🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 131 (from laksa180)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa131.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/","crawl_time":1775594361,"first_indexed_time":1680711902,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,searchlogistics!www,\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/ s443","src_root_hash":"4965880738866477131","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Ahrefs Review: 25x Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic","meta_descriptions":["Learn how to increase your traffic with my Ahrefs review that shows you 25 awesome ways to use it to take your site to the next level."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Ahrefs is a very popular\nSEO tool\nthat was originally built to check\nbacklinks\n.\nHowever over the last years it has developed into something much more with a class leading database of backlinks and\nkeywords\n.\nAhrefs is one of the most popular\nSEO\ntools\nfor a reason.\nAnd if you want to drive a TON of organic traffic to your website?\nHere’s the basic formula:\nPick a topic\/keyword\nCreate an exceptional piece of content\nPromote it. Build links to it. Rank it.\nSounds simple, right!?\nI’ll let you in on a little secret:\n \nIt is simple, but only if you use the right tools for the job.\nWhat do I mean by that?\nWell, there are a ton of questions you need to answer before you get started, such as:\n1.\nWhich keywords\/topics should you be trying to rank for?\n2.\nIs it even possible to outrank the competition?\n3.\nWhat kind of content should you create? (e.g. blog post,\ninfographic\n, interactive content, etc)\n4.\nHow many links\ndo you need to build to rank for your chosen keywords? (and can you build that many links?)\nIn this post, I’ll be showing you how to answer all these questions (and more) with only one tool:\nAhrefs\n.\nWhat Will I Learn?\nWhat You Will Learn\nWhat Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?\nAhrefs Pros & Cons\n📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like\n📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike\nGetting Started With My Ahrefs Review\nBacklink Health Check\n#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports\n#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues\n#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs\n#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks\n#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links\n#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links\nKeyword Research\n#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer\n#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)\n#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors\n#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”\nKeyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)\n#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6\n#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential\nContent Research\n#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer\n#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer\nLink Building\n#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks\n#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)\n#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions\n#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)\n#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)\n#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects\nSite Audit\n#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)\n#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report\n#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports\nAnalysing Your Progress\/Success\n#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank\n#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)\nUseful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)\nWrapping It Up\nWhat You Will Learn\nLet me make one thing clear:\n \nMy aim here\nisn’t\nto list everything Ahrefs\ncan\ndo.\n(If that’s what you want, you can find\na big list of features here\n.)\nMy aim is to show actionable ways to use Ahrefs (and no other tools) to get more organic traffic to your website.\nHere’s everything I’ll be teaching you:\nGetting Started:\nHow to get started with Ahrefs and set yourself up for success (\nnote\n: do not skip this stage, it is\nvery\nimportant).\nBacklink Health Check:\nHow to identify (and fix) any backlink issues that may be holding your website back in the\nSERPs\n.\nWARNING\n: Fixing these issues can lead to an instant rankings boost!\nKeyword Research\n:\nAhrefs Keywords Explorer is perhaps\nthe\nbest keyword research tool\non the market. I’ll show you how to use this tool (and a couple of other Ahrefs tools) to build an initial keyword list for your website.\nKeyword Prioritisation:\nHow to prioritise your keywords list and identify “low-hanging” opportunities that can boost traffic FAST.\nContent Research:\nHow to figure out EXACTLY what type of content you should be creating to rank for your chosen keywords.\nLink Building\n:\nHow to build links to your website using a variety of methods (\nnote\n: this is where Ahrefs really shines!)\nSite Audit:\nHow to diagnose and fix errors with your website (\nnote:\nthis is highly recommended, as on-site errors can hold back your success, even if you’ve done everything right thus far!)\nAnalyse your Progress\/Success:\nHow to use Ahrefs to make sure you’re on the right track and that things are improving with your website.\nI’ve made a big effort to lay this out as a checklist, rather than a random list of ideas\/tactics.\nThis means that if you follow this guide from start-to-finish…\n I guarantee you will see results.\nWhat Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?\nAhrefs is a powerful—and complete—SEO analysis tool.\nIt does pretty much everything you could ever need to do from an SEO standpoint, including:\nKeyword research\n(via\nKeywords Explorer\n)\nContent research\n(via\nContent Explorer\n)\nBacklink research\n(via\nSite Explorer\n)\nRank tracking\n(via\nRank Tracker\n)\nCompetitor research\n(via\nSite Explorer\n,\nLink Intersect Tool\n, etc)\nSite auditing\n(i.e. diagnosing site health issues, etc.) (via the\nSite Audit tool\n)\nRight now, the only important thing Ahrefs can’t do is manage or send link building\noutreach emails\n. But you can use\nGmail\nfor that.\nEverything else is covered.\nYou can search a database of 4.9 million keywords in seconds with\nKeywords Explorer\n.\nYou can search 700+ million pieces of content to find content ideas that will generate a ton of\ntraffic, with\nContent Explorer\n.\nYou can search the world’s largest index of backlinks (over 35 trillion!) to see all your competitors backlin\nks, with\nSite Explorer\n.\nYou can find and fix hundreds of on-site issues in seconds, with the\nSite Audit\ntool.\nAnd that’s the tip of the iceberg, really.\nBut, impressive industry-leading stats aside, what does this mean for the average Joe?\nSimple.\n \nYou have everything you need—under one roof—to grow your\nwebsite traffic\nlike crazy.\nThis post will walk you through the process of doing this, step-by-step.\nAhrefs Pros & Cons\nAhrefs is an incredibly powerful tool!\nBut that doesn’t mean it’s perfect for everyone. Here are some pros and cons to help you decide if Ahrefs is right for you.\nPROS\nCONS\n✅ Comprehensive all-in-one SEO tool\n❌ Large learning curve\n✅ Largest live backlink index (35 trillion)\n❌ No built-in link outreach tool\n✅ Powerful keyword research tools\n❌ Higher plan prices\n✅ Great site audit tool\n❌ Rank tracking only updates every week\n✅ Excellent competitor analysis tools\n❌ Overwhelming amounts of data\n✅ Real-time brand mention alerts\n✅ Quality content gap analysis\n✅ Intuitive user interface\n📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like\nComprehensive All-In-One SEO Platform –\nAhrefs has every tool you need to execute a high-level\nSEO campaign\n. It has everything from keyword research to in-depth backlink analysis and even technical SEO audits. You won’t need to juggle multiple tools because Ahrefs can almost do it all!\nLarge Live Backlink Index –\nGet the most comprehensive competitive backlink data with Ahrefs’ massive 35 trillion live link index. You’ll see links that other tools miss, get more usable data and ultimately end up with more link building opportunities.\nPowerful Keyword Research Tools –\nAhrefs keyword research tools are comprehensive and user-friendly. This is an area where Ahrefs really shines. It’s easy to find quality long-tail keywords to target and have all the data you need to make good keyword decisions.\nQuality Site Audit Tool –\nTechnical SEO isn’t easy. But Ahrefs makes it easier with a very solid site audit tool that balances in-depth SEO auditing with user-friendliness. The tool analyses your site for over 170+ technical and\non-page SEO\nfactors.\nReal-Time Mention Alerts –\nAhrefs has an excellent mention monitoring tool. You set up alerts for your name, brand and products. Every time someone mentions them online, you get a real-time notification, which makes it perfect for tracking your brand and finding unlinked mentions.\nContent Gap Analysis –\nThe content gap analysis is a feature that many tools offer. But Ahrefs does it better! In just a few clicks, you can literally see hundreds of keywords you’re missing out on and where your competitors are beating you in the SERPs.\n📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike\nLarge Learning Curve –\nAhrefs has a ton of tools and features. That means there will be a significant learning curve to take full advantage of everything Ahrefs offers. The silver lining is that the user interface is intuitive, so if you have some experience, you’ll be fine.\nNo Built-In Outreach Tool –\nAhrefs doesn’t offer any outreach capabilities, unlike\nSemrush\nor SEO Powersuite. That means you will need to have an individual outreach tool to pair with Ahrefs for link building outreach. It’s not a major issue, but something to be aware of.\nHigh Pricing Plans –\nThe free plan that Ahrefs offers is very limited, and paid plans start at $129 per month. That means it’s not cheap! Make sure you get enough value out of it long-term to justify the high prices.\nRanking Tracking Not Updated Frequently –\nAhrefs only updates the keyword rankings you are tracking every 7 days. That’s not great! If you want daily keyword rank tracking updates, you will need to pay extra as an add-on or use another tool.\nCan Be Overwhelming –\nThere is a lot of data inside Ahrefs. That means beginners can easily get overwhelmed or distracted by the sheer volume of information. You need to be clear on your goals and use Ahrefs to help you accomplish them.\nGetting Started With My Ahrefs Review\nIn this short section, I’ll show you how to get started with my Ahrefs review and how to set up your account for success.\nSo, first things first,\nhead over to Ahrefs and sign up\n.\nNote:\nYou can access Ahrefs for free by signing up to\nAhrefs Webmaster Tools\n(but you’ll only get LIMITED access to the tool).\nOnce you’re in, Ahrefs will prompt you to add a project (i.e. website) to your account.\nThis is pretty straightforward—give your project a name and hit “next”. Make sure to use the\nhttp + https\nnaming scheme.\nYou’ll then be asked to add keywords that you want to track.\nAhrefs actually suggests a bunch of keywords that your website is already ranking for.\nBasically, the higher up the list of suggestions they are, the more traffic those keywords are sending to your website.\nI recommend adding the first 4-5 pages worth of keywords.\nWhy? Because this allows you to track your most important keywords (i.e. the keywords that are the most traffic to your website).\nStep #3….add some competitors.\nAgain, you can either add competitors manually (if you know them) or choose from the suggestions Ahrefs gives.\nI recommend adding 5 competitors from the suggestions Ahrefs gives.\nAnd finally, add some\nbranded keywords\nto track.\nI really recommend taking a moment to set this one up. We’ll be using it later in the guide.\nNote:\nBy default, Ahrefs sends you daily emails about these keywords. If you prefer not to have daily emails flooding your inbox, go into the settings and change this to weekly (or monthly).\nThat’s it. You’re ready to rock!\nBacklink Health Check\nBacklinks from spammy, low-quality websites\n.\nBacklinks with over-optimised\nanchor text\n.\nThese types of backlinks can spell disaster for your website.\nAt\nbest\n, they’ll prevent your website from ranking as well as it should.\nAt\nworst\n, they’ll lead to a\nGoogle Penguin penalty\n.\nThat’s why you need to nip any “bad” backlinks in the bud\nbefore\nyou invest time, energy, and money optimizing your website.\nBut:\nHow do you do this?\nLike I said earlier,\n \nAhrefs has the largest backlink index on the planet\n– this makes it the perfect tool for identifying and fixing any “bad” backlinks.\nNOTE:\nAhrefs just released a new\nSite Audit\ntool to help diagnose even more issues with your website. I’ll be running through this later in the guide.\nHere’s how to do it:\n#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the\nBacklinks\nand\nReferring Domains\nReports\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer, then navigate to the\nreferring domains\ntab.\nBy default, this will show you all referring domains ordered by\nDomain Rating\n(DR)—highest to lowest.\nBut remember:\nYou’re looking for low-quality links, so reverse this (i.e. order by DR low to high).\nLook for\ndomains\nthat look low-quality or suspicious, such as:\nAnything you don’t recognise\nForeign-language websites (e.g. .ru, .dk domains, etc)\n.xyz domains\nLow-quality wiki pages\nArticle directories\n[empty anchors]\nOf course, it would be pretty time-consuming if you had to check every backlink manually.\nBut, luckily, Ahrefs has a few filters to help you out.\nIf you move to the\nBacklinks\nreport, there are filters for both\nlanguages\nand\nplatform\n.\nI recommend filtering by languages like Russian to find\nspammy backlinks\n, as Russian sites are kind of notorious for link spam.\nNote\n: You can get even more specific with languages by filtering for exact TLDs (e.g. .dk, .ru, etc.) in the\nReferring Domains\nreport.\nYou can also easily uncover low-quality Wiki pages with the\nWikis\nfilter in the\nBacklinks\nreport:\nBut remember, even if something looks super-dodgy,\nalways\ncheck out the link manually before making a judgement.\nOtherwise, you run the risk of disavowing links that may be helping your website.\nIf you can confirm that the link is “bad”, hit the checkbox next to the domain.\nYou can then simply click “\ndisavow links\n” to send them to your\ndisavow\narea + create a disavow file.\nNOTE:\nYou can only see checkboxes if the domain that you’re reviewing is added to Ahrefs\nDashboard\n. This should be the case if you added your domain(s) in the “getting started” section above.\n#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues\nAnchor text is the clickable text within a link.\nExample:\nThe anchor text for this link is “this link here”.\nAnchor text helps to tell Google (and potential visitors) what your website is about—that’s why\nit remains a Google ranking factor\n.\nBut:\nAnchor text over-optimisation (i.e. too many keyword-rich links) can trigger a\nGoogle penalty\n.\nIf your website has an unnatural\nlink profile\nwith tons of exact match (or partial match) anchor texts, this could be an issue.\nHere’s how to identify—and fix—these issues with Ahrefs:\nEnter your domain into\nSite Explorer\n, then go to the\nAnchors\nreport under\nBacklink Profile\n.\nThis will show you exactly what anchor text is being used within the links back to your website.\nIf you have a healthy backlink profile, most of your anchors will probably be:\nBranded\nanchors (e.g. “matthew woodward”, “matthewwoodward.co.uk”, etc.)\nGeneric anchors (e.g. “click here”, “this post”, etc.)\nWhat you don’t want to see is lots of exact-match anchors.\nThis is a sign of over-optimisation.\nIf you spot anything that looks dodgy, hit\ndetails\n>\nreferring domains\nto see which sites are linking to you.\nRight now, you can’t disavow these links directly from within the\nanchors\nreport.\nHowever, you can simply hit the export button then upload the file manually to the disavow area.\nLearn\nhow to disavow backlinks\nstep by step.\n#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs\nEvery website has its own IP address that looks something like this:\n104.27.136.155\nIn simple terms, while you may be used to typing in matthewwoodward.co.uk to get to my blog, that’s really just a memorable way of navigating to an IP address where my website resides.\nBasically:\nBecause humans are better at remembering website URLs than a random string of numbers, we let the browser do the work and translate a URL into an IP address behind the scenes.\nNow, IP addresses are separated into blocks: A, B, C, and D blocks, like so:\nAAA.BBB.CCC.DDD\nIf we have the following two websites:\n104.27.136.155\n104.27.136.7\nWe would say they’re on the same C-block.\nIn internet terms, these sites are neighbours.\nNote:\nMore information on IP addresses\nhere\n.\nWhy does this matter?\nLots of links from the same C-block IP can be a bad sign.\nThis is because it signals to Google that these sites may be closely related (e.g. a PBN) and therefore, not the most\nnatural links\never.\nLuckily, you can use Ahrefs’\nReferring IPs\nreport to find these.\nHere’s how:\nEnter your domains into\nSite Explorer\n, then hit the\nReferring IPs\nreport under\nBacklink Profile\n.\nAhrefs groups referring IPs by C-blocks by default—very useful!\nIn the example above, you can see that the first few results look a bit dodgy—there are thousands of links, from hundreds of domains, all on the same C-block IP.\nLet’s take a deeper look.\nYep, they’re spammy. They need disavowing\/removing.\nAgain, there’s no way to disavow these directly from this report but you can export the domains to a .csv and upload them manually.\n#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks\nBuilding backlinks is\ndamn\nhard.\n \nIt’s\nlaborious\n.\nTime consuming\n. And\ncostly\n.\nSo:\nIt makes sense to ensure that you’re getting the full benefit of the links you build, right?\nDefinitely.\nUnfortunately, links sometimes break. And when this happens, you won’t feel the benefit of those links.\nThat’s why fixing\nbroken links\nis a quick way to regain some valuable link juice and increase rankings.Here’s how to do it:\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer then go to Pages > Best by links.\nThen, add a filter so you see only pages with a\n404\nstatus code.\nYou will now see all 404 pages on your website ranked by the number of referring domains they have.\nHere’s how to reclaim the “link juice” for these pages:\nRestore the broken page—\nthis should be done if there is an actual error on your part (i.e. you’ve accidentally deleted a valuable page at some point).\nAdd a\n301 redirect\nto the broken page\n—this should point to either the new location of the page, a suitable alternative, or the homepage.\nReach out and asking the website owner to fix the link\n—this is your best bet if there’s an actual problem with the link such as incorrect formatting.\nSo, just restore these pages or redirect them to something relevant to preserve all your link juice.\nDo this for any valuable broken links and you’ll see an instant boost!\n#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links\nSpammy\ninbound\nlinks are BAD.\n \nBut outbound links are also\nextremely\nimportant.\nYou, therefore, need to make sure that you’re not linking to low-quality (or totally irrelevant) websites. Here’s how to do it:\nEnter your domain into\nSite Explorer\nthen go to…\nOutgoing links > Linked Domains > add a dofollow filter\nBy default, Ahrefs shows the most linked-to domains first.\nReverse this list.\nWhen I gave this report a quick onceover for my own website, everything looked pretty above board (phew!)\nBUT…this isn’t the case for all sites.\nHere’s an outbound link I found on Moz.com:\nThis is clearly a spammy domain.\nIf you find anything like this, remove (or replace) the links on your website.\nAlso:\nSometimes, you’ll find that your website is linking to a particular URL many times.\nExample:\nUpon closer inspection, we can see that this is a\nWordpress theme\nlink present in the theme HTML.\nIn all honesty, this probably isn’t going to cause any huge issues.\nHowever, as it’s a dofollow link across (almost) every page of the website, at the very least it’s diluting authority for no good reason.\nI recommend that you remove anything like this from your website’s HTML, too.\n#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links\nBroken outbound links lead to a bad user experience.\nNot only is it annoying to click a link on a website and be taken to a broken page but also, it leaves the visitor questioning the validity of your content.\nWhy?\n \nBecause they’ll assume your website hasn’t been updated in awhile.\nOr that you simply don’t put much effort into your content—certainly not enough to curate resources that actually exist.\nAlso, if Google thinks your content is going to lead to a bad user experience, they certainly aren’t going to rank your website.\nLuckily, this is easily fixable.\nHere’s how:\nEnter your website into\nSite Explorer\n, then go to\nOutgoing Links > Broken Links\n.\nIf anything shows up in this report, there are issues to be fixed.\nLooks like I have 56 broken outbound links on my website 🙁\nYou should fix these links by either removing them or replacing them.\nKeyword Research\nFixing the errors outlined above should be enough to give you a small traffic boost.\nBUT:\n \nNow it’s time for the big guns.\nNo matter what website you’re working on, your SEO strategy\nshould\nfollow roughly the same blueprint, which is:\nFind keywords you want to rank for (and that you already rank for)\nPrioritise keywords\/topics into long-term opportunities + short-term opportunities (i.e. low-hanging fruit)\nCreate some content (or improve existing content) around those keywords\nBuild links to content (wherever appropriate\/necessary)\nAnalyse what did\/didn’t work and refine your strategy\/plan going forward.\nRinse and repeat all of the above\nTrust me:\nDo those things, in that order, and I guarantee you’ll see\na HUGE traffic increase.\nSo, let’s get started with the first step:\nkeyword discovery\n.\n#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer\nKeywords Explorer is the first place I turn when I want to discover keywords for a new (or existing) website.\nThat’s because all you need is a few “seed” keywords and it’ll give you thousands of ideas.\nHere’s the process:\nGo to Keywords explorer and enter a few\nseed keyword\nideas.\nNote\n: There’s no exact process for coming up with these. Just make an educated guess.\nHit the search button.\nNote\n: Make sure to select the appropriate country (e.g. United States) before searching, otherwise you’ll see keyword volume estimates and whatnot for a country unrelated to your business.\nGo to the metrics tab.\nThis shows you monthly search volume,\nKeyword Difficulty\n(KD), and tons of other information.\nIf a keyword looks good (i.e. it has some decent\nsearch volume\nand is relevant to your business), save it to a keywords list.\nNote:\nIf a keyword is super-relevant to your business, it makes sense to prioritise it, even if the search volume for that keyword is quite low. As I’ll mention later in this guide, search volume isn’t always the best indicator of traffic. However, it is a good starting point and it’s still worth looking at.\n#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)\nRight now,\nAhrefs has the biggest keywords database in the industry\n.\nBecause of this, Keywords Explorer will show you with a bunch (and I really do mean a bunch!) of other keyword ideas based on your seed keywords.\nJust hit one of these 6 options on the left-hand menu:\nPersonally, I usually just select “all”.\nHowever, this will usually give you a few million keywords to play with (see, I told you they had a lot of data), which is pretty damn impossible to work with.\nSo, I tend to play with the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to narrow them down.\nYour best bet is to filter for keywords with a KD score of less than 10.\nWhy? Because anything below KD 10 means that top-ranking results have less than or equal to 10 backlinks on average, so it should be fairly easy to rank for them.\nI usually just tick anything that looks good and add it to my keywords list.\nAnd if you prefer to get a little more granular with your keyword suggestions, you can learn more about what “phrase match”, “having same terms”, etc. mean\nhere\n.\nNote\n: Ahrefs presented me with 32K+ keyword suggestions from just the 8 keywords I entered above…so you certainly won’t be short of ideas!\n#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors\nEnter a competitor’s domain into\nSite Explorer\n, then go to\nOrganic search\n>\nTop Pages\nHere you will see which of your competitors pages are attracting the most organic search traffic.\nYou’ll also see the top keyword that page ranks for, along with the search volume for that keyword.\nNote\n: It’s also worth paying attention to the RD (Referring Domains) column as this shows how many ref.domains are pointing to that page. If you can identify pages that receive a lot of traffic, yet only have a few RDs, it’s most likely a topic that you can rank for pretty easily!\nPretty cool, right!?\n \nBUT it gets even better…\nThis report also shows you all of the other keywords these pages rank for (in order of the amount of traffic they drive to your competitors page).\nThis is not only useful for generating additional keyword ideas but also, finding keywords\/topics\/phrases that you can sprinkle into your content to increase relevance (i.e.\nLSI keywords\n).\n#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”\nContent gaps exist when your competitors rank for keywords that you don’t rank for.\nThink about it:\nIf you could see what those keywords are, you could\ncreate content\nto compete with them (and ideally outrank them).\nHere’s how to find those keywords with Ahrefs:\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer, then go to\nOrganic Search\n>\nContent Gap\nNow, enter the domains of (at least) three competitors plus your domain in the “\nbut the following target doesn’t rank for”\nfield.\nHit “show keywords”.\nBingo…here are hundreds of keywords that (at least) one of your competitors rank for, yet you don’t.\nTip:\nEnter competitors with a similar Domain Rating (DR) score. This will ensure that the Content Gap analysis kicks back keywords you stand a chance of ranking for. If you enter Moz.com as a competitor and you have a DR 40 site, the sad truth is that you’re probably never going to outrank Moz.\nI recommend paying particular attention to any keywords where your competitors are ranking in the top 10.\nWhy?\nBecause if they’re ranking in the top 10, chances are you could, too!\nIs Ahrefs out of your budget? No worries, you can use one of these\nfree keyword research tools\nto find the right keywords for your business.\nKeyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)\nAt this stage, you should have a\nbig\nlist of keywords that you could try to rank for.\nBUT:\nJust because you\ncan\ntarget these keywords doesn’t mean you\nshould\n.\n1.\nSome will be easier to rank for than others (in fact, you may not even stand a hope in hell of ranking for some of them).\n2.\nSome will drive a lot of traffic (while others will drive very little).\n3.\nSome will require creating new content (others won’t).\nAnalysing keywords for certain attributes will allow you to prioritise your list, and divide your ideas into long-term and short-term topics.\nHere are a few tips:\n#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6\nAlready ranking in positions 4-6 for some high-volume keywords?\nThese are your low-hanging fruit.\nWhy? Because\nCTR increases exponentially within the top 5 positions\n.\nTherefore, it only takes a ranking increase of one position to see BIG traffic boosts from these keywords.\nAnd improving rankings by 1-2 positions can be as simple as building a handful of high-quality links.\n \nBut how do you find these keywords?\nSimple.\nEnter your site into Site Explorer, then go to\nOrganic Search > Organic Keywords\nThis will show you all of the keywords your website is currently ranking for.\nNote\n: By default, they’re ordered by the amount of organic traffic they send to your website—neat!\nBut here’s the trick:\nAdd a positions filter to show the keywords you’re currently ranking in positions 4-6.\nThese keywords are your low-hanging fruit—they should be prioritised when it comes to on-page optimization and link building.\n#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential\nSometimes individual keywords won’t have a particularly high search volume.\nExample:\n“\nbest keyword research tools\n”\nIf you were to rank #1 for this keyword, you would receive roughly 30% of these clicks.\nThat’s a measly 75 visitors\/month (approx.)