Honest Overview of Ahrefs: 6 Сore Features that Allow to Rank High in Google

This article is a verified Ahrefs guide that gives you the necessary insights about the program.

MLSDev, a software development company, vastly uses this service that allowed us to grow our traffic by almost 90%. This consequently increased the number of leads and client base.

Ahrefs tool is used for utilizing SEO and marketing activities for any business that is present online. The program covers functionality from keyword research, detailed website analysis to traffic research and content creation. This one is considered as number 1 on the market among SEO tools.

We are going to narrate what Ahrefs features and what strategies helped achieve such a result, namely:

• Keyword explorer
• SERF results checker
• Content gap analysis
• Backlink profile analysis
• Site explorer
• Extra: SEO toolbar

Let’s begin this fascinating journey!

1. Keyword Analysis & Generation Tool

This feature is probably the most valuable feature from Ahrefs. With its help, you can find untapped ideas for your website content. The tool has a database of more than 10B keywords in 170+ countries.

As you may know, keywords are words people use when searching a specific topic on the internet and, more specifically, in the browser (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.). Thus, you may enter your ideas with up to 10 words or phrases in the field. Then you get a detailed report on the metrics, as follows:

• Search volume - a metric that shows the average, the monthly number of searches for a particular keyword in the selected county as well as globally
• Keyword difficulty - a metric that shows the estimated number of how it is difficult to hit the top 10 positions for the keyword; shows the number of required referring domains to a particular URL. Ahrefs also display a difficulty scale where 0-10 - easy to target, 11-30 - medium, 31-70- hard, and 71-100 - very hard to target.
• Clicks - a metric that refers to the average number of clicks on the search result by the mentioned keyword
• Parent topic - a metric that indicates the main/generic topic of the keyword and whether it is possible to target this word instead

For instance, the keyword - “app development cost” has a search volume of 900 in the US and 2,2 k globally, has a difficulty of 56, meaning that you need the links from ~108 websites to target top positions; with 753 clicks and $35 cost per click from the advertisement.

Thus, you can identify whether this keyword is appropriate for you and whether you can compete for the top 10 positions in search results. By conducting this analysis, it is possible to define what article, website pages, and other content you may prepare with including the necessary keywords so that Google relates your content to the target search results.

This feature also immensely helped our team update the website and analyze what content we should prepare for it.

2. SERP Results Checker

Of course, Keyword planner is not the only tool you should consider when planning to hit top results with your website pages. It is necessary to review SERP (Search Engine Result Page) to plan your web content ideas and marketing strategies.

This Ahrefs feature showcases the search results up to the 10th position based on the selected keyword and some major SEO indicators. These include the Ahrefs website rank, domain rating, URL rating, number of backlinks, referring domains, and generated traffic of each result.

This information helps understand your possibilities to rank on top of the keyword and what quality should be your content.

3. Content Gap

Content gap analysis allows users to identify the missing topics and ideas for your website across the internet.

As well it is possible to find content ideas and keywords for new blog posts that your competitive sites rank for, but your website does not. Ahrefs shows up to 100 search results in Google. You just need to enter your competitor’s URL and hit the search button.

Then you can filter found keywords by search volume, difficulty, number of words, as well as inclusive and exclusive words. There are some other filters you can use for more context and more exact customization.

If you are unsure what your competitors are, it is possible to use features of Competing Domain and Competing Pages.

For example, our company specializes in custom web application development, so we at MLSDev searched for related keywords that would highlight this expertise, be relevant and interesting to our audience, and have good SEO metrics. This way, our team prepared a few blog posts - Outsource Web Development Wisely, How to Build a Social Network Website from Scratch, and so on.

4.Site Explorer

Ahrefs Site Explorer displays a detailed analysis of a particular web page or a website in general. It provides a more detailed overview of the target website traffic, what domains and online resources link to the web page, and check this dynamic regularly.

5. Ahrefs Link Building Tools

These are the elements that help to create a solid backlink profile for your website. Generally speaking, the bigger number of external resources with a high domain rating link to your website, the more authoritative your website becomes.

• Domain Rating (DR) - a metric that shows the resource authority measured from 0-100. The higher this number, the more authoritative the website is.
• URL Rating (UR)- the same metric as Domain Rating but relates to a particular, individual web page (URL).

These links are explored by Google and result in a higher ranking and showcase of your website across the media landscape.

Note that linking to spam or inappropriate content could lower your SEO activity and even result in a penalty from Google.

So, how can you use Ahrefs to acquire more reliable links to your website? To start with, the analysis of your site backlink profile helps come up with a future link building strategy and make it far more straightforward.

Backlinks Analysis

The tool can be used not only to track the backlinking profile of your website but also to search for links and domains of the competitive sites. It is possible to receive the top 100 links of the asked website or page. This way, you can target your competitor’s links in your link building strategy. The analysis also gives information about top linked pages of the site, anchor text, number of referring backlinks and referring domains, as well as DR and UR.

Note that links that refer to your site should be tagged as “dofollow” so that Google identifies these relations. In case the link is labeled as “nofollow” it would not be recognized.

Check for Broken Links

Ahrefs’ Broken Link Checker provides information about broken links inside your website as well as outbound links for a domain, subdomain, or a specific web page. This feature can be utilized to find broken links on your website to improve user experience and check for opportunities for replacing broken links.

6.Extra: SEO Toolbar Extension

There is another excellent Ahrefs functionality that helps grab information while searching the web effortlessly. This tool is called SEO Toolbar that offers to set up a particular extension for Google Chrome and Firefox. This way, it allows you to get the site results right from the browser.

Ahrefs SEO Toolbar spawns reports about on-page SEO and points like titles, headings, meta tag description, target keywords, word counter, and much more. Aside from these elements, it monitors broken links, highlights internal and external links, and displays major SEO metrics.

Bottom Line: Why Should You Use Ahrefs

All in all, the Ahrefs program is equipped with leading data, which is updated regularly and is well-trusted by marketers, SEO experts, and other professionals globally.

With the help of a simplified interface, the tool derives dozens of information based on web crawlers.

Of course, you may try other SEO and marketing services like SEMRush, Moz, but your best choice is Ahrefs. You can also find lots of tutorials, articles, and guides on providing tips and tricks to use the Ahrefs program effectively.

You may get a trial version of Ahrefs for $7 for seven days and receive the following tools and:

• inspect your organic site traffic, backlinks, referring domains
• explore any website or link available on the internet
• find out the most popular content of any subject
• come up with great topics for the content to rank high in Google results
• get a complete analysis of your company’s website with 100+ SEO points
• receive timely notifications of your backlink profile, mentions, keywords ranking

Grow your traffic, website leads, and clients together with the Ahrefs program!