If you’re trying to wrap your head around modern SEO and how tools like Semrush fit into the picture, you’ve probably heard the name Nick Eubanks tossed around. He’s one of those rare birds in the SEO world who genuinely gets it, not just theoretically, but from years of real-world, hands-on experience. This guide is your go-to resource for understanding how Nick Eubanks approaches SEO and, specifically, how he leverages Semrush to achieve incredible results. We’ll pull back the curtain on his strategies, from deep-dive keyword research to future-proofing your brand in an AI-driven search environment, making sure you walk away with actionable steps to boost your own efforts.

ever-changing , staying on top of SEO is tough, right? Google’s updates, the rise of AI in search results – it feels like the goalposts are always moving. That’s why folks like Nick Eubanks are so valuable. He doesn’t just talk about SEO. he lives it, builds businesses around it, and constantly adapts. His journey, from an early entrepreneur to a respected voice and VP of Owned Media at Semrush, shows us a clear path: to succeed in SEO now, you need to be data-driven, obsessed with user intent, and ready to embrace new technologies and strategies like “owned media.” This isn’t just about ranking for a few keywords anymore. it’s about building a robust, resilient online presence that can weather any algorithm storm.

Table of Contents

Who is Nick Eubanks and Why Should You Listen?

Let’s quickly talk about Nick Eubanks because his background really sets the stage for why his insights are so powerful. Nick isn’t just some casual observer. he’s an SEO entrepreneur through and through. He’s an investor, an advisor to online businesses, and the brains behind the well-regarded SEO blog, SEONick.net. You might also know him as the creator of “Master Keyword Research in 7 Days” – a title that pretty much tells you what he’s passionate about.

His journey includes founding “From The Future,” a digital marketing agency, and, perhaps most notably, co-founding Traffic Think Tank TTT. TTT was this awesome, private SEO training community that became a hub for top marketers from companies like Google, Uber, and Gucci, all sharing strategies and testing ideas. In February 2023, Semrush acquired Traffic Think Tank for a cool $1.8 million, and Nick joined Semrush as the VP of Owned Media. This isn’t just a fancy title. it means he’s actively shaping how one of the biggest SEO software companies thinks about digital assets and audience building.

What does this mean for you? It means Nick’s advice isn’t theoretical. He’s spent years building, scaling, and selling successful digital ventures, and now he’s doing it at an even larger scale with Semrush. He’s seen what works, what doesn’t, and he’s constantly testing new approaches. When he talks about using Semrush, it’s from the perspective of someone who’s genuinely leveraging its capabilities to drive real business outcomes. You can often find him sharing his thoughts on platforms like Nick Eubanks Twitter, discussing the latest shifts in search.

Nick Eubanks on Keyword Research: The Foundation of SEO Success

For Nick, keyword research isn’t just about pulling a list of terms. it’s the absolute first, most critical step in any successful search marketing process. He often says that many search marketers only “scratch the surface,” ending up with a few high-competition keywords that yield little return on investment. Nick’s approach is about going deeper, truly understanding user intent, and finding those valuable, less competitive opportunities. Ubersuggest vs. Ahrefs vs. Semrush: Which SEO Tool Rules in 2025?

Here’s how Nick Eubanks guides us to take our keyword research to the next level, often with a heavy reliance on Semrush:

Beyond Basic Keyword Research

Nick emphasizes moving past just using basic tools like Google Keyword Planner alone. While it’s a starting point, it often misses the nuances needed to truly connect with your audience. Instead, you should aim to create a process that uncovers new and interesting keywords that better align with what your customers are actually trying to do or find.

Mapping User Intent

This is huge for Nick. It’s not enough to know what people search for. you need to understand why they’re searching. Are they looking for information? A product to buy? A solution to a problem? Semrush is a powerhouse here. You can use its Keyword Magic Tool to:

Broaden your horizons: Start with a seed keyword and let the tool suggest thousands of related terms, including long-tail keywords that often have lower competition but high intent.
Filter by intent: Semrush often allows you to filter keywords by “intent” informational, navigational, commercial, transactional, which helps you pick the right keywords for different stages of your customer’s journey.
Analyze SERP features: Look at the actual search results pages SERPs in Semrush for your target keywords. Are there featured snippets? People Also Ask boxes? This tells you a lot about the type of content Google thinks users want for that query.

