Ahrefs Review 2024: Tool Overview & Killer SEO Features

In the ever-evolving world of SEO, Ahrefs has firmly established itself as one of the most comprehensive and powerful SEO tools on the market. Ahrefs is a SaaS platform offering a suite of advanced tools designed to help businesses and marketers improve their online presence, track SEO performance, and outshine competitors. From backlink analysis to keyword research, Ahrefs equips you with the data you need to craft effective SEO and content strategies.

Pricing Plans of Ahrefs

Before diving deeper into the features of Ahrefs, let’s take a look at its pricing plans. As of 2024, Ahrefs offers four distinct pricing tiers that cater to different types of users:

Lite: $129/month

This plan is designed for small businesses and hobby projects that require essential SEO data. The key features include:

• 5 projects to manage
• 6 months of historical data
• 1 user included, with the option to add up to 2 additional users at $40/month per user
• 500 credits per user
• Track up to 750 keywords

Standard: $249/month

Ideal for freelance SEOs and marketing consultants, this plan offers more comprehensive tools:

• 20 projects
• 2 years of history available
• 1 user included, with the option to add up to 5 additional users at $60/month per user
• Unlimited credits per user
• Track up to 2,000 keywords

Advanced: $449/month

Perfect for lean in-house marketing teams, this plan provides expanded capabilities:

• 50 projects
• 5 years of history
• 1 user included, with the option to add up to 10 additional users at $80/month per user
• Unlimited credits per user
• Track up to 5,000 keywords

Enterprise: $14,990/year

Tailored for large agencies and enterprises, this plan is fully customizable to meet extensive needs:

• 100 projects
• Unlimited historical data
• 3 users included, with the option to add unlimited additional users at $1,000/year per user
• Unlimited credits per user
• Track up to 10,000 keywords

Each plan varies in terms of the number of projects, users, keyword tracking, and access to historical data. While the Lite plan is ideal for small businesses and hobbyists, the Enterprise plan is designed for agencies and enterprises with high-level SEO needs. Let’s break down why this tool is worth every penny.

Is Ahrefs Worth the Investment?

Absolutely, Ahrefs is worth the money—especially if you’re serious about your SEO efforts. It’s a robust tool that provides essential features, including:

• Competitor Backlink Analysis
• Keyword Research
• Rank Tracking
• Content Explorer
• SEO Toolbar Browser Extension

With one of the largest backlink databases in the world and AhrefsBot ranking as the second most active web crawler after Googlebot, the tool delivers unparalleled insights into SEO performance. For businesses in competitive niches, investing in Ahrefs can provide a significant edge.

Ahrefs Tools Breakdown

Ahrefs’ value comes from its two primary tools: Site Explorer and Keywords Explorer. Both tools are designed to provide deep insights into how websites perform, whether you’re auditing your own site or spying on your competitors.

• Site Explorer
• Keywords Explorer

Site Explorer:

The Site Explorer tool is the backbone of Ahrefs, enabling users to analyze any website’s backlink profile, organic traffic, and keyword rankings. Here’s what makes it stand out:

Ahrefs Rank (AR): This metric ranks websites based on the size and quality of their backlink profiles. For example, Facebook.com ranks #1, while Twitter.com ranks #2. A lower AR means a stronger backlink profile.

The AR of Ahrefs.com is 1,635 and it is always changing as the database is updated.

URL Rating (UR): UR shows the strength of a webpage’s backlink profile. It’s comparable to Moz’s Page Authority (PA) but uses a different calculation method. Higher UR equals more backlink power for a specific URL.

Domain Rating (DR): Similar to Moz’s Domain Authority (DA), DR measures the overall strength of a website’s backlink profile.

Backlinks: Ahrefs gives you a comprehensive view of all backlinks pointing to a site. You can filter them by Dofollow links, which carry the most SEO value, and even export them for further analysis.

In the backlink section, you can check all backlinks of a website. Following is the example of one link per domain.

You can also add the filter to make more useful you can choose link type to Dofollow because these are the links that move the needle. You can also export the data if you would like.