\nHardly worth bothering, right!?\nNot so fast.\nLooking at individual search volumes for a single keyword rarely shows you the true ranking potential of that topic.\nThis is because pages almost always naturally rank for TONs of variations of that keyword (i.e. “long-tail keywords”).\nSo how do you figure out the true ranking potential of a topic?\n \nEasy…\nCheck how much organic traffic the top ranking pages for that keyword are getting.\nIf it’s a lot, the topic\/keyword has a high traffic potential.\nHere’s how: Go to\nKeywords Explorer\nand enter a keyword.\nScroll down to the SERP overview and you’ll see who’s ranking in the top 10. You can also see how much organic traffic these top ranking pages are attracting (across all keywords).\nThese are the SERPs for “best keyword research tool” and as you can see, the top ranking pages are getting WAY more than 75 visits\/month.\n \nSo, this topic DEFINITELY has a high traffic potential and is worth prioritising.\nContent Research\nKeyword research?\nCHECK.\nKeyword prioritisation?\nCHECK.\n(You’re off to a good start!)\nBut…you ain’t going to rank for any of those keywords without creating some EPIC content around them.\nObviously, some of the keywords you’ve found (e.g. the low-hanging opportunities in positions 4-6) won’t require new content. You just need to optimise—and build some extra links to—your existing content.\nFor others, however, you’re going to need to create something new!\nBUT here’s the problem:\nIt’s NOT always easy to discern exactly what you should be writing about solely by looking at a keyword.\nExample:\nLet’s take the keyword “keyword research”.\nIt’s a great keyword with a ridiculously high search volume (at least for this niche).\n \nBUT, it’s also massively competitive.\nIf I was to write a reasonably generic guide to keyword research, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance of ranking in the top 3 for this exact keyword.\nHowever, that doesn’t mean that I can’t write about keyword research at all…I just need to “niche down” a little and write a UNIQUE piece of content.\nHere’s how:\n#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer\nAhrefs has\nan index of 800+ million pieces of content on various topics\n.\nThey also add 5+ million new pieces of content to this index every 24 hours (which is absolutely INSANE).\nBut, data and stats aside, what benefit does this have?\nWell, it means that you can enter (almost) any keyword into\nContent Explorer\nand it’ll kick back a TON of content ideas.\nExample:\nThat’s 3900+ content ideas for “keyword research”.\nAnd this is only results where the phrase “keyword research” is in the article title…\nYou can also search for content where the phrase is mentioned anywhere in the article content, which will return exponentially more results!\nBUT, like I said, it would be VERY difficult to rank for this exact keyword without “niching down”.\nThis is because the “big guys” (e.g. Moz, Ahrefs, etc) are currently dominating the SERPs for this topic.\nHowever, we can use the in-built filters in content Explorer to find ideas that:\nWe can actually compete with\nWill actually generate traffic for us\nHere’s the setup:\nHere’s exactly what we’re doing here (and why!):\nFiltering for only English results:\nPretty self-explanatory, right!?\nFiltering ONLY for results from websites with a DR between 0-59:\nBecause the DR of my website (matthewwoodward.co.uk) is also 59, I only want to see results for sites with the same (or lower) DR. Why? Because these are the sites I’ll be able to compete with easily.\nFiltering ONLY for pages with <5 referring domains AND >500 organic visitors per month\n: This is the important part! By looking for pages that are receiving 500+ organic visits AND have very few links, we can uncover pages that will be VERY easy to outrank. Stealing their traffic will most likely require nothing more than creating better content and building a handful of links (at the most)\nHere’s what Content Explorer found for my search:\nThis page talks about how to uncover keywords by looking at YouTube tags.\nIt receives 525 organic visits per month, has 0 referring domains, and is 183 words long.\nIf this isn’t easily beatable content, then I don’t know what is!\nNote\n: Remember, if your search doesn’t return many results, you can always find pages containing your keyword anywhere in the content (using the “in content”) filter to broaden your horizons.\n#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer\nNobody understands\nsearch intent\nlike Google does.\nTheir algorithm relies on showing users what they want to see.\nBecause of this, there’s no better way to understand the intent behind a search term (i.e. what people are actually looking to find) than analysing the top 10 search results.\nExample:\nLet’s take a keyword like “SEO tools”…\nNow, there are plenty of SEO tools—some free, some paid—on the market. If we wanted to rank for this keyword, maybe a winning formula for a piece of content would be to create a list of all of these SEO tools, right!?\nAgain, not so fast.\nLet’s go to Keywords Explorer, enter the keyword, and scroll down to the SERP overview.\nThis shows us the top 10 ranking results.\nInstantly, I spot a pattern…\nAlthough most of the results are lists of SEO tools, a lot of them are actually lists of\nfree\nSEO tools.\nIn fact, 7\/10 results contain the word “free” in the title tag.\nThis tells me that although people are generally typing in “SEO tools”, they actually appear to be looking for a list of the best\nfree SEO tools\n.\nIt would, therefore, be much smarter to go down this route when creating a piece of content around this keyword\/topic.\nAlso:\nKeywords Explorer tells us how many links (and referring domains) each of these pages has, allowing us to quickly spot topics with great potential to attract a TON of links.\nLink Building\nI’ll let you in on a (sad) secret:\nYou ain’t going to rank for any worthwhile keyword\/topic without links.\nSure, less competitive keywords may only require a handful of links whereas more competitive keywords may require many more links (sometimes even thousands) but still, the bottomline is this:\n \nYou. Need. Links.\nBut here’s the good news:\nAhrefs shines in this department.\nNot only do they boast\nthe largest live link index on the market\n, they have a TON of\nlink building tools\nthat can help you with the task at hand.\nIn fact, I don’t know any serious link builders that AREN’T using Ahrefs.\nIt really is\nthat\ngood.\nHere are a few ways to use Ahrefs to build all the links you need:\n#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks\nRemember those branded alerts I told you to set up at the beginning of this guide?\nIf you set them up correctly, you’ve most likely received an email that looks something like this:\nBasically, this tells you whenever anyone mentions your name (or any other branded terms) on the web.\nSo:\nIf someone mentions you personally in a blog post, you’ll know about it.\nIf someone talks about your brand (e.g. Apple) in a review, you’ll know about it.\nEtc.\nBUT:\nJust because someone has mentioned your name (or brand name) in a piece of content doesn’t necessarily mean that they remembered to link to you.\nAnd if they didn’t…getting the link is usually as easy as reaching out and asking for it.\nExample:\nIf you look closely at the screenshot above, you’ll see that I was recently mentioned in an article about starting a membership website.\nHere’s the part where I’m mentioned:\nWeirdly, they didn’t link to the tutorial they mentioned in that paragraph.\nIt’s highly likely that they simply forgot, or made a mistake.\nSo:\nGetting a link from this article would likely take nothing more than a simple email asking them to add a link.\n#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)\nMonitoring branded keywords is a good start.\nBUT, that’s the tip of the iceberg…\nHere’s why:\nIn Ahrefs Alerts, you can monitor for mentions of ANY keyword.\nFor example, here’s an alert I set up for “link building”:\nNow, each week, I get an email from Ahrefs showing me any newly published content containing that term (i.e. link building) from the past 7 days.\nExample:\nThat’s 93 new mentions of “link building” in just one week!\nBUT…how does this help to build links?\nBasically, you can use these alerts to discover content that could be improved by adding a link to your website (or a particular resource on your website).\nExample:\nTake a look at that 2nd article (the one by SearchEngineLand.com).\nIt talks about “\n7 Reasons Why Your Broken Link Building Campaign Isn’t Working\n”…\nIt’s a great article, BUT…\nI get the feeling that readers of this article are likely struggling with link building in general.\nScrolling to the end of the post, it looks like the author also thinks this…that’s why he’s chosen to include a few links to additional link building resources.\nIt just so happens that I also have a TON of great link building resources on my blog, such as\nthis list of 44 link building strategies\n.\nBecause this would also be a great additional resource to include at the end of that SEL post, I could simply reach out to the author of that post (Kevin) and suggest that he add a link to my post in that final section.\nThis is a great, simple way to build links to any piece of content 🙂\nNot that this method is also commonly use for\nniche edits\n&\nlink inserts\n!\n#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions\nYou can learn a lot from your competitors.\nBUT…\nDid you know that monitoring your competitors can be a great source of link prospects?\nBasically, if you can identify where your competitors are being mentioned AND linked-to, you can often steal these links\/mentions from yourself.\nExample:\nHere are the top 3 Google results for “\nlong tail pro\n”:\nRight now, I’m ranking in position #3.\nBUT…I’d\nreally\nlike to rank #1.\nThis means that my competitors for this keyword are:\nlongtailpro.com\ndumbpassiveincome.com\nNow:\nRight off the bat, I could throw these URLs into Ahrefs Site Explorer, look at their backlinks, and see if there are any easily replicable links I could steal for myself.\nBUT…that’s a different strategy altogether!\nWhat I want to talk about is monitoring both competitor links AND branded keywords to give you a constant supply of link opportunities.\nSo, let’s start with backlink monitoring:\nLike I said, one of my competitors is dumbpassiveincome.com—they have a similar\nLong Tail Pro review\nto mine.\nHowever, I personally believe my review to be better. I also updated my review\nvery\nrecently, so it’s super fresh.\n \nI, therefore, believe that anyone choosing to link to my competitors Long Tail Pro review would be better off linking to mine.\nSo, I want to monitor my competitors review for new links.\nIf they get any, I can then reach out to the person linking to them and suggest that they link to my review instead (as it’s better).\nHere’s how to set up an alert for these links:\nGo to the\nBacklinks\nsection within Ahrefs Alerts and hit “\n+ New Alert”.\nEnter the URL of the page you want to monitor for backlinks, choose\n“New backlinks”\nunder the\n“Scope”\noption, and enter your email address.\nYou’ll now receive an email whenever there’s a new link to your competitor’s URL—you can then swoop in and steal the link for yourself.\nBUT…competitor backlinks aren’t the only thing worth monitoring:\nYou can also monitor competitors branded keywords.\nExample:\nBecause I have a review of Long Tail Pro, it would be worth setting up an alert for branded keywords like “Long Tail Pro”.\nHere’s why:\nIf someone is mentioning Long Tail Pro on the web, their readers would find a review and tutorial for the tool rather useful.\nSo, whenever I see Long Tail Pro being mentioned, I can simply reach out to the website owner and suggest they add a link to my review within their post.\n \nEasy.\nHere’s how to set this up:\nGo to the\nMentions\nsection of Ahrefs Alerts and hit\n“+ New Alert”.\nAdd your keyword, add any blocked domains (e.g. your own website), and your email address.\nNow you’ll receive an email alert whenever your keyword (e.g. “long tail pro”) is mentioned on the web.\n#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)\nAhh, the infamous “skyscraper technique”…\nIt’s perhaps\nthe\nmost famous link-building technique there is!\nAnd for good reason, too—it’s super powerful!\nFor those unfamiliar, here’s the basic process:\nFind a piece of content with a TON of links.\nMake something even better.\nContact\nanyone linking to the old, inferior piece of content and suggest that they link to yours instead.\nSmart.\nBUT…\nHow do you find “skyscraper” content (i.e. content with a TON of links that you can build upon) in the first place?\nHere’s a super simple method:\nEnter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to\nPages\n>\nBest by Links\nYou will now see every page on the domain ordered by # of backlinks.\nThe two posts I’ve highlighted above have thousands of backlinks.\nIf I was to put-together an even better version of any of these posts, I would have thousands of prospects to pitch to!\nNote:\nYou can gather a list of “skyscraper” prospects by checking the backlink profile of that particular URL in Site Explorer. Just sift through all the links and choose prospects to reach out to.\nBUT…\nWhat if you already have an EPIC piece of content and you want to build some links to it?\nHere’s a simple trick that I haven’t seen anyone talk about before:\nEnter a keyword into Content Explorer, then filter ONLY for pages with 100+ referring domains.\nExample:\nLet’s say that I wanted to build some links to\nmy list of 44 link building strategies\n.\nI would enter the keyword “\nlink building strategies\n” into Content Explorer and add a referring domains filter.\nThis gives me 76 results—all of these are (a) about link building strategies, and (b) have 100+ referring domains.\nNow, the trick is then to sift through the results looking for content that is very similar—yet inferior to—your content.\nHere’s a good example:\nThis page has 109 referring domains, yet it only lists 31 strategies where mine lists 44.\nIt also hasn’t been updated since 2014!\nAnyone linking to this page is a prime “skyscraper” prospect for my post—I just need to reach out and suggest they change the link to my page (and tell them why they should).\n#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)\nNobody likes broken links.\nYou\nknow\nthe ones…\nThey take you to pages like this:\nIt drives me crazy whenever this happens!\nBUT…\nBroken links are a link-builders dream.\nWhy? Because if you can find a broken link with a TON of backlinks, you can build links with this simple 3-step process:\nFind out what the broken link used to be\nCreate a similar—but better—piece of content\nAsk anyone linking to the broken content to link to your content instead\nHowever, before you can do this, you need to actually find a broken link with the following attributes:\nIt has a TON of links pointing to it\nIt’s relevant to your website\nIt can be replicated without too much work\nHere’s how to do this:\nEnter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to\nPages\n>\nBest by Links\n.\nThis shows you the most linked-to pages on that domain.\nBUT…we don’t want to see all pages—we want to see broken pages.\nTo do this, filter the list to show ONLY 404 errors.\nMost websites will have at least a few broken links.\nSimply sift through these pages looking for broken links that have a decent number of backlinks AND would be relevant to your website.\nNote:\nYou can use\nWayback Machine\nto see how any page used to look.\nIf you identify a page that meets all of the criteria mentioned above, create a similar piece of content then publish it on your website.\nIt’s then just a case of reaching out to anyone linking to the old broken link and suggesting that they fix the link by replacing it with your link.\nSimple.\n#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects\nGuest posting is one of the oldest link building tactics in the\nbook\n.\nIt goes something like this:\nFind websites that accept guest posts (in your niche)\nReach out to them and pitch a post idea\nWrite the post, land the link\nIf you’ve ever done guest posting before, you’ll know there’s no shortage of opportunities around.\nExample:\nGoogle finds 4,000+ “write for us” pages (i.e. websites that are accepting guest posts) for search term “SEO”.\nThat’s a LOT of prospects!\nBUT there’s a problem…\nWhile you\ncould\nwrite for thousands of websites, it’s important to remember that guest posting takes a lot of work.\nNot only do you have to pitch the websites, you also have to write a top notch article, too.\nThis can be pretty time-consuming (or, if you’re outsourcing it, expensive!)\nAnd, because we want people to actually read our guest post, there’s ZERO point writing posts for websites that get little\/no traffic.\nSo, the question is:\nhow do you know how much traffic a website gets?\nSimple…just enter the domain into Site Explorer and Ahrefs will show you an estimate of organic traffic.\nBUT…what if you have a long list of prospects?\nNo worries, just paste the entire list into Ahrefs Batch Analysis tool like so:\nNote:\nMake sure to select the option for\n“domain with all its subdomains”\nunder the\nmode\ndrop-down.\nHere’s the result (ordered by organic search traffic):\nThis is a\ngreat\nway to cut down your list and ensure that you’re ONLY writing for websites that actually\nget traffic\n!\nSite Audit\nKeyword discovery and research…\nDONE.\nContent creation…\nDONE.\nLink building…\nDONE.\n(well, link building is never done, but you should have at least made a start!)\nHere’s the good news:\nthat’s\nmost\nof the difficult stuff out of the way.\nBut, even if you’ve executed everything perfectly thus far, the truth is that simple on-site errors can often hinder your success.\nI’m talking about…\nRogue “noindex” tags\nMissing\nmeta description\nThin content\nAnd so forth.\nThis is where\nAhrefs Site Audit\ntool comes in handy.\nIn a nutshell, it will diagnose pretty much every on-site issue you could think of, without you really having to lift a finger.\nHere are a few useful things you can do with it:\nNote:\nI’m not going to cover how to set up a project or run crawls in the Site Audit tool because, honestly, it’s pretty self-explanatory. But, if you’re struggling,\nthis post\n(by Ahrefs) explains exactly how to do it, along with a lot more!\n#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the\nPerformance\nReport)\nGo to\nInternal Pages\n>\nPerformance\nand you will see a report that looks something like this:\nAt first glance, this may appear as nothing more than a myriad of pie charts.\nBut, this is actually showing you the number of pages on your website that are slow to load, in various ways.\nI recommend paying particular attention to the “Load time” chart:\nThe red section of the pie chart shows the number of pages that are too slow to load (and thus, need fixing).\nIf you click on the red section, you will see exactly which pages these are, along with how slowly they actually load:\nOne cool thing to note here is that Ahrefs also shows you the amount of organic traffic these pages are receiving.\nIf you spot a slow loading page that is receiving a lot of traffic, I recommend prioritising the speeding-up of that page.\nWhy? Because chances are it will attract even more traffic if you improve the visitor experience.\n#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the\nHTML Tags\nReport\nMistakes with HTML tags can wreak havoc on your website.\nFor example, if you accidentally add a\nnoindex\ntag to a page, Google won’t even index that page.\nThis means that even if you write great content and build epic links, it ain’t going to rank.\nAnd, while not all HTML tag errors are potentially this catastrophic, they’re still worth fixing.\nAhrefs’ Site Audit tool makes this super-easy, as it uncovers all the errors for you.\nTo view them, just go to\nInternal Pages > HTML Tags:\nHere, it will list all of the issues the crawler has found with your website.\nIn the example above, you can see that I have a few missing meta tags, along with a few other errors.\nTo learn more about where these errors actually occur, just click on one of the errors:\nIt will then tell you more information about the errors, including the pages on which the errors occur:\nBecause Ahrefs does the hard work for you (i.e. the discovery of these errors), you can usually fix them pretty easily just by editing a bit of HTML code.\n#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports\nEarlier in this guide, I showed you how to check for (and remove) toxic backlinks.\nThis is super-important.\nBut, there are other link-based issues that can impact the performance of your website.\nI’m talking about…\nBroken outgoing links\n“\nNofollow\n” internal links\nHTTPS\npages internally linking to HTTP pages\nAnd so forth.\nLuckily, the\nIncoming\nand\nOutgoing Links\nreports in the Site Audit tool will help you to uncover and fix these issues.\nLet’s start by taking a look at the\nIncoming Links\nreport:\nIn this example, you can see that there are a few issues with my website—namely nofollowed internal links.\nThis isn’t always cause for concern but generally, your internal links should be used to send “link juice” to important and relevant pages.\nTherefore, they should be\ndofollow\nlinks.\nIf you click any of these errors, you will see exactly where they reside:\nLet’s take a look at the\nOutgoing Links\nreport, too:\nAgain, we have a few errors, including:\nPages that link out to broken pages (these should be replaced and fixed!)\nHTTPS pages linking to unsecure internal pages (this is definitely not the best practice!)\nPages without outgoing links (\nsome studies\nhave found outgoing links to have a positive effect on rankings)\nIf you want to investigate an error further (and see exactly\nwhere\nthe error occurs), just click through to take a look.\nAnd this is only the tip of the iceberg—there are plenty of supporting graphs, data visualizations, and other pieces of information in these reports.\nRecommended reading:\nThis is the new Site Audit tool\nby Ahrefs (an overview of the Site Audit tool written by\nTim Soulo\nfrom Ahrefs)\nCheck out my\n4 step SEO audit case study\nto see how regular SEO audits can help your website grows.\nAnalysing Your Progress\/Success\n \nSEO is\nhard\nwork.\nThat’s why it’s important to keep your eye on progress and make sure that the grunt work is having a positive impact on your website.\nGoogle Analytics\nwill be your best bet here.\nBUT…if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably end up seeing your Ahrefs dashboard much more than your\nGoogle Analytics\naccount.\nSo:\nHere are a few things to look for in Ahrefs to make sure you’re heading in the right direction:\n#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank\nAre you building a consistent flow of links to your website?\nIf so, you should see your Domain Rating (DR) increase over time.\nHere’s what it looks like on your dashboard:\nIf it increases, you’ll see a green arrow appear alongside this number with the amount of points it’s increased (much like with the\nURL rating\nbelow).\nSimilarly, you should start to see your Ahrefs Rank decrease.\nBasically, the lower your Ahrefs Rank is, the better, so keep an eye on it.\nNote:\nDon’t obsess over these metrics. However, they are a decent indicator as to the overall status of your website.\n#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)\nRemember during the Ahrefs setup process when I told you to track a bunch of your top keywords in Ahrefs?\nWell, that’s because these keywords also show up in your dashboard, like this:\nBasically, this shows how many of your tracked keywords are ranking in the top 1-3, 4-10, 11-20, and 21-50 search results.\nAs rankings improve, they’ll show up here.\nThis is my personal favourite way to keep an eye on what really matters—if I see improvements here, I\nknow\nthat my traffic is probably increasing, too.\nOf course, if you want to take a more granular look at keyword rankings (with graphs and whatnot), you can use Ahrefs Rank Tracker.\nThis can also show you some super-cool data such as the number of featured snippets you own, and much more.\nBUT:\nIf you need daily keyword ranking updates you might want to checkout my\nAccuranker review\nbecause Ahrefs only updates every 3 days.\nWant to write product reviews like this one? Use my\nproduct review template\n!\nUseful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)\nBefore I wrap this up, I want to mention a handful of tools that incorporate Ahrefs data.\nI know from talking to\nTim Soulo\nthat Ahrefs are\nvery\npicky about which tools they allow to use their data. That’s why this list is quite short.\nHere are the tools I can personally vouch for:\nURL Profiler\n: Pulls in a bunch of metrics (including Ahrefs metrics) for a list of URLs. This is one of my personal favourites. See my full\nURL Profiler review\nfor more.\nNinja Outreach\n: Use the free trial of this tool to contact thosuands of backlink opportunities\/broken backlinks itc in a couple of clicks. They have a range of link building email templates\nbuilt in\n!\nScreaming Frog\n:\nIndustry-leading\ncrawling\n&\nSEO Spider\ntool. A must-have for anyone who’s serious about SEO. It now also allows you to pull in metrics (e.g. DR, Ahrefs Rank, etc.) from Ahrefs directly. More details\nhere\n.\nLink Miner (Chrome Extension)\n: Analyse and extract links from any web page. Perfect for finding broken links and quickly assessing them by pulling in metrics from Ahrefs.\nSeoTools for Excel\n: Excel add-on that’s absolutely packed with functionality. If you want to pull Ahrefs metrics directly into your spreadsheets, this one is for you! More details\nhere\n.\nAnd\nhere are a few more tools that integrate Ahrefs data\n(although I haven’t tested these personally).\nWrapping It Up\n \nAhrefs\nis an\nincredible\ntool.\nNot just for link-building, but for (almost) everything else, too.\nSeriously, if I was limited to using only one SEO tool forever, Ahrefs would probably be my #1 choice.\nBUT…enough with the praise…\nHere’s a quick recap of my surefire process for increasing traffic in my Ahrefs review-\nMake sure your website is healthy (i.e. there are no bad-backlinks, broken links, etc)\nLook for “Dodgy” Links in the\nBacklinks\nand\nReferring Domains\nReports\nLook for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues\nLook for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs\nFind (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks\nRemove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links\nFix Broken Outbound Links\nLook for potential issues with Ahrefsbot and fix them.\nFind all of the best keywords\nPop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer\nSee Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)\nFind the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors\n\/\nVIDEO TUTORIAL\nAnalyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”\nPrioritise your keywords AND find low-hanging fruit (i.e. quick-win opportunities)\nFind Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6\nFind Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential\nResearch and create some EPIC content\nFind UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer\nFind Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer\nBuild links to your EPIC content\nUse Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks\nMonitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)\nMonitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions\nFind “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)\nBroken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)\n\/\nVIDEO TUTORIAL\nFind Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects\nComplete a site audit and fix all outstanding issues\nUse The Site Audit Tool To Find Every SEO Problem\nFind Slow Loading Pages (Using the\nPerformance\nReport)\nFind HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the\nHTML Tags\nReport\nFind Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports\nKeep an eye on your progress and make sure you’re on the right track!\nIncreased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank\nImproved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)\nIncrease Domain Authority (DA)\nDo this, in this order, and you won’t go far wrong!