I’ll show you, step by step, how to set up Semrush Projects so you can get personalized insights for your website. In this guide I cover everything I use in my own workflow — from creating a project to configuring position tracking, site audits, backlink audits, social media, content analysis and more. If you want a practical walkthrough on how to set up Semrush Projects and start monitoring real results, this is the roadmap I follow.
Table of Contents
- What are Semrush Projects and why should I use them? (Semrush Projects Tutorial)
- How do I create a Semrush project for my website? (Create a Project)
- What does the Semrush project dashboard show? (Semrush project dashboard)
- How does Semrush surface Domain Analytics, Keywords, Traffic & Backlinks inside a Project?
- How do I set up Position Tracking in Semrush Projects? (Setting Up Position Tracking)
- How do I set up a Site Audit and what crawl settings should I use? (Setting Up Site Audit)
- How do I set up the On Page SEO Checker to gather optimization ideas? (Setting Up On Page SEO Checker)
- How do I set up Backlink Audit to find toxic links and create a disavow file? (Setting Up Backlink Audit)
- How do I use Organic Traffic Insights to uncover hidden keywords by connecting Google Analytics? (Setting Up Organic Traffic Insights)
- How do I set up Brand Monitoring to track mentions and reputation? (Setting Up Brand Monitoring)
- How do I set up the Link Building Tool and begin outreach? (Setting Up Link Building Tool)
- How do I use the PPC Keyword Tool inside Projects? (Setting Up PPC Keyword Tool)
- How do I track social profiles with Social Media Tracker? (Setting Up Social Media Tracker)
- How do I schedule and manage social posts with Social Media Poster? (Setting Up Social Media Poster)
- How do I run Content Analyzer to audit the quality of my pages? (Setting Up Content Analyzer)
- What deeper insights will I get once all Project tools finish collecting data? (In-depth Analysis on Semrush Projects)
- Semrush Position Tracking Tutorial — what should I look for in the report? (Semrush Position Tracking Tutorial)
- Semrush Site Audit Tutorial — how do I prioritize issues? (Semrush Site Audit Tutorial)
- Semrush On Page SEO Checker Tutorial — how do I act on ideas? (Semrush On Page SEO Checker Tutorial)
- Semrush Organic Traffic Insights Tutorial — what do the GA metrics tell me? (Semrush Organic Traffic Insights Tutorial)
- Semrush Brand Monitoring Tutorial — how can I use mentions as link opportunities? (Semrush Brand Monitoring Tutorial)
- Semrush Link Building Tool Tutorial — how do I manage outreach inside Projects? (Semrush Link Building Tool Tutorial)
- Semrush PPC Keyword Tool Tutorial — what exports do I need for Google Ads? (Semrush PPC Keyword Tool Tutorial)
- Semrush Social Media Tracker Tutorial — how to benchmark social performance? (Semrush Social Media Tracker Tutorial)
- Semrush Content Analyzer Tutorial — how to find and fix poor content? (Semrush Content Analyzer Tutorial)
- Semrush Backlink Audit Tutorial — when should I disavow links? (Semrush Backlink Audit Tutorial)
- Final thoughts — how I run Semrush Projects every week (Conclusion)
- How long does it take for Semrush Projects to start showing meaningful data?
What are Semrush Projects and why should I use them? (Semrush Projects Tutorial)
Semrush Projects bundle 11 tools that collect data about a single domain and surface actionable recommendations. I use Projects when I want one place to monitor SEO health, ranking changes, backlinks, traffic, competitor signals and even social activity. The dashboard gives a quick eagle‑eye view and links out to the deep reports when I need them.
How do I create a Semrush project for my website? (Create a Project)
Create a project by pasting your domain (use just the domain, no http(s):// or extra prefixes) and give it a friendly name. I typically choose the root domain so Project tools track everything under that domain. You can tag projects, favorite them, or share them with teammates if needed.
What does the Semrush project dashboard show? (Semrush project dashboard)
The dashboard summarizes key metrics from Domain Analytics, Keywords, Traffic Analytics and Backlink Analytics. It’s not the deep report — it’s an overview. From here you can quickly see organic keywords, estimated traffic, referring domains and backlink counts. If you need more detail, click any of the hyperlinks in the dashboard to jump into the full tool.
How does Semrush surface Domain Analytics, Keywords, Traffic & Backlinks inside a Project?
Each Project widget pulls summary data from Semrush’s main tools. You’ll see new, improved, declined and lost keywords by date; a quick traffic breakdown; and a high‑level backlink distribution. If you want Google‑accurate traffic data, connect Google Analytics to the Project — I do this so Semrush can use official visit data to improve insights.