Using Semrush for In-Depth Analysis

Nick often refers to pulling down all the keywords you currently rank for from Semrush, exporting them to Excel, and then analyzing that data. This lets you see what’s already working and where the immediate opportunities are.

Here’s a breakdown of how you might use Semrush following his principles: Unlocking Market Secrets with Semrush Market Analysis (MA): Your Ultimate Guide

Organic Research Tool: Plug in your own domain or a competitor’s to see all the keywords you currently rank for, your positions, estimated traffic, and search volume.
- Actionable Tip: Don’t just look at position 1-3. Nick encourages looking at what you’re ranking for on pages 2-3 positions 11-30. These are often “low-hanging fruit” – keywords you’re already somewhat authoritative for, but just need a push to get onto the first page.
Keyword Gap Tool: This is a goldmine. You can compare your keyword profile against up to five competitors. This tool will quickly show you keywords where your competitors rank, but you don’t or rank much lower. This is a direct path to identifying content gaps.
- Eubanks’ Spin: He suggests taking your total target keyword list, pasting it into a column called “Target Keywords,” and then creating an empty column called “Content Gaps.” You then use data from Semrush and other sources to fill these gaps, essentially creating a content roadmap.

Identifying “Low-Hanging Fruit” Keywords

Nick is all about smart wins. Rather than always chasing the highest volume, most competitive terms, he advocates for targeting “low-hanging fruit” LHF keywords. These are terms where you or your competitors have existing rankings that could be improved with less effort for a significant traffic boost.

When you export your keyword data from Semrush, Nick suggests a specific filtering process:

Filter by Ranking Position: Look for keywords where your site ranks in positions 4-30. These are the ones where a bit of optimization can make a big difference.
Sort by Search Volume: Within that filtered list, sort by “Avg Monthly Searches” from largest to smallest. This helps prioritize terms that offer the most potential traffic.
Prioritize by Competitive Factors: This is crucial. Nick advises sorting by the lowest competitive ranking factors, such as fewer links to the ranking page/domain, lower word count on the page, and less aggressive keyword usage in titles or on-page content. This helps you pick the easiest wins first. He even suggests a “Red-Yellow-Green” color scale in Excel to visually guide you to the biggest opportunities high volume, lower rankings.

The Rise of Owned Media: Eubanks’ Vision for Future-Proofing SEO

Here’s where Nick’s role as VP of Owned Media at Semrush really shines. He’s been actively talking about a massive shift in how brands should approach digital visibility, especially with the explosion of AI Overviews AIOs and Large Language Models LLMs in search results.

Nick highlights that these AI-driven features are fundamentally changing the search , sometimes “decoupling clicks from impressions” and “warping the traditional funnel”. What does that mean? It means users might get their answers directly from Google’s AI, or from an LLM like ChatGPT or Gemini, without ever clicking through to a website. In fact, Nick has shared insider Semrush data showing that tools like ChatGPT and Gemini often pull results from page three and beyond of Google, completely upending the old logic of just chasing page-one rankings. Unlocking Client Trust: Your Guide to the Semrush Client Portal

His solution to this challenge is a strong focus on owned media and strategic acquisition. Instead of solely relying on Google for traffic, Nick argues that businesses need to build or acquire their own digital assets – think blogs, newsletters, communities, and social media channels – that they directly control.

Why Owned Media is Crucial Now

Insulation from Search Shifts: When Google makes a major algorithm change or AI takes over more SERP real estate, having your own direct channels like an email list or a strong social media presence means you’re not completely at the mercy of their updates.
Capturing Audience Attention: If clicks are shrinking from traditional organic results, you need other ways to get in front of your audience. Owned media allows you to build a direct relationship.
Lower Acquisition Costs: Over time, a strong owned media strategy can lead to lower customer acquisition costs compared to constantly paying for ads or chasing fleeting organic rankings.
Long-Term Growth: These assets create a defensible “SEO moat” that competitors struggle to penetrate because you own the audience, not just a ranking.

Strategic Acquisition of Digital Assets

Nick takes this a step further by advocating for buying existing digital assets. This isn’t just about starting from scratch. it’s about identifying websites, newsletters, or communities that already have an audience aligned with yours and acquiring them. He calls this a way to “skip the incremental growth game”.

