How to Use Semrush for Keyword Research: A Beginner's Guide (2026)
Keyword research sounds simple on paper: find something people search for, write about it, done. The hard part isn't finding search terms — Google's autocomplete alone will hand you plenty of those. The hard part is finding search terms that a website your size actually has a realistic shot at ranking for.
That distinction is the entire subject of this guide. Semrush is one of the tools that can help you solve it, but only if you know what to actually look at once you're inside it — because the raw data can just as easily send you chasing keywords you'll never rank for as it can point you toward genuine opportunities.
We're going to walk through this using Software Junkie Hub itself as the working example — a relatively small blog covering AI tools, ChatGPT, Claude, software comparisons, and productivity software. The problem this site faces isn't a shortage of keyword ideas. It's figuring out which of the thousands of available keywords in its niche are actually winnable right now, at its current size, versus which ones are a waste of a week's writing time.
1. What Is Semrush Keyword Research?
Semrush isn't a single keyword tool — it's a set of related tools that each answer a different question. Understanding which tool answers which question will save you a lot of wasted clicking.
Semrush Tool | Best Used For |
Keyword Overview | Investigating one specific keyword in depth |
Keyword Magic Tool | Generating a large list of related keyword ideas from a seed term |
Keyword Gap | Finding keywords competitors rank for that you don't |
Organic Research | Studying a competitor's overall organic traffic and top pages |
Keyword Strategy Builder | Organizing selected keywords into content clusters |
Position Tracking | Monitoring how your existing pages rank over time |
If you only remember one thing from this table, make it this: Keyword Overview is for checking one keyword you already have in mind, and Keyword Magic Tool is for discovering keywords you haven't thought of yet. Beginners frequently use only one of these and miss half the value Semrush offers.
2. Understanding the Semrush Keyword Metrics
Before clicking around, it's worth understanding what the numbers on the screen actually mean. Misreading these is the single most common reason beginners pick the wrong keywords.
Search Volume
This is Semrush's estimate of average monthly searches for a term, based on a rolling average. It's an estimate, not an exact count — Semrush itself notes that for keywords under roughly 500 monthly searches, the number should be treated more directionally than literally. The instinct to chase the highest search volume number on the page is understandable, but it's also usually a mistake for a small site, since high volume almost always comes with high competition attached.
Keyword Difficulty (KD%)
Keyword Difficulty is Semrush's estimate of how hard it would be to rank in the top organic positions for a given term, based largely on the authority of the domains currently ranking. For a small or newer site, this number deserves more attention than search volume does — a keyword with modest volume and low difficulty is often more valuable to you right now than a high-volume, high-difficulty term you have no realistic path to ranking for in the next year.
Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD%)
This is where Semrush gets genuinely more useful for a site like Software Junkie Hub specifically. Personal Keyword Difficulty adjusts the difficulty score based on your actual domain's current authority, rather than giving you a generic, one-size-fits-all number. A keyword with a general KD of 45 might be realistically achievable for an established site but effectively out of reach for a newer one — PKD is Semrush's attempt to reflect that difference for your specific site rather than treat every domain the same.
Search Intent
Semrush classifies keywords into intent categories — broadly, informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional. This matters because it tells you what kind of page Google actually wants to show for that search, which should shape what you write.
For Software Junkie Hub, this plays out clearly:
"What is ChatGPT?" → informational — someone wants an explanation, not a sales pitch.
"Semrush vs Ahrefs" → commercial — someone is comparing options before a decision.
"Semrush pricing" → commercial/transactional, depending on how Semrush currently classifies it — someone is close to a purchase decision and wants specifics.
Writing an informational explainer for a commercial-intent keyword (or vice versa) is a quiet, common way to write a decent article that still never ranks, because it doesn't match what the searcher — and therefore Google — actually wants.
CPC (Cost Per Click)
CPC reflects what advertisers are currently paying, on average, for a click on that term in paid search. For a content publisher, this is a rough proxy for how commercially valuable an audience is — a high CPC suggests advertisers believe that searcher is worth reaching. It is not, on its own, a reason to target a keyword. A high-CPC term with brutal competition and no realistic ranking path isn't more valuable to you than a lower-CPC term you can actually win.
