Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO toolset that provides a range of features to help businesses improve their online visibility and rank higher in search engine results pages.
This article will provide an honest and comprehensive review of Ahrefs. I will explore its key features, usability, and pricing and weigh the pros and cons of using this tool. My Ahrefs review is based on several tests I have conducted to ensure our evaluation is as accurate and unbiased as possible.
Table Of Contents
- What Is Ahrefs?
- How Does Ahrefs Work?
- Ahrefs Features
- Site Explorer
- Keyword Explorer
- Backlink Tracker
- Rank Tracker
- Site Audit
- Alerts
- Competitor Analysis
- Content Analysis
- Link Intersect
- User-Friendly Interface
- Benefits Of Ahrefs
- Improves Online Visibility
- Regular Updates
- Improves Overall Marketing Strategy
- Good Customer Support
- Detailed Backlink Analysis
- Keyword Research
- Content Research
- Rank Tracking
- Link Building
- Downsides Of Ahrefs
- How To Use Ahrefs
- Sign Up For Ahrefs
- Set Up Your First Project
- Use Site Explorer To Analyze Your Website
- Conduct Keyword Research With Keyword Explorer
- Track Your Website’s Ranking With Rank Tracker
- Analyze Your Competitors With Site Explorer
- Monitor your backlinks with Backlink Checker
- Use Content Explorer To Find New Content Ideas
- Monitor Your Brand Mentions With Alerts
- Ahrefs Pricing
- User Testimonials/Customer Feedback
- Ahrefs Compared To 3 Other Products
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
What Is Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is a powerful all-in-one SEO toolset used by digital marketers, SEO professionals, and businesses of all sizes.
It provides a range of features that help users improve their website’s search engine ranking, including keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink tracking, and content analysis.
With Ahrefs, users can gain valuable insights into their competitors’ organic search rankings, identify high-value keywords, and build high-quality backlinks to increase their domain authority.
The tool is known for its user-friendly interface, comprehensive data, and powerful features that make it indispensable for anyone looking to improve their online visibility.
Ahrefs is a website analysis tool that helps you understand your website’s traffic, backlink profile, and more. If you’re serious about improving your website’s traffic and search engine rankings, Ahrefs is a tool you need in your arsenal.
– Shane Barker, Digital Marketing Expert
How Does Ahrefs Work?
Ahrefs works by crawling the internet and collecting data on websites, their backlinks, and their organic search rankings. It analyzes data to provide users with insights into how they can improve their own website’s search engine ranking.
The tool is based on a massive database that is updated regularly, allowing users to access the most up-to-date information about their website’s performance and that of their competitors.
Ahrefs offers a content explorer, which allows users to analyze the performance of their own and their competitors’ content, and a rank tracker, which tracks the search engine ranking of targeted keywords over time.
Additionally, Ahrefs offers a range of other features, including site audit, which identifies technical issues that could impact SEO performance, and alerts, which notify users of any changes to their website or competitors’ sites.
Ahrefs Features
Ahrefs provides various features for digital marketers to improve their search engine optimization strategies. Here are some of the key features of Ahrefs:
Site Explorer
Ahrefs’ Site Explorer allows users to analyze any website and gain insights into its backlink profile, organic search traffic, top-performing pages, and more.
Users can see an overview of a website’s performance or dive deeper into specific metrics to gain a better understanding of their website’s strengths and weaknesses.
Keyword Explorer
Keyword Explorer is a powerful tool that allows users to identify high-value keywords to target. It provides data on search volume, keyword difficulty, and traffic potential, allowing users to find the keywords most likely to drive traffic and revenue to their website.
Backlink Tracker
Ahrefs’ Backlink Tracker allows users to monitor the backlinks to their website and gain insights into the quality of those links. Users can see how many backlinks they have, where those links are coming from, and the quality of the sites linking to them.
Rank Tracker
Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker allows users to track the search engine ranking of their website and targeted keywords over time. Users can see how their website performs in search engine results pages (SERPs) and identify opportunities to improve their ranking.
Site Audit
Ahrefs’ Site Audit feature allows users to identify technical issues on their website that could impact SEO performance. It comprehensively analyzes a website’s health and identifies problems such as broken links, duplicate content, and missing meta tags.
Alerts
Ahrefs’ Alerts feature lets users stay updated on their website and competitors’ site changes. Users can set up alerts to notify them of changes to their website’s backlink profile, new content published by their competitors, and more.
This information can help users stay ahead of the competition and make informed decisions about their SEO strategy.
Competitor Analysis
This tool allows you to compare your website’s backlink profile, keyword rankings, and organic search traffic to your competitors. You can identify your competitors’ top pages, keywords, and backlinks to see what they’re doing well and where you can improve.
Content Analysis
This tool analyzes the content on your website and identifies any issues that might be affecting your search engine rankings. You’ll get recommendations on improving your content’s structure, readability, and relevance to search engines.
Link Intersect
This tool allows you to find websites that link to your competitors but not your website. You can use this information to identify new link-building opportunities and improve your website’s backlink profile.
