Definitive guide

Boost Traffic to Existing Articles with Semrush [10 Tactics]

How to Use Semrush Content Tools for Higher Traffic

Well-optimized articles attract more visitors through organic search results. This approach allows you to concentrate on your audience’s preferences, rather than solely catering to search engine algorithms.

Incorporating relevant keywords, refining titles, and employing SEO techniques can boost your website’s visibility. To improve your competitive edge, Semrush provides functional content tools designed to help you shine in a saturated online environment.

In my own experience, I learned that improving an article from an 8 to a 9 has a much higher impact compared to writing a new article. Last month, My Codeless Website had 90,000 visitors. Here’s how I do it:

PS: If this article makes you excited about Semrush, you can sign up for a free Semrush trial here. If you do so, you support my work as I will receive a commission at 0 extra costs to you.

1. Organic Research

Semrush’s Organic Research tool lets you discover what your audience is searching for. It also helps you personalize your approach, differentiate yourself, and find new opportunities to outrank your opponents. Here’s how:

Step 1: Log in to Semrush and go to Organic Research under the Domain Analytics section.

Step 2: Enter your website’s domain to view all organic keywords. 

Let’s choose Adidas’ website for all of the steps for you to visualize. 

In this section, you can uncover Adidas’ top keywords, most visited pages, primary subdomains, traffic volume, traffic expenses, and additional insights. Works like magic, right? Utilize this tool to identify areas where your page may be falling short. Simply enter your domain and export the data to a PDF for thorough analysis. Additionally, input your competitor’s site to discover their ranking strengths that you might be missing.

Step 3: Filter results for keywords ranking in positions 11–20 and focus on optimizing related articles. Why filter for positions 11-20? It’s the range where you’re able to get a big boost in traffic if you can push them to the first page of Google.

The outcomes you achieve will offer long-lasting advantages and promote sustainable development, as you’ll discover popular subjects and emerging trends previously unknown to you. At My Codeless Website, we are grateful for this tool, as it allows us to leverage every word to ensure our content remains in sync with what audiences are seeking.

2. Keyword Gap Analysis

Originating from the term “gap”, Semrush’s Keyword Gap Analysis assists you in identifying the disparity between the keywords your site ranks for and those of your competitors. This gap highlights missed opportunities to enhance your visibility in areas where you previously had minimal presence. Here’s how:

Step 1: Navigate to Keyword Gap in the Competitive Research section.

Step 2: Enter your website and competitor domains for comparison.

Since we’ve chosen Adidas as a primary example, let’s compare it with its competitor Puma

Based on the results, Adidas and Puma have 166, 994 shared keywords. When you think about it, realization will hit you how difficult it is for both companies to utilize unique keywords to outperform the other. This is the reason why keyword gap analysis is important, so you can target certain texts the opposite isn’t focusing on or improving any material around the same keywords.

Step 3: Look for high-value keywords your competitors rank for and include them in your articles.

Understanding the specific words and phrases people use when searching can help you create more relevant and in-demand website content. 

3. Content Analyzer

Semrush’s Content Analyzer helps you evaluate your content’s SEO and engagement performance. The online world is consistently competitive. You need every effective approach to assess the quality, performance, and effectiveness of your written material. Here’s how: 

Step 1: Access the Content Analyzer under the Content Marketing Platform.

Step 2: Select articles with lower scores or engagement metrics.

Online articles need to offer value, whether it’s solving a problem or offering entertainment. The text must be relevant to the audience. Semrush has an SEO score option so you can check whether your articles are fit to be published.

Step 3: Revise these articles by improving readability, adding visuals, or optimizing for keywords.

Analyzing your content is beneficial as it is most likely to be read and shared. Do not be satisfied until it gets satisfying results. Enhance your work when you can. 

4. Topic Research

Topic research is important. You can’t just write whatever you like without considering factors that contribute to better rankings. When you know your content’s flow, you’re making it easier for readers to understand and follow. Using Semrush’s topic research tool will allow you to discover subtopics and related questions to enrich your material. Here’s how: 

Step 1: Open the Topic Research tool and enter your article’s main keyword.

For example, your chosen topic is “shoes”. Enter the word and hit “Get content ideas”. SEMrush will then give you results that will help expand your reach to a wider audience.

Step 2: Explore suggested subtopics, headlines, and frequently asked questions.

By proceeding with this approach, you’re making your article a go-to resource for insightful and valuable information. 

Step 3: Add relevant subtopics and answers to your existing articles to make them more comprehensive.

Exploring topics helps identify content gaps. Ensure your content is timely and relevant. I suggest using topic clusters if you want to cover more in-depth pieces. Clusters increase the relevance of a group of related keywords without getting lost.

5. SEO Writing Assistant

Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant can help refine your content’s readability and keyword usage. From the word itself, the tool assists users in discovering new opportunities for growth for a thriving marketing strategy. Here’s how: 

Step 1: Open the SEO Writing Assistant and input your article text.

Step 2: Check the recommendations for tone, readability, and SEO.

Let’s assess this one article from Adidas.

