SEMrush Vs. DYI with automated tools

[JimmyWeb]

I'm sure this was discussed, but the bottom line is that we need to track competitors, not just get a list and check each one manually. We need something that gathers the data automatically, like scraping websites. Any suggestions?

 

[TechnoTycoon]

gathers the data automatically

I think SEMrush has the capability. What do you say? Please give us with an example what do you want to do?

 

[JimmyWeb]

I think SEMrush has the capability. What do you say? Please give us with an example what do you want to do?

SEMrush is expensive and, while it finds competitors, it still requires manual checking of each one—it doesn’t automatically scrape data from a list of 10 competitors. It also provides an endless backlinks list, often from random sites (Russia, etc.), instead of focusing on 5-10 key citations from a competitor’s site. To analyze backlinks, I still have to manually run Google searches with advanced search operators.

I’m looking for a low-cost system where I can input a list of competitors and automatically get:

• All content in plain text
• Meta tags
• Some strong competitor backlinks (like social, citations, etc.)

For a year now, I've been doing this manually. This is the only data intelligence and insights I’ve found truly helpful for SEO, and it actually works when we make changes based on real competitor data.

 

[HenryObi]

• All content in plain text
• Meta tags
• Some strong competitor backlinks (like social, citations, etc.)

I don't think there's one single tool that does all that. Social links aren't strong competitor links in any way.
With semrush you can sort your competitor's backlinks according to their placements, link attribute and authority of linking site. With these filters, you can actually get your competitors' strong links.

Want to do those automatically, is what I don't know if there's a tool for. Tools like surferSEO can also be used for competitor analysis in comparison to your own site. But it definitely wouldn't do other things such as proper backlinks crawling and analysis.

 

[JimmyWeb]

I don't think there's one single tool that does all that. Social links aren't strong competitor links in any way.
With semrush you can sort your competitor's backlinks according to their placements, link attribute and authority of linking site. With these filters, you can actually get your competitors' strong links.

Want to do those automatically, is what I don't know if there's a tool for. Tools like surferSEO can also be used for competitor analysis in comparison to your own site. But it definitely wouldn't do other things such as proper backlinks crawling and analysis.

Thanks for the info! I checked out SurferSEO, and you're right—it lacks full automation and starts at $79/month, adding another cost. The competitor referral, even if social, helps me with marketing insights, sometimes the number of reviews in the search results, and offers in search results, complementing competitor analysis beyond just backlinks.

Got a reply from an FB discussion—checking out a site someone shared. They say it does 80%+ of what I described. If it works, I'll update here. Surprised this is so hard to find!

 

[David Boost]

I'm sure this was discussed, but the bottom line is that we need to track competitors, not just get a list and check each one manually. We need something that gathers the data automatically, like scraping websites. Any suggestions?

Semrush is enough for this. And for deep analysis go for Ahrefs .

 

[JimmyWeb]

Semrush is enough for this. And for deep analysis go for Ahrefs .

Thanks for the reply.

I've already spent a ton on both—no doubt they’re top-notch tools—but every extra feature costs another $100-$200/month, which is crazy.

I even paid extra and used content writers, but neither SEMrush, Ahrefs, nor Moz provide a simple way to get raw scraped data of specific competitors in one organized place, let alone add scraped search results. In fact, scraping search results for backlinks or citations (3-6 per competitor) isn't available at all—no way to get raw search result data in a table.

SEMrush has helped, but the costs and the missing last-mile features are dealbreakers.

I got a tip about a website while testing some APIs to gather data. If it does what I need or comes close, I’ll update here.

 

[aizaz254]

I'm sure this was discussed, but the bottom line is that we need to track competitors, not just get a list and check each one manually. We need something that gathers the data automatically, like scraping websites. Any suggestions?

You are right 100%.

 

[Dreamy Pixels]

1. All-in-One Competitor Monitoring Tools​

• SimilarWeb – Tracks traffic, engagement, and marketing channels.
• SpyFu – Monitors competitors’ paid and organic search strategies.
• Serpstat – Covers SEO, PPC, and backlink analysis.
• Owletter – Monitors competitors’ email marketing campaigns.

​

2. Web Scraping & Data Extraction​

• Import.io – No-code web scraping with automation.
• ParseHub – Visual web scraping tool with scheduled extractions.
• Octoparse – Drag-and-drop web scraping tool.

​

3. Social Media & Ads Monitoring​

• BigSpy – Tracks competitors’ ad campaigns across platforms.
• Facebook Ad Library & TikTok Creative Center – See their paid ads.
• Brand24 – Monitors brand mentions and competitor activity.