\nHow do you use Ahrefs in your SEO campaigns?","attrs_markdown":"[![search logistics](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20295%2076'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![search logistics](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/logo.png)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/)\n\n[![mobile logo](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20249%2063'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![mobile logo](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/logoa.png)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/)\n\n- [Home](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/)\n- [LEARN SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/)\n- [What We Do](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/services\/)\n- [Case Studies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/)\n- [About Us](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/about\/)\n- [Testimonials](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/testimonials\/)\n\n- [Latest Content](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#menutab1)\n- [SEO Case Studies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#menutab2)\n- [Keyword Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#menutab3)\n- [Content Creation](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#menutab4)\n- [On Page SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#menutab5)\n- [Link Building](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#menutab6)\n- [Penalties & Updates](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#menutab7)\n- [General SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#menutab8)\n- [SEO Tools & Reviews](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#menutab9)\n\n- [Latest Content](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/)\n- [SEO Case Studies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/)\n- [Keyword Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/)\n- [Content Creation](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/)\n- [On Page SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/)\n- [Link Building](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/)\n- [Penalties & Updates](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/)\n- [General SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/)\n- [SEO Tools & Reviews](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/)\n\n[![Free Google AI Quality Rater Tool](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20390%20559'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Free Google AI Quality Rater Tool](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/menupic1a-claude-cta.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/rdnrw5qwfzv3esnhgyah\/)\n\n[![Download the link building checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20390%20559'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Download the link building checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/menupic2a.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/y6dok7nvsx6ozk6yd3vw\/)\n\n[![backlink blacklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20390%20559'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![backlink blacklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/menupic3ae.png)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\n[![Free Google AI Quality Rater Tool](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20390%20559'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Free Google AI Quality Rater Tool](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/menupic1a-claude-cta.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/rdnrw5qwfzv3esnhgyah\/)\n\n[![Download the link building checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20390%20559'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Download the link building checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/menupic2a.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/y6dok7nvsx6ozk6yd3vw\/)\n\n[![backlink blacklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20390%20559'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![backlink blacklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/menupic3ae.png)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\nLatest Content\n\n[![You Have These 6 SEO Problems (And How To Fix Them)](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![You Have These 6 SEO Problems (And How To Fix Them)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6-problems.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/6-problems\/)\n\n[You Have These 6 SEO Problems (And How To Fix Them)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/6-problems\/)\n\n[![How To Build Linkable Assets With AI In 2026](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Build Linkable Assets With AI In 2026](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/link-assets.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/linkable-assets\/)\n\n[How To Build Linkable Assets With AI In 2026](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/linkable-assets\/)\n\n[![How To Steal AI Overview Rankings](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Steal AI Overview Rankings](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/menu-steal-ai-overview.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/steal-ai-overview-rankings\/)\n\n[How To Steal AI Overview Rankings](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/steal-ai-overview-rankings\/)\n\n[![FREE SEO TOOL: The AI Google Search Quality Rater](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![FREE SEO TOOL: The AI Google Search Quality Rater](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-quality-rater-tool-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ai-google-quality-rater-tool\/)\n\n[FREE SEO TOOL: The AI Google Search Quality Rater](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ai-google-quality-rater-tool\/)\n\n[![How To Build Brand Signals That Rank In Google AND Get Recommended By AI](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Build Brand Signals That Rank In Google AND Get Recommended By AI](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/brand-signals-thumb.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/brand-signals-google-ai\/)\n\n[How To Build Brand Signals That Rank In Google & AI Search](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/brand-signals-google-ai\/)\n\n[![22 Things We Have Learned From The Google Search Leak](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![22 Things We Have Learned From The Google Search Leak](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/leak-learnings-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/google-search-leak\/)\n\n[22 Things Learned From The Google Search Leak](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/google-search-leak\/)\n\n[View All Posts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/)\n\n- [![Download the Google Leak Link Building Checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Download the Google Leak Link Building Checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/cta-nav-link-leak-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo\/)\n\nSEO Case Studies\n\n[![ai seo case study results](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![ai seo case study results](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ai-seo-case-study-small.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/ai-seo-3-step-traffic-growth\/)\n\n[AI SEO Case Study: 700% Growth](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/ai-seo-3-step-traffic-growth\/)\n\n[![AI Generated Content Will Get You Penalised](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![AI Generated Content Will Get You Penalised](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/menu-ai-content-detection-test.png)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ai-content-detection-case-study\/)\n\n[AI Generated Content Will Get You Penalised](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ai-content-detection-case-study\/)\n\n[![Growing Revenue \\$17,122 To \\$92,119 Per Month](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Growing Revenue \\$17,122 To \\$92,119 Per Month](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/case-study-5x-revenue-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/5x-revenue\/)\n\n[Growing Revenue \\$17,122 To \\$92,119 Per Month](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/5x-revenue\/)\n\n[![\\+73% Search Traffic With These 6 Fixes](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![\\+73% Search Traffic With These 6 Fixes](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/case-study-6-ways-to-increase-your-search-traffic-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/6-technical-seo-fixes\/)\n\n[\\+73% Search Traffic With These 6 Fixes](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/6-technical-seo-fixes\/)\n\n[![Ecommerce SEO Case Study: 3x Revenue In 90 Days](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Ecommerce SEO Case Study: 3x Revenue In 90 Days](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/case-study-3x-revenue-in-90-days-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/3x-revenue-in-90-days\/)\n\n[Ecommerce SEO Case Study: 3x Revenue In 90 Days](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/3x-revenue-in-90-days\/)\n\n[![How To 14x Search Traffic In 8x months](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To 14x Search Traffic In 8x months](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/case-study-how-to-14x-search-traffic-in-8-month-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/14x-search-traffic\/)\n\n[How To 14x Search Traffic In 8x months](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/14x-search-traffic\/)\n\n[View All Posts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/)\n\n- [![Get The 28 Day SEO Hardcover Book on Amazon](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Get The 28 Day SEO Hardcover Book on Amazon](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/menupic1-28db.png)](https:\/\/geni.us\/28dayseochallenge)\n\nKeyword Research\n\n[![Download My Intelligent Keyword Research Template Now](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Download My Intelligent Keyword Research Template Now](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/keyword-research-template-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/keyword-research-template\/)\n\n[Download My Intelligent Keyword Research Template Now](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/keyword-research-template\/)\n\n[![These 7x Types Of Keywords Will Increase Your Search Traffic](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![These 7x Types Of Keywords Will Increase Your Search Traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/types-of-keywords-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/types\/)\n\n[These 7x Types Of Keywords Will Increase Your Search Traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/types\/)\n\n[![How To Use Buyer Keywords To Boost Your Sales](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Use Buyer Keywords To Boost Your Sales](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/buyer-keywords-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/buyer-keywords\/)\n\n[How To Use Buyer Keywords To Boost Your Sales](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/buyer-keywords\/)\n\n[![Keyword Research: The What, Why & How](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Keyword Research: The What, Why & How](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/keyword-research-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/research\/)\n\n[Keyword Research: The What, Why & How](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/research\/)\n\n[![The Best Keyword Research Tools (And How To Use Them)](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![The Best Keyword Research Tools (And How To Use Them)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/best-keyword-research-tools-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/keyword-research-tools\/)\n\n[The Best Keyword Research Tools (And How To Use Them)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/keyword-research-tools\/)\n\n[![Google Keyword Planner: How To Use It The Right Way](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Google Keyword Planner: How To Use It The Right Way](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/google-keyword-planner-menub.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/google-keyword-planner\/)\n\n[Google Keyword Planner: How To Use It The Right Way](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/google-keyword-planner\/)\n\n[View All Posts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/)\n\n- [![Steal your SEO strategy with this free download](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Steal your SEO strategy with this free download](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/menupic1b.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/i7gktsslyygsshtinic3\/)\n\nContent Creation\n\n[![FREE SEO TOOL: The AI Google Search Quality Rater](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![FREE SEO TOOL: The AI Google Search Quality Rater](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-quality-rater-tool-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ai-google-quality-rater-tool\/)\n\n[FREE SEO TOOL: The AI Google Search Quality Rater](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ai-google-quality-rater-tool\/)\n\n[![AI Generated Content Will Get You Penalised](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![AI Generated Content Will Get You Penalised](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/menu-ai-content-detection-test.png)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ai-content-detection-case-study\/)\n\n[AI Generated Content Will Get You Penalised](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ai-content-detection-case-study\/)\n\n[![18 SEO Copywriting Hacks That Get Instant Results](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![18 SEO Copywriting Hacks That Get Instant Results](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/seo-copywriting-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/seo-copywriting\/)\n\n[18 SEO Copywriting Hacks That Get Instant Results](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/seo-copywriting\/)\n\n[![How To Write Killer Website Content That Attracts People](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Write Killer Website Content That Attracts People](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/website-content-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/website-content\/)\n\n[How To Write Killer Website Content That Attracts People](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/website-content\/)\n\n[![How To Increase Search Visibility With FAQ Schema](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Increase Search Visibility With FAQ Schema](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/faq-schema-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/faq-rich-snippets\/)\n\n[How To Increase Search Visibility With FAQ Schema](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/faq-rich-snippets\/)\n\n[![How To Write A Listicle That Attracts Traffic & Backlinks](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Write A Listicle That Attracts Traffic & Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/listicle-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/listicle\/)\n\n[How To Write A Listicle That Attracts Traffic & Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/listicle\/)\n\n[View All Posts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/)\n\n- [![Get The 28 Day SEO Hardcover Book on Amazon](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Get The 28 Day SEO Hardcover Book on Amazon](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/menupic1-28db.png)](https:\/\/geni.us\/28dayseochallenge)\n\nOn Page SEO\n\n[![You Have These 6 SEO Problems (And How To Fix Them)](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![You Have These 6 SEO Problems (And How To Fix Them)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6-problems.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/6-problems\/)\n\n[You Have These 6 SEO Problems (And How To Fix Them)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/6-problems\/)\n\n[![How To Optimise for Google’s AI Overviews](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Optimise for Google’s AI Overviews](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/feature-google-ai-overviews-sm.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/how-to-optimise-ai-overviews\/)\n\n[How To Optimise for Google’s AI Overviews](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/how-to-optimise-ai-overviews\/)\n\n[![The Ultimate On Page SEO Checklist To Increase Rankings](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![The Ultimate On Page SEO Checklist To Increase Rankings](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/on-page-seo-checklist-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/checklist\/)\n\n[The Ultimate On Page SEO Checklist To Boost Rankings](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/checklist\/)\n\n[![The Hidden SEO Ranking Factor You’re Probably Deleting](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![The Hidden SEO Ranking Factor You’re Probably Deleting](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/case-study-the-hidden-ranking-factor-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/image-seo\/)\n\n[The Hidden SEO Ranking Factor You’re Probably Deleting](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/image-seo\/)\n\n[![How To Increase Search Visibility With FAQ Schema](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Increase Search Visibility With FAQ Schema](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/faq-schema-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/faq-rich-snippets\/)\n\n[How To Increase Search Visibility With FAQ Schema](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/faq-rich-snippets\/)\n\n[![6x Free Ways To Increase Website Speed (and search traffic!)](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![6x Free Ways To Increase Website Speed (and search traffic!)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/website-speed-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/increase-website-speed\/)\n\n[6x Free Ways To Increase Website Speed (and traffic!)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/increase-website-speed\/)\n\n[View All Posts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/)\n\n- [![Download the Google Leak Link Building Checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Download the Google Leak Link Building Checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/cta-nav-link-leak-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo\/)\n\nLink Building\n\n[![link building strategies](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![link building strategies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/lbs-small.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/strategies\/)\n\n[19x Link Building Strategies For 2026](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/strategies\/)\n\n[![How To Build Linkable Assets With AI In 2026](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Build Linkable Assets With AI In 2026](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/link-assets.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/linkable-assets\/)\n\n[How To Build Linkable Assets With AI In 2026](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/linkable-assets\/)\n\n[![Link Building Services: What You REALLY Need To Know](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Link Building Services: What You REALLY Need To Know](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/link-building-service-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/link-building-services\/)\n\n[Link Building Services: What You REALLY Need To Know](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/link-building-services\/)\n\n[![Backlink Analysis – The Easiest Ways To Build Links](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Backlink Analysis – The Easiest Ways To Build Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/backlink-analysis-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/backlink-analysis\/)\n\n[Backlink Analysis – The Easiest Ways To Build Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/backlink-analysis\/)\n\n[![8x Ways To Build Powerful Edu Backlinks](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![8x Ways To Build Powerful Edu Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/edu-backlinks-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/edu-backlinks\/)\n\n[8x Ways To Build Powerful Edu Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/edu-backlinks\/)\n\n[![Testimonial Link Building: Powerful Homepage Links](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Testimonial Link Building: Powerful Homepage Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/testimonial-link-building-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/testimonial-link-building\/)\n\n[Testimonial Link Building: Powerful Homepage Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/testimonial-link-building\/)\n\n[View All Posts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/)\n\n- [![Download the free link building checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20355%20272'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Download the free link building checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/menupic2.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/y6dok7nvsx6ozk6yd3vw\/)\n- [![the backlink blacklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20355%20272'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![the backlink blacklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/menupic3e.png)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\nPenalties & Updates\n\n[![7 Google Penalty Checker Tools](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![7 Google Penalty Checker Tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/google-penalty-checker-menub.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/google-penalty-checker\/)\n\n[7 Google Penalty Checker Tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/google-penalty-checker\/)\n\n[![The Step By Step Process To Recover From Any Penalty](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![The Step By Step Process To Recover From Any Penalty](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/penalty-recover-process-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/google-penalty-recovery-process\/)\n\n[The Step By Step Process To Recover From Any Penalty](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/google-penalty-recovery-process\/)\n\n[![Google Page Experience Update Checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Google Page Experience Update Checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/google-page-experience-update-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/google-page-experience-update\/)\n\n[Google Page Experience Update Checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/google-page-experience-update\/)\n\n[![Drop In Search Traffic? Watch This Video Now\\!](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Drop In Search Traffic? Watch This Video Now\\!](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/drop-in-search-engine-watch-this-video-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/drop-in-search-traffic\/)\n\n[Drop In Search Traffic? Watch This Video Now\\!](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/drop-in-search-traffic\/)\n\n[![How To Get Out Of Google Sandbox As Quickly As Possible](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Get Out Of Google Sandbox As Quickly As Possible](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/google-sandbox-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/google-sandbox\/)\n\n[How To Get Out Of Google Sandbox As Quickly As Possible](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/google-sandbox\/)\n\n[![How To Improve Your Core Web Vitals In 15 Minutes](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Improve Your Core Web Vitals In 15 Minutes](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/how-to-improve-core-web-vitals-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/improve-core-web-vitals\/)\n\n[How To Improve Your Core Web Vitals In 15 Minutes](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/improve-core-web-vitals\/)\n\n[View All Posts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/algorithm\/)\n\n- [![Steal your SEO strategy with this free download](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Steal your SEO strategy with this free download](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/menupic1b.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/i7gktsslyygsshtinic3\/)\n\nGeneral SEO\n\n[![How To Exclude Words From Google Search Results](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![How To Exclude Words From Google Search Results](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/how-to-exclude-words-from-google-search-menub.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/exclude-words-from-google-search\/)\n\n[How To Exclude Words From Google Search Results](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/exclude-words-from-google-search\/)\n\n[![SEO Checklist: 45x Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![SEO Checklist: 45x Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/seo-checklist-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/seo-checklist\/)\n\n[SEO Checklist: 45x Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/seo-checklist\/)\n\n[![Testing The 12 Fastest WordPress Hosting Providers](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Testing The 12 Fastest WordPress Hosting Providers](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/fastest-wordpress-hosting-menub.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/blogging\/fastest-wordpress-hosting\/)\n\n[Testing The 12 Fastest WordPress Hosting Providers](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/blogging\/fastest-wordpress-hosting\/)\n\n[![Learn How To Find Powerful Expired Domains Step By Step](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Learn How To Find Powerful Expired Domains Step By Step](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/expired-domains-menub.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/expired-domains\/)\n\n[Learn How To Find Powerful Expired Domains Step By Step](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/expired-domains\/)\n\n[![The Fastest & Easiest Way To Get Wikipedia Backlinks](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![The Fastest & Easiest Way To Get Wikipedia Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wikipedia-backlinks-menub.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/wikipedia\/)\n\n[The Fastest & Easiest Way To Get Wikipedia Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/wikipedia\/)\n\n[![The Ultimate Guide To Search Engine Submission](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![The Ultimate Guide To Search Engine Submission](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/seo-submission-software-menub.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/search-engine-submission\/)\n\n[The Ultimate Guide To Search Engine Submission](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/search-engine-submission\/)\n\n[View All Posts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/)\n\n- [![Download the Google Leak Link Building Checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Download the Google Leak Link Building Checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/cta-nav-link-leak-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo\/)\n\nSEO Tools & Reviews\n\n[![SEMRush Review: How To Increase Search Traffic](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![SEMRush Review: How To Increase Search Traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/semrush-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/semrush\/)\n\n[SEMRush Review: How To Increase Search Traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/semrush\/)\n\n[![Surfer SEO Review - How I Used It To Win The \\#1 Position](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Surfer SEO Review - How I Used It To Win The \\#1 Position](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/surfer-seo-review-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/surfer-seo\/)\n\n[Surfer SEO Review - How I Used It To Win The \\#1 Position](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/surfer-seo\/)\n\n[![NitroPack Review & Case Study](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![NitroPack Review & Case Study](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/nitropack-review-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/nitropack\/)\n\n[NitroPack Review & Case Study](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/nitropack\/)\n\n[![WPX Hosting Review – Faster Than You Might Think](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![WPX Hosting Review – Faster Than You Might Think](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wpx-hosting-review-menu.