Semrush plays a critical role in this strategic acquisition process:

Audience Affinity: Nick uses Semrush to understand the audience of potential acquisition targets. He looks for overlap in keywords, topics, and user segments between a target asset and existing properties to ensure it’s a good strategic fit.
Competitive Analysis: Before an acquisition, you can use Semrush to analyze the organic performance, backlink profile, and content quality of a target website. This helps you understand its true value and potential.
Identifying Opportunities: By analyzing what audiences are searching for and where they are getting their information, Semrush can help identify niches ripe for acquisition or content creation that could become valuable owned media assets.

Practical Semrush Workflows: Applying Eubanks’ Strategies

Let’s get practical. How can you, right now, use Semrush to implement some of Nick Eubanks’ most impactful SEO strategies? M4uHD Review: Is This Free Streaming Site Safe, Legal, or Worth the Risk?

1. Keyword Data Extraction for Low-Hanging Fruit

Nick provides a clear process for this using Semrush:

Step 1: Get Your Current Rankings. Log into Semrush. Go to “Organic Research” and enter your website’s URL. Then, click on “Positions” to see all the keywords your site ranks for.
Step 2: Export the Data. Look for the “Export” button usually in the top right and choose Excel or CSV format.
Step 3: Clean Up in Excel.
- Open your downloaded file.
- Nick suggests saving it as an Excel workbook, applying filters Data > Filter, and freezing the top row View > Freeze Panes > Freeze top row.
- Sort the “Avg Monthly Searches” column from largest to smallest.
- Create a new column called “Best” or “Opportunity.”
Step 4: Identify Opportunities. Now, this is where Eubanks’ magic happens:
- Filter for positions 4-30: These are your low-hanging fruit. They’re ranking, but not on the very top, meaning there’s room to grow with less effort than a brand new keyword.
- Look for relevant keywords with decent volume: Focus on keywords that have good search volume and are highly relevant to your business goals.
- Consider conversion intent: Nick stresses investing first in higher-intent, lower-volume terms, as these often lead to higher conversion rates.
- Highlight visually: Use conditional formatting like the Red-Yellow-Green scale Nick mentions to highlight keywords with high search volume and lower but existing rankings.
Step 5: Create an Action Plan. Move these selected “low-hanging fruit” keywords to a new sheet. For each, identify how you’ll improve its ranking:
- Content optimization: Can you update existing content to be more comprehensive or better answer the user’s query?
- Internal linking: Can you send more internal link juice to that page?
- Backlinks: Could a few targeted backlinks give it the boost it needs?

2. Competitor Analysis for Content Gaps

You shouldn’t just look at your own site. you need to know what your rivals are doing.

Step 1: Identify Top Competitors. In Semrush, go to “Organic Research” for your domain and then click on the “Competitors” tab. Semrush will show you a list of sites competing for the same keywords you are.
Step 2: Use the Keyword Gap Tool. Plug your domain and 2-3 of your top competitors into the “Keyword Gap” tool.
Step 3: Uncover Missing Keywords. Filter the results to show keywords where your competitors rank in the top 10, but your site doesn’t rank at all, or ranks much lower. These are your immediate content gaps.
Step 4: Analyze Competitor Content. For each identified gap keyword, look at the actual pages ranking for it. What kind of content are they publishing? How comprehensive is it? What’s the word count? This helps you create better content.

3. Content Strategy & Mapping

Nick emphasizes intent-focused content and mapping keywords to specific content goals.

Topic Research Tool: Enter a broad topic, and Semrush will give you related subtopics, questions, and headlines that are popular. This is fantastic for understanding what content people actually want.
Content Marketing Dashboard: Use this to plan, write, and audit your content. It can help ensure your articles are optimized for target keywords and address user intent.
Mapping to the Funnel: Nick reminds us that content needs to serve a purpose: advancing visitors down the funnel, engaging users, capturing information, or driving conversions. Use Semrush’s keyword data especially intent filters to categorize your content ideas appropriately.
- For example, an “informational” keyword might lead to a blog post, while a “transactional” keyword might point to a product page or a comparison guide.

4. Technical SEO Audits

While Nick mentions the importance of technical SEO like crawlability and sitemap accuracy, he relies on tools to do the heavy lifting.

