Competitor research is a crucial part of any successful digital strategy. Knowing how your competitors perform online—especially in terms of traffic—can give you the insights needed to refine your own approach. To help you find the right tool for the job, I tested five of the most popular traffic analysis tools—Ahrefs, Semrush, Ubersuggest, Similarweb, and SE Ranking—using Content Marketing Institute as a case study. In this post, I’ll compare their key features, strengths, and traffic estimations, so you can choose the best one for competitor research.
Overview of the tested website traffic tools
- Ahrefs: Known for its SEO metrics and backlink analysis. Ahrefs provides detailed insights into traffic estimates, traffic value, and top-ranking keywords. It's a highly trusted tool for SEO professionals, offering extensive backlink data.
- Semrush: A full-suite marketing tool that offers a wide variety of metrics, including organic traffic, paid traffic, and keyword data. Semrush also provides insights into domain authority and backlink health, making it a go-to for SEO and content marketing.
- Ubersuggest: More of a lightweight tool aimed at individuals or smaller teams, offering basic SEO data such as organic traffic, keywords, and domain authority. Ubersuggest also shines in providing easy-to-understand reports for less experienced users.
- Similarweb: Focused on digital market intelligence, Similarweb excels at providing an overview of traffic patterns, including site visits, page views, and monthly trends. This tool offers a broader view of web performance across different channels, rather than focusing solely on SEO.
- SE Ranking: SE Ranking provides keyword rank tracking, traffic analysis, and competitor analysis. Its strength lies in its clean interface and focus on keyword data along with organic traffic estimates.
Let’s dive into the traffic reports
Ahrefs
Reports 72K organic traffic for Content Marketing Institute with a traffic value of $76.2K. The top-performing country is the US, with 40% of the traffic. It also lists specific keyword rankings such as “CMI” and “content marketing” along with traffic volumes.
Semrush
Shows a higher organic traffic estimate of 84K (35% from the US), but Semrush gives more detailed data on keyword volume (48.8K) and distribution across top SERP features. This tool also highlights the site’s 6.2M backlinks, which Ahrefs doesn’t prominently show.
Ubersuggest
Reports 420.7K monthly visitors, which seems significantly higher compared to the other tools. This inconsistency might be because Ubersuggest uses a different algorithm or data source for calculating organic traffic.
Similarweb
Reports 173.7K total visits with detailed breakdowns of page views and traffic by country. Similarweb offers insights into visitor behavior, like average visit duration and bounce rates, which other tools lack.
SE Ranking
Shows 117.9K organic traffic, which lies somewhere between Ahrefs and Ubersuggest. SE Ranking also highlights traffic drops (like the -18.2K visitors this month), giving it an advantage in identifying short-term trends.
Hidden Facts & Mismatches
1. Different Data Sources
Each tool's traffic estimation process involves a mix of proprietary and third-party data, which can result in significant variations in traffic numbers:
- Ahrefs relies heavily on clickstream data combined with its proprietary algorithms. While they crawl billions of pages for SEO insights, their methodology is not fully transparent. This may explain why Ahrefs estimates 72K organic traffic, which is lower than other tools. The potential lack of full transparency could be a reason for discrepancies when comparing traffic with Ubersuggest or Semrush.
- Semrush also uses clickstream data but combines it with Google Analytics integration and a vast keyword database, giving it a well-rounded data set for both organic and paid traffic. This broader data scope might explain the significant traffic drop observed in its report that isn’t as prominent in Ahrefs, as Semrush's frequent updates capture market fluctuations quickly.
- Ubersuggest, known for its optimistic traffic estimates, likely uses less refined or broader data sources. The higher 420K monthly traffic estimate could result from generous modeling based on keyword volume and potentially less filtered clickstream data. This optimistic number could be more geared towards marketers wanting to see potential rather than actual organic traffic.
- Similarweb gathers panel data, ISP data, and public sources, resulting in a more macro-level view of digital performance, which includes site engagement metrics like visit duration and bounce rates. Their broader approach to traffic analysis explains the different estimates compared to the SEO-focused data from Ahrefs and Semrush.
- SE Ranking, while also using keyword data and search engine rankings, may not have the same robust clickstream data or backlinks database as the others, resulting in estimates (117.9K) that are more focused on short-term trends or keyword shifts, but perhaps less comprehensive for overall site performance.
2. Algorithmic Variations
The proprietary algorithms used by these tools interpret the data in vastly different ways:
- Ahrefs' algorithm focuses on keyword rankings and backlinks, offering a more conservative traffic estimate rooted in SEO performance. The lack of paid traffic data and limited transparency on their methodology can create gaps when comparing against tools like Semrush, which also shows paid traffic insights.
- Semrush's algorithm blends data from Google Analytics with frequent updates to its keyword databases. This explains why Semrush highlights more granular details like traffic drops in the summer months that other tools don’t reflect as sharply. Their ability to track both organic and paid traffic gives it a more balanced picture.
- Ubersuggest appears to have a more generous algorithm, likely focused on presenting growth potential rather than current organic traffic. The 400K+ traffic estimate could stem from a model that inflates traffic based on keyword volume.
- Similarweb's algorithm offers engagement metrics (visit duration, bounce rates), which are missing from Ahrefs and Semrush. This broader focus on web behavior explains why Similarweb often reports higher total visits and user engagement stats, differing from the SEO-centric data provided by other tools.
- SE Ranking appears to emphasize SEO insights like keyword ranking trends over detailed traffic breakdowns. This leads to visible drops and rises in traffic data, but their numbers (117.9K) are usually more focused on current trends in keyword performance rather than an all-encompassing traffic overview.
3. Focus Areas and Strengths
- Ahrefs and Semrush are deeply SEO-focused, excelling at reporting on backlinks, keywords, and organic traffic. These tools are best suited for users who want deep SEO analysis.
- Similarweb takes a broader approach with traffic data, offering insights into user engagement (like pages per visit and visit duration) and a broader overview of a site's total digital presence, including social and referral traffic. Their insights are less SEO-centric and better for understanding overall web traffic dynamics.
- Ubersuggest stands out for those looking for a more optimistic traffic scenario, useful for showing potential growth, though users should cross-check these numbers with more conservative tools like Ahrefs or Semrush.
- SE Ranking, while more lightweight in terms of overall data, provides excellent insights into keyword performance trends. It's particularly useful for short-term SEO campaigns looking to track keyword success or traffic shifts.
Choosing the Right Tool
- For SEO-focused analysis: Ahrefs and Semrush are top choices, offering extensive backlink and keyword data that can help in competitive SEO strategies.
- For Traffic and Market Insights: Similarweb stands out due to its detailed breakdown of user behavior (visit duration, page views, etc.), ideal for those interested in overall web performance.
- For Simplicity: Ubersuggest is a great pick for beginners due to its easy-to-understand reports and lower cost, though its traffic estimates should be cross-verified with other tools.
- For Detailed Keyword Tracking: SE Ranking excels in providing a clean, focused view of keyword performance and organic traffic, with clear indicators of traffic trends.