How do I set up Position Tracking in Semrush Projects? (Setting Up Position Tracking)
Position Tracking monitors selected keywords and reports ranking position, visibility, estimated traffic and SERP features. When you set it up:
- Choose the scope (root domain, subdomain, subfolder or single URL). I usually pick root domain.
- Select search engine (Google or Yandex), device (desktop/mobile/tablet) and the geographical target (country, state or city).
- Add the keywords you want to track. I recommend tracking focus keywords only — import them manually, from a campaign, a file, or pull some from Semrush reports. You can connect Google Analytics too but GA keyword data is limited.
- Optionally receive scheduled email updates and add competitors.
How do I set up a Site Audit and what crawl settings should I use? (Setting Up Site Audit)
Site Audit finds technical errors, warnings and notices. Key settings to consider when you set it up:
- Scope: root domain is fine for most sites. You can limit to a subfolder or sitemap if needed.
- Pages to crawl: set a limit based on site size (e.g., 10,000 if you want everything crawled).
- Crawl source: website, sitemap or a list of URLs.
- Crawler user agent: I recommend Googlebot Desktop or Googlebot Mobile so the crawl mirrors what Google sees.
- Crawl delay and respect for robots.txt: adjust if your host blocks aggressive crawlers; do not bypass restrictions unless you know what you’re doing.
- Schedule: run weekly — that’s typically enough to monitor progress without overloading the site.
How do I set up the On Page SEO Checker to gather optimization ideas? (Setting Up On Page SEO Checker)
On Page SEO Checker gathers ideas for improving specific pages:
- Targeting options: country, region, language and device.
- Import pages and their potential keywords automatically, manually or via file.
- Connect Google Search Console to import real queries — I highly recommend this.
- Choose Googlebot as the user agent and schedule idea collection weekly or monthly.
How do I set up Backlink Audit to find toxic links and create a disavow file? (Setting Up Backlink Audit)
Backlink Audit analyzes your backlink profile for toxic links and gives removal workflows:
- Start with root domain, add brand variations and set the domain category and target country.
- Semrush will analyze referring domains, anchors and link attributes and calculate a toxicity score.
- For suspect links you can attempt outreach to remove them (send outreach emails from the tool) and, if unsuccessful, add them to a disavow list and export a TXT to upload to Google Search Console.
How do I use Organic Traffic Insights to uncover hidden keywords by connecting Google Analytics? (Setting Up Organic Traffic Insights)
Organic Traffic Insights combines Semrush data with Google Analytics to reveal keyword opportunities that GA doesn’t show directly. Connect your Google Analytics account, select the property and view, choose location and device, and Semrush imports pages and their traffic metrics so it can suggest hidden query data and content opportunities.
How do I set up Brand Monitoring to track mentions and reputation? (Setting Up Brand Monitoring)
Brand Monitoring tracks mentions across the web and social:
- Add brand names, product names or any keywords you want to monitor.
- Use include/exclude operators and select the target countries.
- Semrush will surface mentions, domain authority, estimated reach and context so you can spot link opportunities or reputation issues.
How do I set up the Link Building Tool and begin outreach? (Setting Up Link Building Tool)
Link Building Tool finds outreach prospects based on target keywords and competitor link profiles:
- Provide target keywords and competitor domains (up to 10).
- Semrush identifies prospects linking to competitors or relevant to your keywords.
- Use the built‑in workflow to add prospects to lists, create outreach templates and send contact emails (and follow‑ups) from the interface. Track statuses like outreach, in progress and acquired.
How do I use the PPC Keyword Tool inside Projects? (Setting Up PPC Keyword Tool)
PPC Keyword Tool is designed for paid search planning: import keywords manually, from Semrush, CSV or Excel; group them for ad groups; set locations; and export lists with match types and negative keywords for Google Ads. It’s useful if you run search campaigns and want a tidy keyword structure before export.
How do I track social profiles with Social Media Tracker? (Setting Up Social Media Tracker)
Social Media Tracker connects to your social pages and shows follower trends, post performance and competitor comparisons. Authenticate the networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.), add your profiles, and Semrush will collect engagement metrics and growth trends for reporting and benchmarking.
How do I schedule and manage social posts with Social Media Poster? (Setting Up Social Media Poster)
Social Media Poster is a scheduling and calendar tool inside Projects:
- Connect supported networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Google My Business, YouTube).
- Use the calendar to schedule, queue and repeat posts. Preview posts per network and set time zones.
- Track post metrics (clicks, likes, shares) when published through Semrush.
How do I run Content Analyzer to audit the quality of my pages? (Setting Up Content Analyzer)
Content Analyzer audits pages for content quality and optimization opportunities:
- Select URLs or categories and start a content audit.
- Use post tracking to follow competitor pages and see what makes them rank.
- Filter for poor content so you can prioritize rewrites or consolidation.