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/wpx-hosting\/)\n\n[WPX Hosting Review – Faster Than You Might Think](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/wpx-hosting\/)\n\n[![My Kinsta Hosting Review & Case Study](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![My Kinsta Hosting Review & Case Study](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/kinsta-review-menub.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/kinsta\/)\n\n[My Kinsta Hosting Review & Case Study](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/kinsta\/)\n\n[![guest posting services](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%20100'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![guest posting services](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/guest-posting-services-menub.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/guest-posting-services\/)\n\n[5 Guest Posting Services You Can Rely On](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/guest-posting-services\/)\n\n[View All Posts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/)\n\n- [![Get The 28 Day SEO Hardcover Book on Amazon](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Get The 28 Day SEO Hardcover Book on Amazon](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/menupic1-28db.png)](https:\/\/geni.us\/28dayseochallenge)\n\n[Contact Us](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/contact\/)\n\n# Ahrefs Review: An In-Depth Look\n- Matthew Woodward\n- Updated on Oct 30, 2025\n\n[Home](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/) \\> [Learn](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/) \\> [Reviews](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/) \\> Ahrefs\n\n## ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2093%2090'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/stra.png) Ahrefs Review\n- Review Of: [Ahrefs](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/)\n- Reviewed By: Matthew Woodward\n- Rating:\n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n  \n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n  \n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n  \n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n  \n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n- Updated On: Oct 30, 2025\n\n**Summary:**\n\nAhrefs provides everything you need to increase search engine traffic to any website. It’s huge database of information combined with intelligent tools makes it easy for anyone to increase their rankings.\n\n[View More Details](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/)\n\nWhat Will I Learn?\n\n- [What You Will Learn](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#What_You_Will_Learn \"What You Will Learn\")\n- [What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#What_Is_Ahrefs_And_Why_Should_You_Care \"What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?\")\n- [Ahrefs Pros & Cons](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Ahrefs_Pros_Cons \"Ahrefs Pros & Cons\")\n  - [📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Pros_What_I_Think_Youll_Like \"📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like\")\n  - [📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Cons_What_I_Think_Youll_Dislike \"📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike\")\n- [Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Getting_Started_With_My_Ahrefs_Review \"Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review\")\n- [Backlink Health Check](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Backlink_Health_Check \"Backlink Health Check\")\n  - [\\#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#1_Look_for_Dodgy_Links_in_the_Backlinks_and_Referring_Domains_Reports \"#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports\")\n  - [\\#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#2_Look_for_Unnatural_Anchor_Text_Issues \"#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues\")\n  - [\\#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#3_Look_for_LOTS_of_Links_from_the_Same_C-block_IPs \"#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs\")\n  - [\\#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#4_Find_AND_Fix_Broken_Backlinks \"#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks\")\n  - [\\#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#5_Remove_ALL_Low-Quality_or_Irrelevant_Outbound_Links \"#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links\")\n  - [\\#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#6_Fix_Broken_Outbound_Links \"#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links\")\n- [Keyword Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Keyword_Research \"Keyword Research\")\n  - [\\#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#7_Pop_a_Few_Seed_Keywords_into_Keywords_Explorer \"#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer\")\n  - [\\#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#8_See_Other_Keyword_Ideas_Based_on_Your_Seed_Keywords \"#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)\")\n  - [\\#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#9_Find_the_KeywordsTopics_that_Send_the_Most_Traffic_to_Your_Competitors \"#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors\")\n  - [\\#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#10_Analyse_YOUR_Competitors_to_Find_Keyword_Content_Gaps \"#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”\")\n- [Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Keyword_Prioritisation_PLUS_How_to_Identify_Low-Hanging_Opportunities \"Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)\")\n  - [\\#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#11_Find_Keywords_That_Youre_Already_Ranking_for_in_Positions_4-6 \"#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6\")\n  - [\\#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#12_Find_Keywords_AND_Topics_with_High_Traffic_Potential \"#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential\")\n- [Content Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Content_Research \"Content Research\")\n  - [\\#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#13_Find_UNIQUE_EASILY_BEATABLE_Content_Ideas_Using_Content_Explorer \"#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer\")\n  - [\\#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#14_Find_Content_Ideas_That_People_ACTUALLY_Care_About_with_Keywords_Explorer \"#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer\")\n- [Link Building](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Link_Building \"Link Building\")\n  - [\\#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#15_Use_Branded_Alerts_to_Reclaim_Backlinks \"#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks\")\n  - [\\#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#16_Monitor_TOPICAL_Keyword_Alerts_Then_Convince_People_to_Link_to_You \"#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)\")\n  - [\\#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#17_Monitor_Competitor_Links_AND_Brand_Mentions \"#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions\")\n  - [\\#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#18_Find_Skyscraper_Link_Building_Opportunities_AND_Prospects \"#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)\")\n  - [\\#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#19_Broken_Backlink_Building_with_the_top_pages_-_404_report \"#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)\")\n  - [\\#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#20_Find_Worthwhile_Guest_Post_Prospects \"#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects\")\n- [Site Audit](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Site_Audit \"Site Audit\")\n  - [\\#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#21_Find_Slow_Loading_Pages_Using_the_Performance_Report \"#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)\")\n  - [\\#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#22_Find_HTML_Tag_Issues_eg_Rogue_Noindex_Tags_with_the_HTML_Tags_Report \"#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report\")\n  - [\\#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#23_Find_Incoming_and_Outgoing_Link_Issues_eg_Broken_Outbound_Links_with_the_IncomingOutgoing_Links_Reports \"#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports\")\n- [Analysing Your Progress\/Success](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Analysing_Your_ProgressSuccess \"Analysing Your Progress\/Success\")\n  - [\\#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#24_Increased_Domain_Rating_DR_AND_Decreased_Ahrefs_Rank \"#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank\")\n  - [\\#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#25_Improved_Rankings_for_Your_Tracked_Keywords \"#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)\")\n- [Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Useful_Tools_That_Work_with_Ahrefs \"Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)\")\n- [Wrapping It Up](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Wrapping_It_Up \"Wrapping It Up\")\n\n![Matthew Woodward](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20200%20140'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\n![Matthew Woodward](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/matt-sidebar.png)\n\n- [![YouTube](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2039%2039'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![YouTube](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-icon-youtube.png)Subscribe to my YouTube](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@SearchLogisticsHQ)\n- [![Facebook](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2039%2039'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Facebook](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-icon-facebook.png)Join My Facebook Group](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SearchLogisticsHQ)\n- [![LinkedIn](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2039%2039'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![LinkedIn](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-icon-linkedin.png)Connect on Linkedin](https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/matthewwoodwarduk\/)\n\n- [![Learn](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2047%2047'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Learn](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-icon-learn.png)Free SEO Tutorials](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/)\n- [![Case Studies](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2047%2047'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Case Studies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-icon-case-study.png)SEO Case Studies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/)\n- [![Links](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2047%2047'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-icon-links.png)Links That Rank](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/)\n\n[![Trustworthy Link Building](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Trustworthy Link Building](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-banner-1.png)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/)\n\n[![Blacklisted Backlinks](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Blacklisted Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-banner-2.png)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\n[![Rank Your Site](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Rank Your Site](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-banner-3.png)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/services\/full-service-seo\/)\n\n[![Quality Rater Tool](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Quality Rater Tool](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-banner-4.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/rdnrw5qwfzv3esnhgyah\/)\n\n[![AI Overviews](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![AI Overviews](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-banner-5.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/bvqcmvrcbvkaixbmyvfu\/)\n\n[![Google Search Leak](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Google Search Leak](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sb-banner-6.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/cgipbhkmqe3cpb3ybwu4\/)\n\nAhrefs is a very popular [SEO tool](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/tools\/ \"SEO tool\") that was originally built to check [backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/backlinks\/ \"backlinks\").\n\nHowever over the last years it has developed into something much more with a class leading database of backlinks and [keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/ \"keywords\").\n\nAhrefs is one of the most popular [SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/ \"SEO\") [tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ \"tools\") for a reason.\n\nAnd if you want to drive a TON of organic traffic to your website?\n\nHere’s the basic formula:\n\n- Pick a topic\/keyword\n- Create an exceptional piece of content\n- Promote it. Build links to it. Rank it.\n\nSounds simple, right!?\n\nI’ll let you in on a little secret:\n\n**It is simple, but only if you use the right tools for the job.**\n\nWhat do I mean by that?\n\nWell, there are a ton of questions you need to answer before you get started, such as:\n\n> 1\\. *Which keywords\/topics should you be trying to rank for?*   \n>  2. *Is it even possible to outrank the competition?*  \n>  3. *What kind of content should you create? (e.g. blog post, [infographic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/statistics\/infographic-statistics\/), interactive content, etc)*  \n>  4. *[How many links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/how-many-backlinks\/ \"How many links\") do you need to build to rank for your chosen keywords? (and can you build that many links?)*\n\nIn this post, I’ll be showing you how to answer all these questions (and more) with only one tool: [Ahrefs](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/ \"Ahrefs\").\n\n[![learn how to increase your search traffic in 28 days](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20300'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![learn how to increase your search traffic in 28 days](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta2-28-day-seo.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24\/)\n\nWhat Will I Learn?\n\n- [What You Will Learn](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#What_You_Will_Learn \"What You Will Learn\")\n- [What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#What_Is_Ahrefs_And_Why_Should_You_Care \"What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?\")\n- [Ahrefs Pros & Cons](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Ahrefs_Pros_Cons \"Ahrefs Pros & Cons\")\n  - [📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Pros_What_I_Think_Youll_Like \"📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like\")\n  - [📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Cons_What_I_Think_Youll_Dislike \"📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike\")\n- [Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Getting_Started_With_My_Ahrefs_Review \"Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review\")\n- [Backlink Health Check](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Backlink_Health_Check \"Backlink Health Check\")\n  - [\\#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#1_Look_for_Dodgy_Links_in_the_Backlinks_and_Referring_Domains_Reports \"#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports\")\n  - [\\#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#2_Look_for_Unnatural_Anchor_Text_Issues \"#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues\")\n  - [\\#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#3_Look_for_LOTS_of_Links_from_the_Same_C-block_IPs \"#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs\")\n  - [\\#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#4_Find_AND_Fix_Broken_Backlinks \"#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks\")\n  - [\\#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#5_Remove_ALL_Low-Quality_or_Irrelevant_Outbound_Links \"#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links\")\n  - [\\#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#6_Fix_Broken_Outbound_Links \"#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links\")\n- [Keyword Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Keyword_Research \"Keyword Research\")\n  - [\\#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#7_Pop_a_Few_Seed_Keywords_into_Keywords_Explorer \"#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer\")\n  - [\\#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#8_See_Other_Keyword_Ideas_Based_on_Your_Seed_Keywords \"#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)\")\n  - [\\#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#9_Find_the_KeywordsTopics_that_Send_the_Most_Traffic_to_Your_Competitors \"#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors\")\n  - [\\#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#10_Analyse_YOUR_Competitors_to_Find_Keyword_Content_Gaps \"#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”\")\n- [Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Keyword_Prioritisation_PLUS_How_to_Identify_Low-Hanging_Opportunities \"Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)\")\n  - [\\#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#11_Find_Keywords_That_Youre_Already_Ranking_for_in_Positions_4-6 \"#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6\")\n  - [\\#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#12_Find_Keywords_AND_Topics_with_High_Traffic_Potential \"#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential\")\n- [Content Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Content_Research \"Content Research\")\n  - [\\#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#13_Find_UNIQUE_EASILY_BEATABLE_Content_Ideas_Using_Content_Explorer \"#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer\")\n  - [\\#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#14_Find_Content_Ideas_That_People_ACTUALLY_Care_About_with_Keywords_Explorer \"#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer\")\n- [Link Building](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Link_Building \"Link Building\")\n  - [\\#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#15_Use_Branded_Alerts_to_Reclaim_Backlinks \"#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks\")\n  - [\\#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#16_Monitor_TOPICAL_Keyword_Alerts_Then_Convince_People_to_Link_to_You \"#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)\")\n  - [\\#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#17_Monitor_Competitor_Links_AND_Brand_Mentions \"#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions\")\n  - [\\#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#18_Find_Skyscraper_Link_Building_Opportunities_AND_Prospects \"#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)\")\n  - [\\#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#19_Broken_Backlink_Building_with_the_top_pages_-_404_report \"#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)\")\n  - [\\#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#20_Find_Worthwhile_Guest_Post_Prospects \"#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects\")\n- [Site Audit](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Site_Audit \"Site Audit\")\n  - [\\#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#21_Find_Slow_Loading_Pages_Using_the_Performance_Report \"#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)\")\n  - [\\#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#22_Find_HTML_Tag_Issues_eg_Rogue_Noindex_Tags_with_the_HTML_Tags_Report \"#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report\")\n  - [\\#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#23_Find_Incoming_and_Outgoing_Link_Issues_eg_Broken_Outbound_Links_with_the_IncomingOutgoing_Links_Reports \"#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports\")\n- [Analysing Your Progress\/Success](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Analysing_Your_ProgressSuccess \"Analysing Your Progress\/Success\")\n  - [\\#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#24_Increased_Domain_Rating_DR_AND_Decreased_Ahrefs_Rank \"#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank\")\n  - [\\#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#25_Improved_Rankings_for_Your_Tracked_Keywords \"#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)\")\n- [Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Useful_Tools_That_Work_with_Ahrefs \"Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)\")\n- [Wrapping It Up](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Wrapping_It_Up \"Wrapping It Up\")\n## What You Will Learn\nLet me make one thing clear:\n\n**My aim here *isn’t* to list everything Ahrefs *can* do.**\n\n(If that’s what you want, you can find [a big list of features here](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/pricing).)\n\nMy aim is to show actionable ways to use Ahrefs (and no other tools) to get more organic traffic to your website.\n\n![Ahrefs review](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%202560%201435'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Ahrefs review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Ahrefs-review-1-scaled.jpg)\n\nHere’s everything I’ll be teaching you:\n\n- [**Getting Started:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#getting-started) How to get started with Ahrefs and set yourself up for success (**note**: do not skip this stage, it is *very* important).\n- [**Backlink Health Check:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#backlink-health-check) How to identify (and fix) any backlink issues that may be holding your website back in the [SERPs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/search-engine-results-pages-serps\/ \"SERPs\"). **WARNING**: Fixing these issues can lead to an instant rankings boost\\!\n- **[Keyword Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/research\/ \"Keyword Research\"):** Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is perhaps *the* [best keyword research tool](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/keyword-research-tools\/ \"best keyword research tool\") on the market. I’ll show you how to use this tool (and a couple of other Ahrefs tools) to build an initial keyword list for your website.\n- [**Keyword Prioritisation:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#keyword-prioritisation) How to prioritise your keywords list and identify “low-hanging” opportunities that can boost traffic FAST.\n- [**Content Research:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#content-research) How to figure out EXACTLY what type of content you should be creating to rank for your chosen keywords.\n- **[Link Building](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/ \"Link Building\"):** How to build links to your website using a variety of methods (**note**: this is where Ahrefs really shines!)\n- [**Site Audit:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#site-seo-audit) How to diagnose and fix errors with your website (**note:** this is highly recommended, as on-site errors can hold back your success, even if you’ve done everything right thus far!)\n- [**Analyse your Progress\/Success:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#analyse-progress) How to use Ahrefs to make sure you’re on the right track and that things are improving with your website.\n\nI’ve made a big effort to lay this out as a checklist, rather than a random list of ideas\/tactics.\n\n**This means that if you follow this guide from start-to-finish…**\n\nI guarantee you will see results.\n\n![Ahrefs review](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20793%202560'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Ahrefs review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ahrefs-review-infographic-scaled.jpg)\n\n## What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?\nAhrefs is a powerful—and complete—SEO analysis tool.\n\nIt does pretty much everything you could ever need to do from an SEO standpoint, including:\n\n- **Keyword research** (via [Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer))\n- **Content research** (via [Content Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer))\n- **Backlink research** (via [Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer))\n- **Rank tracking** (via [Rank Tracker](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/rank-tracker))\n- **Competitor research** (via [Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer), [Link Intersect Tool](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/link-intersect), etc)\n- **Site auditing** (i.e. diagnosing site health issues, etc.) (via the [Site Audit tool](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\/))\n\nRight now, the only important thing Ahrefs can’t do is manage or send link building [outreach emails](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/email-outreach\/ \"outreach emails\"). But you can use [Gmail](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/gmail\/ \"Gmail\") for that.\n\nEverything else is covered.\n\n> *You can search a database of 4.9 million keywords in seconds with* *[Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer)**.*\n> \n> *You can search 700+ million pieces of content to find content ideas that will generate a ton of* *traffic, with* *[Content Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer)**.*\n> \n> *You can search the world’s largest index of backlinks (over 35 trillion!) to see all your competitors backlin**ks, with* *[Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer)**.*\n> \n> *You can find and fix hundreds of on-site issues in seconds, with the* *[Site Audit](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit)* *tool.*\n\nAnd that’s the tip of the iceberg, really.\n\nBut, impressive industry-leading stats aside, what does this mean for the average Joe?\n\nSimple.\n\n**You have everything you need—under one roof—to grow your [website traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/blogging\/website-traffic\/ \"website traffic\") like crazy.**\n\nThis post will walk you through the process of doing this, step-by-step.\n\n## Ahrefs Pros & Cons\nAhrefs is an incredibly powerful tool\\!\n\nBut that doesn’t mean it’s perfect for everyone. Here are some pros and cons to help you decide if Ahrefs is right for you.\n\n| PROS | CONS |\n|---|---|\n| ✅ Comprehensive all-in-one SEO tool | ❌ Large learning curve |\n| ✅ Largest live backlink index (35 trillion) | ❌ No built-in link outreach tool |\n| ✅ Powerful keyword research tools | ❌ Higher plan prices |\n| ✅ Great site audit tool | ❌ Rank tracking only updates every week |\n| ✅ Excellent competitor analysis tools | ❌ Overwhelming amounts of data |\n| ✅ Real-time brand mention alerts |   |\n| ✅ Quality content gap analysis |   |\n| ✅ Intuitive user interface |   |\n### 📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like\n- **Comprehensive All-In-One SEO Platform –** Ahrefs has every tool you need to execute a high-level [SEO campaign](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24\/ \"SEO campaign\"). It has everything from keyword research to in-depth backlink analysis and even technical SEO audits. You won’t need to juggle multiple tools because Ahrefs can almost do it all\\!\n- **Large Live Backlink Index –** Get the most comprehensive competitive backlink data with Ahrefs’ massive 35 trillion live link index. You’ll see links that other tools miss, get more usable data and ultimately end up with more link building opportunities.\n- **Powerful Keyword Research Tools –** Ahrefs keyword research tools are comprehensive and user-friendly. This is an area where Ahrefs really shines. It’s easy to find quality long-tail keywords to target and have all the data you need to make good keyword decisions.\n- **Quality Site Audit Tool –** Technical SEO isn’t easy. But Ahrefs makes it easier with a very solid site audit tool that balances in-depth SEO auditing with user-friendliness. The tool analyses your site for over 170+ technical and [on-page SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/ \"on-page SEO\") factors.\n- **Real-Time Mention Alerts –** Ahrefs has an excellent mention monitoring tool. You set up alerts for your name, brand and products. Every time someone mentions them online, you get a real-time notification, which makes it perfect for tracking your brand and finding unlinked mentions.\n- **Content Gap Analysis –** The content gap analysis is a feature that many tools offer. But Ahrefs does it better! In just a few clicks, you can literally see hundreds of keywords you’re missing out on and where your competitors are beating you in the SERPs.