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Screaming Frog vs. SEMrush: Which Tool Is Better in 2024?

Semrush Vs. Screaming Frog Featured Image

Semrush and Screaming Frog are unique tools that offer top-tier SEO services to businesses, in-house teams, freelancers, and digital marketers.

These platforms offer similar SEO services but have distinct features that set them apart.

To help you understand these features and how both solutions compare, our in-house SEO experts have done thorough research on them, and I will reveal their findings to you.

Quick Summary

  • Semrush is a tool known for providing high-quality SEO services.
  • Semrush and Screaming Frog come with basic crawling features to identify technical SEO issues within your website.
  • Screaming Frog helps you produce remarkable content that will attract the right audience to your business.

What Is Semrush?

Semrush is an all-in-one SEO software used by individuals and businesses to promote their online presence and gain insights into current marketing trends in the internet space.

This SEO tool is highly valuable for marketers and SEO agencies that specialize in any of the following: SEO, PPC, SMM, Keyword Research, Competitive Research, PR, Content and Digital Marketing, Marketing Insights, and Campaign Management.

Semrush started in 2008 as a small group of SEO and IT specialists, but today it has become a powerful platform highly rated worldwide and used by small, medium, and large customers.

 

What Is Screaming Frog?

Screaming Frog is a UK-based SEO agency that specializes in multiple SEO services. They are also the famous creators of the SEO Spider Tool and the Log File Analyzer Tool.

Screaming Frog Homepage

This agency runs SEO campaigns using high-value data and helps improve your website content so you do not have to go through the stress of having to examine each copy individually.

It also has a user-friendly interface and can help you effectively identify issues such as broken links and crawl errors [2].

Screaming Frog started back in 2010, but today it has evolved to become an award-winning platform used by over 1000 companies worldwide. You can check for more features in our in-depth Lumar and Screaming Frog comparison article.

Semrush: SEO Services

Semrush offers some of the best SEO services you will find in the SEO space today. Here are some of them below:

  • Keyword Research –Semrush offers six SEO tools just for keyword research alone. These tools include the keyword overview tool, the organic research tool, the keyword magic tool, the keyword gap tool, the keyword manager tool, and the organic traffic insights tool. With these and many other tools, you can boost your website traffic, optimize for relevant keywords, and easily dominate the SERPs ahead of your competitors.
  • On-Page SEO – For on-page SEO on Semrush, you are provided with three tools: the site audit tool, the on-page SEO checker tool, and the log file analyzer tool. These tools help you understand the importance of the Google crawler for your website and how it can detect technical issues with the top-tier solutions provided. They also ensure that your website ranks well on SERPs with link-building and SERP feature targeting tips.
  • Rank Tracking – With the position tracking, ranks, and sensor tools that come with this feature, you can track any keyword, research domains with the most organic visibility, traffic, and paid keywords, and check for changes in SERP rankings. The sensor tool, in particular, can help you detect if there has been a change in Google’s algorithm and which websites are most affected by it.
  • Link Building – Semrush’s link-building feature provides top-tier tools such as a backlink audit tool, a backlink gap tool, and a link-building tool to help you get authoritative links to your website and save you the time of reaching out to prospects that lead to nowhere. With these tools, you can easily access a database containing over 43 trillion backlinks, so you can find quality backlinks that you can count on to boost your website’s SEO performance.

Screaming Frog: SEO Services

Screaming Frog offers highly valuable SEO services, which are shown below:

  • SEO Consultancy – Screaming Frog offers SEO consulting that helps you develop relevant SEO goals and put a solid strategy in place to help you achieve these goals. This agency will also provide you with SEO experts who will offer guidance and even become part of your team.
  • Keyword And Market Research – With Screaming Frog, you get solid keyword and market research to help guide your SEO strategy. You will also be provided with opportunities that will benefit you based on forecasts and analyses made by the in-house SEO team.
  • Technical SEO Audit – Screaming Frog offers SEO audit services thanks to its SEO Spider crawling software. This is the best tool to run solid audits and technical analysis on your website to ensure that it is well-functional so that search engines can discover and crawl your web pages so that they can have a solid online presence.
  • Onsite SEO – This is where the SEO Spider tool and Log File Analyzer come in. The SEO Spider tool helps you improve onsite SEO by auditing for common SEO issues. The Log File Analyzer, on the other hand, is an SEO procedure that helps you understand how SERPs are crawling your website through the records kept each time these SERPs load a page on your website.

