Ahrefs is a multi-faceted SEO tool that offers a wide range of services for website optimization, keyword research, and SEO improvements. It is a popular tool that has a large audience but is mainly aimed at users that already have some SEO experience. In this Ahrefs review, we look at its suite of tools so that you can see if it is a suitable platform for your business.
In this Ahrefs review…
- Ahrefs Overview
- Ahrefs Pros and Cons
- Features
- Pricing
- Site Explorer
- Ahrefs Keyword Explorer
- Ahrefs Review Summary
Ahrefs Overview
So what can you expect from Ahrefs? This online SEO tool has a comprehensive set of tools. This includes keyword research, site auditing, SEO performance tracking, and more. You can basically use Ahrefs to take a deep dive into your SEO and keyword marketing, and hopefully make large improvements.
The various tools lack a little polish in terms of UI, and they may not be the most beginner-friendly. However, experienced SEO users will love the versatility and amount of information that you can gain. For keyword research, this is one of the best platforms available. The site audit tool is also incredibly useful for finding weak spots on your website.
Features
- Detailed keyword explorer.
- Full site audit tools.
- Rank tracker to monitor SEO progress.
- Site Explorer to find competitor keywords.
- Basic keyword management.
Ahrefs Pros and Cons
Pros
- Has a wide array of SEO tools for site improvements.
- Also has an excellent range of specific keyword tools.
- Allows you to easily manage keywords and data.
- The website audit allows you to easily find SEO errors.
- Fantastic website crawling capabilities.
Cons
- Does not have the most appealing UI.
- May not have the most extensive SEO reporting options.
Ahrefs Review – What Can You Expect from This Platform?
We’ve split this Ahrefs review into different categories, as it has a range of different tools. We provide an overview of what the platform has to offer and take a look at specific tools within the platform.
Features
First, let’s take a look at the different tools and features that Ahrefs provides. This platform does have a brilliant range of tools for SEO optimization, keyword management, and general website improvements. The following are the main tools you can use from an Ahrefs subscription:
- Site explorer
- Keywords Explorer
- Site Audit
- Rank Tracker
- Content Explorer
We go into more detail about the specific tools below. However, for an overview, Ahrefs essentially allows you to analyze competitors websites, find keywords for your SEO campaigns, improve the quality of your website, and boost your overall SEO.
Pricing
The cost is important when finding a tool like this. Unfortunately, Ahrefs is relatively expensive. That is, it is expensive for small businesses and individuals. This isn’t really a product that is suitable for those who do not have an established business – there are cheaper options available for small businesses.
However, for established businesses that really want to drive their SEO and make substantial improvements, the price is warranted. We have listed the basic price plans below:
Monthly
- Lite: £99.00 per month.
- Standard: £179.00 per month.
- Advanced: £399.00 per month.
- Agency: £999.00 per month.
Annual
- Lite: £82.00 per month.
- Standard: £149.00 per month.
- Advanced: £332.00 per month.
- Agency: £832.00 per month.
Visit Ahrefs for more information.
As you can see, Ahrefs has a simple price structure. We would always advise paying for an annual subscription as you receive a substantial discount which equates to 2-months for free.
The different tiers are essentially related to data and content. The higher tier you are subscribed to, the more data, searches, queries, and alerts you can create. For example, the lite package allows you to get 175 reports per week via the keyword explorer, whereas that standard package allows for up to 700.
We feel this is a straightforward price structure that allows you to choose a package based on your individual business needs. It also gives you scope to scale up in the future.
Site Explorer
The first tool is the Site Explorer. This is a brilliant tool that allows you to research online competitor activity. It has a host of different research options listed below:
- Organic website traffic.
- Backlinks.
- Paid keywords.
- Pages.
- Outgoing links.
The organic website traffic research allows you to see how your competitors rank, and what keywords work for them. Alternatively, the backlinks tool lets you check the full backlink profile of different websites (including your own), so you can see which backlinks work and which don’t.
We also like the paid keywords research. Using this tool, you can see if your competitors are using PPC adverts. This is useful if you are considering your own PPC campaign as you can see what works for them.
Although the site explorer is not the prettiest of tools, it gives you a vast wealth of information relating to your competitors that can be put to good use.
Keywords Explorer
Next, we have the keyword explorer. This is marketed as the most completed research tool available on the market. It certainly does have excellent utility. Keyword research is generated via a database of over 7 billion words, and the database is updated monthly.
Using this tool, you can find relevant keywords for your business and find popular keywords on different search engines including Google, Bing, and other platforms like YouTube and Amazon. The keywords can be filtered, and each one you find results for shows a difficulty level in terms of ranking.
This keyword tool also has an excellent range of SERP tools. We also like that it shows a click metric for keywords – this means that it shows how many people actually click on a link relating to a specific keyword search.
Site Audit
Oftentimes it can be difficult to understand where to improve your website. This is where Ahrefs site audit tool is beneficial. It provides a range of different reports relating to your website so that you can immediately see where it needs improvement.
Compared to the other tools, the site audit has a slightly updated look, and the different reports are easy to access. We also like that the data is shown in an easy-to-understand format including graphs.
You can use the site audit to improve specific areas like content quality, social tags, incoming links, and localization.
Rank Tracker
Aside from making improvements, you want to see tangible gains and progress. This is where the rank tracker is handy. This tool provides a wealth of information relating to the performance of your website against competitors.
The main control panel clearly shows key metrics like website visibility, average ranking position, traffic, and positions. You can filter these rankings via specific date ranges, and also look at how competitors score in contrast to your own website.
Content Explorer
Lastly, Ahrefs has a content explorer. This is intended for wider research on websites and online content in general. Using this tool, you can find content relevant to your industry that performs well.
Examples of different search parameters include monthly traffic from search engines, uniques websites linking to your site, and the number of social media shares your website has. Also, there is an interesting domain rating tool that shows how popular your website is in terms of other websites that backlink to it.
The data and searches can be filtered although, like other Ahrefs tools, it could be improved somewhat in terms of visual appeal and GUI.
Customer Support
Ahrefs has an OK customer support team and a variety of contact methods. The quickest contact method is live chat. They strive to respond to any live chat message within five minutes. Also, you can contact them via email. We also found the response times for this to be OK.
Alternatively, there is also a range of self-help support methods. This includes a tech blog, an SEO guide, a help center, and an academy. These are all packed full of useful guides, tutorials, and articles relating to using the platform. We would like to see a telephone line or more available customer support channels, but it certainly isn’t the worst customer support we have seen.
Ahrefs Review Summary
We hope you have found this Ahrefs review beneficial. Overall, this is a well-equipped platform with an extensive set of tools. You can easily use Ahrefs to greatly improve your SEO, research your competitors, and improve the underlying quality of your website and keyword usage.
For experienced users, the different tools and degrees of control are fantastic. However, first-time users may be overwhelmed by the platform and what it has to offer. Also, the UI is not the most user-friendly – it is quite basic and doesn’t have the same GUI style that some other SEO tools have.
Essentially, Ahrefs is a great tool for medium to large-sized businesses. If you have an established online presence, and a decent level of funding, Ahrefs is a great platform from which to take your online operations to the next level. However, due to the relatively high monthly cost, it is not something we would recommend for single users, or for small businesses that have just created an online presence.
If this Ahrefs review helped you, please recommend DigitalSupermarket.
Checkout other SEO tools reviews such as Long Tail Pro and KWFinder.