\n### 📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike\n- **Large Learning Curve –** Ahrefs has a ton of tools and features. That means there will be a significant learning curve to take full advantage of everything Ahrefs offers. The silver lining is that the user interface is intuitive, so if you have some experience, you’ll be fine.\n- **No Built-In Outreach Tool –** Ahrefs doesn’t offer any outreach capabilities, unlike [Semrush](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/semrush\/ \"Semrush\") or SEO Powersuite. That means you will need to have an individual outreach tool to pair with Ahrefs for link building outreach. It’s not a major issue, but something to be aware of.\n- **High Pricing Plans –** The free plan that Ahrefs offers is very limited, and paid plans start at \\$129 per month. That means it’s not cheap! Make sure you get enough value out of it long-term to justify the high prices.\n- **Ranking Tracking Not Updated Frequently –** Ahrefs only updates the keyword rankings you are tracking every 7 days. That’s not great! If you want daily keyword rank tracking updates, you will need to pay extra as an add-on or use another tool.\n- **Can Be Overwhelming –** There is a lot of data inside Ahrefs. That means beginners can easily get overwhelmed or distracted by the sheer volume of information. You need to be clear on your goals and use Ahrefs to help you accomplish them.\n## Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review\nIn this short section, I’ll show you how to get started with my Ahrefs review and how to set up your account for success.\n\nSo, first things first, [head over to Ahrefs and sign up](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/).\n\n**Note:** You can access Ahrefs for free by signing up to [Ahrefs Webmaster Tools](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/webmaster-tools) (but you’ll only get LIMITED access to the tool).\n\nOnce you’re in, Ahrefs will prompt you to add a project (i.e. website) to your account.\n\nThis is pretty straightforward—give your project a name and hit “next”. Make sure to use the *http + https* naming scheme.\n\n[![getting started with my ahrefs review](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20400'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![getting started with my ahrefs review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Image-2018-01-17-at-6.37.41-pm-700x400-1.png)](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/)\n\nYou’ll then be asked to add keywords that you want to track.\n\nAhrefs actually suggests a bunch of keywords that your website is already ranking for.\n\nBasically, the higher up the list of suggestions they are, the more traffic those keywords are sending to your website.\n\n**I recommend adding the first 4-5 pages worth of keywords.**\n\n![ahrefs setup 2](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20621%20322'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![ahrefs setup 2](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-setup-2.jpg)\n\nWhy? Because this allows you to track your most important keywords (i.e. the keywords that are the most traffic to your website).\n\nStep \\#3….add some competitors.\n\nAgain, you can either add competitors manually (if you know them) or choose from the suggestions Ahrefs gives.\n\n**I recommend adding 5 competitors from the suggestions Ahrefs gives.**\n\n![ahrefs setup 3](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20387'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![ahrefs setup 3](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-setup-3.png)\n\nAnd finally, add some [branded keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/branded-keywords\/) to track.\n\n**I really recommend taking a moment to set this one up. We’ll be using it later in the guide.**\n\n![ahrefs setup 4](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20378'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![ahrefs setup 4](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-setup-4.png)\n\n**Note:** By default, Ahrefs sends you daily emails about these keywords. If you prefer not to have daily emails flooding your inbox, go into the settings and change this to weekly (or monthly).\n\nThat’s it. You’re ready to rock\\!\n\n[![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20300'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\n## Backlink Health Check\n> *Backlinks from spammy, low-quality websites*.\n> \n> *Backlinks with over-optimised [anchor text](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/anchor-text\/ \"anchor text\").*\n\n**These types of backlinks can spell disaster for your website.**\n\nAt *best*, they’ll prevent your website from ranking as well as it should.\n\nAt *worst*, they’ll lead to a [Google Penguin penalty](https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/library\/google\/google-penguin-update).\n\nThat’s why you need to nip any “bad” backlinks in the bud *before* you invest time, energy, and money optimizing your website.\n\nBut: **How do you do this?**\n\nLike I said earlier,  **Ahrefs has the largest backlink index on the planet**  – this makes it the perfect tool for identifying and fixing any “bad” backlinks.\n\n**NOTE:** Ahrefs just released a new [Site Audit](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit) tool to help diagnose even more issues with your website. I’ll be running through this later in the guide.\n\nHere’s how to do it:\n\n### \\#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the *Backlinks* and *Referring Domains* Reports\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer, then navigate to the *referring domains* tab.\n\nBy default, this will show you all referring domains ordered by [Domain Rating](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/domain-rating-dr\/ \"Domain Rating\") (DR)—highest to lowest.\n\nBut remember:\n\nYou’re looking for low-quality links, so reverse this (i.e. order by DR low to high).\n\nLook for [domains](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/expired-domains\/) that look low-quality or suspicious, such as:\n\n- Anything you don’t recognise\n- Foreign-language websites (e.g. .ru, .dk domains, etc)\n- .xyz domains\n- Low-quality wiki pages\n- Article directories\n- \\[empty anchors\\]\n\nOf course, it would be pretty time-consuming if you had to check every backlink manually.\n\nBut, luckily, Ahrefs has a few filters to help you out.\n\nIf you move to the *Backlinks* report, there are filters for both *languages* and *platform*.\n\nI recommend filtering by languages like Russian to find [spammy backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/link-spam\/ \"spammy backlinks\"), as Russian sites are kind of notorious for link spam.\n\n![russian language filter ahrefs](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20712%20361'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![russian language filter ahrefs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/russian-language-filter-ahrefs.png)\n\n**Note**: You can get even more specific with languages by filtering for exact TLDs (e.g. .dk, .ru, etc.) in the *Referring Domains* report.\n\nYou can also easily uncover low-quality Wiki pages with the *Wikis* filter in the *Backlinks* report:\n\n![platform ahrefs](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20731%20308'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![platform ahrefs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/platform-ahrefs.png)\n\nBut remember, even if something looks super-dodgy, *always* check out the link manually before making a judgement.\n\nOtherwise, you run the risk of disavowing links that may be helping your website.\n\nIf you can confirm that the link is “bad”, hit the checkbox next to the domain.\n\nYou can then simply click “[disavow links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/disavow\/ \"disavow links\")” to send them to your [disavow](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/how-to-disavow-backlinks\/ \"disavow\") area + create a disavow file.\n\n**NOTE:** You can only see checkboxes if the domain that you’re reviewing is added to Ahrefs [Dashboard](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/reporting\/seo-dashboards\/ \"Dashboard\"). This should be the case if you added your domain(s) in the “getting started” section above.\n\n### \\#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues\nAnchor text is the clickable text within a link.\n\n**Example:**\n\n![anchor text](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%2084'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![anchor text](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/anchor-text.jpg)\n\nThe anchor text for this link is “this link here”.\n\nAnchor text helps to tell Google (and potential visitors) what your website is about—that’s why [it remains a Google ranking factor](https:\/\/backlinko.com\/google-ranking-factors).\n\n**But: Anchor text over-optimisation (i.e. too many keyword-rich links) can trigger a [Google penalty](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/google-penalty\/ \"Google penalty\").**\n\nIf your website has an unnatural [link profile](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/link-profile\/ \"link profile\") with tons of exact match (or partial match) anchor texts, this could be an issue.\n\nHere’s how to identify—and fix—these issues with Ahrefs:\n\nEnter your domain into *Site Explorer*, then go to the *Anchors* report under *[Backlink Profile](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/backlink-analysis\/ \"Backlink Profile\")*.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20426'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/anchors-matthew-woodward-ahrefs-700x426-1.png)\n\nThis will show you exactly what anchor text is being used within the links back to your website.\n\nIf you have a healthy backlink profile, most of your anchors will probably be:\n\n- [Branded](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/branded-keywords\/ \"Branded\") anchors (e.g. “matthew woodward”, “matthewwoodward.co.uk”, etc.)\n- Generic anchors (e.g. “click here”, “this post”, etc.)\n\nWhat you don’t want to see is lots of exact-match anchors.\n\n**This is a sign of over-optimisation.**\n\nIf you spot anything that looks dodgy, hit *details* \\> *referring domains* to see which sites are linking to you.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20297'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/anchors-junk-links-700x297-1.png)\n\nRight now, you can’t disavow these links directly from within the *anchors* report.\n\nHowever, you can simply hit the export button then upload the file manually to the disavow area.\n\n![ahrefs anchors export](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20674%2049'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![ahrefs anchors export](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-anchors-export.png)\n\nLearn [how to disavow backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/how-to-disavow-backlinks\/) step by step.\n\n### \\#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs\nEvery website has its own IP address that looks something like this:\n\n> *104\\.27.136.155*\n\nIn simple terms, while you may be used to typing in matthewwoodward.co.uk to get to my blog, that’s really just a memorable way of navigating to an IP address where my website resides.\n\nBasically:\n\nBecause humans are better at remembering website URLs than a random string of numbers, we let the browser do the work and translate a URL into an IP address behind the scenes.\n\nNow, IP addresses are separated into blocks: A, B, C, and D blocks, like so:\n\n> *AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD*\n\nIf we have the following two websites:\n\n- *104\\.27.136.155*\n- *104\\.27.136.7*\n\nWe would say they’re on the same C-block.\n\nIn internet terms, these sites are neighbours.\n\n**Note:** More information on IP addresses [here](http:\/\/www.freesoft.org\/CIE\/Topics\/26.htm).\n\nWhy does this matter?\n\n**Lots of links from the same C-block IP can be a bad sign.** This is because it signals to Google that these sites may be closely related (e.g. a PBN) and therefore, not the most [natural links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/natural-link\/ \"natural links\") ever.\n\nLuckily, you can use Ahrefs’ *Referring IPs* report to find these.\n\nHere’s how:\n\nEnter your domains into *Site Explorer*, then hit the *Referring IPs* report under *Backlink Profile*.\n\n![referring ips bad](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20849%20407'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![referring ips bad](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/referring-ips-bad.png)\n\nAhrefs groups referring IPs by C-blocks by default—very useful\\!\n\nIn the example above, you can see that the first few results look a bit dodgy—there are thousands of links, from hundreds of domains, all on the same C-block IP.\n\nLet’s take a deeper look.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20400'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/referring-ips-spam-700x400-1.png)\n\nYep, they’re spammy. They need disavowing\/removing.\n\nAgain, there’s no way to disavow these directly from this report but you can export the domains to a .csv and upload them manually.\n\n### \\#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks\nBuilding backlinks is *damn* hard.\n\n**It’s *laborious*. *Time consuming*. And *costly*.**\n\nSo:\n\nIt makes sense to ensure that you’re getting the full benefit of the links you build, right?\n\n**Definitely.**\n\nUnfortunately, links sometimes break. And when this happens, you won’t feel the benefit of those links.\n\nThat’s why fixing [broken links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/broken-link\/ \"broken links\") is a quick way to regain some valuable link juice and increase rankings.Here’s how to do it:\n\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer then go to Pages \\> Best by links.\n\nThen, add a filter so you see only pages with a [404](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/404-error\/ \"404\") status code.\n\n![matthewwoodward broken links](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20757%20499'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![matthewwoodward broken links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/matthewwoodward-broken-links.png)\n\nYou will now see all 404 pages on your website ranked by the number of referring domains they have.\n\nHere’s how to reclaim the “link juice” for these pages:\n\n- **Restore the broken page—**this should be done if there is an actual error on your part (i.e. you’ve accidentally deleted a valuable page at some point).\n- **Add a [301 redirect](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/301-redirect\/ \"301 redirect\") to the broken page**—this should point to either the new location of the page, a suitable alternative, or the homepage.\n- **Reach out and asking the website owner to fix the link**—this is your best bet if there’s an actual problem with the link such as incorrect formatting.\n\nSo, just restore these pages or redirect them to something relevant to preserve all your link juice.\n\nDo this for any valuable broken links and you’ll see an instant boost\\!\n\n### \\#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links\nSpammy [inbound](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/inbound-link\/ \"inbound\") links are BAD.\n\n**But outbound links are also *extremely* important.**\n\nYou, therefore, need to make sure that you’re not linking to low-quality (or totally irrelevant) websites. Here’s how to do it:\n\nEnter your domain into *Site Explorer* then go to…\n\n> *Outgoing links \\> Linked Domains \\> add a dofollow filter*\n\nBy default, Ahrefs shows the most linked-to domains first.\n\nReverse this list.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20385'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/linked-domains-spam-700x385-1.png)\n\nWhen I gave this report a quick onceover for my own website, everything looked pretty above board (phew!)\n\nBUT…this isn’t the case for all sites.\n\nHere’s an outbound link I found on Moz.com:\n\n![linked domain moz](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20233'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![linked domain moz](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/linked-domain-moz.jpg)\n\nThis is clearly a spammy domain.\n\nIf you find anything like this, remove (or replace) the links on your website.\n\nAlso:\n\nSometimes, you’ll find that your website is linking to a particular URL many times.\n\n**Example:**\n\n![lots of outgoing links](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20199'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![lots of outgoing links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lots-of-outgoing-links.jpg)\n\nUpon closer inspection, we can see that this is a [Wordpress theme](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/blogging\/best-wordpress-theme-for-blogging\/ \"Wordpress theme\") link present in the theme HTML.\n\n![lots of outbound links](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20777%20423'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![lots of outbound links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lots-of-outbound-links.png)\n\nIn all honesty, this probably isn’t going to cause any huge issues.\n\nHowever, as it’s a dofollow link across (almost) every page of the website, at the very least it’s diluting authority for no good reason.\n\nI recommend that you remove anything like this from your website’s HTML, too.\n\n### \\#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links\n**Broken outbound links lead to a bad user experience.**\n\nNot only is it annoying to click a link on a website and be taken to a broken page but also, it leaves the visitor questioning the validity of your content.\n\nWhy?\n\n**Because they’ll assume your website hasn’t been updated in awhile.**\n\nOr that you simply don’t put much effort into your content—certainly not enough to curate resources that actually exist.\n\nAlso, if Google thinks your content is going to lead to a bad user experience, they certainly aren’t going to rank your website.\n\n**Luckily, this is easily fixable.**\n\nHere’s how:\n\nEnter your website into *Site Explorer*, then go to *Outgoing Links \\> Broken Links*.\n\nIf anything shows up in this report, there are issues to be fixed.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20339'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/broken-outbound-links-700x339-1.png)\n\nLooks like I have 56 broken outbound links on my website 🙁\n\nYou should fix these links by either removing them or replacing them.\n\n**Note:** Here’s [a checklist from Vertical measures](http:\/\/www.verticalmeasures.com\/search-optimization\/how-broken-links-hurt-your-seo-and-your-heart\/) that goes into detail regarding exactly how to deal with broken outbound links.\n\n[![download the link building checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![download the link building checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-link-building-leak-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo\/)\n\n## Keyword Research\nFixing the errors outlined above should be enough to give you a small traffic boost.\n\nBUT:\n\n**Now it’s time for the big guns.**\n\nNo matter what website you’re working on, your SEO strategy *should* follow roughly the same blueprint, which is:\n\n- Find keywords you want to rank for (and that you already rank for)\n- Prioritise keywords\/topics into long-term opportunities + short-term opportunities (i.e. low-hanging fruit)\n- Create some content (or improve existing content) around those keywords\n- Build links to content (wherever appropriate\/necessary)\n- Analyse what did\/didn’t work and refine your strategy\/plan going forward.\n- **Rinse and repeat all of the above**\n\nTrust me:\n\nDo those things, in that order, and I guarantee you’ll see **a HUGE traffic increase.**\n\nSo, let’s get started with the first step: **keyword discovery**.\n\n### \\#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer\nKeywords Explorer is the first place I turn when I want to discover keywords for a new (or existing) website.\n\nThat’s because all you need is a few “seed” keywords and it’ll give you thousands of ideas.\n\nHere’s the process:\n\nGo to Keywords explorer and enter a few [seed keyword](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/seed-keywords\/ \"seed keyword\") ideas.\n\n**Note**: There’s no exact process for coming up with these. Just make an educated guess.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20296'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/keywords-explorer-700x296-1.png)\n\nHit the search button.\n\n**Note**: Make sure to select the appropriate country (e.g. United States) before searching, otherwise you’ll see keyword volume estimates and whatnot for a country unrelated to your business.\n\nGo to the metrics tab.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20355'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/keyword-metrics-kw-explorer-700x355-1.png)\n\nThis shows you monthly search volume, [Keyword Difficulty](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/keyword-difficulty\/ \"Keyword Difficulty\") (KD), and tons of other information.\n\nIf a keyword looks good (i.e. it has some decent [search volume](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-search-volume\/) and is relevant to your business), save it to a keywords list.\n\n![Screen Recording 2017 10 26 at 09.45 pm](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20651%20231'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Screen Recording 2017 10 26 at 09.45 pm](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screen-Recording-2017-10-26-at-09.45-pm.gif)\n\n**Note:** If a keyword is super-relevant to your business, it makes sense to prioritise it, even if the search volume for that keyword is quite low. As I’ll mention later in this guide, search volume isn’t always the best indicator of traffic. However, it is a good starting point and it’s still worth looking at.\n\n### \\#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)\nRight now, [Ahrefs has the biggest keywords database in the industry](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/big-data).\n\nBecause of this, Keywords Explorer will show you with a bunch (and I really do mean a bunch!) of other keyword ideas based on your seed keywords.\n\nJust hit one of these 6 options on the left-hand menu:\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20319'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kw-explorer-menu-700x319-1.png)\n\nPersonally, I usually just select “all”.\n\nHowever, this will usually give you a few million keywords to play with (see, I told you they had a lot of data), which is pretty damn impossible to work with.\n\nSo, I tend to play with the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to narrow them down.\n\nYour best bet is to filter for keywords with a KD score of less than 10.\n\n![kd filter keywords explorer](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20655%20267'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![kd filter keywords explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kd-filter-keywords-explorer.png)\n\nWhy? Because anything below KD 10 means that top-ranking results have less than or equal to 10 backlinks on average, so it should be fairly easy to rank for them.\n\n![kd score 10 keywords](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20714%20259'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![kd score 10 keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kd-score-10-keywords.png)\n\nI usually just tick anything that looks good and add it to my keywords list.\n\nAnd if you prefer to get a little more granular with your keyword suggestions, you can learn more about what “phrase match”, “having same terms”, etc. mean [here](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-generator\/#section4).\n\n**Note**: Ahrefs presented me with 32K+ keyword suggestions from just the 8 keywords I entered above…so you certainly won’t be short of ideas\\!\n\n### \\#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors\nEnter a competitor’s domain into *Site Explorer*, then go to *Organic search* \\> *Top Pages*\n\nHere you will see which of your competitors pages are attracting the most organic search traffic.\n\nYou’ll also see the top keyword that page ranks for, along with the search volume for that keyword.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20348'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/robbie-richards-competitor-700x348-1.png)\n\n**Note**: It’s also worth paying attention to the RD (Referring Domains) column as this shows how many ref.domains are pointing to that page. If you can identify pages that receive a lot of traffic, yet only have a few RDs, it’s most likely a topic that you can rank for pretty easily\\!\n\nPretty cool, right!?\n\n**BUT it gets even better…**\n\nThis report also shows you all of the other keywords these pages rank for (in order of the amount of traffic they drive to your competitors page).\n\n![top pages keywords suggestions](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20471'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![top pages keywords suggestions](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/top-pages-keywords-suggestions.jpg)\n\nThis is not only useful for generating additional keyword ideas but also, finding keywords\/topics\/phrases that you can sprinkle into your content to increase relevance (i.e. [LSI keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/lsi\/ \"LSI keywords\")).\n\n### \\#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”\nContent gaps exist when your competitors rank for keywords that you don’t rank for.\n\nThink about it:\n\nIf you could see what those keywords are, you could [create content](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/blogging\/free-content\/ \"create content\") to compete with them (and ideally outrank them).\n\n**Here’s how to find those keywords with Ahrefs:**\n\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer, then go to *Organic Search* \\> *Content Gap*\n\nNow, enter the domains of (at least) three competitors plus your domain in the “*but the following target doesn’t rank for”* field.\n\n![content gap](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20377'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![content gap](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/content-gap.jpg)\n\nHit “show keywords”.\n\n![content gap results](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20382'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![content gap results](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/content-gap-results.jpg)\n\nBingo…here are hundreds of keywords that (at least) one of your competitors rank for, yet you don’t.\n\n**Tip:** Enter competitors with a similar Domain Rating (DR) score. This will ensure that the Content Gap analysis kicks back keywords you stand a chance of ranking for. If you enter Moz.com as a competitor and you have a DR 40 site, the sad truth is that you’re probably never going to outrank Moz.\n\nI recommend paying particular attention to any keywords where your competitors are ranking in the top 10.\n\nWhy?\n\n**Because if they’re ranking in the top 10, chances are you could, too\\!**\n\nIs Ahrefs out of your budget? No worries, you can use one of these [free keyword research tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/free-keyword-research-tools\/) to find the right keywords for your business.\n\n[![download the on page seo checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![download the on page seo checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-seo-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/wnig7cbedwexyepxxjpv\/)\n\n## Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)\nAt this stage, you should have a *big* list of keywords that you could try to rank for.\n\n**BUT:**\n\nJust because you *can* target these keywords doesn’t mean you *should*.\n\n> 1\\. *Some will be easier to rank for than others (in fact, you may not even stand a hope in hell of ranking for some of them).*  \n>  2. *Some will drive a lot of traffic (while others will drive very little).*  \n>  3. *Some will require creating new content (others won’t).*\n\nAnalysing keywords for certain attributes will allow you to prioritise your list, and divide your ideas into long-term and short-term topics.\n\nHere are a few tips:\n\n### \\#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6\nAlready ranking in positions 4-6 for some high-volume keywords?\n\nThese are your low-hanging fruit.\n\nWhy? Because [CTR increases exponentially within the top 5 positions](https:\/\/www.advancedwebranking.com\/cloud\/ctrstudy\/).