SERP Features
This refers to what actually shows up on the results page beyond the standard blue links — featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, AI Overviews, video carousels, and so on. A keyword where AI Overviews or a heavy People Also Ask box dominate the page may return meaningfully less click-through traffic than the raw search volume suggests, even if you rank well. Checking this before committing to a keyword is a step a lot of beginners skip entirely.
Trend
Semrush's trend data shows whether interest in a term has been rising, flat, seasonal, or declining over roughly the past 12 months. A keyword that looks attractive on volume and difficulty alone can still be a poor long-term bet if interest in the underlying topic is clearly fading — worth a quick glance before investing real writing time.
3. Start With a Broad Seed Keyword
Let's say Software Junkie Hub wants to expand its content around ChatGPT — a topic the site already covers, but with room to go deeper.
Start broad. Type "ChatGPT" into Semrush's keyword tools. Importantly, the goal here is not to rank for the word "ChatGPT" itself — that term is dominated by OpenAI's own properties, major tech publications, and Wikipedia, and no realistic amount of effort from a small blog changes that in the near term. The point of starting broad is to use "ChatGPT" as a seed that Semrush can branch outward from into much more specific, winnable searches.
When that overview loads, resist the urge to absorb every metric on the page at once. Look specifically at the overall volume (to understand the scale of the topic), the difficulty (to confirm what you probably already suspected — that the head term itself is out of reach), and the related keyword suggestions Semrush surfaces directly on this page, which often hint at where the more specific opportunities are hiding.
4. Use the Keyword Magic Tool to Find Article Ideas
This is where the real work happens. Open the Keyword Magic Tool and enter the same seed keyword, "ChatGPT."
The list that loads will be enormous — often tens of thousands of related terms for a topic this broad. That's not a bug; it's the point. Your job now is narrowing that flood down into something usable, using the filters along the top and side of the results table:
Keyword Difficulty — narrow toward a range realistic for your site's current authority.
Volume — set a reasonable floor so you're not chasing terms with essentially no search demand.
Intent — filter toward the type of content you're actually planning to produce.
Word Count — longer keyword phrases (typically 4+ words) tend to be more specific and less competitive.
Questions — isolates question-based searches, which map naturally onto blog posts and FAQ content.
Include/Exclude Keywords — lets you require or filter out specific words, useful for removing branded terms you have no chance of ranking for (like "ChatGPT login" or "ChatGPT stock") or focusing only on terms containing a word like "prompts" or "guide."
Applying even two or three of these filters together will typically take a 40,000-result list down to something in the hundreds — a genuinely reviewable number.
5. How to Find Low-Competition Keywords With Semrush
This is the section worth reading slowly, because it's also where most beginners go wrong. Low competition does not mean "sort by KD and pick whatever has the lowest number on the screen." A keyword can have a low KD and still be a poor choice — for reasons Semrush's metrics alone won't tell you.
Here's a more realistic process:
Start with a relevant topic — something that genuinely fits your site's existing focus, not just whatever has the best numbers.
Filter toward lower keyword difficulty — relative to your own site's current authority, not an arbitrary universal number.
Look for longer, more specific searches — these tend to carry clearer intent and softer competition than short, broad terms.
Confirm there's at least some meaningful search demand — a keyword with genuinely zero real-world searches isn't worth writing for, regardless of how low its difficulty is.
Check search intent — make sure the kind of content you'd write actually matches what the searcher wants.
Inspect the actual SERP — Semrush's numbers are a starting filter, not the final word (more on this in Section 7).
Evaluate who's already ranking — are these strong, well-resourced sites, or is there a realistic gap you could fill?
Decide whether you can genuinely do better — more thorough, more current, more specific to your audience than what's already ranking.
There's no universal "always target KD under 20" rule here, and be skeptical of any guide that gives you one without qualification. A KD of 35 might be entirely reasonable for a site with a few years of consistent publishing behind it, and completely unrealistic for a brand-new domain. Difficulty is relative to your starting point, which is exactly what Semrush's Personal Keyword Difficulty metric is trying to account for.
For this site specifically, this filtering process might reasonably surface something like "how to use ChatGPT for research" or "ChatGPT prompts for work" — phrases with real, if modest, search demand, clear informational intent, and a difficulty level worth actually checking against the site's current standing before committing.
6. Don't Ignore Low-Volume Keywords
There's a strong pull toward dismissing anything showing 20, 50, or 100 monthly searches as not worth the effort. For a small site, that instinct is often backwards.
