Is Ahrefs better than Semrush? Which one is better in 2023

It’s crucial to have access to the appropriate tools as a digital marketer to provide you with a competitive advantage on the market. Semrush and Ahrefs are two of the most widely used SEO tools available. Both are loaded with strong features that can assist website owners and digital marketers in enhancing the search engine rankings of their websites. It can be challenging to determine which one of these is the ideal fit for your needs, though.

In this article, we’ll compare both Ahrefs and Semrush in order to help you decide which one is best for you.

Keyword Analysis
Semrush is renowned for its extensive keyword analysis tools. With over 20 billion keywords, it has a sizable keyword database. You can uncover relevant keywords and their search volumes with the Keyword Magic Tool, and you can evaluate how challenging it is to rank for those keywords using the Keyword Difficulty tool. It’s Keyword Analytics Tool provides gives you access to a multitude of information, such as keyword trends, paid search volume, and similar keywords.

In contrast, Ahrefs also has a huge keyword database with more than 170 million keywords. It also contains a keyword research tool that offers useful information on keyword volume, organic traffic, and keyword difficulty. Additionally, this tool enables users to do competition analyses to discover the terms that your rivals are using. Although it lacks a Keyword Analytics Tool, it does provide keyword suggestions and similar keywords.

Link Building
Both tools have powerful backlink analysis tools, which are essential for SEO. Semrush offers a backlink analytics tool that enables you to keep track of your backlinks, analyze where they are coming from, and identify their sources. In addition, it also provides users with a backlink audit tool that enables them to find and delete unwanted backlinks from their profiles.

On the other hand, Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker tool gives you access to a thorough study of your backlinks and lets you discover who is linking to your website. When looking for opportunities to build links, Ahrefs also lets you view the anchor text of your backlinks, which can be quite helpful.

Site Auditing
Site auditing is a crucial component of digital marketing since it enables users to find and fix technical SEO problems with their websites. Semrush provides users with a site audit tool that gives a thorough inspection of their websites. Users can use this tool to find and fix technical SEO problems including broken links, duplicate content, and crawling difficulties.

Additionally, Ahrefs features a site auditing tool that offers users in-depth research of their websites. Users can use this tool to find and fix technical SEO problems including broken links, crawl errors, and missing alt tags. Also it provides a content audit tool that aids users in identifying and improving their content for increased search engine visibility.

Pricing
Talking about the pricing, Semrush has several tiers, with the Pro plan starting at $119.95 per month and the Business plan costing as much as $449.95. The Pro plan is excellent for small and medium-sized businesses, while the Business plan is best for large enterprise companies. Additionally, they also offer a 14-day no-cost trial period, which allows marketers to evaluate before buying.

Ahrefs on the other hand has a Lite plan starting at $99 per month and the Agency plan at $999. Unlike Semrush, it offer a 7-day free trial to get a hang of it.

UI
UI is important aspect in promoting tool adoptions among teams. Here, both Semrush and Ahrefs features a user-friendly design and is simple to use even for someone who is new to SEO. All the information and stats are presented in an organized and simple-to-understand dashboard which is intuitive.

Although both applications are excellent for keyword research and backlink analysis, Ahrefs is better recognized for its backlink analysis features, while Semrush is best known for its keyword research features. In addition, Semrush provides a site audit tool, while Ahrefs provides a content audit tool. In the end, the decision between these two will depend on your specific requirements and budget constraints.