Ahrefs review 2024: The best tool on content/link building

I have been using Ahrefs for over 1.5 years now and there is no other program that has given me so many insights and saved so much time.

Should you still be looking for the ideal SEO tool, you should definitely include this tool in your consideration.

And since I think you really should have tried it once too, it's high time for an Ahrefs review!

What is Ahrefs?

Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO and online marketing tool with the goal of growing the number of visitors within your website, monitoring your niche and beating your competitors.

And yes, that is partly the title they themselves use on their website (but it happens to say exactly what it says).

The options within Ahrefs are vast, and because I think you should definitely know them before you start using the tool, I'm going to briefly explain them to you now.

Functionalities of Ahrefs

About 70% of the time I spend on Ahrefs, I spend on the "Site Explorer.

I personally think that is the very best feature of Ahrefs.

But there is more!

So I now list all the features for you, so you can decide the best feature for yourself.

Dashboard

In Ahrefs' dashboard, you'll see all the projects you've added.

You don't see a lot of specific data here, but you mostly see the key numbers.

Consider the Ahrefs rank, your domain authority, the number of backlinks, organic traffic and the number of organic keywords.

That will look like this:

Alerts

I'm guessing you're already familiar with Google Alerts.

Then you will get an email when you are mentioned online.

Ahrefs also has this feature!

Ahrefs' alerts feature can give you three types of alerts:

• When you get a new backlink
• when you are found on a new search term
• When your company name is mentioned (without a link)

You can set the alerts by day, week or month.

So you never miss updates, mentions or new backlinks.

Site explorer

My apologies in advance, as the Site Explorer may cause me to lose myself a bit in my enthusiasm.

But seriously, this part is fantastic.

Why?

Because with a few simple clicks:

• All your backlinks can be seen
• All your lost backlinks can be seen
• All internal links can see
• Track all the search terms you are found on (including shifts)
• Can figure out a website's best pages
• Competitive domains can show
• Finding out search terms that your competitors are being found on and you are not
• Finding out best scoring pages based on backlinks
• Can figure out the anchor texts used
• Find out all about outbound links
• Can easily export all of the above information
• And many more

You can view all of this by website, by page or by subdomain.

In other words, with the Site Explorer alone, you can figure out how to beat your competitors.

Should Ahrefs consist only of the Site Explorer, it would still be my favorite tool.

Content explorer

I don't use Ahrefs' content explorer very much, I mainly use KWFinder for that in combination with the SERPChecker.

The Content Explorer gives you information from the search results for a particular keyword.

For example, you can see exactly which parties are using your keyword on their websites.

In the title or in the URL, for example.

You can filter this by language, date when article posted, date when article modified, social shares, domain authority and more.

The results of the information you entered may then look like this:

This allows you to see exactly what your competitors are saying about a keyword and how well they rank online.

Keyword explorer

So Ahrefs' Keyword explorer is Ahrefs' keyword analysis tool.

Similar to the Google Keyword Planner, but many times better.

You use the Keyword explorer primarily to find out how often a keyword is searched for, what the competition is for that keyword and what other relevant keywords are.

It looks like this:

You will then also see the SERP data for the keyword and see how the positions of all parties have changed over time.

This then looks like this:

What can you do with all this information?

Determining if a keyword is interesting, finding out why your competitors rank better, and it can help you figure out even more keywords to use.

Rank Tracker

A Rank Tracker is a generic name for a program that can track what positions you rank in Google with respect to a pre-populated keyword.

And so Ahrefs' tool does just that.

The Rank Tracker from Ahrefs can therefore be compared to AccurankerOr the Rank Tracker from SEO Powersuite.

Ahrefs' Rank Tracker actually contains everything you need.

You get to see all the important information like average position, your positions, expected traffic, URL, location and much more.

This then looks something like this!

Site audit

I don't use Ahrefs' Site audit very much.

It is a tool that tells you all kinds of things about the technical state of your website.

But to be perfectly honest, when I compare it to other parties' Site audit, I find it much better and more user-friendly.

So that's why I can't tell you much more about it :).

More

In addition to the previously mentioned features, Ahrefs has more.

These are verstond under the More heading in the menu.

For each tool, I will briefly touch on what you can do with it:

• Ahrefs Rank (see the Ahrefs Rank rankings)
• Domain Comparator (compare 5 domains at once based on all kinds of important SEO information)
• Quick Batch Analysis (similar to the domain comparator, but only specific to link building)
• Link Intersect (finding out which parties link to, for example, your competitors, but not to you)
• Ahrefs SEO Toolbar (learn more about Ahrefs' SEO Toolbar)
• Ahrefs API (more information if you want to link Ahrefs' data to your own system, for example)
• Ahrefs Data in SEO Tools (list of tools that use Ahrefs data).

Advantages and disadvantages of Ahrefs

Since it's incredibly nice to get some pros and cons of a tool served up in advance, I'm going to do the same for Ahrefs for you.

Actually, Ahrefs has only two drawbacks:

1. If you take the right account, Ahrefs is quite expensive.
2. In terms of technical analysis, other tools score better.

I can live with both disadvantages.

For technical analysis, I use other tools and because I use it so much, Ahrefs actually saves me money/time.

On to the benefits:

• Ahrefs has the largest database of any SEO tool
• Compared to other all-in-one SEO tools, Ahrefs works the easiest by far
• Ahrefs has functionalities that its competitors do not have (or those of the competitors work many times worse)
• During the 1.5 years I have been using Ahrefs I have never had any problems with it
• Ahrefs' data has also always been accurate during that time.

Now that I've listed the pros and cons, it's time to move on to the different packages offered by Ahrefs.

Prices and packages

Ahrefs offers four packages:

The difference in price is in the features and functions you get.

If you want to use Ahrefs as an online marketer or SEO specialist, you absolutely need "Advanced.

Otherwise, you will miss important features that you absolutely cannot miss.

Consider mobile search results or historical data.

As a business owner, you will have to choose between "Lite" and "Standard.

In doing so, I'm going to help you:

Are you currently dependent on your online sales and want to pop online?

Then go for "Standard.

Are you at the beginning of your online adventure and have a lot of work to do on your website?

Then go for "Lite.

Pro tip: You can try Ahrefs for 7 days for $7. Do that and test if Ahrefs is what for you!

Ahref's alternatives and competitors

In my opinion, Ahrefs is the best tool when it comes to content and link building.

Should you compare Ahrefs to other all-in-one SEO tools, there are only a few that come close:

• Semrush
• MOZ
• Majestic
• Mangolis

Every tool has its charm and every tool has its advantages and disadvantages.

The tip I have for you here is to try all the tools once and choose for yourself which one works best for you.

And to make things a little easier for you, here's a handy table with all kinds of information about those four parties:

*Semrush/Ahrefs do not work on the basis of keywords entered, but on the basis of data coming out of the program. So suppose you have 100 suggestions per keyword you can only enter 100 keywords.

**Majestic works on the basis of analysis units. Similar to Semrush/Ahrefs.

Ahrefs blog

In addition to the useful tools Ahrefs provides, they also have a blog with incredibly good articles.

Whether you are a seasoned SEO specialist or a startup entrepreneur discovering marketing, I would definitely recommend reading the Ahrefs blog.

Conclusion

As you have come to expect from me, I always grade the tool at the end.

Ahrefs makes my online marketing heart beat faster, but unfortunately due to the lack of a good technical analysis tool, I cannot give a ten.

That wouldn't be fair, either.

Since Ahrefs is otherwise perfect, I would like to end this Ahrefs review by giving it a 9.7!