\n\n![Google Organic CTR History](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20403'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Google Organic CTR History](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Google_Organic_CTR_History.jpg)\n\nTherefore, it only takes a ranking increase of one position to see BIG traffic boosts from these keywords.\n\nAnd improving rankings by 1-2 positions can be as simple as building a handful of high-quality links.\n\n**But how do you find these keywords?**\n\n**Simple.**\n\nEnter your site into Site Explorer, then go to *Organic Search \\> Organic Keywords*\n\nThis will show you all of the keywords your website is currently ranking for.\n\n![organic keywords matthew woodward](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20378'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![organic keywords matthew woodward](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/organic-keywords-matthew-woodward.jpg)\n\n**Note**: By default, they’re ordered by the amount of organic traffic they send to your website—neat\\!\n\nBut here’s the trick:\n\nAdd a positions filter to show the keywords you’re currently ranking in positions 4-6.\n\n![positions filter organic keywords](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20270'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![positions filter organic keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/positions-filter-organic-keywords.png)\n\nThese keywords are your low-hanging fruit—they should be prioritised when it comes to on-page optimization and link building.\n\n### \\#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential\nSometimes individual keywords won’t have a particularly high search volume.\n\n**Example:** “[best keyword research tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/keyword-research-tools\/)”\n\n![best keyword research tools](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20304'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![best keyword research tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/best-keyword-research-tools.jpg)\n\nIf you were to rank \\#1 for this keyword, you would receive roughly 30% of these clicks.\n\nThat’s a measly 75 visitors\/month (approx.)\n\nHardly worth bothering, right!?\n\n**Not so fast.**\n\nLooking at individual search volumes for a single keyword rarely shows you the true ranking potential of that topic.\n\nThis is because pages almost always naturally rank for TONs of variations of that keyword (i.e. “long-tail keywords”).\n\nSo how do you figure out the true ranking potential of a topic?\n\n**Easy…**\n\nCheck how much organic traffic the top ranking pages for that keyword are getting.\n\nIf it’s a lot, the topic\/keyword has a high traffic potential.\n\nHere’s how: Go to *Keywords Explorer* and enter a keyword.\n\nScroll down to the SERP overview and you’ll see who’s ranking in the top 10. You can also see how much organic traffic these top ranking pages are attracting (across all keywords).\n\n![serp overview](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20297'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![serp overview](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/serp-overview.jpg)\n\nThese are the SERPs for “best keyword research tool” and as you can see, the top ranking pages are getting WAY more than 75 visits\/month.\n\n**So, this topic DEFINITELY has a high traffic potential and is worth prioritising.**\n\n[![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20300'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\n## Content Research\nKeyword research? ***CHECK.***\n\nKeyword prioritisation? ***CHECK.***\n\n(You’re off to a good start!)\n\nBut…you ain’t going to rank for any of those keywords without creating some EPIC content around them.\n\nObviously, some of the keywords you’ve found (e.g. the low-hanging opportunities in positions 4-6) won’t require new content. You just need to optimise—and build some extra links to—your existing content.\n\nFor others, however, you’re going to need to create something new\\!\n\n**BUT here’s the problem:**\n\nIt’s NOT always easy to discern exactly what you should be writing about solely by looking at a keyword.\n\n**Example:**\n\nLet’s take the keyword “keyword research”.\n\n![keyword research keyword](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20313'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![keyword research keyword](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/keyword-research-keyword.png)\n\nIt’s a great keyword with a ridiculously high search volume (at least for this niche).\n\n**BUT, it’s also massively competitive.**\n\nIf I was to write a reasonably generic guide to keyword research, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance of ranking in the top 3 for this exact keyword.\n\nHowever, that doesn’t mean that I can’t write about keyword research at all…I just need to “niche down” a little and write a UNIQUE piece of content.\n\nHere’s how:\n\n### \\#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer\nAhrefs has [an index of 800+ million pieces of content on various topics](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/big-data).\n\nThey also add 5+ million new pieces of content to this index every 24 hours (which is absolutely INSANE).\n\nBut, data and stats aside, what benefit does this have?\n\nWell, it means that you can enter (almost) any keyword into *Content Explorer* and it’ll kick back a TON of content ideas.\n\n**Example:**\n\n![content explorer](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20466'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![content explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/content-explorer.jpg)\n\nThat’s 3900+ content ideas for “keyword research”.\n\nAnd this is only results where the phrase “keyword research” is in the article title…\n\nYou can also search for content where the phrase is mentioned anywhere in the article content, which will return exponentially more results\\!\n\n![in content ahrefs kw explorer](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20681%20233'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![in content ahrefs kw explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/in-content-ahrefs-kw-explorer.png)\n\nBUT, like I said, it would be VERY difficult to rank for this exact keyword without “niching down”.\n\nThis is because the “big guys” (e.g. Moz, Ahrefs, etc) are currently dominating the SERPs for this topic.\n\nHowever, we can use the in-built filters in content Explorer to find ideas that:\n\n- We can actually compete with\n- Will actually generate traffic for us\n\nHere’s the setup:\n\n![content explorer filters](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20621%20123'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![content explorer filters](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/content-explorer-filters.png)\n\nHere’s exactly what we’re doing here (and why!):\n\n- **Filtering for only English results:** Pretty self-explanatory, right!?\n- **Filtering ONLY for results from websites with a DR between 0-59:** Because the DR of my website (matthewwoodward.co.uk) is also 59, I only want to see results for sites with the same (or lower) DR. Why? Because these are the sites I’ll be able to compete with easily.\n- **Filtering ONLY for pages with \\<5 referring domains AND \\>500 organic visitors per month**: This is the important part! By looking for pages that are receiving 500+ organic visits AND have very few links, we can uncover pages that will be VERY easy to outrank. Stealing their traffic will most likely require nothing more than creating better content and building a handful of links (at the most)\n\nHere’s what Content Explorer found for my search:\n\n![keyword research filtered](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20185'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![keyword research filtered](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/keyword-research-filtered.jpg)\n\nThis page talks about how to uncover keywords by looking at YouTube tags.\n\nIt receives 525 organic visits per month, has 0 referring domains, and is 183 words long.\n\nIf this isn’t easily beatable content, then I don’t know what is\\!\n\n**Note**: Remember, if your search doesn’t return many results, you can always find pages containing your keyword anywhere in the content (using the “in content”) filter to broaden your horizons.\n\n### \\#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer\nNobody understands [search intent](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/search-intent\/ \"search intent\") like Google does.\n\nTheir algorithm relies on showing users what they want to see.\n\nBecause of this, there’s no better way to understand the intent behind a search term (i.e. what people are actually looking to find) than analysing the top 10 search results.\n\n**Example:**\n\nLet’s take a keyword like “SEO tools”…\n\nNow, there are plenty of SEO tools—some free, some paid—on the market. If we wanted to rank for this keyword, maybe a winning formula for a piece of content would be to create a list of all of these SEO tools, right!?\n\nAgain, not so fast.\n\nLet’s go to Keywords Explorer, enter the keyword, and scroll down to the SERP overview.\n\nThis shows us the top 10 ranking results.\n\n![seo tools keywords explorer](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20528'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![seo tools keywords explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/seo-tools-keywords-explorer-1.jpg)\n\nInstantly, I spot a pattern…\n\nAlthough most of the results are lists of SEO tools, a lot of them are actually lists of **free** SEO tools.\n\n![free seo tools keywords explorer](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20203'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![free seo tools keywords explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/free-seo-tools-keywords-explorer.jpg)\n\nIn fact, 7\/10 results contain the word “free” in the title tag.\n\nThis tells me that although people are generally typing in “SEO tools”, they actually appear to be looking for a list of the best [free SEO tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/free-seo-tools\/).\n\nIt would, therefore, be much smarter to go down this route when creating a piece of content around this keyword\/topic.\n\nAlso:\n\nKeywords Explorer tells us how many links (and referring domains) each of these pages has, allowing us to quickly spot topics with great potential to attract a TON of links.\n\n[![download the link building checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![download the link building checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-link-building-leak-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo\/)\n\n## Link Building\nI’ll let you in on a (sad) secret:\n\nYou ain’t going to rank for any worthwhile keyword\/topic without links.\n\nSure, less competitive keywords may only require a handful of links whereas more competitive keywords may require many more links (sometimes even thousands) but still, the bottomline is this:\n\n**You. Need. Links.**\n\nBut here’s the good news:\n\n**Ahrefs shines in this department.**\n\nNot only do they boast [the largest live link index on the market](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/big-data), they have a TON of [link building tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/link-building-tools\/) that can help you with the task at hand.\n\nIn fact, I don’t know any serious link builders that AREN’T using Ahrefs.\n\nIt really is *that* good.\n\nHere are a few ways to use Ahrefs to build all the links you need:\n\n### \\#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks\nRemember those branded alerts I told you to set up at the beginning of this guide?\n\n![ahrefs setup 4](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20378'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![ahrefs setup 4](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-setup-4.png)\n\nIf you set them up correctly, you’ve most likely received an email that looks something like this:\n\n![branded mention](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20433'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![branded mention](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/branded-mention.jpg)\n\nBasically, this tells you whenever anyone mentions your name (or any other branded terms) on the web.\n\nSo:\n\n> *If someone mentions you personally in a blog post, you’ll know about it.*\n> \n> *If someone talks about your brand (e.g. Apple) in a review, you’ll know about it.*\n> \n> *Etc.*\n\n**BUT:**\n\nJust because someone has mentioned your name (or brand name) in a piece of content doesn’t necessarily mean that they remembered to link to you.\n\nAnd if they didn’t…getting the link is usually as easy as reaching out and asking for it.\n\n**Example:**\n\nIf you look closely at the screenshot above, you’ll see that I was recently mentioned in an article about starting a membership website.\n\nHere’s the part where I’m mentioned:\n\n![create a membership website mention](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20201'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![create a membership website mention](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/create-a-membership-website-mention.jpg)\n\nWeirdly, they didn’t link to the tutorial they mentioned in that paragraph.\n\nIt’s highly likely that they simply forgot, or made a mistake.\n\nSo:\n\nGetting a link from this article would likely take nothing more than a simple email asking them to add a link.\n\n### \\#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)\nMonitoring branded keywords is a good start.\n\nBUT, that’s the tip of the iceberg…\n\nHere’s why:\n\nIn Ahrefs Alerts, you can monitor for mentions of ANY keyword.\n\nFor example, here’s an alert I set up for “link building”:\n\n![link building alert](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20546'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![link building alert](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/link-building-alert.png)\n\nNow, each week, I get an email from Ahrefs showing me any newly published content containing that term (i.e. link building) from the past 7 days.\n\n**Example:**\n\n![gmail ahrefs link building alert](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20469'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![gmail ahrefs link building alert](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/gmail-ahrefs-link-building-alert.jpg)\n\nThat’s 93 new mentions of “link building” in just one week\\!\n\nBUT…how does this help to build links?\n\nBasically, you can use these alerts to discover content that could be improved by adding a link to your website (or a particular resource on your website).\n\n**Example:**\n\nTake a look at that 2nd article (the one by SearchEngineLand.com).\n\nIt talks about “[7 Reasons Why Your Broken Link Building Campaign Isn’t Working](https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/broken-link-building-not-working\/217555\/)”…\n\n![sel post](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20314'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![sel post](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sel-post.jpg)\n\nIt’s a great article, BUT…\n\nI get the feeling that readers of this article are likely struggling with link building in general.\n\nScrolling to the end of the post, it looks like the author also thinks this…that’s why he’s chosen to include a few links to additional link building resources.\n\n![more resources sel](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20223'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![more resources sel](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/more-resources-sel.png)\n\nIt just so happens that I also have a TON of great link building resources on my blog, such as [this list of 44 link building strategies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/strategies\/).\n\n![44 link building strategies](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20297'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![44 link building strategies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/44-link-building-strategies.jpg)\n\nBecause this would also be a great additional resource to include at the end of that SEL post, I could simply reach out to the author of that post (Kevin) and suggest that he add a link to my post in that final section.\n\nThis is a great, simple way to build links to any piece of content 🙂\n\nNot that this method is also commonly use for [niche edits](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/niche-edits\/) & [link inserts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/link-inserts\/)\\!\n\n### \\#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions\nYou can learn a lot from your competitors.\n\nBUT…\n\nDid you know that monitoring your competitors can be a great source of link prospects?\n\nBasically, if you can identify where your competitors are being mentioned AND linked-to, you can often steal these links\/mentions from yourself.\n\n**Example:**\n\nHere are the top 3 Google results for “[long tail pro](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/long-tail-pro\/ \"long tail pro\")”:\n\n![long tail pro google](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20546'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![long tail pro google](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/long-tail-pro-google.jpg)\n\nRight now, I’m ranking in position \\#3.\n\nBUT…I’d *really* like to rank \\#1.\n\nThis means that my competitors for this keyword are:\n\n- *longtailpro.com*\n- *dumbpassiveincome.com*\n\nNow:\n\nRight off the bat, I could throw these URLs into Ahrefs Site Explorer, look at their backlinks, and see if there are any easily replicable links I could steal for myself.\n\nBUT…that’s a different strategy altogether\\!\n\nWhat I want to talk about is monitoring both competitor links AND branded keywords to give you a constant supply of link opportunities.\n\nSo, let’s start with backlink monitoring:\n\nLike I said, one of my competitors is dumbpassiveincome.com—they have a similar [Long Tail Pro review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/long-tail-pro\/) to mine.\n\nHowever, I personally believe my review to be better. I also updated my review *very* recently, so it’s super fresh.\n\n**I, therefore, believe that anyone choosing to link to my competitors Long Tail Pro review would be better off linking to mine.**\n\nSo, I want to monitor my competitors review for new links.\n\nIf they get any, I can then reach out to the person linking to them and suggest that they link to my review instead (as it’s better).\n\nHere’s how to set up an alert for these links:\n\nGo to the *Backlinks* section within Ahrefs Alerts and hit “*\\+ New Alert”.*\n\nEnter the URL of the page you want to monitor for backlinks, choose *“New backlinks”* under the *“Scope”* option, and enter your email address.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20563'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-alerts-backlinks-700x563-1.png)\n\nYou’ll now receive an email whenever there’s a new link to your competitor’s URL—you can then swoop in and steal the link for yourself.\n\nBUT…competitor backlinks aren’t the only thing worth monitoring:\n\nYou can also monitor competitors branded keywords.\n\n**Example:**\n\nBecause I have a review of Long Tail Pro, it would be worth setting up an alert for branded keywords like “Long Tail Pro”.\n\nHere’s why:\n\nIf someone is mentioning Long Tail Pro on the web, their readers would find a review and tutorial for the tool rather useful.\n\nSo, whenever I see Long Tail Pro being mentioned, I can simply reach out to the website owner and suggest they add a link to my review within their post.\n\n**Easy.**\n\nHere’s how to set this up:\n\nGo to the *Mentions* section of Ahrefs Alerts and hit *“+ New Alert”.*\n\nAdd your keyword, add any blocked domains (e.g. your own website), and your email address.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20420'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-alerts-mentions-700x420-1.png)\n\nNow you’ll receive an email alert whenever your keyword (e.g. “long tail pro”) is mentioned on the web.\n\n### \\#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)\nAhh, the infamous “skyscraper technique”…\n\nIt’s perhaps *the* most famous link-building technique there is\\!\n\nAnd for good reason, too—it’s super powerful\\!\n\nFor those unfamiliar, here’s the basic process:\n\n- Find a piece of content with a TON of links.\n- Make something even better.\n- [Contact](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/contact\/ \"Contact\") anyone linking to the old, inferior piece of content and suggest that they link to yours instead.\n\nSmart.\n\n**Note:** Here’s [Brian’s full post on the Skyscraper Technique](https:\/\/backlinko.com\/skyscraper-technique).\n\nBUT…\n\nHow do you find “skyscraper” content (i.e. content with a TON of links that you can build upon) in the first place?\n\nHere’s a super simple method:\n\nEnter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to *Pages* \\> *Best by Links*\n\nYou will now see every page on the domain ordered by \\# of backlinks.\n\n![backlinko best by links](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20569'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![backlinko best by links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/backlinko-best-by-links.jpg)\n\nThe two posts I’ve highlighted above have thousands of backlinks.\n\nIf I was to put-together an even better version of any of these posts, I would have thousands of prospects to pitch to\\!\n\n**Note:** You can gather a list of “skyscraper” prospects by checking the backlink profile of that particular URL in Site Explorer. Just sift through all the links and choose prospects to reach out to.\n\nBUT…\n\nWhat if you already have an EPIC piece of content and you want to build some links to it?\n\nHere’s a simple trick that I haven’t seen anyone talk about before:\n\nEnter a keyword into Content Explorer, then filter ONLY for pages with 100+ referring domains.\n\n**Example:**\n\nLet’s say that I wanted to build some links to [my list of 44 link building strategies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/strategies\/).\n\nI would enter the keyword “[link building strategies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/strategies\/ \"link building strategies\")” into Content Explorer and add a referring domains filter.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20362'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/referring-domains-100-content-explorer-700x362-1.jpg)\n\nThis gives me 76 results—all of these are (a) about link building strategies, and (b) have 100+ referring domains.\n\nNow, the trick is then to sift through the results looking for content that is very similar—yet inferior to—your content.\n\nHere’s a good example:\n\n![moz content explorer](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20219'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![moz content explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/moz-content-explorer-1.jpg)\n\nThis page has 109 referring domains, yet it only lists 31 strategies where mine lists 44.\n\nIt also hasn’t been updated since 2014\\!\n\nAnyone linking to this page is a prime “skyscraper” prospect for my post—I just need to reach out and suggest they change the link to my page (and tell them why they should).\n\n### \\#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)\n**Nobody likes broken links.**\n\nYou *know* the ones…\n\nThey take you to pages like this:\n\n![backlinko page not found 404](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20206'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![backlinko page not found 404](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/backlinko-page-not-found-404.png)\n\nIt drives me crazy whenever this happens\\!\n\nBUT…\n\nBroken links are a link-builders dream.\n\nWhy? Because if you can find a broken link with a TON of backlinks, you can build links with this simple 3-step process:\n\n1. Find out what the broken link used to be\n2. Create a similar—but better—piece of content\n3. Ask anyone linking to the broken content to link to your content instead\n\nHowever, before you can do this, you need to actually find a broken link with the following attributes:\n\n- It has a TON of links pointing to it\n- It’s relevant to your website\n- It can be replicated without too much work\n\nHere’s how to do this:\n\nEnter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to *Pages* \\> *Best by Links*.\n\nThis shows you the most linked-to pages on that domain.\n\nBUT…we don’t want to see all pages—we want to see broken pages.\n\nTo do this, filter the list to show ONLY 404 errors.\n\n![backlinko broken links](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20295'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![backlinko broken links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/backlinko-broken-links.png)\n\nMost websites will have at least a few broken links.\n\nSimply sift through these pages looking for broken links that have a decent number of backlinks AND would be relevant to your website.\n\n**Note:** You can use [Wayback Machine](https:\/\/archive.org\/web\/) to see how any page used to look.\n\nIf you identify a page that meets all of the criteria mentioned above, create a similar piece of content then publish it on your website.\n\nIt’s then just a case of reaching out to anyone linking to the old broken link and suggesting that they fix the link by replacing it with your link.\n\n**Simple.**\n\n### \\#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects\nGuest posting is one of the oldest link building tactics in the [book](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/books\/ \"book\").\n\nIt goes something like this:\n\n- Find websites that accept guest posts (in your niche)\n- Reach out to them and pitch a post idea\n- Write the post, land the link\n\nIf you’ve ever done guest posting before, you’ll know there’s no shortage of opportunities around.\n\n**Example:**\n\nGoogle finds 4,000+ “write for us” pages (i.e. websites that are accepting guest posts) for search term “SEO”.\n\n![seo guest post](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20621%20163'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![seo guest post](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/seo-guest-post.png)\n\nThat’s a LOT of prospects\\!\n\n**BUT there’s a problem…**\n\nWhile you *could* write for thousands of websites, it’s important to remember that guest posting takes a lot of work.\n\nNot only do you have to pitch the websites, you also have to write a top notch article, too.\n\nThis can be pretty time-consuming (or, if you’re outsourcing it, expensive!)\n\nAnd, because we want people to actually read our guest post, there’s ZERO point writing posts for websites that get little\/no traffic.\n\nSo, the question is: **how do you know how much traffic a website gets?**\n\nSimple…just enter the domain into Site Explorer and Ahrefs will show you an estimate of organic traffic.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20152'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/matthew-woodward-organic-traffic-700x152-1.png)\n\nBUT…what if you have a long list of prospects?\n\nNo worries, just paste the entire list into Ahrefs Batch Analysis tool like so:\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20283'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/batch-analysis-ahrefs-700x283-1.png)\n\n**Note:** Make sure to select the option for *“domain with all its subdomains”* under the *mode* drop-down.\n\nHere’s the result (ordered by organic search traffic):\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20314'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-batch-analysis-domains-700x314-1.png)\n\nThis is a *great* way to cut down your list and ensure that you’re ONLY writing for websites that actually [get traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/free-backlinks\/ \"get traffic\")\\!\n\n[![download the on page seo checklist](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![download the on page seo checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-seo-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/wnig7cbedwexyepxxjpv\/)\n\n## Site Audit\nKeyword discovery and research…***DONE.***\n\nContent creation…***DONE.***\n\nLink building…***DONE.*** (well, link building is never done, but you should have at least made a start!)\n\nHere’s the good news: **that’s *most* of the difficult stuff out of the way.**\n\nBut, even if you’ve executed everything perfectly thus far, the truth is that simple on-site errors can often hinder your success.\n\nI’m talking about…\n\n- Rogue “noindex” tags\n- Missing [meta description](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/meta-description\/ \"meta description\")\n- [Thin content](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/thin-content\/ \"Thin content\")\n\nAnd so forth.