Site Audit Tool: Semrush’s Site Audit is a crucial first stop. It automatically crawls your site and identifies technical issues like broken links, crawl errors, duplicate content, slow-loading pages, and missing Hreflang tags. Addressing these issues improves your site’s foundation, making it easier for search engines to understand and rank your content.
Log File Analyzer: For more advanced users, analyzing server log files which Semrush can assist with gives insights into how search engine bots crawl your site, identifying areas of wasted crawl budget or pages they struggle to reach.

5. Backlink Analysis for Authority Building

Nick’s strategies often touch on authority, and backlinks are a massive part of that equation. Mangools SEO Review: Your Go-To Tool for Smarter SEO?

Backlink Analytics: Plug your domain into Semrush’s Backlink Analytics to see your backlink profile: total backlinks, referring domains, anchor text, and overall authority score.
Backlink Gap Tool: Similar to the Keyword Gap, this tool lets you compare your backlink profile with competitors. You can see which domains link to your competitors but not to you. These are prime targets for your link-building efforts.
Brand Monitoring: Keep an eye on mentions of your brand across the web. This can uncover unlinked brand mentions that you can then turn into valuable backlinks by reaching out to the website owners.

Adapting to the AI-Driven Search Era: Eubanks’ Forward-Looking Advice

The world of SEO is changing fast with AI, and Nick Eubanks is right at the forefront of discussing these shifts. He’s not just observing. he’s actively figuring out how to navigate it, often sharing his thoughts on platforms like Nick Eubanks Twitter.

As we touched on, AIOs and LLMs are fundamentally altering how users interact with search. Nick points out that we’re seeing “a big chunk of it that kind of goes away” for traditional organic clicks, with some industries seeing as much as 50% of queries with AIOs. This means less traffic directly from Google’s traditional search results.

The Shift from Clicks to Broader Visibility

Nick argues that if direct clicks from Google organic search are shrinking, SEOs need to rethink their distribution strategy. It’s not just about ranking on Google anymore. it’s about making sure your brand is visible and cited in other places. This includes:

Brand Building Outside Google: Investing in activities that build direct brand recognition and loyalty. Think PR, social media engagement, and community building. This is where his “owned media” concept comes full circle.
Appearing in LLM Answers: Nick notes that LLMs often pull information from a wide range of sources, not just page one of Google. This means the focus shifts to creating high-quality, authoritative content that is likely to be picked up and cited by these AI models, regardless of its traditional Google ranking.
Focus on Referral & Direct Traffic: If Google isn’t sending as many clicks, then you need to double down on channels that drive direct people typing your URL and referral traffic people coming from other websites or platforms. This highlights the importance of creating valuable content that people actively seek out or share.

Using AI for Content Workflows

Ironically, while AI might be changing how people search, it’s also a powerful tool for content creation. Nick is already using AI in his workflows: Mangools vs. Semrush: Which SEO Tool Should You Pick?

Content Brief Creation: AI can analyze search volume and intent to generate comprehensive content briefs, making it easier for writers to produce targeted content.
First Drafts and Editing: For certain content types, AI can produce a solid first draft, which then frees up human writers to focus on editing, fact-checking, and “humanizing” the content, ensuring it’s accurate and engaging.
Image Generation: Nick also highlights the fantastic capabilities of AI for image generation, which can greatly speed up content production.

The “Tenant SEO” Approach: Leveraging Other Platforms

One of Nick’s more interesting strategies, particularly for those facing tough competition or exploring new avenues, is what he calls “Tenant SEO” also known as white-hat parasite SEO. This concept is simple yet powerful: instead of always trying to outrank huge, established sites, you find sites that already rank well and host your content there.

How it Works

Identify High-Authority Platforms: Think about platforms like YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Reddit, Medium, or even industry-specific niche publications that accept third-party content. These sites often have massive domain authority and rank easily for competitive terms.
Create Valuable Content for Them: Instead of publishing on your own fledgling blog, you create content articles, videos, infographics specifically for these high-authority platforms.
Get Your Message to the Right People: The goal isn’t necessarily to drive direct traffic to your website initially, but to get your message in front of the audience already on those platforms. Rankings on these sites are the road to visibility.
Build Authority and Referrals: Over time, this can build your brand’s authority, drive referral traffic back to your site, and even earn you valuable backlinks.