As you can see, the tool highlights all related issues. That way, you can solve the problem immediately. Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant is much like Grammarly if you’re more familiar with that. The tool helps you see if your text is too simple for experts. It also stops accidental plagiarism.

Step 3: Implement changes like adding keywords or improving sentence structure for clarity.

Semrush can help fine-tune your readability. They use an algorithm based on the Flesch reading-ease score formula to ensure that your texts are precise but engaging. 

6. Backlink Audit Tool

Semrush’s Backlink Audit Tool analyzes your backlink profile and finds opportunities for internal linking. Here’s how: 

Step 1: Go to the Backlink Audit tool and start an audit for your domain.

Let’s have Adidas again as an example. 

Step 2: Identify articles with weak or broken backlinks.

The results have analyzed 1 million backlinks for Adidas. If you look closely, it is revealed that they have over 1.4K toxic backlinks that need fixing. Those types of links can harm your website’s SEO and overall online reputation. Even if Google doesn’t issue a penalty, its algorithms can still detect and reduce the overall quality score of your site.

Step 3: Add internal links or reclaim broken backlinks to strengthen these pages. 

If possible, reach the webmasters of the sites with toxic backlinks and ask them if they could remove the links pointing to your site. Check your backlink profile’s health now and then with the help of Semrush.

7. Position Tracking

Semrush’s Position Tracking will help you track your ranking for targeted keywords over time. When you track, you’re aware of which keywords gain traffic from those that need revising to modify your strategy accordingly. Here’s how: 

Step 1: Access Position Tracking under the Projects section.

After hitting “Set up tracking”, you will be directed to this:

Hit “Continue to Keywords” to input the main words you want to monitor and for the overall results.

Step 2: Add your website and keywords to track their performance.

Step 3: Monitor rankings and adjust your content if rankings drop or plateau.

Regularly audit your backlink profile using Semrush to identify and deal with toxic links proactively. Avoid the negative consequences of such data. 

8. Site Audit

Semrush’s Site Audit helps you identify technical issues like broken links or slow page speed.  Fixing these issues can make navigation smoother and more enjoyable for your visitors. If you’re interested, here’s how: 

Step 1: Run a Site Audit for your domain from the Projects section.

Here, you can edit the number of checked pages you want to audit. Additionally, you can choose which crawl source you want to prioritize, whether it’s your website, sitemaps on the site, sitemap URL, or URLs from files. Click “Start Site Audit” if you’re set.

Step 2: Review issues like broken links, missing meta tags, or slow-loading pages.

Check for Errors, Warnings, Crawlability, and more with the help of Semrush.  Addressing SEO issues can improve visibility and organic traffic.

Step 3: Fix these issues to improve the performance of your existing articles.

When visitors encounter broken links, it can lead to SEO penalties, resulting in lower rankings. Additionally, they may reduce damage to your site’s reputation. You can schedule a weekly audit with Semrush. You’ll get a notification after the procedure is finished. 

Step 3: Fix these issues to improve the performance of your existing articles.

When visitors encounter broken links, it can lead to SEO penalties, resulting in lower rankings. Additionally, they may reduce damage to your site’s reputation. You can schedule a weekly audit with Semrush. You’ll get a notification after the procedure is finished. 

9. Content Gap Tool

Semrush’s Content Gap tool enables you to find missing keyword opportunities in your niche. You can input your website and your competitor for a much more thorough analysis. This approach enables you to improve and adjust your previous and current work for a better outcome. If you’re interested, here’s how: 

Step 1: Use the Content Gap tool to compare your content with competitors.

Step 2: Identify gaps where your articles are missing relevant keywords.

Click “Missing” to identify which keywords your competitors are ranking that you haven’t previously thought of. 

Step 3: Add these keywords to your articles naturally to fill the gap. 

Take the time to analyze thousands of potential keyword opportunities. Carefully pick the keywords that best align with your brand and make a plan with the collected data. 

10. Link-Building Tool

Semrush’s Link-Building Tool helps acquire backlinks for improved quality. If you want to get discovered by a wider audience, here’s how:

Step 1: Access the Link-Building Tool and enter your domain.

Step 2: View suggested link-building opportunities and prioritize outreach.

Prioritizing outreach can boost your online visibility. When your content gets linked to other platforms, you are exposed to new people. As a result, your material can expand its reach even further. 

Step 3: Reach out to site owners with a personalized pitch to acquire backlinks for updated articles.

This can be a highly effective strategy for several reasons. First, it can boost domain authority in the eyes of search engines like Google. Next, your content will get more views on it resulting in more traffic. Lastly, reaching out to other site owners can build a strong relationship within the industry. 

Conclusion

Breathe new life into your old content with the compelling tools mentioned above. Search engines adore fresh content! Updating and adjusting in this constantly changing digital landscape is always a nice idea. Here at My Codeless Website, we are thankful for Semrush’s powerful keyword research tools. Our clients are beyond satisfied with our performance. 

If you’re looking to improve your online marketing efforts, Semrush is known for helping businesses boost their online presence. Acquire a comprehensive digital marketing toolkit for a reasonable price. If this article made you excited, you can sign up for a free trial of Semrush here to get started.

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