Semrush alternatives: Serpel for developers

How to switch from Semrush

1. 1

   Export your keywords from Semrush

   In Position Tracking, open the Overview tab and export the keyword table as CSV or Excel, as the knowledge base describes. Save the keyword column as keywords.txt, one keyword per line. Serpel cannot import ranking history, so keep the export as your archive.

2. 2

   Sign in and create a project

   Install the CLI as described on the CLI page, sign in and create a project for your domain. Copy the project ID from the output.

   serpel auth login
   serpel projects create --domain example.com --country US --language en
   export PROJECT=<projectId>

3. 3

   Import keywords with their metrics

   Create a keyword list and import the CSV. Serpel maps header columns such as keyword, search volume, cpc and kd, and accepts files up to 2 MB.

   serpel keywords list-create --project $PROJECT --name "Imported from Semrush"
   serpel keywords import <listId> --file keywords.csv

4. 4

   Start tracking and run the first check

   Add the keywords to rank tracking, up to 200 per call and within your plan’s limit. A check run right now books 5 credits per keyword in the top 50, so estimate it first.

   args=()
   while IFS= read -r keyword; do args+=(--keyword "$keyword"); done < keywords.txt
   serpel billing estimate --operation rankCheck --keywords "$(wc -l < keywords.txt)"
   serpel rankings add --project $PROJECT "${args[@]}"
   serpel rankings run --project $PROJECT --wait

5. 5

   Re-create competitors and AI questions

   Add the competitor domains you follow in Semrush and the questions you want to check in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews.

   serpel competitors add --project $PROJECT --domain competitor.com
   serpel ai add --project $PROJECT --prompt "which project management tool suits small agencies"