Why You Don’t Actually Need SEMrush

SEMrush gives you an all-in-one dashboard for keyword research, competitor data, backlink profiles, site audits, and content planning. It’s a great tool, but it’s not a 100% requirement for SEO success.

The Reality Is Simple:

You can get 80–90% of SEMrush’s real-world value using a smart combination of free tools, especially for small and mid-size websites.

When you combine Google Search Console, GA4, RankMath, and a couple of complementary free tools, you cover the most important SEO pillars:

• What keywords you’re ranking for
• How users behave on your site
• How to optimize your content
• What technical issues need fixing
• What backlinks you’ve earned
• How to plan and prioritize new content

Here is a checklist with the free SEO tech stack we recommend for any lean team or growing business:

Free SEO Tech Stack Overview

• Google Search Console (GSC) → real keyword, position, CTR, coverage & indexing
• Google Analytics (GA4) → landing page behavior, conversions, engagement
• RankMath Free → on-page SEO audits, schema, sitemaps, redirects
• Google Keyword Planner → volumes, CPC signals, keyword ideas
• Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (Free) → backlinks, technical SEO audits

Combined, these tools give you nearly everything you need to plan an SEO strategy, analyze performance, fix technical issues, and scale your content.

Google Search Console: Your SEO Command Center

Google Search Console (GSC) gives you direct insight into how your website performs in Google search. Unlike SEMrush, which uses third-party estimations, GSC provides first-party, real data: what queries you rank for, how high you rank, your click-through rate, and what indexing issues are holding you back.

What GSC Replaces from SEMrush

GSC covers a surprising amount of SEMrush’s feature set and serves as a core SEO diagnostics and performance tool:

• Rank tracking
• Keyword insights
• CTR analysis
• Indexing diagnostics
• URL inspection
• Sitemap validation

How to Use GSC Like a Pro

Don’t just look at data, use GSC to create your content roadmap and optimization plan.

• Identify high-impression, low-CTR keywords and rewrite titles and meta descriptions.
• Improve pages that rank between positions 8–20 to capture easy ranking wins.
• Fix indexing issues before they damage visibility and rankings.
• Track how performance changes after publishing or updating content.
• Monitor query and page performance trends over time.
• Ensure sitemaps are submitted, valid, and fully processed by Google.

Google Analytics (GA4): Understanding User Behavior After They Arrive On Your Site

Search Console shows how users find you; GA4 shows what they do once they land. This is essential for identifying which pages perform well, which pages fail to engage, and which ones drive real conversions.

What GA4 Replaces from SEMrush

GA4 supports deeper performance and behavior analysis that directly informs your SEO and content decisions:

• Landing page performance reporting
• Engagement and bounce analysis
• Conversion tracking and event-based goals
• Funnel and path exploration
• Organic vs paid vs social traffic comparisons

How GA4 Improves Your SEO

Use GA4 to connect organic traffic to actual business outcomes and UX performance.

• Identify high-converting SEO landing pages and prioritize them for further optimization.
• Spot pages with poor engagement or high bounce and improve content, design, or page speed.
• Compare organic, social, and paid performance to understand traffic quality.
• Use event tracking (scrolls, clicks, submissions) to measure micro-conversions.
• Analyze scroll depth and engagement to adjust content structure and length.

RankMath Free: Your On-Page Optimization Engine

RankMath is one of the most powerful SEO plugins for WordPress, even in its free version. It helps you optimize pages, generate sitemaps, assign schema, and maintain redirects—all essential foundations of healthy SEO.

What RankMath Replaces from SEMrush

RankMath covers many on-page and technical optimization tasks that you might otherwise rely on SEMrush for:

• On-page SEO audits and content scoring
• Schema markup for articles, services, products, and more
• XML sitemap generation and management
• Redirect management for broken and legacy URLs
• Basic internal linking suggestions and structure guidance

How to Use RankMath Effectively

RankMath is at its best when used as a guided optimization assistant integrated into your publishing workflow.

• Follow its optimization checklist for titles, meta descriptions, and headings.
• Add schema types that match your content (Article, Service, LocalBusiness, etc.).
• Generate and connect sitemaps to Google Search Console.
• Fix broken URLs using built-in redirect tools.
• Use Instant Indexing (if enabled) to notify search engine

Google Keyword Planner: Free Keyword Research with Real Data

Many SEO tools estimate search volumes. Google Keyword Planner gives you Google Ads volumes, which are often more accurate and stable. It also reveals CPC, which is one of the best indicators of commercial intent.

What Keyword Planner Replaces from SEMrush

• Keyword volumes
• Keyword ideas
• Keyword clustering
• CPC insights (ideal for identifying profitable keywords)

How to Use Keyword Planner for SEO

Think of Keyword Planner as the backbone of your strategy.

• Enter your URL or a topic to discover new keyword clusters
• Sort by CPC to prioritize money-making topics
• Export keywords into topic clusters
• Use “Refine Keywords” to filter out noise
• Validate priorities using GSC performance data

Keyword Planner + GSC is a powerhouse combo.

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools: Your Free Backlink + Technical Audit Engine

Ahrefs is known for having the best backlink database. With Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT), you get free access to powerful backlink reporting and site audits.

What Ahrefs Free Replaces from SEMrush

• Backlink monitoring
• Technical health checks
• Broken link identification
• Referring domain analysis
• Page performance insights

How to Use Ahrefs Free for SEO

Use AWT to clean up your website and strengthen your domain authority.

• Monitor new and lost backlinks
• Identify broken backlinks and reclaim them
• Audit your website monthly for technical issues
• Strengthen pages with strong backlinks
• Evaluate competitors manually using domain comparisons

This is essential even for lightweight SEO setups.

How These Tools Work Together

SEO only works when tools support a system. Here’s the workflow to use:

Step 1: Keyword Discovery

• Keyword Planner
• Competitor content review

Step 2: Content Optimization

• RankMath for titles, metas, headers, schema
• Internal linking inside content clusters

Step 3: Publish & Index

• Submit URLs in GSC
• Validate indexing
• Fix coverage issues

Step 4: Track Performance

• GSC for CTR, ranking, impressions
• GA4 for conversions and behavior

Step 5: Technical & Off-Page Maintenance

• Ahrefs Free: backlink audits
• Fix broken links
• Boost high-authority pages

This process is enough to grow real organic traffic, even on a budget.