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]

Semrush Holdings, Inc.
Company typePublic
NYSESEMR
IndustrySearch engine marketing
Founded2008; 16 years ago (2008)
FoundersOleg Shchegolev
Dmitri Melnikov
Headquarters,
Key people
  • Oleg Shchegolev (CEO)
  • Dmitri Melnikov (COO)
  • Brian Mulroy (CFO)
  • Eugene Levin (CSO)
Revenue$254.3 million (2022)[2]
Number of employees
~1,600 (2024)[3]
Websitewww.semrush.com

As of 2022, the company has 1000+ employees and offices in Barcelona, Belgrade, Berlin, Yerevan, Limassol, Prague, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Trevose.[12][13] It went public in March 2021 and trades on NYSESEMR.[14]

History

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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 NYSESEMR.[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

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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]

References

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  1. ^ "Semrush Inc". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Semrush Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Financial Results". investors.semrush.com. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
  3. ^ "Semrush Analyst Day 2024". Semrush Investor Relations.
  4. ^ Ward, Anne (2017). The SEO Battlefield: Winning Strategies for Search Marketing Programs. Newton, Massachusetts: O’Reilly Media, Inc. p. 64. ISBN 978-1491958377.
  5. ^ Maffei, Lucia (March 2, 2021). "Boston software company SEMrush plans IPO". Boston Business Journal – via Bizjournals.
  6. ^ Sabin-Wilson, Lisa (2013). WordPress All-in-One For Dummies. For Dummies. p. 429. ISBN 978-1118383346.
  7. ^ Jones, Kristopher (2013). Search Engine Optimization: Your Visual Blueprint for Effective Internet Marketing. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. p. 21. ISBN 978-1118551745.
  8. ^ Shenoy, Aravind; Prabhu, Anirudh (2013). Teach Yourself VISUALLY Search Engine Optimization. New York City: Apress. p. 68. ISBN 978-1118470664.
  9. ^ Elmansy, Rafiq (2013). Introducing SEO: Your quick-start guide to effective SEO practices. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. p. 68. ISBN 978-1484218532.
  10. ^ a b c Shulman, Robyn D. (7 April 2017). "Oleg Shchegolev & Dmitri Melnikov: How These Two Self-Proclaimed Enthusiastic Nerds Built A Global SEO Company". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  11. ^ Marvin, Rob (August 31, 2019). "Semrush Review". PCMag.
  12. ^ "Semrush". Comparably.
  13. ^ "Semrush". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 1, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  14. ^ "Document". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  15. ^ "SeoQuake Presents New SEO Product for Analyzing Web Sites' Search Engines Traffic". PR Web. 4 June 2007. Archived from the original on December 6, 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  16. ^ Mullin, Benjamin (April 24, 2018). "Search Marketing Firm SEMrush Raises $40 Million to Fund Expansion". The Wall Street Journal.
  17. ^ Shapland, Mark (25 April 2018). "Tech Tracker round-up". Evening Standard.
  18. ^ "Semrush Unveils New Logo and Refreshed Visual Identity". Semrush. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  19. ^ Hill, Chris (2022-01-27). "SEMrush: What to Know About This Overlooked IPO Stock". The Motley Fool. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  20. ^ "Yahoo news".
  21. ^ Hogan, Bruce (21 May 2021). "Semrush IPO: S-1 Data, Product Overview & Competitive Landscape". SoftwarePundit. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  22. ^ Warden, Andrew. "A message from Semrush's CMO to our community — Standing with Ukraine". LinkedIn.
  23. ^ "Semrush Introduces Tools To Help Build Content, Expands Support For List Management". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  24. ^ "Introducing a Powerful Semrush Backlinks Integration". Semrush. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  25. ^ "Surfer ╳ Semrush | The dynamic duo you've been waiting for". surferseo.com. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  26. ^ Nguyen, George (20 January 2022). "Semrush acquires SEO training website Backlinko". Search Engine Land. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  27. ^ Nguyen, George (March 2, 2022). "Semrush buys Kompyte so it can upsell competitive intelligence tools". Search Engine Land.
  28. ^ Southern, Matt G. (16 March 2023). "After Semrush Acquired Traffic Think Tank, What's Next? Insights From Co-founder Matthew Howells-Barby". Search Engine Journal.
  29. ^ Goodwin, Danny (16 October 2024). "Semrush acquires Search Engine Land". Search Engine Land.