\n\nThis is where [Ahrefs Site Audit](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit) tool comes in handy.\n\nIn a nutshell, it will diagnose pretty much every on-site issue you could think of, without you really having to lift a finger.\n\nHere are a few useful things you can do with it:\n\n**Note:** I’m not going to cover how to set up a project or run crawls in the Site Audit tool because, honestly, it’s pretty self-explanatory. But, if you’re struggling, [this post](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/new-site-audit-tool\/) (by Ahrefs) explains exactly how to do it, along with a lot more\\!\n\n### \\#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the *Performance* Report)\nGo to *Internal Pages* \\> *Performance* and you will see a report that looks something like this:\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20395'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/site-audit-performance-700x395-1.png)\n\nAt first glance, this may appear as nothing more than a myriad of pie charts.\n\nBut, this is actually showing you the number of pages on your website that are slow to load, in various ways.\n\nI recommend paying particular attention to the “Load time” chart:\n\n![performance load time](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20763%20388'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![performance load time](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/performance-load-time.jpg)\n\nThe red section of the pie chart shows the number of pages that are too slow to load (and thus, need fixing).\n\nIf you click on the red section, you will see exactly which pages these are, along with how slowly they actually load:\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20286'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/site-audit-loading-time-700x286-1.png)\n\nOne cool thing to note here is that Ahrefs also shows you the amount of organic traffic these pages are receiving.\n\nIf you spot a slow loading page that is receiving a lot of traffic, I recommend prioritising the speeding-up of that page.\n\nWhy? Because chances are it will attract even more traffic if you improve the visitor experience.\n\n### \\#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the *HTML Tags* Report\n**Mistakes with HTML tags can wreak havoc on your website.**\n\nFor example, if you accidentally add a *noindex* tag to a page, Google won’t even index that page.\n\nThis means that even if you write great content and build epic links, it ain’t going to rank.\n\nAnd, while not all HTML tag errors are potentially this catastrophic, they’re still worth fixing.\n\nAhrefs’ Site Audit tool makes this super-easy, as it uncovers all the errors for you.\n\nTo view them, just go to *Internal Pages \\> HTML Tags:*\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20246'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/html-tags-internal-pages-site-audit-700x246-1.png)\n\nHere, it will list all of the issues the crawler has found with your website.\n\nIn the example above, you can see that I have a few missing meta tags, along with a few other errors.\n\nTo learn more about where these errors actually occur, just click on one of the errors:\n\n![Screen20Recording202017 12 2820at2003.4820pm](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20768%20392'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Screen20Recording202017 12 2820at2003.4820pm](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screen20Recording202017-12-2820at2003.4820pm.gif)\n\nIt will then tell you more information about the errors, including the pages on which the errors occur:\n\n![meta description issues](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20747%20506'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![meta description issues](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/meta-description-issues.png)\n\nBecause Ahrefs does the hard work for you (i.e. the discovery of these errors), you can usually fix them pretty easily just by editing a bit of HTML code.\n\n### \\#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports\nEarlier in this guide, I showed you how to check for (and remove) toxic backlinks.\n\nThis is super-important.\n\nBut, there are other link-based issues that can impact the performance of your website.\n\nI’m talking about…\n\n- Broken outgoing links\n- “[Nofollow](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/nofollow\/ \"Nofollow\")” internal links\n- [HTTPS](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/https\/) pages internally linking to HTTP pages\n\nAnd so forth.\n\nLuckily, the *Incoming* and *Outgoing Links* reports in the Site Audit tool will help you to uncover and fix these issues.\n\nLet’s start by taking a look at the *Incoming Links* report:\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20239'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/incoming-links-site-audit-700x239-1.png)\n\nIn this example, you can see that there are a few issues with my website—namely nofollowed internal links.\n\nThis isn’t always cause for concern but generally, your internal links should be used to send “link juice” to important and relevant pages.\n\nTherefore, they should be *dofollow* links.\n\n**Note:** I have [a full guide on internal linking best practices here](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/internal-link-building\/).\n\nIf you click any of these errors, you will see exactly where they reside:\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20269'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nofollow-internal-links-site-audit-700x269-1.png)\n\nLet’s take a look at the *Outgoing Links* report, too:\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20257'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/site-audit-outgoing-links-700x257-1.png)\n\nAgain, we have a few errors, including:\n\n- Pages that link out to broken pages (these should be replaced and fixed!)\n- HTTPS pages linking to unsecure internal pages (this is definitely not the best practice!)\n- Pages without outgoing links ([some studies](https:\/\/www.rebootonline.com\/blog\/long-term-outgoing-link-experiment\/) have found outgoing links to have a positive effect on rankings)\n\nIf you want to investigate an error further (and see exactly *where* the error occurs), just click through to take a look.\n\nAnd this is only the tip of the iceberg—there are plenty of supporting graphs, data visualizations, and other pieces of information in these reports.\n\n**Recommended reading:** *[This is the new Site Audit tool](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/new-site-audit-tool\/) by Ahrefs (an overview of the Site Audit tool written by [Tim Soulo](https:\/\/sg.linkedin.com\/in\/timsoulo) from Ahrefs)*\n\nCheck out my [4 step SEO audit case study](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/4-step-seo-audit-results\/) to see how regular SEO audits can help your website grows.\n\n## Analysing Your Progress\/Success\n**SEO is *hard* work.**\n\nThat’s why it’s important to keep your eye on progress and make sure that the grunt work is having a positive impact on your website.\n\n**[Google Analytics](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/google-analytics\/ \"Google Analytics\") will be your best bet here.**\n\nBUT…if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably end up seeing your Ahrefs dashboard much more than your [Google Analytics](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/google-analytics-alternatives\/) account.\n\nSo:\n\nHere are a few things to look for in Ahrefs to make sure you’re heading in the right direction:\n\n### \\#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank\nAre you building a consistent flow of links to your website?\n\nIf so, you should see your Domain Rating (DR) increase over time.\n\nHere’s what it looks like on your dashboard:\n\n![ahrefs dr](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20837%20329'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![ahrefs dr](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-dr.png)\n\nIf it increases, you’ll see a green arrow appear alongside this number with the amount of points it’s increased (much like with the [URL rating](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/url-rating-ur\/ \"URL rating\") below).\n\nSimilarly, you should start to see your Ahrefs Rank decrease.\n\nBasically, the lower your Ahrefs Rank is, the better, so keep an eye on it.\n\n**Note:** Don’t obsess over these metrics. However, they are a decent indicator as to the overall status of your website.\n\n### \\#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)\nRemember during the Ahrefs setup process when I told you to track a bunch of your top keywords in Ahrefs?\n\nWell, that’s because these keywords also show up in your dashboard, like this:\n\n![tracked keywords ahrefs](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20230'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![tracked keywords ahrefs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tracked-keywords-ahrefs.png)\n\nBasically, this shows how many of your tracked keywords are ranking in the top 1-3, 4-10, 11-20, and 21-50 search results.\n\nAs rankings improve, they’ll show up here.\n\nThis is my personal favourite way to keep an eye on what really matters—if I see improvements here, I *know* that my traffic is probably increasing, too.\n\nOf course, if you want to take a more granular look at keyword rankings (with graphs and whatnot), you can use Ahrefs Rank Tracker.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20425'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-rank-tracker-700x425-1.jpg)\n\nThis can also show you some super-cool data such as the number of featured snippets you own, and much more.\n\n![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20208'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/serp-snippets-700x208-1.png)\n\nBUT:\n\nIf you need daily keyword ranking updates you might want to checkout my [Accuranker review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/accuranker\/) because Ahrefs only updates every 3 days.\n\nWant to write product reviews like this one? Use my [product review template](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/product-review-template\/)\\!\n\n[![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20300'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\n## Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)\nBefore I wrap this up, I want to mention a handful of tools that incorporate Ahrefs data.\n\nI know from talking to [Tim Soulo](https:\/\/sg.linkedin.com\/in\/timsoulo) that Ahrefs are *very* picky about which tools they allow to use their data. That’s why this list is quite short.\n\nHere are the tools I can personally vouch for:\n\n- **[URL Profiler](https:\/\/urlprofiler.com\/)**: Pulls in a bunch of metrics (including Ahrefs metrics) for a list of URLs. This is one of my personal favourites. See my full [URL Profiler review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/url-profiler\/) for more.\n- **[Ninja Outreach](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/get\/ninjaoutreach\/ \"NinjaOutreach\")**: Use the free trial of this tool to contact thosuands of backlink opportunities\/broken backlinks itc in a couple of clicks. They have a range of link building email templates [built in](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/get\/ninjaoutreach\/ \"NinjaOutreach\")\\!\n- **[Screaming Frog](https:\/\/www.screamingfrog.co.uk\/seo-spider\/)****:** Industry-leading [crawling](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/how-search-engines-work\/ \"crawling\") & [SEO Spider](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/seo-spider\/) tool. A must-have for anyone who’s serious about SEO. It now also allows you to pull in metrics (e.g. DR, Ahrefs Rank, etc.) from Ahrefs directly. More details [here](https:\/\/www.screamingfrog.co.uk\/seo-spider\/user-guide\/configuration\/#ahrefs).\n- **[Link Miner (Chrome Extension)](https:\/\/chrome.google.com\/webstore\/detail\/linkminer\/ogdhdnpiclkaeicicamopfohidjokoom?hl=en)**: Analyse and extract links from any web page. Perfect for finding broken links and quickly assessing them by pulling in metrics from Ahrefs.\n- **[SeoTools for Excel](http:\/\/seotoolsforexcel.com\/)**: Excel add-on that’s absolutely packed with functionality. If you want to pull Ahrefs metrics directly into your spreadsheets, this one is for you! More details [here](http:\/\/seotoolsforexcel.com\/ahrefs\/).\n\nAnd [here are a few more tools that integrate Ahrefs data](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/apps) (although I haven’t tested these personally).\n\n[![increase your search traffic in 28 days](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![increase your search traffic in 28 days](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-28-day-seo.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24\/)\n\n## Wrapping It Up\n**[Ahrefs](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/) is an *incredible* tool.**\n\nNot just for link-building, but for (almost) everything else, too.\n\nSeriously, if I was limited to using only one SEO tool forever, Ahrefs would probably be my \\#1 choice.\n\nBUT…enough with the praise…\n\nHere’s a quick recap of my surefire process for increasing traffic in my Ahrefs review-\n\n- **Make sure your website is healthy (i.e. there are no bad-backlinks, broken links, etc)**\n  - [Look for “Dodgy” Links in the *Backlinks* and *Referring Domains* Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-bad-backlinks)\n  - [Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-unnatural-anchor-text)\n  - [Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-links-same-c-class)\n  - [Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-fix-broken-links)\n  - [Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-low-quality-links)\n  - [Fix Broken Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#fix-broken-outboind-links)\n  - [Look for potential issues with Ahrefsbot and fix them.](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/ahrefsbot\/)\n- **Find all of the best keywords**\n  - [Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#keyword-explorer)\n  - [See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#keyword-ideas)\n  - [Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-competitor-keywords) \/ [**VIDEO TUTORIAL**](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lvyVrnpAs68)\n  - [Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#analyse-competitors)\n- **Prioritise your keywords AND find low-hanging fruit (i.e. quick-win opportunities)**\n  - [Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-keyword-opportunities)\n  - [Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-keyword-potential)\n- **Research and create some EPIC content**\n  - [Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#content-ideas)\n  - [Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#content-seo-research)\n- **Build links to your EPIC content**\n  - [Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#branded-link-reclaimation)\n  - [Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#monitor-keywords)\n  - [Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#monitor-competitors)\n  - [Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-link-building-opportunities)\n  - [Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#broken-backlink-building) \/ [**VIDEO TUTORIAL**](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=D8LramMafYc)\n  - [Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-guest-post-sites)\n- **Complete a site audit and fix all outstanding issues**\n  - [Use The Site Audit Tool To Find Every SEO Problem](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#site-seo-audit)\n  - [Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the *Performance* Report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-slow-pages)\n  - [Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the *HTML Tags* Report](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-html-problems)\n  - [Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-link-problems)\n- **Keep an eye on your progress and make sure you’re on the right track\\!**\n  - [Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#increase-seo-metrics)\n  - [Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#increase-rankings)\n  - [Increase Domain Authority (DA)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/increase-domain-authority\/)\n\nDo this, in this order, and you won’t go far wrong\\!\n\n**How do you use Ahrefs in your SEO campaigns?**\n\n[![We have publish tons of SEO case studies](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20200'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![We have publish tons of SEO case studies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta1-seo-case-studies-2.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/)\n\n[Previous SEO Case Studies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/)\n\nOR\n\n[Next Increase Your Search Traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/challenge\/)\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\nWhat is Ahrefs used for?\n\nAhrefs is a digital marketing tool that is used to analyze websites’ link profiles, keyword rankings, and SEO health. On top of that, you can also use Ahrefs to do keyword research for Google, YouTube, and even Amazon. Many people use it as well to find content ideas by searching what content performed well (in terms of social shares and links).\n\nIs Ahrefs worth the money?\n\nYes, Ahrefs is totally worth the money! Ahrefs is the best SEO tool you can get on the market right now. Indeed, with this tool, you can spy on your competitors’ SEO strategies and uncover their backlinks, keywords, and other factors that make them rank higher in the SERPs.\n\nCan I use Ahrefs for free?\n\nYes. Aherfs launched a tool called “Ahrefs Webmaster Tools” which is a free tool that helps you monitor your website’s SEO health and gives you an inside look at Ahrefs reporting tools, without paying anything! However, if you want to get complete access to Ahrefs tools, you’ll have to pay.\n\nHow reliable is Ahrefs?\n\nAt the time of writing, Aherfs is the most reliable and accurate SEO tool available. It has the biggest backlink index of any other tool which means that its data stay fresh and updated.\n\nWhat does Ahrefs domain rank mean?\n\nAhrefs domain rank (AR) is the order in which all the websites in Ahrefs database rank in terms of the quality of the website backlink profile. The domain rating (DR) metric will be used to determine the AR. The website with an AR of 1 has the best backlink profile.\n\nWhat is a good Ahrefs rank?\n\nAhrefs Rank (AR) is used by Ahrefs to determine the order of all websites within its database from high to low. The lower the rank, the better the backlink profile. To find out if you have a good Ahrefs rank, you should compare it to your competitors.\n\nHow is Ahrefs domain rating calculated?\n\nTo calculate the domain rating (DR), Ahrefs measures your link profiles quality and quantity against all other websites that are stored in its database then it gives you a rating between 0 – 100. The Ahrefs domain rating gives you (and others) an indication of the link popularity and the amount of traffic of a domain.\n\nWhat’s a good domain rating?\n\nAhrefs Domain Rating (DR) works by ranking domains between 0 – 100. This shows you how strong a website’s backlink profile is. The higher your DR is the better.\n\nAre there any good alternatives to Ahrefs?\n\nYes! You might want to take a look at my [SEMRush review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/semrush\/), my [Serpstat review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/serpstat\/), and my [SEO Powersuite review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/seo-powersuite\/) which will show you how to use each of the tools to increase your search visiblity. If you are struggling with on-page SEO then you might want to look at my [Surfer SEO review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/surfer-seo\/) which is a much more specialised tool for on-site tasks.\n\n## ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2090%2087'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/str.png) Ahrefs Review\n[![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20171%2044'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Ahrefs-review.png)](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/)\n\n- Review Of: [Ahrefs](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/)\n- Reviewed By: Matthew Woodward\n- Rating:\n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n  \n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n  \n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n  \n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n  \n  ![](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hello-elementor\/assets\/images\/fullstar.png)\n- Updated On: Oct 30, 2025\n\n**Summary:**\n\nAhrefs provides everything you need to increase search engine traffic to any website. It’s huge database of information combined with intelligent tools makes it easy for anyone to increase their rankings.\n\n[View More Details](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/)\n\n## You Might Also Like\n[![DO NOT BUY SEO LINK MONSTER](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20203%20122'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![DO NOT BUY SEO LINK MONSTER](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/buy-seo-203x122.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/seo-link-monster\/)\n\n[DO NOT BUY SEO LINK MONSTER](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/seo-link-monster\/)\n\n[![WP Rocket Review – The Fastest Way To Speed Up Your Site](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20203%20122'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![WP Rocket Review – The Fastest Way To Speed Up Your Site](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/wp-rocket-review-203x122.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/wp-rocket\/)\n\n[WP Rocket Review – The Fastest Way To Speed Up Your Site](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/wp-rocket\/)\n\n[![AccuRanker Review](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20203%20122'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![AccuRanker Review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/accuranker-review-203x122.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/accuranker\/)\n\n[AccuRanker Review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/accuranker\/)\n\n[![Rank Math Review – Why I Ditched Yoast For RankMath](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20203%20122'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Rank Math Review – Why I Ditched Yoast For RankMath](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/rank-math-review-203x122.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/rank-math\/)\n\n[Rank Math Review – Why I Ditched Yoast For RankMath](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/rank-math\/)\n\nLink Building ![Logo](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20235%2060'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\n![Logo](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/spl_logo2.png)\n\nLink building you will be proud of.\n\n[BUILD LINKS](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/)\n\nSEO Agency ![Logo](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20235%2060'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\n![Logo](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/spl_logo3.png)\n\nWe take full control of your traffic.\n\n[HIRE US](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/services\/full-service-seo\/)\n\nLearn Portal ![Logo](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20235%2060'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)\n\n![Logo](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/seo-portal-logo.png)\n\nFree SEO tutorials to increase your traffic.\n\n[LEARN SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/)\n\n## What Are Your Thoughts?\n**Leave a Reply [Cancel reply](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#respond)**\n\nIncrease Your Search Traffic  \n In Just 28 Days…\n\n[**CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED** I’ll show you how step by step](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/fhpknqydkcyutzgd9dzl\/)\n\n[![Matthew Woodward](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20390%20420'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![Matthew Woodward](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/matthew-woodward.png)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/fhpknqydkcyutzgd9dzl\/)\n\nFeatured 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Service](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/services\/seo-consultant\/)\n- [White Label SEO Services](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/services\/white-label\/)\n\n**Free Resources**\n\n- [AI Search Quality Rater](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ai-google-quality-rater-tool\/)\n- [Leaked Link Building Checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/link-building-leak-checklist\/)\n- [Free SEO Tutorials](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/)\n- [The 28 Day SEO Challenge](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/challenge\/)\n- [The SEO Checklist](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/zjimisafuiypwwej1oea\/)\n- [SEO Strategy Builder](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/ribukwaf59hmnqlnloc1\/)\n- [Backlink Blacklist](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n- [7 Day Ecommerce SEO](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/xlxkqrkdgvygpzo5fnyz\/)\n- [AI SEO Statistics](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/statistics\/ai-seo-statistics\/)\n- [SEO Statistics](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/statistics\/seo-statistics\/)\n\n**Learn More**\n\n- [About Search Logistics](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/about\/)\n- [About Matthew Woodward](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/about\/matthew-woodward\/)\n- [SEO Case Studies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/)\n- [Learn SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/)\n- [SEO Glossary](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/)\n- [Testimonials](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/testimonials\/)\n\n**Contact Us**\n\n- **Phone:**\n  [![UK flag icon](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2016%2016'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![UK flag icon](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/uk.webp)\\+44 1892 800605](tel:441892800605)\n  [![USA flag icon](data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2016%2016'%3E%3C\/svg%3E)![USA flag icon](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/us.webp)\\+1 506 306 2088](tel:15063062088)\n- **Email:** [Contact us](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/contact\/)\n\n© Copyright 2026 www.searchlogistics.com \\| All Rights Reserved \\| [Privacy Policy](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/privacy-policy\/) \\| [Terms](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/terms-and-conditions\/)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tr?id=746073172083416&ev=PageView&noscript=1)","attrs_readable_markdown":"Ahrefs is a very popular [SEO tool](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/tools\/ \"SEO tool\") that was originally built to check [backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/backlinks\/ \"backlinks\").\n\nHowever over the last years it has developed into something much more with a class leading database of backlinks and [keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/ \"keywords\").\n\nAhrefs is one of the most popular [SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/ \"SEO\") [tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/ \"tools\") for a reason.\n\nAnd if you want to drive a TON of organic traffic to your website?\n\nHere’s the basic formula:\n\n- Pick a topic\/keyword\n- Create an exceptional piece of content\n- Promote it. Build links to it. Rank it.\n\nSounds simple, right!?\n\nI’ll let you in on a little secret:\n\n**It is simple, but only if you use the right tools for the job.**\n\nWhat do I mean by that?\n\nWell, there are a ton of questions you need to answer before you get started, such as:\n\n> 1\\. *Which keywords\/topics should you be trying to rank for?*   \n>  2. *Is it even possible to outrank the competition?