ahrefs

If you are looking for a comprehensive and affordable SEO tool, Ahrefs might be your answer.

Ahrefs is a search engine optimization (SEO) tool that helps you track your website’s rankings and the backlinks and organic traffic coming to your site.

It also has a robust toolset for keyword research, competitor analysis, and content marketing toolset.

This article will discuss the features of an Ahrefs account and how it can help your business grow online.

What Is Ahrefs?

Ahrefs is a tool that helps you grow your business by improving your website’s search engine optimization (SEO).

Ahrefs does this by tracking your website’s progress and giving you insights on how to improve it.

What Is Ahrefs Used For?

You can use Ahrefs for several functions, but its primary purpose is to help you improve your website’s SEO.

Ahrefs does this by showing you the most popular keywords people use to find your website and the backlinks that point to your site.

Ahrefs can also help you spy on your competitors and see what they’re doing to improve their SEO.

How Ahrefs Works

Ahrefs is a subscription-based link-building and SEO tool that helps you rank higher in search engines.

Ahrefs does this by giving you insights into your website’s link profile and those of your competitors.

In addition, Ahrefs has several other features, including keyword research, rank tracking, and site audits.

Notable Features of Ahrefs

Ahrefs provides SEO specialists, content creators, marketers, and agencies with the following features.

1. Site Explorer

Ahrefs’ Site Explorer is a tool that lets you see how your website is performing in the search engines.

It includes the following areas.

• DR: DR stands for domain rating. It’s Ahrefs’ metric for measuring the quality of a website’s link profile.
• Backlinks: Ahrefs shows you the number of backlinks pointing to your website and the quality of those links.
• Referring domains: Ahrefs lets you see the number of unique domains linking to your website.
• Organic keywords: Using the Ahrefs Site Explorer, you can view the number of keywords that your website ranks for in the search engines.
• Organic traffic: Use this metric to see the number of people visiting your website from the search engines.

You’ll also see performance graphs about competitors, paid traffic, organic traffic, and traffic by country.

2. Site Audit Tool

Ahrefs’ Site Audit Tool helps you find and fix on-site SEO issues.

The tool crawls your website to find technical SEO challenges that could hold you back from ranking higher in the search engines.

You’ll see an overall health score and a breakdown of notices, warnings, and errors.

3. Rank Tracker

Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker will help you track your website’s progress in the search engines.

It includes the following areas.

• Keywords: The number of keywords you decided to track.
• Average position: The average position of each keyword you’re tracking.
• Positions: Ahrefs shows you how your website’s ranking positions change over time.
• Visibility: An estimate of the clicks garnered by your website on the search engine results pages.

You can also see traffic stats, such as clicks and impressions, for each keyword you’re tracking.

4. Content Explorer

Ahrefs’ Content Explorer is a tool that helps you find popular content on the web.

It looks for influencers based on topics that you enter into the tool.

Use this Ahrefs feature to identify backlink opportunities or potential partners.

5. Keyword Explorer

Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer is a tool that discovers popular keywords on the web.

It includes the following areas.

• Search volume: The number of searches for a keyword in Ahrefs’ database.
• CPC: The average cost per click for a keyword on the Google Ads platform.
• Keyword difficulty: Ahrefs’ metric for measuring how difficult it is to rank for a keyword in the search engines.

You can also view SERP features for each keyword you’re researching, such as featured snippets and related keywords.

Ahrefs also lets you filter keywords by country and language.

6. SEO Dashboard

The dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of your website.

You’ll see metrics from areas like Site Audit, Site Explorer, and Rank Tracker.

Are There Any Minimum Requirements Necessary To Use Ahrefs?

Ahrefs is a web-based application.

As long as you have an internet connection, you can use Ahrefs from anywhere in the world.

The tool also offers a mobile app that you can use to check your website’s link profile and track your ranking keywords while on the go.

How Much Does Ahrefs Cost?

You can select from one of four plans when using Ahrefs.

Lite

The Lite Plan with Ahrefs gives you the following features.

• Site Explorer
• Site Audit
• SEO Dashboard
• Keywords Explorer
• Rank Tracker
• Alerts

Cost: $99 per month

Standard

The Standard Plan gives you everything from the Lite Plan.

As well, you get more benefits from using Site Explorer.

These include the following additional features.

• Broken links
• Broken backlinks
• Content gap
• Link intersect
• Outgoing links
• Calendar view

With Standard, you will also get a six-month history view, a position chart history, the Content Explorer, batch analysis features, report sharing, and domain comparison.

Cost: $199 per month

Advanced

You get everything from the Standard Plan included with the Advanced Plan.

Ahrefs then adds in the following features.

• Google Data Studio
• Dashboard folders
• Two-year history view
• Ahrefs search
• Site Structure and HTML source added to Site Explorer

Cost: $399 per month

Enterprise

The Enterprise Plan includes all the features from the Advanced Plan.

Then, you get these additional features added in.

• Unlimited history
• Directory listing
• Access management
• API features
• Pay by invoice
• Audit log

Cost: $999 per month

Does Ahrefs Have an Enterprise Version Available?

Yes, Ahrefs offers an Enterprise Plan.