User-Friendly Interface
Ahrefs boasts a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for businesses to navigate and use its tools. From keyword ideas and backlink analysis to competitor analysis and site audits, all the features are accessible from one dashboard.
Benefits Of Ahrefs
Ahrefs provides numerous benefits for digital marketers to improve their search engine optimization strategies. Here are some of the key benefits of Ahrefs:
Improves Online Visibility
With its advanced keyword research tools, Ahrefs helps businesses identify their niche’s most relevant and high-traffic keywords. This, in turn, helps improve their online visibility, attract more targeted traffic, and increase brand awareness.
Regular Updates
Ahrefs is committed to staying ahead of the curve and regularly updates its tools and features to keep up with the latest SEO trends and best practices. This ensures that businesses can always access the most up-to-date information and analysis.
Improves Overall Marketing Strategy
Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool. By providing insights into competitors, content, and social media analysis, businesses can improve their overall marketing strategy and stay ahead of the competition.
Good Customer Support
Ahrefs prides itself on providing excellent customer support. Businesses can contact the Ahrefs team through email, live chat, or phone and expect quick and helpful responses to any questions or issues they may have.
Detailed Backlink Analysis
With Ahrefs, you can analyze the backlink profiles of your website and your competitors’ websites. This helps you identify link-building opportunities, improve your link profile, and understand why your competitors are ranking higher than you.
Keyword Research
Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer tool provides accurate search volume and keyword difficulty data for specific keywords. This helps you choose the right keywords and avoid wasting time and resources on keywords that are too difficult to rank.
Keyword explorer functionality in Ahrefs is outstanding. It goes beyond your traditional Google lookups as it integrates with Amazon, YouTube, and international search engines, including Baidu, Yandex, and more.
– Anders Hjorth, Author at Fool.com
Content Research
With Ahrefs’ Content Explorer tool, you can research popular content in your niche and gain insights into what content topics and formats are performing well.
This helps you create high-quality content relevant to your target audience and improves search engine rankings.
Rank Tracking
Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker tool allows you to track your website’s keyword rankings over time. This helps you identify which keywords are driving traffic to your website and where you need to improve your SEO efforts.
Link Building
Ahrefs’ Link Intersect tool allows you to identify websites that link to your competitors but not your website. This helps you find new link-building opportunities and improve your website’s backlink profile.
Comprehensive and detailed data on backlinks, keywords, and competitors- Easy-to-use interface and intuitive navigation
- Regular updates and new features added
- Excellent customer support
- Relatively expensive compared to some other SEO tools
- Performance: 5
- Customer Support: 5
- User-friendly: 5
- Pricing: 4.6
Downsides Of Ahrefs
One of the downsides of Ahrefs is that there may be better fits for businesses with limited budgets. Compared to other SEO tools, Ahrefs can be relatively expensive for some businesses or individuals.
Some features may require a certain level of technical knowledge to use effectively. However, despite these downsides, Ahrefs remains a valuable and effective tool for improving website visibility and overall SEO strategy.
Its user-friendly interface, regular updates, and excellent customer support make it a top choice for many businesses and digital marketers.
How To Use Ahrefs
To use Ahrefs, follow these steps:[4]
Sign Up For Ahrefs
The first step to using Ahrefs is to sign up for an account. You can do this by visiting their website and clicking the “Start Now” button. Ahrefs offers different pricing plans, so select the one that suits your needs and budget.
Set Up Your First Project
Once you have signed up for Ahrefs, setting up your first project is the next step. A project is a way to organize your website and track its performance. To create a project, enter your website’s URL, name your project, and choose your target country or region.
Use Site Explorer To Analyze Your Website
After setting up your project, the next step is to use Ahrefs’ Site Explorer tool to analyze your website. Site Explorer provides valuable insights into your website’s backlink profile, organic search traffic, and top-performing pages.
You can use this information to optimize your website and improve its performance.
Conduct Keyword Research With Keyword Explorer
Keyword research is an essential part of any SEO strategy. Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer tool can help you find profitable keywords to target for your website. Enter a keyword or phrase related to your business.
Ahrefs will list related keywords and essential metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, and click-through rate.
Track Your Website’s Ranking With Rank Tracker
Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker tool allows you to monitor your website’s ranking in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
This tool tracks your website’s ranking for specific keywords over time, allowing you to see how your website is performing in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Analyze Your Competitors With Site Explorer
Ahrefs’ Site Explorer tool can also analyze your competitors’ websites. Enter your competitor’s website URL, and Ahrefs will provide valuable insights into their backlink profile, top-performing pages, and organic search traffic.
This information can help you identify areas to improve your website’s performance.
Monitor your backlinks with Backlink Checker
Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker tool allows you to monitor your website’s backlinks and track their growth over time. You can use this tool to identify new backlink opportunities, analyze your competitor’s backlink profiles, and track the impact of your backlink-building efforts.
Use Content Explorer To Find New Content Ideas
Ahrefs’ Content Explorer tool can help you find new content ideas for your website. Enter a keyword or phrase related to your business.
