SEMRush Setup

1. Set Up the Client’s Website as a Project #

1. From the SEMrush Dashboard, click “Projects” (left sidebar).
2. Click “+ Create Project” (top right).
3. Enter the client’s domain (e.g., example.com) and project name.
4. Click “Create Project”.

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2. Set Up Site Audit #

1. In the project dashboard, click “Set up” under Site Audit.
2. Set the crawl scope (e.g., entire domain or subfolder).
3. Define the maximum number of pages to crawl (start with 500–1000).
4. Configure crawl source: choose from website, sitemaps, or Google Search Console.
5. Click “Start Site Audit”.

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3. Set Up Position Tracking (Rank Tracking) #

1. In the project dashboard, click “Set up” under Position Tracking.
2. Enter your target location(s) (e.g., United States, city-specific).
3. Enter the keywords you want to track (use the client’s seed list or pull from GSC).
4. Enter the competitor domains to track alongside.
5. Click “Start Tracking”.

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4. Set Up On-Page SEO Checker #

1. Click “Set up” under On-Page SEO Checker.
2. Choose the pages you want to optimize (manually or import from GSC).
3. Add your target keywords for each page.
4. Click “Collect Ideas” to get optimization suggestions.

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5. Set Up Backlink Audit Tool #

1. Click “Set up” under Backlink Audit.
2. Connect your Google Search Console to import backlinks.
3. Set up your target country.
4. Review and configure your brand name variations for accuracy.
5. Click “Start Backlink Audit”.

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6. Keyword Research (Outside Projects Tab) #

1. Go to “Keyword Magic Tool” (left menu).
2. Enter your seed keyword (e.g., “skin clinic LA”).
3. Review keyword volume, difficulty, intent, and questions.
4. Save selected keywords into a list (top right: “+ Add to Keyword List”).

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7. Add Competitors for Benchmarking #

1. Inside the Project dashboard, click “Competitor Analysis”.
2. Add top competitors manually or use SEMrush suggestions.
3. Use Domain Overview and Traffic Analytics to compare.