Other Features

Semrush

Apart from the fact that Semrush offers top-tier SEO services, it also offers services in other valuable areas. These areas of interest include content, market research, advertising, and social media.

Research

For each of these areas, Semrush has provided tools similar to those offered for SEO that would make it easy for you to take advantage of them effectively.

Screaming Frog

Like Semrush, Screaming Frog offers other unique services besides just the SEO. 

These services include search engine marketing, pay-per-click management, social media marketing, technical SEO, content marketing, digital PR, reactive PR services, link building, conversion rate optimization, digital copywriting, and Google Analytics consultancy.

Each of these services has a role to play together with SEO to make your business website stand out.

Pricing Comparison

Semrush

Semrush has three different pricing plans, which you can subscribe to monthly. These pricing packages begin with the Pro paid version at $119.95 per month, the Guru plan at $229.95 per month, and the Business plan at $449.95 per month. You also get to save up to 17% if you pay annually.

Semrush Pricing

These plans differ in terms of the number of projects, tracked keywords, and results per report, alongside other features.

 

Screaming Frog

In terms of pricing, you will have to contact the team at Screaming Frog for a quote if you need any of its services for your business or website.

However, their Spider Crawling tool has a free version with limited features. You will need to purchase a license for $259 per year, giving you access to advanced features. The same goes for the Log File Analyzer tool, which costs $139 annually.

If search engine crawlers don’t follow a link to a page, they may fail to index that page. If a page doesn’t get indexed, it won’t rank in the search results, nor will it generate any search traffic. To encourage search engine crawlers to index all of your website’s pages, you should be conscious of how many links you use per page.
– Don Dodds, Marketing Technologist and Founder at M16 Marketing

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How Many URLs Can The Screaming Frog Spider Tool Crawl?

The Screaming Frog Spider Tool can crawl up to 500 URLs at a time for free. However, this figure can be much higher once you buy a license.

Screaming Frog URL Crawl

Is Semrush Worth It?

Yes, Semrush is worth it. It is an SEO tool that has it all, from keyword research to competitor analysis, site audits, backlink analysis, and much more.

How Do I Install The Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool?

To install the Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool, you will have to head on over to the Screaming Frog homepage, click on “Download” under SEO Spider, then select your operating system, and you are good.

What Are The Limitations Of Using Semrush For Free?

The limitations of using Semrush for free are numerous. A typical example is being able to see the top 10 keywords during keyword research but only being able to crawl 100 pages with the Site Audit tool.

Get Semrush For Your Website Today

Semrush and Screaming Frog are excellent tools used to achieve solid SEO results. These solutions are highly reliable and effective in ensuring that your website has no technical SEO issues and maintains high performance.

However, I recommend Semrush because it provides better options and more tools to work with, especially when focusing on other important aspects of SEO for your website.

Semrush integrates all the necessary SEO features and provides a toolset for establishing a successful content strategy. Try Semrush today and see how your website starts growing.

Our #1 Recommendation: Semrush

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  • Editor's Choice
Overall Rating:

Performance

Customer support

Security

Pricing

Key Features:
  • Keyword research
  • Website audit
  • Competitive analysis
  • Backlink analysis
  • Local SEO tool
  • On-page SEO
  • 30-day free trial
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Article by

Matt Diggity

Matt is the founder of Diggity Marketing, LeadSpring, The Search Initiative, The Affiliate Lab, and the Chiang Mai SEO Conference. He actually does SEO too.

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"One of the most effective SEOs I've ever met"- Cyrus Sheppard

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