Ahrefs will provide you with a list of related content ideas and essential metrics like social shares, backlinks, and organic search traffic.
Monitor Your Brand Mentions With Alerts
Ahrefs’ Alerts tool allows you to monitor your brand mentions online. You can use this tool to track mentions of your brand name, products, or services and stay on top of what people say about your business online.
Ahrefs Pricing
Ahrefs offers four main pricing plans to cater to different needs and budgets. These plans are:[5]
- Lite Plan: This plan is for individuals and small businesses with a limited budget. It costs $99 per month and offers access to all the core features of Ahrefs, including site audits, keyword ideas, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis. However, the Lite plan has limitations such as fewer reports, limited data access, and a limited number of users.
- Standard Plan: The Standard plan costs $199 monthly and offers more features than the Lite plan. This plan is for businesses that require more data access and reporting capabilities. It allows for up to three users, offers more reports, and provides access to features like content analysis and rank tracking.
- Advanced Plan: The Advanced plan costs $399 monthly and is designed for larger businesses and agencies. It offers access to all the Standard plan features but allows up to five users and provides more data access and reporting capabilities. It also includes access to advanced features like Ahrefs’ API and site explorer.
- Enterprise Plan: The Agency plan is the most expensive plan offered by Ahrefs and is for large agencies and enterprises. This plan costs $999 per month and provides access to all the features of the Advanced plan, but it allows for up to 10 users and provides even more data access and reporting capabilities.
How To Make A Purchase
To purchase an Ahrefs subscription, you can visit the Ahrefs website and click the “Pricing” link at the top. This will take you to the pricing page, where you can choose the plan that best suits your needs.
Once you have selected the plan, click the “Get Started” button and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the purchase.
Payment Options
Ahrefs offers a variety of payment options for its users. Users can pay for their subscriptions using a credit card or PayPal. Ahrefs accepts all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.
Payment is made monthly or annually, depending on the plan selected.
User Testimonials/Customer Feedback
Ahrefs Compared To 3 Other Products
Ahrefs vs. SEMrush
SEMrush is a widely used SEO tool that provides keyword research, competitor analysis, site audits, and more features. It offers multiple pricing plans and caters to the needs of different users.
However, SEMrush focuses more on PPC advertising, while Ahrefs focuses more on organic search. SEMrush’s keyword ideas research tools are less detailed than Ahrefs, but it offers features such as social media monitoring.
Ahrefs vs. Moz
We conducted an extensive Ahrefs vs. Moz comparison. Moz is another well-known SEO tool with features such as site audits, keyword research, and backlink analysis. Like Ahrefs, Moz offers multiple pricing plans and caters to different types of users.
Moz is known for its user-friendly interface, which is particularly beneficial for beginners. However, Moz needs to provide a more in-depth backlink analysis than Ahrefs. Its keywords explorer tools are less comprehensive than Ahrefs.
Ahrefs vs. Majestic
Majestic is an SEO tool that is focused primarily on backlink analysis. Like Ahrefs, it offers multiple pricing plans and caters to different types of users.
Majestic is particularly beneficial for link building, as it provides in-depth backlink analysis and link-building features that Ahrefs do not offer. However, Ahrefs provides more comprehensive keyword research tools and a better user interface. Feel free to check our extensive Ahrefs and Majestic features comparison.
Other Ahrefs comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Ahrefs Any Good?
Yes, Ahrefs is a good SEO tool that offers a wide range of features, including detailed keyword research and backlink analysis. It is one of the top tools in the industry due to its accuracy and comprehensive reporting, making it an essential tool for any SEO professional.
Does Ahrefs Cost Money?
Yes, Ahrefs costs money. It is a paid SEO tool that offers several pricing plans to cater to the needs of different users. Its pricing plans start from $99 per month for the Lite plan and go up to $999 monthly for the Agency plan.
There is also a 7-day trial available for $7.
What Is Ahrefs Best For?
Ahrefs is best known for its comprehensive backlink analysis tools, making it a top choice for SEO professionals and businesses.
It also offers features for keyword research, competitor analysis, and site audits, making it a versatile tool for improving website performance and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Does Ahrefs Provide Customer Support?
Ahrefs provides customer support through various channels, including email, live chat, and a knowledge base. Its customer support team is known for its responsiveness and helpfulness.
Does Ahref Have A Free Trial?
No, Ahrefs does not have a free trial. You can purchase its lite, standard, advanced, or enterprise plan.
Conclusion
Ahrefs is a game-changing SEO tool that gives users a deep understanding of their website’s performance and enables them to make data-driven decisions. Its comprehensive backlink analysis features, robust competitor analysis, and keywords explorer tools make it indispensable for SEO professionals and businesses.
Despite its premium pricing, Ahrefs provides exceptional value with its high-level accuracy, user-friendly interface, and robust reporting features. Overall, Ahrefs is a must-have tool for businesses looking to take their SEO efforts to the next level and stay ahead of the competition.