A handful of reasons a low-volume keyword can still be genuinely worth targeting:
Easier competition — low-volume terms are frequently overlooked by larger, established sites chasing bigger numbers, leaving real openings.
Stronger intent — very specific searches often come from people close to a decision, not just casually browsing.
Multiple related searches — one article can often capture a whole cluster of similar low-volume phrasings, adding up to meaningful combined traffic.
Topical authority — publishing consistently on specific, related subtopics signals depth to Google over time, which can help your broader rankings.
Internal linking value — a narrow, specific article gives you a natural place to link to (and from) your broader pillar content.
Conversion potential — for an affiliate or product-recommendation site, a narrow commercial search can convert at a meaningfully higher rate than a broad informational one.
Consider a specific "Tool A vs. Tool B" comparison showing only 100 monthly searches. That number looks unimpressive next to a broad informational term pulling several thousand. But the comparison searcher is typically closer to an actual decision — which, for a site with any affiliate or referral component, can matter more than raw traffic volume.
None of this guarantees a specific outcome in traffic or revenue; it's a reason to not automatically dismiss a keyword on volume alone.
7. Check the Search Results Before Choosing a Keyword
Semrush's metrics exist to narrow your options — they shouldn't make the final decision for you. The actual Google results page for a keyword tells you things no metric captures directly.
Before committing to a keyword, search it yourself and look at:
The authority of the domains currently ranking — are these major, well-resourced publishers, or smaller sites closer to your own size?
The actual quality of the ranking content — is it genuinely thorough, or surprisingly thin given how well it ranks?
Freshness — are the top results recent, or are several of them years old and possibly outdated?
Whether the intent match feels right — does what's ranking actually match what you assumed the searcher wanted?
Forums and community results — a Reddit thread or forum post ranking in the top results is often a signal that no strong dedicated resource exists yet.
Exact-match or thin pages — sometimes a weak, barely-adequate page is ranking simply because nothing better currently exists.
Major brands dominating every position — a page one composed entirely of household names is a difficult page to break into regardless of what the KD score suggested.
A genuinely attractive SERP for a small publisher often looks like a mix of a couple of stronger sites alongside at least one or two visibly weaker, outdated, or thin pages — that gap is where a smaller site's opportunity usually lives.
8. Find Keywords Your Competitors Already Rank For
Rather than guessing at what to write next, you can look directly at what's already working for sites similar to yours. This flips the research process: instead of starting from a seed keyword, you start from a competing domain that already receives the kind of traffic you want.
Semrush's Organic Research tool (or its current equivalent under that name) does this. Enter a competing AI or software blog roughly comparable in size and focus to Software Junkie Hub.
[SCREENSHOT: Organic Research overview for a relevant competitor]
From there, review which keywords are actually sending that competitor traffic, and cross-reference that list against your own site's existing content and audience interests. The goal isn't to copy what a competitor publishes — it's to use their existing traffic as evidence of real demand, and then decide whether there's a genuine content gap or angle you can approach differently or more thoroughly.
9. Use Keyword Gap to Find Missing Content
Keyword Gap takes the competitor research idea a step further by directly comparing your own domain against several competitors side by side, rather than reviewing one at a time.
[SCREENSHOT: Keyword Gap comparison with SoftwareJunkieHub.com and competitors]
Enter Software Junkie Hub's own domain alongside a handful of comparable software and AI-focused blogs. Semrush will break the results down into categories using its own current terminology — generally along the lines of missing keywords (terms competitors rank for that you have no content addressing at all), weak keywords (terms you rank for, but noticeably below your competitors), and shared keywords (terms multiple sites, including yours, already rank for).
The missing-keywords view tends to be the most immediately actionable. If Competitors A, B, and C all rank for a specific long-tail AI software query, and Software Junkie Hub has no article addressing it at all, that's a reasonably strong signal the topic deserves a closer look — not an automatic green light to publish, but a real, data-backed lead worth investigating using the SERP-checking process from Section 7.