The Ahrefs Enterprise Plan works best for larger companies and agencies.

However, keep in mind that $999 per month is only the starting price.

Your agency or company may pay more per month based on individual needs.

Ahrefs Promotions & Savings

Don’t expect much in the way of savings off of the stated Ahrefs pricing plans revealed on its website.

Does Ahrefs Have a Free Trial?

No, Ahrefs does not have a free trial.

Instead, you will need to sign up for one of Ahrefs’ paid plans to start using the tool.

Does Ahrefs Offer Coupon Codes?

No, Ahrefs doesn’t offer any savings by using coupon codes.

Does Ahrefs Have a Lifetime Deal?

Once again, you won’t find this type of feature at Ahrefs.

Unfortunately, the company doesn’t offer any lifetime deals.

Who Are Ahrefs’s Main Alternatives?

If you want to review competitors to Ahrefs, here are the company’s three main alternatives.

1. Moz

With Moz, you get access to tools like MozBar, a free toolbar that gives you on-page SEO metrics as you surf the web.

Moz also offers its Link Explorer, which helps you research link-building opportunities.

You’ll gain access to Moz’s Keyword Explorer tool, as well.

It’s one of the best options on the market for uncovering unique keyword opportunities.

The source of keyword research data represents the most significant difference between Moz and Ahrefs.

Ahrefs returns data from 10 search engines, including Google, YouTube, Yandex, Bing, Yahoo, and Amazon.

Moz only returns data from Google.

You might not care about this difference if you’re only interested in Google.

On the other hand, you might need Amazon data if you’re an eCommerce company.

2. SEMrush

SEMrush is Ahrefs’s biggest competitor.

The two companies offer similar features and pricing plans, with SEMrush giving you many of the same features as Ahrefs.

For example, its Site Audit tool is powerful.

It analyzes your website and reveals all the main reasons you might struggle with search engine rankings.

One of the main differences between these companies is the keyword research feature provided by each tool.

You’ll see competition, CPC, and search volume with Ahrefs.

However, SEMrush gives you a little more data.

It will show you a greater number of results and search volume trends, for instance.

3. Majestic

Majestic is slightly different from Ahrefs and SEMrush as it’s more focused on link building than the other two companies.

Majestic provides one of the largest link indexes in the world.

The company offers one main feature: Site Explorer.

Use it to see your website’s Citation Flow and Trust Flow.

The Citation Flow feature shows you the site’s number of backlinks.

Trust Flow measures the quality and value of each backlink.

While both tools provide excellent backlinking tools, Ahrefs differs by providing more generous keyword research features.

How Does Ahrefs Differentiate Itself From Competitors?

One way that Ahrefs differentiates itself from its competitors is by going deeper with keyword research data.

It doesn’t just show overall search volumes.

Instead, Ahrefs goes above and beyond to reveal the estimated number of clicks that occur at the search engines for each query.

Knowing whether people care enough to click through to websites after performing a search is important.

For instance, a keyword could get high traffic volume while searchers get the answer directly on the Google search results page.

Therefore, you don’t want to target a keyword that won’t generate clicks from Google to your site.

Backlink growth is another way Ahrefs differentiates itself.

The feature allows you to accurately compare your website’s backlink growth (or decline) to competitors.

Who Is Ahrefs Best For?

Any marketer can use Ahrefs for greater search engine optimization results.

However, larger agencies and businesses will benefit the most from using the SEO tool.

Why Is Ahrefs Best for Larger Businesses?

Ahrefs is an expensive tool. If you’re a solopreneur or small business, you might not want to invest in it.

However, if you manage marketing for a large company, Ahrefs is worth the investment.

The platform also offers features that larger agencies need.

If you run an agency, you need features such as content gap analysis and site audits.

You can more effectively help your clients make SEO adjustments with this data.

Is Ahrefs Easy To Use?

While Ahrefs isn’t exactly hard to use, it does take time to get used to the dashboard.

So don’t expect to feel comfortable using Ahrefs at first.

However, it starts to feel more intuitive once you use it for a while.

What Features Do Some Users Love?

Most Ahrefs users comment positively about the tool’s ability to help build a backlink profile.

The company began as a backlink tool and continues to please its customers in this area.

The ability to track keyword rankings is a second area that most Ahrefs users love putting to good use.

What Features Do Some Users Find Frustrating?

Although Ahrefs shines as a backlink tool, SEMrush and Moz offer larger link indexes.

Some Ahrefs customers find this frustrating.

The other frustrating aspect of Ahrefs is its customer service.

It’s not always easy to get a quick answer to issues that may frustrate you as you use the SEO tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

You may still have a couple of questions about Ahrefs.

Here are the answers to two questions commonly asked about the tool.

Wrapping Up

Although a great fit for larger businesses and agencies, Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool that any company can use to improve its search engine rankings.

Are you ready to start using Ahrefs?

Decide on the plan that fits your needs here.

Have you already used Ahrefs? Please leave a review in the comments below.

By Brett Helling

Brett has been starting, growing, and monetizing websites since 2014. While in college, he began to learn about digital marketing. After graduating, he continued to build a diverse portfolio of websites while working a full time job. After years of building the portfolio on the side, he made the jump to run his websites full time.