How I Use Semrush to Grow My Design Blog Traffic

My design blog got 80 organic visitors a month. Here's how I used Semrush to grow it — keyword gaps, competitor analysis, and what I'd do differently.

Six months ago, my design blog was getting around 80 organic visitors per month. Most of those were direct traffic — people I'd sent there from TikTok. Google wasn't sending me anything meaningful. Here's exactly how I changed that using Semrush, and what I'd do differently if I were starting over.

Where I Started: Publishing Without Strategy

My early blog posts were written based on whatever felt interesting that week — Canva tutorials, color theory, design tips I'd shared on TikTok. The problem? Zero keyword research. I was writing about topics I wanted to write about, not topics people were actively searching for.

When I set up Semrush and checked my existing posts, most of them had zero search impressions. Google wasn't crawling them as relevant for any significant query. That was the wake-up call.

Step 1: Keyword Research to Find Real Gaps

I went to Semrush's Keyword Magic Tool and entered seed keywords related to my niche: "canva," "color palette," "design templates." I filtered results to KD under 30 (low competition) and volume above 200/month. The gaps were immediately obvious — dozens of specific how-to and best-of queries with solid search volume and almost no quality content targeting them. These became my editorial calendar for the next three months.

Step 2: Competitor Analysis to Validate Topics

I entered the URLs of three similar design blogs into Semrush's Organic Research tool and looked at their top 10 pages by organic traffic — specifically the keywords those pages ranked for that I hadn't written about yet.

This shortcut is something most bloggers skip. If a similar site gets 1,500 visits/month from a specific post, the topic is validated. I just needed to write a better, more thorough version.

Step 3: Position Tracking to Stay Accountable

Once I had 10 new posts written with keyword research behind them, I added them to Semrush's Position Tracking tool. You enter your target keywords, set your location, and Semrush sends a weekly email showing exactly where you rank for each one.

Watching a post move from position 47 to 18 to 9 over six weeks is motivating — and it shows you which posts need updating to push from page 2 into the top 10 (those sitting at positions 11–20 often just need a few improvements).

Results and What I'd Do Differently

After three months of keyword-led publishing, organic traffic went from ~80 visits/month to over 900/month — and it's still growing. The best-performing posts are long-tail comparison pieces and specific how-tos, exactly the types Semrush research pointed me toward.

What I'd do differently: start Position Tracking from day one, not month three. Seeing early movement keeps you publishing consistently — which is ultimately the biggest factor in SEO success. I also connect every SEO post back to practical tools — like linking to ColorSense for color-related content — which strengthens internal linking and helps the overall site's authority.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to see SEO results with Semrush?

SEO results are not instant — most new posts take 3–6 months to reach their peak ranking. However, you'll often see initial movement (impressions in Google Search Console, positions entering the top 50) within 4–8 weeks. Semrush's Position Tracking tool lets you monitor this progress weekly and identify posts that need updating to push from page 2 into the top 10.

Does Semrush show backlink data?

Yes — Semrush has a comprehensive Backlink Analytics tool that shows who links to your site or any competitor's site. You can see referring domains, anchor text, authority scores, and new or lost backlinks over time. This is useful for finding link-building opportunities and monitoring your own domain's authority growth.

Can Semrush help with local SEO?

Yes. Semrush includes a Listing Management tool for local SEO, which helps ensure your business information is consistent across Google Business Profile, Yelp, and other directories. For freelancers serving local clients, this is a useful addition to a standard keyword strategy.

Is Semrush better than Ahrefs?

Both are industry-leading tools with similar core capabilities. Semrush tends to have a larger keyword database and stronger content marketing features (Topic Research, SEO Writing Assistant). Ahrefs is often preferred for backlink analysis. For bloggers and content creators focused on keyword research and growing organic traffic, Semrush's interface and content tools are generally more intuitive.