10. Find Commercial Keywords for an Affiliate Website
If part of your site's model involves affiliate or referral revenue, certain keyword patterns are consistently worth watching for, because they tend to attract searchers closer to an actual purchase decision:
[software] review
[software] pricing
[software] alternatives
[software A] vs [software B]
best [software category]
is [software] worth it
[software] free vs paid
how to use [software]
best [software] for [specific audience]
These patterns often carry lower search volume than a broad informational term, but the commercial intent behind them can make them disproportionately valuable relative to that lower number. For example, we utilized this method while writing our article "Wix vs Wordpress"
Using Semrush itself as an example, worthwhile topics in this pattern might include: Semrush review, Semrush free vs. paid, Semrush vs. Ahrefs, is Semrush worth it, Semrush for bloggers, Semrush for small websites, and how to find low-competition keywords with Semrush. These are illustrative examples of the pattern, not a confirmed list — actual volume, difficulty, and intent should be checked in Semrush before deciding what to prioritize.
11. Build a Keyword Cluster Instead of Writing One Article
Rather than trying to cram everything about Semrush into one exhaustive article, it's usually more effective — both for readers and for SEO — to build a connected cluster of focused pieces.
For Software Junkie Hub, that might look like:
Pillar: How to Use Semrush for Keyword Research
Supporting articles:
How to Find Low-Competition Keywords With Semrush
Semrush Review
Semrush Free vs. Paid
Semrush vs. Ahrefs
Semrush Keyword Difficulty Explained
How to Use Semrush Keyword Gap
How to Find Competitor Keywords With Semrush
Each supporting piece links back to the pillar, and the pillar links out to each supporting piece where it naturally fits. This structure matters more for a smaller site than a large one, precisely because it concentrates topical relevance around a subject instead of spreading thin, disconnected coverage across a domain that doesn't yet carry a lot of independent authority.
[INTERNAL LINK OPPORTUNITY: Semrush Review] [INTERNAL LINK OPPORTUNITY: Semrush Free vs Paid] [INTERNAL LINK OPPORTUNITY: Semrush vs Ahrefs] [INTERNAL LINK OPPORTUNITY: How to Find Low-Competition Keywords]
12. How I Would Choose a Keyword for Software Junkie Hub
Let's make this concrete with an actual decision-making pass, the way it would really happen.
Keyword | Volume | KD | Intent | Competition | Business Value | Decision |
[INSERT CURRENT SEMRUSH DATA] | ||||||
[INSERT CURRENT SEMRUSH DATA] | ||||||
[INSERT CURRENT SEMRUSH DATA] |
Once the actual numbers are filled in from a real Semrush account, the decision comes down to weighing four things against each other, not optimizing for any single one: relevance to the site's existing audience and focus, realistic ranking potential given the site's current authority, genuine search demand (even if modest), and business value — whether the keyword's intent aligns with something the site can meaningfully monetize or build authority from.
In practice, the winning keyword is rarely the one with the highest volume in the table. It's usually the one where every column is reasonably solid — decent relevance, achievable difficulty, real (even if modest) demand, and a clear reason it's worth the time to write — rather than the one that maxes out a single metric while falling short everywhere else.
13. Semrush Free vs. Paid for Keyword Research
Semrush's free account is genuinely useful for exploring the interface and understanding how the tools work, but it's built around real limits — historically around 10 searches per day across tools, with restricted access to deeper reports like Keyword Gap. It's enough to get a feel for whether the platform fits your workflow; it's not enough to run ongoing keyword research for an active publishing schedule.
Paid access starts at the entry tier (commonly referred to as Pro, though Semrush has restructured plan names and bundles more than once recently — confirm current tier names and limits directly on Semrush's pricing page before subscribing).
At the time of writing, entry-level paid pricing sits in the neighborhood of $110–$140/month depending on monthly versus annual billing, with meaningfully higher tiers above that for larger teams needing more projects, tracked keywords, and reporting depth. These figures shift periodically, so treat them as directional rather than exact.
For someone publishing a handful of articles a month on a small site, the free tier — supplemented by manually checking a handful of keywords at a time — may genuinely be enough for a while. The frustration tends to set in once you're doing keyword research regularly enough that 10 searches a day starts to feel like a hard ceiling, or once you want the competitor-comparison depth that Keyword Gap and full Organic Research access provide.
Find more great free AI tools with our featured article!
14. Common Semrush Keyword Research Mistakes
Chasing high search volume without checking difficulty or realistic ranking potential leads to a lot of wasted writing time on topics you were never going to rank for.
Ignoring search intent results in well-written content that simply doesn't match what Google — and the searcher — actually wanted from that query.
Blindly trusting keyword difficulty as an exact, guaranteed number rather than an estimate. Always cross-check against the actual SERP.
