Semrush Holdings, Inc. is an American public company that has a SaaS platform known as Semrush.[4][5] The platform is used for keyword research, competitive analysis, site audits, backlink tracking, and comprehensive online visibility insights.[6] The keyword research tool provides various data points on each keyword.[7] The platform also collects information about online keywords gathered from Google and Bing search engines.[8][9] It was released by Boston-based company Semrush Inc, founded by Oleg Shchegolev and Dmitri Melnikov.[10][11]
Oleg Shchegolev and Dmitri Melnikov started out as SEO enthusiasts, interested in industry developments and new technologies, and wanted to create a tool to identify market trends and industry best practices.[10]
The software was released as Seodigger before becoming an extension of Firefox, then renamed SeoQuake Company in 2007,[15] before landing on SEMrush (the acronym SEM stands for Search engine marketing). In 2016, the software broke the one million user mark with customers in more than 100 countries.[10]
In April 2018, the company received $40 million in funding as part of a financing transaction co-led by venture capital firms Greycroft, E.ventures and Siguler Guff, in preparation for its expansion into various platforms of research, including those owned by Amazon, Microsoft, and Baidu.[16][17]
In December 2020, the company rebranded with a new visual identity, updating its name from "SEMrush" to "Semrush".[18]
In March 2021, Semrush had an initial public offering and went public on NYSE under the symbol NYSE: SEMR.[19] The S-1 form revealed that the company had sales of $213 million and more than 82,000 customers.[20][21]
Semrush's founders are Russian, and relocated to the US in 2017. In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the company ceased all operations in Russia and offered relocation to Russian-based staff to other European countries.[22]
In June 2022, the company launched a beta tool for content generation called Content Outline Builder. The tool will suggest ideas for article writing and blog posts.[23] Semrush also announced on June 27, 2022, that their Backlinks insights data is now integrated with SurferSEO, a marketing tool focused on content creation.[24][25]
Mergers and acquisitions
Semrush has acquired multiple companies. In the year 2022, Semrush acquired Backlinko from Brian Dean. [26] In March 2022, Semrush acquired intelligence and sales platform Kompyte, marking the companies first acquisition of a non search focused platform.[27]
In March 2023, SEO community Traffic Think Tank was also acquired.[28] In October 2024, Semrush acquired Third Door Media, publisher of Search Engine Land.[29]
