Compare
SiteRune vs Semrush (and other SEO suites)
· Configuration notes, not a newsroom.
Semrush is a keyword and backlink suite. SiteRune is not a rank tracker. It will not sell you a PDF of the same four issues every Monday.
SEDifferent jobs
Keyword volume, SERP features, and backlink graphs are Semrush's job. SiteRune will not pretend to replace that. We do not estimate traffic. The homepage charts on SiteRune are modeled scenarios, labeled as such.
What we do instead: configuration and content structure a crawler can see — titles, canonicals, robots, sitemap, schema, llms.txt, security headers — plus a CMS-specific punch list with files attached.
GEO is not keyword density
If you are buying 'AI SEO' as TF-IDF for ChatGPT, you are being sold a 2014 product. SiteRune scores whether a model can ground an answer from your HTML. That is a different chapter from 'rank for best plumber'. Use Semrush for the keyword. Use SiteRune for the entity and the ship file.
Capability table
| Capability | SiteRune | Semrush |
|---|---|---|
| Browser-based | Yes | Yes |
| Keyword research / rank tracking | No | Yes |
| Backlink analysis | No | Yes |
| Site audit (on-page crawl) | Yes | Yes |
| Security headers chapter | Yes | Partial |
| CMS fingerprint + ship files | Yes | No |
| AI crawler / llms.txt / AEO | Yes | Partial |
| Implementation-ready nginx / WP snippets | Yes | No |
| Traffic estimates | No | Yes |
| Free tier | Guest + Launch | Limited trial / paid suite |
Semrush is a keyword and backlink suite. SiteRune will not estimate traffic or replace Site Explorer.
FAQ
Does SiteRune replace semrush?
No. Use the comparison table. SiteRune is a hosted configuration brief with CMS dialect and ship files. It does not replace rank tracking, backlink graphs, lab Core Web Vitals, or a desktop site-wide crawl.
What does a SiteRune scan actually fetch?
HTML and headers from this vantage point, robots.txt, sitemap, llms.txt, security.txt, and a polite walk of same-origin interiors. No headless Chrome. No exploits.
Run it on a live URL
Same scan engine. Guest scans stay free.