What deeper insights will I get once all Project tools finish collecting data? (In-depth Analysis on Semrush Projects)
Once Projects finish, each module gives detailed insights:
- Position Tracking: visibility, estimated traffic, average position, keyword distribution (Top 3/10/20) and SERP features.
- Site Audit: health score, errors, warnings and exact pages affected with fix guidance.
- On Page SEO Checker: page‑level optimization ideas, backlink prospects and top‑10 competitor benchmarks.
- Backlink Audit: toxic link detection, remove/disavow workflow and anchor/target page reports.
- Social and PPC tools: tracking, scheduling and exportable campaign-ready lists.
Semrush Position Tracking Tutorial — what should I look for in the report? (Semrush Position Tracking Tutorial)
Check visibility trends, winners and losers, cannibalization flags, and compare competitors. Add notes on major SEO changes (content launches, link campaigns, algorithm updates) so you can correlate actions with ranking movement.
Semrush Site Audit Tutorial — how do I prioritize issues? (Semrush Site Audit Tutorial)
Prioritize errors first (broken links, indexing issues, major crawlability problems). Warnings and notices are improvements — address them after critical errors. Hover on any issue in the audit to read the fix recommendation and the list of pages affected.
Semrush On Page SEO Checker Tutorial — how do I act on ideas? (Semrush On Page SEO Checker Tutorial)
Convert ideas into tasks: content enrichment, meta improvements, schema or multimedia additions, then track the task completion in the Project. Use Top 10 benchmarks to match content length, referring domains and keyword usage to compete for a target keyword.
Semrush Organic Traffic Insights Tutorial — what do the GA metrics tell me? (Semrush Organic Traffic Insights Tutorial)
Organic Traffic Insights brings GA metrics (users, sessions, bounce rate, session duration) into Semrush so you can map traffic to content and keyword opportunities. This helps prioritize pages that have user interest but lack ranking potential.
Semrush Brand Monitoring Tutorial — how can I use mentions as link opportunities? (Semrush Brand Monitoring Tutorial)
Monitor mentions to find outreach and link opportunities. Filter by authority and recent mentions; when you spot unlinked mentions, reach out to request a link or correct attribution.
Semrush Link Building Tool Tutorial — how do I manage outreach inside Projects? (Semrush Link Building Tool Tutorial)
Add prospects to lists, label outreach type (guest post, product review), use templates, send emails and follow ups, and mark acquired links. Semrush will attempt to detect when the link goes live so you can validate success.
Semrush PPC Keyword Tool Tutorial — what exports do I need for Google Ads? (Semrush PPC Keyword Tool Tutorial)
Export keyword lists with match types and negative keyword groups to build structured Google Ads campaigns. Use grouping to organize ad groups and speed campaign creation.
Semrush Social Media Tracker Tutorial — how to benchmark social performance? (Semrush Social Media Tracker Tutorial)
Add competitor profiles and compare follower growth, engagement and post reach. Use the findings to iterate on content format and posting cadence.
Semrush Content Analyzer Tutorial — how to find and fix poor content? (Semrush Content Analyzer Tutorial)
Filter by poor content, set priority, and schedule rewrites. Use post tracking to measure improvements against competitor pages that outrank you.
Semrush Backlink Audit Tutorial — when should I disavow links? (Semrush Backlink Audit Tutorial)
Attempt removal by contacting webmasters first. If removal fails, add links to the disavow list and export the file for Google Search Console. Use toxicity filters to batch-process suspicious links.
Final thoughts — how I run Semrush Projects every week (Conclusion)
Setting up Semrush Projects gives me one centralized hub to monitor SEO, backlinks, content, paid search and social activity. I run weekly site audits, check position tracking daily for major shifts, and use backlink and link building tools to manage off‑page efforts. If you want to get the most from Semrush, start with core Projects (Position Tracking, Site Audit, Backlink Audit) and add modules like Content Analyzer and Social Poster as you scale.
How long does it take for Semrush Projects to start showing meaningful data?
Initial data appears quickly for things like domain overviews, but full reports (position tracking trends, backlink audit review and content analysis) need one or more days to collect and longer to show trends. Give major modules at least 24–48 hours and monitor weekly.
Do I need to connect Google Analytics and Google Search Console?
Yes — connecting Google Analytics and Search Console improves accuracy in traffic and keyword suggestions, and unlocks features in Organic Traffic Insights and On Page SEO Checker.
Should I disavow every suspicious link the Backlink Audit finds?
No. First whitelist links you know are valid. Attempt manual removal via outreach for suspicious links. Use disavow only for links you cannot remove and that have a clear toxic signal.
Which Project tools should I set up first?
Start with Position Tracking, Site Audit and Backlink Audit. Then add On Page SEO Checker, Organic Traffic Insights and Link Building. Social and PPC tools are useful once you have steady content and campaigns to promote.