Ignoring the actual Google results and relying entirely on Semrush's dashboard numbers skips the single most informative step in the whole process.
Choosing topics unrelated to your site's actual audience, just because the numbers look attractive, tends to produce content that doesn't fit your site's broader authority or convert the way relevant content would.
Dismissing low-volume keywords outright, without considering intent, competition, or cumulative value across a cluster of similar terms.
Copying competitors' content directly rather than using their rankings as evidence of demand and then building something more useful or current.
Creating multiple articles targeting essentially the same query splits your own potential ranking power across competing pages instead of consolidating it into one strong piece.
Failing to internally link related articles wastes the topical authority a well-built cluster could otherwise generate.
Assuming Semrush's estimates are exact figures rather than directional data, particularly for lower-volume keywords where Semrush itself notes the numbers are less precise.
15. A Simple Semrush Keyword Research Workflow
Once you've been through the individual steps a few times, the whole process compresses into a repeatable sequence:
Seed keyword → Keyword Magic Tool → Filter by difficulty, volume, and intent → Inspect the actual SERP → Check competitor coverage → Evaluate business value → Choose the keyword → Build a supporting cluster → Publish → Track rankings over time
Is Semrush Worth Using for Keyword Research?
Semrush is genuinely strong in a handful of specific ways: its keyword database is large, its filtering options are detailed enough to actually narrow a huge topic down to something workable, its competitor research (Organic Research and Keyword Gap specifically) gives you a shortcut past pure guesswork, and having keyword data, competitor data, and SERP context inside one platform saves real time compared to piecing that together from several separate tools.
It also has real downsides worth naming plainly. The cost is meaningful, especially for a small or early-stage site not yet generating revenue to justify it. The interface can feel genuinely overwhelming at first, with far more features visible than a beginner doing basic keyword research actually needs. And every number on the screen — volume, difficulty, even intent classification — is an estimate, not a guarantee; the platform is a research aid, not an oracle.
If you're publishing a handful of articles a month and mostly want a general sense of what to write about, you may not need a sophisticated paid SEO suite yet — the free tier, combined with manually checking Google's own results, can get you reasonably far. But for someone seriously building an organic-search-driven site over the long term, having keyword demand, competitor visibility, and SERP context in one connected workflow tends to save enough research time to be worth the cost, particularly once you're past the free tier's daily search limits on a regular basis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Semrush good for keyword research? Yes, particularly for its combination of a large keyword database, competitor comparison tools, and filtering options that help narrow a broad topic into specific, targetable terms. It works best when paired with manual SERP review rather than relied on for metrics alone.
Can I use Semrush for free? Yes, Semrush offers a limited free account, generally allowing around 10 searches per day across its tools with restricted access to deeper reports like Keyword Gap. It's useful for exploring the platform, but most active publishers outgrow it fairly quickly.
What is a good keyword difficulty in Semrush? There's no universal number — it depends on your site's current authority. A newer or smaller site should generally look for meaningfully lower difficulty scores than an established site with years of consistent content and backlinks behind it. Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD%), where available, gives a more tailored estimate specific to your domain.
How accurate is Semrush search volume? It's a reasonably reliable estimate for directional and comparative purposes, but Semrush itself notes that figures for lower-volume keywords (roughly under 500 monthly searches) should be treated as approximate rather than exact.
How do I find low-competition keywords in Semrush? Start with a relevant seed keyword in the Keyword Magic Tool, filter toward lower difficulty relative to your site's authority, favor longer and more specific phrases, and always check the actual Google results page before committing — Semrush's numbers narrow the field, but the real SERP makes the final case.
Can Semrush show competitors' keywords? Yes, through the Organic Research tool (for reviewing a single competitor's overall keyword profile) and the Keyword Gap tool (for comparing your own domain against several competitors side by side to find missing or weak keywords).
Is Semrush worth it for a small blog? It depends on your publishing volume and budget. A small blog publishing occasionally may get by on the free tier and manual research for a while. A site publishing consistently and aiming to grow through organic search will likely find the paid tiers save meaningful research time, though the cost is a real consideration at that stage.
What is the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool? It's Semrush's primary keyword discovery tool — you enter a broad seed term, and it generates a large list of related keyword ideas, each with metrics like search volume, difficulty, intent, and CPC, along with filters to narrow that list down to a manageable, targetable set.
Ubersuggest is another great keyword research tool if you find that Semrush just isn't quite right for you.
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