click here to read about our Domain Rating vs Domain Authority blog post). 

About the company: Moz (previously known as SEOmoz) was founded in 2004 by Rand Fishkin and Gillian Muessig. It started as a blog and an online community allowing the world’s SEO experts to share their research and ideas. Later on, this blog website turned into an SEO consulting firm and created one of the best SEO tools Moz Pro. 

Semrush vs Moz: Comparison Parameters

Despite the fact that Semrush & Moz assist with SEO, they are discrete on the following parameters.

 1. Domain Analysis

Generally, domain analysis is performed to evaluate your SEO performance and outrank the competitor’s site. Both Semrush & Moz offers your domain overview tool, where you need to add the URL and get the following results: 

• DA score,
• Number of backlinks,
• Keywords the site ranks for,
• Competing domains, and
• Anchor text used in the link. 

In Semrush, you simply have to add the site address and get the required information. 

On the other hand, this search is a bit complex in Moz. The reason is that domain analysis is separated into two parts- Keyword Research and Link Research. Marketers need to move between these options to get the necessary data. 

Furthermore, to get the competitive data from different sites, you need to create a “campaign” on Moz or use the “Competitive research” option. 

It is also noteworthy that Semrush provides an estimate of the monthly traffic for the domain. And this feature is not available in Moz. Instead, you’d have to use the Google Analytics tool along with Moz to monitor your site traffic. Yet, this provides no luck in competitor traffic analysis. 

Note: The insights you get from Semrush are not 100% accurate. And the software also emphasizes that the information is simply an “Estimate.” These estimates can be used to identify the trends, such as how a website performs against its competitors and monthly traffic estimates. 

 2. Ease Of Use

The software’s user interface is a critical component of whether it is better than the other. The logic here is quite simple; an easy-to-use interface saves time yet provides effective results. 

Semrush’s dashboard has clubbed different pieces of information together to create a seamless menu. They also provide graphs for a better understanding of the data; thus great for digital marketing beginners as they get quick access to the SEO information. Not to forget, it also provides whys and hows about the data. Thus, you can draft a practical and effective marketing campaign. 

It also uses the CRM-style approach. Therefore, you need not switch between different programs to continue smooth working. Instead, you can plugin mails (or any other program) so that you can work in the box. 

However, it doesn’t mean that Moz is not for beginners. Its support functions, such as a 24*7 live rep, help desk software, knowledge base, and FAQs, assist you at every step. You can use its free trial version to reap the benefits of its numerous features. Once you get a hold of it, you can invest in the paid version. 

So, in semrush vs Moz, who has a better UI?… Well, this decision is entirely for you to make. 

 3. Backlink Analysis And Building

Fact: According to a study conducted by Ahrefs, nearly 43.7% of top ranking pages have reciprocal links in it. (Source: Ahref )

How your website performs on the search engine depends on the number of high-quality and niche-relevant backlinks it gains. For this purpose, you need to learn about the site’s backlink profile using Semrush or Moz. 

Don’t worry; it is much easier than it may seem. You need to add the domain name to the tool and get a backlinks database. However, as we are talking about semrush vs moz, here’s how both are different when it comes to backlink analysis and building. 

Both software has their own web index containing numerous domains and keywords, and they are pretty open about it as well. 

Currently, Semrush Database Size is: 

• 142 geographic databases
• 21,1 billion keywords 
• 808 million domains

Moz Database Size is: 

• 40.7 trillion links
• 718 million domains
• 7 trillion pages
• 500 million keywords

Nevertheless, it was all about the database, though link-building and backlinks are more than that, including the analysis of campaigns. Both tools do an incredible job of providing a breakdown report of backlinks. It includes:

• Number of “Dofollow” and “Nofollow” links
• Anchor text used (Click here to learn about anchor text optimization)
• New & lost domains

However, Semrush also provides you with information about:

• Referring IPs
• Outbound Links
• Backlinks by Industry 
• Backlinks by Country

Semrush also steals the spot by presenting extensive graphs of the information. This makes it easier for even a newbie to understand the information and gain valuable insights. 

Using the information, you can actually “build” necessary links. 

Are you wondering- How?… Well, you can use the ‘link intersect’ (for Moz) or ‘backlink gap’ (for semrush) tools to compare the URL of different websites. It will provide you with a list of domains that are linking to your competitors (but not your site). 

Once you have the list, you can approach those bloggers via email or using blogger outreach tools. 

Now, the question is- How many sites can you compare for backlinks? 

In moz: 5 

In semrush: 4 

Despite that, semrush provides you with a list of related website URLs along with email addresses to make outreach as effortless as possible for you. The interface of the tool is also seamless, similar to CRM software; thereby, you can send emails from the semrush itself. 

Hang on; the backlink tools don’t just end here. Semrush also provides you with a toxic link report, including a list of spammy links. So, you can protect your site from getting penalized by Google.