​

4. Price & E-commerce Monitoring​

• Prisync – Monitors competitors’ pricing automatically.
• Price2Spy – Tracks price changes and trends.

​

5. DIY Automation (If You Want Custom Tracking)​

• Google Alerts – Basic, but free for monitoring brand mentions.
• Zapier + Webhooks – Automate competitor data collection.
• Python + Playwright – Scrape dynamic sites (better than Selenium).

 

[Fiducia]

Semrush gives you access to a lot of data. You can filter it in spreadsheets, Scrapebox, Python scripts. The subscription fee is high but you are use the 14-day free trial.

An alternative to building just another bot to scrape the very same data from the very same websites yourself is https://commoncrawl.org/. You then just need to process the data from the command line or with Python scripts. Ask AI if you are not a coder yourself. I explained my needs to Mistral and got ready-made and working Python scripts in no time.

 

[David Boost]

Thanks for the reply.

I've already spent a ton on both—no doubt they’re top-notch tools—but every extra feature costs another $100-$200/month, which is crazy.

I even paid extra and used content writers, but neither SEMrush, Ahrefs, nor Moz provide a simple way to get raw scraped data of specific competitors in one organized place, let alone add scraped search results. In fact, scraping search results for backlinks or citations (3-6 per competitor) isn't available at all—no way to get raw search result data in a table.

SEMrush has helped, but the costs and the missing last-mile features are dealbreakers.

I got a tip about a website while testing some APIs to gather data. If it does what I need or comes close, I’ll update here.

Yah I understand.

 

[GenesisOne]

1. All-in-One Competitor Monitoring Tools​

• SimilarWeb – Tracks traffic, engagement, and marketing channels.
• SpyFu – Monitors competitors’ paid and organic search strategies.
• Serpstat – Covers SEO, PPC, and backlink analysis.
• Owletter – Monitors competitors’ email marketing campaigns.

​

2. Web Scraping & Data Extraction​

• Import.io – No-code web scraping with automation.
• ParseHub – Visual web scraping tool with scheduled extractions.
• Octoparse – Drag-and-drop web scraping tool.

​

3. Social Media & Ads Monitoring​

• BigSpy – Tracks competitors’ ad campaigns across platforms.
• Facebook Ad Library & TikTok Creative Center – See their paid ads.
• Brand24 – Monitors brand mentions and competitor activity.

​

4. Price & E-commerce Monitoring​

• Prisync – Monitors competitors’ pricing automatically.
• Price2Spy – Tracks price changes and trends.

​

5. DIY Automation (If You Want Custom Tracking)​

• Google Alerts – Basic, but free for monitoring brand mentions.
• Zapier + Webhooks – Automate competitor data collection.
• Python + Playwright – Scrape dynamic sites (better than Selenium).

Nice list.

 

[vibecrafted]

To track competitors automatically, use tools like Octoparse or ParseHub for easy web scraping without coding.
If you’re comfortable with coding, try Python with libraries like BeautifulSoup or Scrapy to extract and organize data.
Platforms like SEMrush or SimilarWeb provide competitor insights on SEO, traffic, and trends without needing to scrape.
Always check legal terms before scraping, and use proxies to handle restrictions. Store the data in Google Sheets or databases like PostgreSQL, then visualize trends with dashboards in tools like Power BI or Tableau.
For automation, schedule scrapers using cloud services like AWS or Google Cloud Functions.

 

[JimmyWeb]

To track competitors automatically, use tools like Octoparse or ParseHub for easy web scraping without coding.
If you’re comfortable with coding, try Python with libraries like BeautifulSoup or Scrapy to extract and organize data.
Platforms like SEMrush or SimilarWeb provide competitor insights on SEO, traffic, and trends without needing to scrape.
Always check legal terms before scraping, and use proxies to handle restrictions. Store the data in Google Sheets or databases like PostgreSQL, then visualize trends with dashboards in tools like Power BI or Tableau.
For automation, schedule scrapers using cloud services like AWS or Google Cloud Functions.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write all this information—I really appreciate it! You’re absolutely right that this can be done, and I discussed it with a programmer as well. The estimated monthly costs for these systems, including AWS and a sufficient API package, would be around $100–$150.

However, even with that setup, it wouldn't fully meet my needs. To automate exactly what I want, a programmer would need about three months of development work. So, while it may be feasible, my main goal is to minimize both initial investment and ongoing monthly costs. Another key factor for me is reducing manual work, which is a big reason I’m considering an automated solution in the first place.

Thanks again for your insights!

