Google Ads vs. Semrush

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Ads
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.
$500
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Semrush
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Semrush is a relatively popular search engine optimization tool set from the company of the same name based in Pennsylvania and founded in 2008. Largely the platforms relies on competitive intelligence, and features SEO staples like backlink checking, keyword analysis to refine SEO and PPC campaigning and locate low-cost / high-yield keywords, analysis of competitors who co-occupy desired ad and listing spaces, domain vs. domain analysis, as well as site audit and domain tracking. Semrush can…
$139.95
per month
Pricing
Google AdsSemrush
Editions & Modules
Offer A
$500
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Offer B
$1500
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Offer C
$3000
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Pro
$139.95
per month
Guru
$249.95
per month
Business
$499.95
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google AdsSemrush
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details17% discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google AdsSemrush
Features
Google AdsSemrush
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
3.9
Ratings
3% below category average
Semrush
-
Ratings
Ad campaign creation2.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad deployment2.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Display advertising9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation8.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Sequence targeting1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Contextual advertising2.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Social advertising1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
6.4
Ratings
20% above category average
Semrush
-
Ratings
Ad dashboards2.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad performance reports9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization2.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Auctions
Comparison of Ad Auctions features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
7.0
Ratings
3% above category average
Semrush
-
Ratings
Ad bidding7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Semrush
7.9
Ratings
2% above category average
Keyword analysis00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Backlink management00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Page grader00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Competitive analysis00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Site recommendations00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Task management00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Semrush
8.1
Ratings
6% above category average
Local SEO00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Social SEO00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Mobile SEO00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Global SEO00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Semrush
8.7
Ratings
3% above category average
Multi-domain support00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google AdsSemrush
Small Businesses
WordStream
WordStream
Score 6.9 out of 10
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
WordStream
WordStream
Score 6.9 out of 10
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
Conductor
Conductor
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google AdsSemrush
Likelihood to Recommend
5.8
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.6
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
1.0
(0 ratings)
7.7
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
1.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google AdsSemrush
Likelihood to Recommend
Clients who are selling products such as dresses, clothes, jewelry, beauty products, etc., generally work well. Also, in some cases, it doesn't fetch a good ROAS for very small business owners. If a client is already doing well in SEO, the probability for it to perform well over Google Ads is always enhanced, and if it doesn't have a good organic reach, Google Ads also suffers.
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This is suited to plan for keywords in a single market, but it struggles when you need to consolidate several markets. It is well-suited to discover new keywords directly related to the ones being used currently to expand the content the company is creating to get better results.
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Pros
  • Keyword Research - Google Ads has a handy built in tool that helps determine important keywords to target both for Ads & SEO
  • Intuitive Analytics Dashboad - Google Ads makes it fairly simple to see and analyze important metrics on how your ads are running week after week
  • Intuitive Setup - Google Ads makes it easy to figure out how to run ads with little to no training (although training is highly recommended to run effective ads), as their interface is clean and easy to figure out (unlike competing products).
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  • Great visuals for keyword position tracking, love that you can see the page that is ranking
  • Enjoyed the auto-generated reporting feature (specifically in the context of keyword position tracking)
  • Shows many different and useful views for competitive research
  • Great templated keyword research tools for those who are not as hands-on with SEO
  • I LOVE the Keyword Magic Tool for honing in on longtail, high-opportunity keywords
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Cons
  • Google's heavy dependence on AI makes many of the campaign behavior inscrutable and, often, it performs poorly as a result.
  • Their responsive ads, for example, which are heavily recommended by them, often perform significantly worse than normal text ads.
  • Their support, while relatively quick, becomes useless if you need any deep insight/help.
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  • Extra seats can be expensive, as [an] agency with multiple team members this can be frustrating
  • Backlink data is not great, misses out a lot of backlinks (better off using a specialist backlink tool like Link research tools LRT)
  • Tracking multiple keywords, across multiple clients can be costly
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Likelihood to Renew
As of today Google AdWords leads approximately 90% of paid searches globally. There is practically is no other network that can offer such a relevant and engaging audience at the price. The PPC model is also unique in that no media dollars are wasted, since PPC models ensure brand interaction versus traditional media which has heavy ad avoidance and clutter but still charges a hefty amount for ads.
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I [previously] used Semrush for many years and I cannot find any other tool being so complete and easy to use.
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Usability
This is more of a subjective rating, because I think it can be increased with how much our ad spend is. The more of an ad spend, the more visibility we can get, and therefore all features can climb. With an overall larger presence the usability is that where we can get messages out quick, and that's the main thing we try to do with our campaigns.
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The interface is a little less intuitive than it could be. The data is often available but filtering and manipulating the data can be a little difficult at times. Expanded comparisons would be helpful since most of the time seeing more than a few competitors at a time allows for a better sense of how to forecast.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Semrush available when you need it!
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Performance
No answers on this topic
SemRush performs well with few errors!
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Support Rating
We have not yet had an account rep who hasn't tried to bully me or other employees to raise our budgets. At the same time, several years ago, one attempted to help refine our ads and ended up changing the ads to be something we were not affiliated with
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I'm in a FB group for Semrush paid users and it amazing! They are fast to respond, take suggestions and help with questions. I have not felt alone in using this product at all. Highly recommend their support team. When I had an issue I can jump into the group and they will help get me the right person to help or even tag their programmers to look at something that is going on. Love the group!
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Online Training
Daily use with advanced account structures. Familiarity with reporting/api and complex setups.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
I did it by myself and do not have a comment!
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Alternatives Considered
Google Ads remains at the top advertising channel within our business for both lead volume and revenue generation, whilst maintaining a reasonable cost per lead (CPL). Both Meta Ads and Microsoft Ads have a much lower CPL, those channels don't contribute as much revenue and lead generation.
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We have used both Ahrefs and Semrush extensively at our agency and Semrush remains the tool of choice. We find that Semrush has the largest selection of tools & features to use, with the highest accuracy, and provides top-tier analysis recommendations. It's really is the ultimate all-in-one tool when comparing other performance measurement tools in the digital marketing space.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
Semrush is flexible and scalable software which can be deployed across multiple departments and sites as needed.
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Return on Investment
  • Once we got the hang of it and had everything setup, it was a great monthly expense that we could count on ROI from. Either by obtaining new customers or literally staying above our competition in search rankings.
  • We also started consulting on ads for customers and helping them set things up, which created a new revenue stream for us.
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  • Using Semrush on behalf of our clients, we have seen some impressive growth in organic visibility, traffic, conversion and revenue, across multiple industries.
  • The site checks available with Semrush have helped us to pitch and sell our services, securing new clients.
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ScreenShots