Referring domains: This metric shows the total number of unique domains linking to a website. You can sort them by DR and filter for Dofollow links to zero in on high-value backlinks.

In this, you can also select the list and choose the Dofollow option. The following is an example of referring domains sorted by domain rating (DR).

Organic keywords: View the total number of keywords a website ranks for across different search engines. You can filter by country, search volume, keyword difficulty (KD), and cost per click (CPC).

This contains the keywords that are ranking you can choose any county and see the various metrics to explore the data like search volume of the keyword, KD (Keyword Difficulty), Cost Per Click (CPC), Position of the page, etc.

Organic Traffic: Ahrefs estimates the monthly organic traffic a website receives from search engines. You can also break this down by country to see where traffic is coming from.

You can check the traffic that a website is getting from organic search. On the right side, you can check the countries and traffic of each country.

Traffic value: This estimates how much it would cost to generate the same traffic through paid search campaigns, giving you a sense of how valuable the organic traffic is.

By default, data is sorted according to the traffic value you can choose other options as well.

How to Use Ahrefs for Competitor Backlink Analysis?

To uncover your competitors’ backlink strategies, simply input their URLs into Site Explorer. Paid users can view all backlinks, but even the free version allows you to see up to 100 backlinks. Filters make it easy to sort backlinks by relevance, Dofollow status, and anchor text—giving you actionable insights to enhance your own SEO strategy.

Free Tools: Ahrefs Backlink Checker

Even if you’re not ready to commit to a paid plan, Ahrefs offers a Free Backlink Checker tool. You can check up to 100 backlinks for any website, along with the associated anchor text. It’s a great way to dip your toes into competitor analysis without breaking the bank.

To use this tool, visit ahrefs.com/backlink-checker, enter the URL, and analyze the top 100 backlinks for free. While it won’t provide the full suite of data that paid users get, it’s an excellent starting point for understanding a site’s backlink profile.

Enter the website link to check the backlinks.

You can see upto 100 backlinks for free.

You can also check what anchor text are used for these backlinks.

Keyword Explorer:

The Keywords Explorer tool is another killer feature, allowing you to discover and analyze keywords for SEO and PPC campaigns. With its extensive database, it provides insights into search volume, keyword difficulty, and potential clicks.

Keyword Difficulty (KD): Ahrefs calculates how hard it is to rank for a specific keyword. The tool even shows you how many backlinks are typically required to land in the top 10 for that keyword.

Search Volume: You get monthly search volume estimates, broken down by country. The tool frequently updates its database, ensuring you have the latest information.

Clicks & CPC: This data helps you determine how many people are clicking on search results and how much each click is worth in paid campaigns.

It shows how many people are searching for a keyword with country data.

You can see the parent topic of the keyword. You can check related keywords, and question types, and also rank for newly discovered keywords.

Here is the SERP history of six months to analyze.

SERP Overview: Get a snapshot of the top 10 results for any keyword, including metrics like DR, UR, and backlink profiles. This can help you assess whether you have a realistic shot at ranking for a given keyword. This might not be the same as organic search but it is very similar and based on the latest data in the database of the Ahrefs index.

Parent Topics & Related Keywords: Ahrefs doesn’t just provide data on a single keyword; it also suggests related keywords, question-based keywords, and even the “parent topic” to help you discover content ideas.

Final Thoughts: Is Ahrefs the Right SEO Tool for You?

Ahrefs offers some of the best features in the market, making it a must-have for SEO professionals, content marketers, and agencies. Its detailed backlink data, comprehensive keyword research tools, and frequent updates ensure that you have the latest insights at your fingertips.

Whether you’re a small business looking to improve your search visibility or an agency managing dozens of clients, Ahrefs has a pricing plan and toolset to meet your needs. While it may seem like a significant investment, the ROI it offers makes it a no-brainer for anyone serious about SEO.

We hope this Ahrefs review gives you the confidence to make the right decision for your SEO toolkit. If you’re looking to elevate your search engine rankings and beat the competition, Ahrefs could be the missing piece to your SEO strategy.