 

[JimmyWeb]

1. All-in-One Competitor Monitoring Tools​

• SimilarWeb – Tracks traffic, engagement, and marketing channels.
• SpyFu – Monitors competitors’ paid and organic search strategies.
• Serpstat – Covers SEO, PPC, and backlink analysis.
• Owletter – Monitors competitors’ email marketing campaigns.

​

2. Web Scraping & Data Extraction​

• Import.io – No-code web scraping with automation.
• ParseHub – Visual web scraping tool with scheduled extractions.
• Octoparse – Drag-and-drop web scraping tool.

​

3. Social Media & Ads Monitoring​

• BigSpy – Tracks competitors’ ad campaigns across platforms.
• Facebook Ad Library & TikTok Creative Center – See their paid ads.
• Brand24 – Monitors brand mentions and competitor activity.

​

4. Price & E-commerce Monitoring​

• Prisync – Monitors competitors’ pricing automatically.
• Price2Spy – Tracks price changes and trends.

​

5. DIY Automation (If You Want Custom Tracking)​

• Google Alerts – Basic, but free for monitoring brand mentions.
• Zapier + Webhooks – Automate competitor data collection.
• Python + Playwright – Scrape dynamic sites (better than Selenium).

Here’s a refined version with a smooth flow and clarity:

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Thank you, and sorry for the late response! I really appreciate all the information you’ve shared. I went through a lot of what you suggested, and I must say, ParseHub is quite slick and getting close to what I need. However, since it's not SEO-oriented, I would need at least the $189/month package. Additionally, it’s a downloadable software rather than an online tool, and it doesn’t save historical data, which is crucial for comparing trends over time. This means I’d still have to manually save data, bringing me back to manual work.


I also mentioned that I’m checking one more website, and if it meets my requirements, I’ll share all the details here.


Thanks again for taking the time to reply with such valuable insights!

 

[EndlessWorlds]

If you can, write your own script to scrape this stuff. But be sure to use a mobile proxy so that your competitors dont see what youre trying to do.

 

["Rakesh Patil "]

Use a mix of specialty tools (Ahrefs / SimilarWeb / Semrush) for traffic and content signals, not just raw scraping.

 

[tptrader]

I'm sure this was discussed, but the bottom line is that we need to track competitors, not just get a list and check each one manually. We need something that gathers the data automatically, like scraping websites. Any suggestions?

These are the most efficient options as they are built for this purpose.

• Semrush: A powerhouse for this. Its "Domain Analytics" lets you see a competitor's top-ranking keywords, organic and paid traffic, backlinks, and even their content strategy.
• Ahrefs: Another industry leader. Its "Site Explorer" is fantastic for analyzing competitor backlink profiles and organic search traffic. The "Content Gap" tool is brilliant for finding keywords your competitors rank for that you don't.
• Similarweb: Provides high-level traffic and engagement metrics for any website, including traffic sources, audience interests, and competitor overlays.
• SpyFu: Specializes in uncovering competitor's PPC and SEO keywords. You can see every ad copy variation they've run and every keyword they've ranked for.

If you have specific data points in mind that aren't covered by the tools above.

• Bright Data / Oxylabs: Enterprise-grade scraping infrastructure. Powerful but can be complex and expensive. Best for large-scale, ongoing projects.
• Apify / ScrapingBee: These platforms handle the browser infrastructure for you, so you can focus on the data you want to extract. Great for scraping sites that require JavaScript rendering.
• Python with Libraries (Beautiful Soup, Scrapy, Selenium): The most flexible and cost-effective method if you have in-house technical skills. You can build a custom scraper to monitor specific sections of competitor websites (e.g., pricing pages, blog post titles, product listings).

 

[jonthan]

Use an automated solution — for example, Scrapy, Apify, or Octoparse for web scraping, or competitor intelligence tools like Semrush, Similarweb, or Crayon to track updates automatically.

 

[Trend_Guy7]

SEMrush is expensive and, while it finds competitors, it still requires manual checking of each one—it doesn’t automatically scrape data from a list of 10 competitors. It also provides an endless backlinks list, often from random sites (Russia, etc.), instead of focusing on 5-10 key citations from a competitor’s site. To analyze backlinks, I still have to manually run Google searches with advanced search operators.

I’m looking for a low-cost system where I can input a list of competitors and automatically get:

• All content in plain text
• Meta tags
• Some strong competitor backlinks (like social, citations, etc.)

For a year now, I've been doing this manually. This is the only data intelligence and insights I’ve found truly helpful for SEO, and it actually works when we make changes based on real competitor data.

Thanks for sharing. I'll test this out.