 4. Keyword Research Features

Keywords are the game changers of SEO. From an article to image alt text, what keywords you have used and their density can help your site generate traffic and rank high. However, keyword research is easier said than done. It must include: 

• Keyword difficulty score, 
• Search volume, 
• List of related keywords, and 
• Sites that are already ranking for it. 

 Fortunately, you can use both Semrush and Moz for effective research. All you have to do is enter the keyword you want to get information about in their “keyword overview” tool. 

Now, let’s talk about the difference between both tools. 

Moz provides you with the necessary information using its keyword’ priority score’ feature. This feature is handy when you have a list of keywords. It gives you an idea of how much effort you’d have to make for a specific keyword to rank. (This feature is not available in Semrush.)

Instead, using the Semrush tool, you’ll learn about the number of high-authority domains or content you need in order to rank. It’s quite a practical feature as you can make a decision about an SEO campaign based on the backlink “numbers” required. Thus, you may also use it as a link-building tool. 

In a nutshell, semrush provides efficient “Context” to the keyword research. You’ll get information about search intent. That means you’ll know whether the keyword is:

Informational- The user is looking for a specific answer.

Commercial- The user wants to explore brands and services.

Navigational- The user is looking for a specific page or site.

Transactional- The user desires to complete an action.

These categories of keywords come in handy when you have to filter the keyword suggestions. This feature further eliminates irrelevant words and focuses on the terms relevant to organizations’ needs. 

Apart from this, using the “keyword list” and “keyword manager” tools (available in both the software), you can refer to necessary phrases anytime and anywhere. Both work in similar ways, so you can use any. 

It is also worth mentioning that results provided by these tools are based only on Google search results because it dominates the search engine market by 92.47% as of June 2021. Unlike their third competitor, Ahrefs, which also provides information from other search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, and YouTube. (Don’t forget to check out our 7 Tried and Tested Ahrefs Alternatives to Boost SEO)

Nevertheless, you can use Moz’s other feature, “Rank Checker,” to see the keyword ranking on other search engines.

 5. Site Auditing 

As the name suggests, this feature allows you to weigh up how your site is performing from two perspectives- Technical SEO and On-page. It’ll also help you learn about possible issues that can negatively impact your site’s ranking. 

Semrush’s auditing tool is easier to use in contrast to Moz, as you get all the required information in one place. On the other hand, in Moz, you have to navigate through different sections (‘site crawl,’ a ‘redirects issues,’ a ‘page grader’) to get the required information. 

On the positive side, the data you collect from Moz will be used for technical SEO, especially information you get from the ‘on-page grader’ tool. All you need to do is add the domain name or target page URL and the keyword you wish to rank for, and you’ll get a list of actionable steps you can implement to boost the site’s ranking. 

As for Semrush’s on-page SEO checker, you can get information from the entire site and not just one page. Nevertheless, the suggestions provided by both sites revolve around:

• Steps to enhance visibility on Google’s featured snippet.’
• Enhancement of meta description and body copy
• Content length
• Internal link tactics (including information about sites to approach).

In short, both tools can provide you with high-value and quick information to improve your site’s ranking. 

 6. Broken Link Analysis

Another effective tactic to improve organic traffic and enhance the site’s visibility is using broken link building. Ideally, it includes finding the web page links that are no longer live, thus broken, and restoring them. The content is improved or republished, and the sites linked to it will be requested to link back to the new content.

Common broken link errors include: 

• 404 Page Not Found
• Bad host
• 400 Bad Request
• Invalid HTTP response code
• Timeout

This approach allows you to generate new backlinks for your website or blog post. 

For broken link building, you have to create a campaign on Moz for the site you wish to evaluate for the error codes stated above. After that, you’ll have to find out about the site owner and reach out to them via emails for inbound and outbound links. 

In Semrush, you don’t have to create a project. Instead, you can run a backlink analysis report and select the ‘broken pages’ options to get information. Of course, similar to Moz, you have to do outreach. (Semrush program also provides information about broken external links in its site audit report). 

 7. Support And Free Trial 

The customer support of both tools is pretty excellent. You can reach out to Semrush via live chat, phone, or email. At the same time, Moz offers 24*7 email support. You can get access to customer support by using the help icon available on every screen and at the footer (in semrush). 

As for the free trial, Moz wins the game, as it provides a 30-day trial before you make a financial commitment. Semrush, on the flip side, offers limited-time trials (for seven days). 

Nevertheless, below are the pricing comparison of both:

Wrapping It All Up 

We believe the details above are sufficient to give you an idea of what each tool is capable of. Make sure to choose the best solution after comparing all these aspects. Remember that SEO is all about trial and error, so focus on learning as much as possible. 

Also, feel free to read our other blogs.

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