Nick suggests a simple formula to decide if Tenant SEO is a good fit: if the average Domain Authority of the SERP is more than 15% higher than your own property’s Domain Rating, it might be a good candidate for Tenant SEO. Semrush’s Domain Overview and Organic Research tools are perfect for quickly assessing the domain authority and ranking power of potential platforms.

Key Takeaways from Nick Eubanks’ SEO Philosophy

Putting all of Nick Eubanks’ insights together, a clear philosophy emerges for navigating the modern SEO world: Mastering the Semrush Local SEO Exam: Your Ultimate Guide

Go Beyond the Surface: Don’t settle for basic keyword research or surface-level analysis. Dig deep into user intent and leverage tools like Semrush to uncover hidden opportunities.
Embrace Data: Your decisions should always be backed by data. Use Semrush to track rankings, analyze competitors, identify gaps, and measure performance.
Think “Owned Media”: In an AI-driven world, control your audience. Invest in building and acquiring digital assets blogs, newsletters, communities to future-proof your brand against search volatility.
Be Adaptable & Creative: SEO isn’t static. You need to be willing to test new ideas, challenge old assumptions, and creatively solve problems as the search evolves. This means staying updated on Nick Eubanks’ SEO advice and following his insights on platforms like Nick Eubanks Twitter.
Leverage All Channels: Don’t put all your eggs in the Google organic basket. Explore “Tenant SEO” and build brand visibility across various platforms where your audience spends time.
AI as an Assistant: Use AI to streamline content workflows, but remember the human touch is still essential for quality, fact-checking, and truly engaging content.

By adopting these principles and using powerful tools like Semrush, you can move beyond just chasing rankings and build a truly resilient and effective digital strategy, just like Nick Eubanks has done for years.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Nick Eubanks’ primary role at Semrush?

Nick Eubanks serves as the VP of Owned Media at Semrush. He joined the company after Semrush acquired Traffic Think Tank, an SEO training community he co-founded.

How does Nick Eubanks recommend using Semrush for keyword research?

Nick advises going beyond basic keyword research by using Semrush’s Organic Research and Keyword Magic Tool to identify low-hanging fruit keywords, uncover content gaps, and understand user intent. He suggests exporting ranking data, filtering for positions 4-30, and prioritizing keywords with high search volume but lower competitive factors. Mastering Your Local Presence: A Semrush Local SEO Audit Guide

What is “Owned Media” in Nick Eubanks’ context, and why is it important now?

In Nick’s view, “Owned Media” refers to digital assets like blogs, newsletters, and communities that a brand directly controls, as opposed to relying on third-party platforms like traditional search engines or social media. He emphasizes its importance now because AI Overviews AIOs and Large Language Models LLMs are changing search behavior, potentially reducing clicks from traditional organic results. Owned media helps insulate brands from these shifts, allowing them to capture audience attention directly and drive long-term growth.

What is “Tenant SEO” according to Nick Eubanks?

“Tenant SEO” is a strategy where you leverage high-authority, third-party platforms like YouTube, Wikipedia, or industry-specific sites that already rank well in search results to host your content. The idea is to get your message in front of an existing audience on these powerful platforms, rather than solely trying to outrank them with your own site.

How does Nick Eubanks suggest adapting SEO strategies for the AI era?

Nick advises SEOs to shift focus from solely chasing clicks on traditional Google organic results to building overall brand visibility and being cited by LLMs. This includes investing in brand-building activities outside Google, using AI for content workflows like brief creation and first drafts, and prioritizing direct and referral traffic channels.

Did Nick Eubanks sell Traffic Think Tank to Semrush?

Yes, Nick Eubanks co-founded Traffic Think Tank, which was acquired by Semrush in February 2023 for $1.8 million.

What tools does Nick Eubanks typically use for his SEO work?

While Nick Eubanks is closely associated with Semrush as VP of Owned Media, he has consistently used Semrush for in-depth keyword research, competitive analysis, and identifying ranking opportunities. He also mentions other tools in broader discussions, but Semrush is a core component of his recommended workflows. Semrush tutorial

0.0

0.0 out of 5 stars (based on 0 reviews)

Excellent0%

Very good0%

Average0%

Poor0%

Terrible0%

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

Amazon.com: Check Amazon for Mastering SEO with
Latest Discussions & Reviews:

BestFREE.nl

Mastering SEO with Semrush: Insights from Nick Eubanks