Ahrefs

Pros: Easy to use, multiple tools

Cons: Long learning curve

Pros: Extremely useful and feature-rich

Cons: Too expensive

Pros: Watch clients evaluate the potential of SEO efforts.

Cons: Not easy to figure out positions these days.

Pros: All in one software tool

Cons: Cost

By using Ahrefs for SEO purpose at G2, I can do keyword research, competitor analysis, SERP movement, and monitoring, competitive research, backlink analysis, and monitoring. When it comes to specifically SERP monitoring, Ahrefs gives me the tools to look at things from a holistic or zoomed-in perspective. I can track overall keywords the entire site ranks for, see improvements/losses, track keywords that are breaking onto the first page, etc. I can also dig into specific pieces to see trends in terms of pages picking up keywords, links, and organic traffic.

Ahrefs is a powerful all-in-one SEO software platform that I love using, and frequently get lost in falling into the Ahrefs data rabbit hole.

For the SEO work of my company - Shiply, I use Ahrefs over any other software. It is an easy to learn interface with data that is the most up to date of any of the SEO pro tools. Further, it has extensive country features which are crucial for cross-border SEO. The keyword difficulty tool is also incredibly useful for identifying 'low-hanging fruit' keywords and phrases.

Ahrefs has a simple UI but a whole suite of valuable features. As SEO Manager of Candide Ltd, I liked the following feature of the software: Their web crawler is constantly updating keyword rankings to make it as simple as possible to see how your rankings are improving over time.

It's also great for tracking new and lost backlinks, and the Domain Rating is a useful metric to measure aggregated changes to your backlink profile.

Finally, Ahrefs also has a range of tools to make link building easier. From finding a competitor's backlinks or broken links through to unearthing the pages that have earned the most links for a particular keyword, Ahrefs has got it all covered.

The marketing team of Chanty chose Ahrefs as their favorite SEO tool because it has everything in one place. From keyword research to competitor research, comprehensive backlink analysis, top page analysis, historical keyword tracking and much more, we have everything we need. I would rate Ahrefs at the top when compared to other SEO tools, although I’m sure some marketers would disagree. The only reason is the price since it’s $99 per month and many teams can’t justify this kind of cost.

A common misconception is that Ahrefs is just another keyword research tool. While it’s true that keyword research is indeed one of Ahrefs’ strong suits, At Nine Peaks Media I found that Ahrefs is—technically— a suite of various SEO tools from content research/curation, link building analytics, SEO audit, and many more.

There are at least five core features where Ahrefs really shines:

Backlink Profile Analysis: Ahrefs is often regarded as the best in the backlink analytics department, especially due to its massive link index. Simply enter any URL, and Ahrefs will give an in-depth report about the backlink profile. We can use this insight to build our own link building tactics and validate our target keywords.

Keyword Research: Probably the most important feature for any SEO tools. While some might say that Ahrefs is relatively subpar in this department (as we’ll learn while discussing Ahrefs alternatives below), Ahrefs actually offers an excellent set of keyword research features, giving you all you need to find and analyze target keyword and content ideas.

Content Insights: Analyze various topics and trending content to find out which actually produce the most backlinks, traffic, and engagement on various social media networks.

Site Audit: SEO audit is an important aspect of SEO success, analyzing your site to find possible technical errors and optimization issues, so you can make the necessary adjustments.

Rank Tracking: Track the ranking performance of your target keywords, where you can filter by device and location.

Ahrefs is probably quite expensive for some. Ahrefs offers four different plans:

Lite for $99/month, 1 user, some locked features

Standard for $179/month, 1 user, most core features unlocked

Advanced for $399/month, 3 users, more data with each analysis and report

Agency for $999/month, 5 users, even more data than the advanced plan

My most used tool is Ahrefs, although it isn't the cheapest. I usually use it for keywords research and backlink analysis, but it has pretty good site audits too. The main benefit is that it provides really accurate data in different languages. Other tools aren't as good for working with non-English speaking markets. Our team of OnlineCasinoHEX.nl works on more than 20 different markets, including Japan, Thailand, Romania, Poland and more, so we really need SEO software that is equally good in different languages.

AHREFs is great when it comes to features, specifically backlink analysis. This is why serious SEO professionals rank AHREFs as their preferred SEO tool. When you’re doing SEO, you need something that can clarify the backlink situation because it’s a powerful ranking factor and there aren’t many tools out there that nail it. AHREFs nails backlinks. It has a larger database of active links and more opportunities to find quality links that competitors have. This means if you’re looking to build backlinks, monitor your backlinks or diagnose problems with a website’s backlink profile, you’re going to want to use AHREFs. Common use cases would be bulk checking URLs for strength and IPs to identify the quality of URLs quickly. At GainTap we use the tool to identify our competitor’s best backlinks and see how much traffic those links receive. You can quickly see broken backlinks that point to 404 pages and figure out which high-quality links should be redirected. AHREFs also provides paid search (PPC) keyword and ad data which many SEOs will find useful for their PPC campaigns. AHREFs has keyword rank tracking, site auditing, and a keyword explorer to perform keyword research. I’ve used many other software tools but none have been able to replace AHREFs because of their inability to provide solid backlink data that is vital to professional SEO.