*  \n>  3. *What kind of content should you create? (e.g. blog post, [infographic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/statistics\/infographic-statistics\/), interactive content, etc)*  \n>  4. *[How many links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/how-many-backlinks\/ \"How many links\") do you need to build to rank for your chosen keywords? (and can you build that many links?)*\n\nIn this post, I’ll be showing you how to answer all these questions (and more) with only one tool: [Ahrefs](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/ \"Ahrefs\").\n\n[![learn how to increase your search traffic in 28 days](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta2-28-day-seo.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24\/)\n\nWhat Will I Learn?\n\n- [What You Will Learn](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#What_You_Will_Learn \"What You Will Learn\")\n- [What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#What_Is_Ahrefs_And_Why_Should_You_Care \"What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?\")\n- [Ahrefs Pros & Cons](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Ahrefs_Pros_Cons \"Ahrefs Pros & Cons\")\n  - [📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Pros_What_I_Think_Youll_Like \"📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like\")\n  - [📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Cons_What_I_Think_Youll_Dislike \"📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike\")\n- [Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Getting_Started_With_My_Ahrefs_Review \"Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review\")\n- [Backlink Health Check](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Backlink_Health_Check \"Backlink Health Check\")\n  - [\\#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#1_Look_for_Dodgy_Links_in_the_Backlinks_and_Referring_Domains_Reports \"#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports\")\n  - [\\#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#2_Look_for_Unnatural_Anchor_Text_Issues \"#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues\")\n  - [\\#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#3_Look_for_LOTS_of_Links_from_the_Same_C-block_IPs \"#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs\")\n  - [\\#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#4_Find_AND_Fix_Broken_Backlinks \"#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks\")\n  - [\\#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#5_Remove_ALL_Low-Quality_or_Irrelevant_Outbound_Links \"#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links\")\n  - [\\#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#6_Fix_Broken_Outbound_Links \"#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links\")\n- [Keyword Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Keyword_Research \"Keyword Research\")\n  - [\\#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#7_Pop_a_Few_Seed_Keywords_into_Keywords_Explorer \"#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer\")\n  - [\\#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#8_See_Other_Keyword_Ideas_Based_on_Your_Seed_Keywords \"#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)\")\n  - [\\#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#9_Find_the_KeywordsTopics_that_Send_the_Most_Traffic_to_Your_Competitors \"#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors\")\n  - [\\#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#10_Analyse_YOUR_Competitors_to_Find_Keyword_Content_Gaps \"#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”\")\n- [Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Keyword_Prioritisation_PLUS_How_to_Identify_Low-Hanging_Opportunities \"Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)\")\n  - [\\#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#11_Find_Keywords_That_Youre_Already_Ranking_for_in_Positions_4-6 \"#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6\")\n  - [\\#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#12_Find_Keywords_AND_Topics_with_High_Traffic_Potential \"#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential\")\n- [Content Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Content_Research \"Content Research\")\n  - [\\#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#13_Find_UNIQUE_EASILY_BEATABLE_Content_Ideas_Using_Content_Explorer \"#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer\")\n  - [\\#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#14_Find_Content_Ideas_That_People_ACTUALLY_Care_About_with_Keywords_Explorer \"#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer\")\n- [Link Building](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Link_Building \"Link Building\")\n  - [\\#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#15_Use_Branded_Alerts_to_Reclaim_Backlinks \"#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks\")\n  - [\\#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#16_Monitor_TOPICAL_Keyword_Alerts_Then_Convince_People_to_Link_to_You \"#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)\")\n  - [\\#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#17_Monitor_Competitor_Links_AND_Brand_Mentions \"#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions\")\n  - [\\#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#18_Find_Skyscraper_Link_Building_Opportunities_AND_Prospects \"#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)\")\n  - [\\#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#19_Broken_Backlink_Building_with_the_top_pages_-_404_report \"#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)\")\n  - [\\#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#20_Find_Worthwhile_Guest_Post_Prospects \"#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects\")\n- [Site Audit](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Site_Audit \"Site Audit\")\n  - [\\#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#21_Find_Slow_Loading_Pages_Using_the_Performance_Report \"#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)\")\n  - [\\#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#22_Find_HTML_Tag_Issues_eg_Rogue_Noindex_Tags_with_the_HTML_Tags_Report \"#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report\")\n  - [\\#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#23_Find_Incoming_and_Outgoing_Link_Issues_eg_Broken_Outbound_Links_with_the_IncomingOutgoing_Links_Reports \"#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports\")\n- [Analysing Your Progress\/Success](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Analysing_Your_ProgressSuccess \"Analysing Your Progress\/Success\")\n  - [\\#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#24_Increased_Domain_Rating_DR_AND_Decreased_Ahrefs_Rank \"#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank\")\n  - [\\#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#25_Improved_Rankings_for_Your_Tracked_Keywords \"#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)\")\n- [Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Useful_Tools_That_Work_with_Ahrefs \"Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)\")\n- [Wrapping It Up](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#Wrapping_It_Up \"Wrapping It Up\")\n## What You Will Learn\nLet me make one thing clear:\n\n**My aim here *isn’t* to list everything Ahrefs *can* do.**\n\n(If that’s what you want, you can find [a big list of features here](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/pricing).)\n\nMy aim is to show actionable ways to use Ahrefs (and no other tools) to get more organic traffic to your website.\n\n![Ahrefs review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Ahrefs-review-1-scaled.jpg)\n\nHere’s everything I’ll be teaching you:\n\n- [**Getting Started:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#getting-started) How to get started with Ahrefs and set yourself up for success (**note**: do not skip this stage, it is *very* important).\n- [**Backlink Health Check:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#backlink-health-check) How to identify (and fix) any backlink issues that may be holding your website back in the [SERPs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/search-engine-results-pages-serps\/ \"SERPs\"). **WARNING**: Fixing these issues can lead to an instant rankings boost\\!\n- **[Keyword Research](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/research\/ \"Keyword Research\"):** Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is perhaps *the* [best keyword research tool](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/keyword-research-tools\/ \"best keyword research tool\") on the market. I’ll show you how to use this tool (and a couple of other Ahrefs tools) to build an initial keyword list for your website.\n- [**Keyword Prioritisation:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#keyword-prioritisation) How to prioritise your keywords list and identify “low-hanging” opportunities that can boost traffic FAST.\n- [**Content Research:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#content-research) How to figure out EXACTLY what type of content you should be creating to rank for your chosen keywords.\n- **[Link Building](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/ \"Link Building\"):** How to build links to your website using a variety of methods (**note**: this is where Ahrefs really shines!)\n- [**Site Audit:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#site-seo-audit) How to diagnose and fix errors with your website (**note:** this is highly recommended, as on-site errors can hold back your success, even if you’ve done everything right thus far!)\n- [**Analyse your Progress\/Success:**](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#analyse-progress) How to use Ahrefs to make sure you’re on the right track and that things are improving with your website.\n\nI’ve made a big effort to lay this out as a checklist, rather than a random list of ideas\/tactics.\n\n**This means that if you follow this guide from start-to-finish…**\n\nI guarantee you will see results.\n\n![Ahrefs review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ahrefs-review-infographic-scaled.jpg)\n\n## What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?\nAhrefs is a powerful—and complete—SEO analysis tool.\n\nIt does pretty much everything you could ever need to do from an SEO standpoint, including:\n\n- **Keyword research** (via [Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer))\n- **Content research** (via [Content Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer))\n- **Backlink research** (via [Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer))\n- **Rank tracking** (via [Rank Tracker](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/rank-tracker))\n- **Competitor research** (via [Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer), [Link Intersect Tool](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/link-intersect), etc)\n- **Site auditing** (i.e. diagnosing site health issues, etc.) (via the [Site Audit tool](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\/))\n\nRight now, the only important thing Ahrefs can’t do is manage or send link building [outreach emails](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/email-outreach\/ \"outreach emails\"). But you can use [Gmail](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/gmail\/ \"Gmail\") for that.\n\nEverything else is covered.\n\n> *You can search a database of 4.9 million keywords in seconds with* *[Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer)**.*\n> \n> *You can search 700+ million pieces of content to find content ideas that will generate a ton of* *traffic, with* *[Content Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer)**.*\n> \n> *You can search the world’s largest index of backlinks (over 35 trillion!) to see all your competitors backlin**ks, with* *[Site Explorer](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer)**.*\n> \n> *You can find and fix hundreds of on-site issues in seconds, with the* *[Site Audit](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit)* *tool.*\n\nAnd that’s the tip of the iceberg, really.\n\nBut, impressive industry-leading stats aside, what does this mean for the average Joe?\n\nSimple.\n\n**You have everything you need—under one roof—to grow your [website traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/blogging\/website-traffic\/ \"website traffic\") like crazy.**\n\nThis post will walk you through the process of doing this, step-by-step.\n\n## Ahrefs Pros & Cons\nAhrefs is an incredibly powerful tool\\!\n\nBut that doesn’t mean it’s perfect for everyone. Here are some pros and cons to help you decide if Ahrefs is right for you.\n\n| PROS | CONS |\n|---|---|\n| ✅ Comprehensive all-in-one SEO tool | ❌ Large learning curve |\n| ✅ Largest live backlink index (35 trillion) | ❌ No built-in link outreach tool |\n| ✅ Powerful keyword research tools | ❌ Higher plan prices |\n| ✅ Great site audit tool | ❌ Rank tracking only updates every week |\n| ✅ Excellent competitor analysis tools | ❌ Overwhelming amounts of data |\n| ✅ Real-time brand mention alerts |   |\n| ✅ Quality content gap analysis |   |\n| ✅ Intuitive user interface |   |\n### 📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like\n- **Comprehensive All-In-One SEO Platform –** Ahrefs has every tool you need to execute a high-level [SEO campaign](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24\/ \"SEO campaign\"). It has everything from keyword research to in-depth backlink analysis and even technical SEO audits. You won’t need to juggle multiple tools because Ahrefs can almost do it all\\!\n- **Large Live Backlink Index –** Get the most comprehensive competitive backlink data with Ahrefs’ massive 35 trillion live link index. You’ll see links that other tools miss, get more usable data and ultimately end up with more link building opportunities.\n- **Powerful Keyword Research Tools –** Ahrefs keyword research tools are comprehensive and user-friendly. This is an area where Ahrefs really shines. It’s easy to find quality long-tail keywords to target and have all the data you need to make good keyword decisions.\n- **Quality Site Audit Tool –** Technical SEO isn’t easy. But Ahrefs makes it easier with a very solid site audit tool that balances in-depth SEO auditing with user-friendliness. The tool analyses your site for over 170+ technical and [on-page SEO](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/on-page\/ \"on-page SEO\") factors.\n- **Real-Time Mention Alerts –** Ahrefs has an excellent mention monitoring tool. You set up alerts for your name, brand and products. Every time someone mentions them online, you get a real-time notification, which makes it perfect for tracking your brand and finding unlinked mentions.\n- **Content Gap Analysis –** The content gap analysis is a feature that many tools offer. But Ahrefs does it better! In just a few clicks, you can literally see hundreds of keywords you’re missing out on and where your competitors are beating you in the SERPs.\n### 📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike\n- **Large Learning Curve –** Ahrefs has a ton of tools and features. That means there will be a significant learning curve to take full advantage of everything Ahrefs offers. The silver lining is that the user interface is intuitive, so if you have some experience, you’ll be fine.\n- **No Built-In Outreach Tool –** Ahrefs doesn’t offer any outreach capabilities, unlike [Semrush](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/semrush\/ \"Semrush\") or SEO Powersuite. That means you will need to have an individual outreach tool to pair with Ahrefs for link building outreach. It’s not a major issue, but something to be aware of.\n- **High Pricing Plans –** The free plan that Ahrefs offers is very limited, and paid plans start at \\$129 per month. That means it’s not cheap! Make sure you get enough value out of it long-term to justify the high prices.\n- **Ranking Tracking Not Updated Frequently –** Ahrefs only updates the keyword rankings you are tracking every 7 days. That’s not great! If you want daily keyword rank tracking updates, you will need to pay extra as an add-on or use another tool.\n- **Can Be Overwhelming –** There is a lot of data inside Ahrefs. That means beginners can easily get overwhelmed or distracted by the sheer volume of information. You need to be clear on your goals and use Ahrefs to help you accomplish them.\n## Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review\nIn this short section, I’ll show you how to get started with my Ahrefs review and how to set up your account for success.\n\nSo, first things first, [head over to Ahrefs and sign up](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/).\n\n**Note:** You can access Ahrefs for free by signing up to [Ahrefs Webmaster Tools](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/webmaster-tools) (but you’ll only get LIMITED access to the tool).\n\nOnce you’re in, Ahrefs will prompt you to add a project (i.e. website) to your account.\n\nThis is pretty straightforward—give your project a name and hit “next”. Make sure to use the *http + https* naming scheme.\n\n[![getting started with my ahrefs review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Image-2018-01-17-at-6.37.41-pm-700x400-1.png)](http:\/\/www.ahrefs.com\/)\n\nYou’ll then be asked to add keywords that you want to track.\n\nAhrefs actually suggests a bunch of keywords that your website is already ranking for.\n\nBasically, the higher up the list of suggestions they are, the more traffic those keywords are sending to your website.\n\n**I recommend adding the first 4-5 pages worth of keywords.**\n\n![ahrefs setup 2](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-setup-2.jpg)\n\nWhy? Because this allows you to track your most important keywords (i.e. the keywords that are the most traffic to your website).\n\nStep \\#3….add some competitors.\n\nAgain, you can either add competitors manually (if you know them) or choose from the suggestions Ahrefs gives.\n\n**I recommend adding 5 competitors from the suggestions Ahrefs gives.**\n\n![ahrefs setup 3](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-setup-3.png)\n\nAnd finally, add some [branded keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/branded-keywords\/) to track.\n\n**I really recommend taking a moment to set this one up. We’ll be using it later in the guide.**\n\n![ahrefs setup 4](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-setup-4.png)\n\n**Note:** By default, Ahrefs sends you daily emails about these keywords. If you prefer not to have daily emails flooding your inbox, go into the settings and change this to weekly (or monthly).\n\nThat’s it. You’re ready to rock\\!\n\n[![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\n## Backlink Health Check\n> *Backlinks from spammy, low-quality websites*.\n> \n> *Backlinks with over-optimised [anchor text](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/anchor-text\/ \"anchor text\").*\n\n**These types of backlinks can spell disaster for your website.**\n\nAt *best*, they’ll prevent your website from ranking as well as it should.\n\nAt *worst*, they’ll lead to a [Google Penguin penalty](https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/library\/google\/google-penguin-update).\n\nThat’s why you need to nip any “bad” backlinks in the bud *before* you invest time, energy, and money optimizing your website.\n\nBut: **How do you do this?**\n\nLike I said earlier,  **Ahrefs has the largest backlink index on the planet**  – this makes it the perfect tool for identifying and fixing any “bad” backlinks.\n\n**NOTE:** Ahrefs just released a new [Site Audit](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit) tool to help diagnose even more issues with your website. I’ll be running through this later in the guide.\n\nHere’s how to do it:\n\n### \\#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the *Backlinks* and *Referring Domains* Reports\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer, then navigate to the *referring domains* tab.\n\nBy default, this will show you all referring domains ordered by [Domain Rating](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/domain-rating-dr\/ \"Domain Rating\") (DR)—highest to lowest.\n\nBut remember:\n\nYou’re looking for low-quality links, so reverse this (i.e. order by DR low to high).\n\nLook for [domains](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/expired-domains\/) that look low-quality or suspicious, such as:\n\n- Anything you don’t recognise\n- Foreign-language websites (e.g. .ru, .dk domains, etc)\n- .xyz domains\n- Low-quality wiki pages\n- Article directories\n- \\[empty anchors\\]\n\nOf course, it would be pretty time-consuming if you had to check every backlink manually.\n\nBut, luckily, Ahrefs has a few filters to help you out.\n\nIf you move to the *Backlinks* report, there are filters for both *languages* and *platform*.\n\nI recommend filtering by languages like Russian to find [spammy backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/link-spam\/ \"spammy backlinks\"), as Russian sites are kind of notorious for link spam.\n\n![russian language filter ahrefs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/russian-language-filter-ahrefs.png)\n\n**Note**: You can get even more specific with languages by filtering for exact TLDs (e.g. .dk, .ru, etc.) in the *Referring Domains* report.\n\nYou can also easily uncover low-quality Wiki pages with the *Wikis* filter in the *Backlinks* report:\n\n![platform ahrefs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/platform-ahrefs.png)\n\nBut remember, even if something looks super-dodgy, *always* check out the link manually before making a judgement.\n\nOtherwise, you run the risk of disavowing links that may be helping your website.\n\nIf you can confirm that the link is “bad”, hit the checkbox next to the domain.\n\nYou can then simply click “[disavow links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/disavow\/ \"disavow links\")” to send them to your [disavow](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/how-to-disavow-backlinks\/ \"disavow\") area + create a disavow file.\n\n**NOTE:** You can only see checkboxes if the domain that you’re reviewing is added to Ahrefs [Dashboard](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/reporting\/seo-dashboards\/ \"Dashboard\"). This should be the case if you added your domain(s) in the “getting started” section above.\n\n### \\#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues\nAnchor text is the clickable text within a link.\n\n**Example:**\n\n![anchor text](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/anchor-text.jpg)\n\nThe anchor text for this link is “this link here”.\n\nAnchor text helps to tell Google (and potential visitors) what your website is about—that’s why [it remains a Google ranking factor](https:\/\/backlinko.com\/google-ranking-factors).\n\n**But: Anchor text over-optimisation (i.e. too many keyword-rich links) can trigger a [Google penalty](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/google-penalty\/ \"Google penalty\").**\n\nIf your website has an unnatural [link profile](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/link-profile\/ \"link profile\") with tons of exact match (or partial match) anchor texts, this could be an issue.\n\nHere’s how to identify—and fix—these issues with Ahrefs:\n\nEnter your domain into *Site Explorer*, then go to the *Anchors* report under *[Backlink Profile](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/backlink-analysis\/ \"Backlink Profile\")*.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/anchors-matthew-woodward-ahrefs-700x426-1.png)\n\nThis will show you exactly what anchor text is being used within the links back to your website.\n\nIf you have a healthy backlink profile, most of your anchors will probably be:\n\n- [Branded](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/branded-keywords\/ \"Branded\") anchors (e.g. “matthew woodward”, “matthewwoodward.co.uk”, etc.)\n- Generic anchors (e.g. “click here”, “this post”, etc.)\n\nWhat you don’t want to see is lots of exact-match anchors.\n\n**This is a sign of over-optimisation.**\n\nIf you spot anything that looks dodgy, hit *details* \\> *referring domains* to see which sites are linking to you.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/anchors-junk-links-700x297-1.png)\n\nRight now, you can’t disavow these links directly from within the *anchors* report.\n\nHowever, you can simply hit the export button then upload the file manually to the disavow area.\n\n![ahrefs anchors export](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-anchors-export.png)\n\nLearn [how to disavow backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/how-to-disavow-backlinks\/) step by step.\n\n### \\#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs\nEvery website has its own IP address that looks something like this:\n\n> *104\\.27.136.155*\n\nIn simple terms, while you may be used to typing in matthewwoodward.co.uk to get to my blog, that’s really just a memorable way of navigating to an IP address where my website resides.\n\nBasically:\n\nBecause humans are better at remembering website URLs than a random string of numbers, we let the browser do the work and translate a URL into an IP address behind the scenes.\n\nNow, IP addresses are separated into blocks: A, B, C, and D blocks, like so:\n\n> *AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD*\n\nIf we have the following two websites:\n\n- *104\\.27.136.155*\n- *104\\.27.136.7*\n\nWe would say they’re on the same C-block.\n\nIn internet terms, these sites are neighbours.\n\n**Note:** More information on IP addresses [here](http:\/\/www.freesoft.org\/CIE\/Topics\/26.htm).\n\nWhy does this matter?\n\n**Lots of links from the same C-block IP can be a bad sign.** This is because it signals to Google that these sites may be closely related (e.g. a PBN) and therefore, not the most [natural links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/natural-link\/ \"natural links\") ever.\n\nLuckily, you can use Ahrefs’ *Referring IPs* report to find these.\n\nHere’s how:\n\nEnter your domains into *Site Explorer*, then hit the *Referring IPs* report under *Backlink Profile*.\n\n![referring ips bad](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/referring-ips-bad.png)\n\nAhrefs groups referring IPs by C-blocks by default—very useful\\!\n\nIn the example above, you can see that the first few results look a bit dodgy—there are thousands of links, from hundreds of domains, all on the same C-block IP.\n\nLet’s take a deeper look.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/referring-ips-spam-700x400-1.png)\n\nYep, they’re spammy. They need disavowing\/removing.\n\nAgain, there’s no way to disavow these directly from this report but you can export the domains to a .csv and upload them manually.\n\n### \\#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks\nBuilding backlinks is *damn* hard.\n\n**It’s *laborious*. *Time consuming*. And *costly*.**\n\nSo:\n\nIt makes sense to ensure that you’re getting the full benefit of the links you build, right?\n\n**Definitely.**\n\nUnfortunately, links sometimes break. And when this happens, you won’t feel the benefit of those links.\n\nThat’s why fixing [broken links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/broken-link\/ \"broken links\") is a quick way to regain some valuable link juice and increase rankings.Here’s how to do it:\n\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer then go to Pages \\> Best by links.\n\nThen, add a filter so you see only pages with a [404](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/404-error\/ \"404\") status code.\n\n![matthewwoodward broken links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/matthewwoodward-broken-links.png)\n\nYou will now see all 404 pages on your website ranked by the number of referring domains they have.\n\nHere’s how to reclaim the “link juice” for these pages:\n\n- **Restore the broken page—**this should be done if there is an actual error on your part (i.e. you’ve accidentally deleted a valuable page at some point).\n- **Add a [301 redirect](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/301-redirect\/ \"301 redirect\") to the broken page**—this should point to either the new location of the page, a suitable alternative, or the homepage.\n- **Reach out and asking the website owner to fix the link**—this is your best bet if there’s an actual problem with the link such as incorrect formatting.\n\nSo, just restore these pages or redirect them to something relevant to preserve all your link juice.\n\nDo this for any valuable broken links and you’ll see an instant boost\\!\n\n### \\#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links\nSpammy [inbound](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/inbound-link\/ \"inbound\") links are BAD.\n\n**But outbound links are also *extremely* important.**\n\nYou, therefore, need to make sure that you’re not linking to low-quality (or totally irrelevant) websites. Here’s how to do it:\n\nEnter your domain into *Site Explorer* then go to…\n\n> *Outgoing links \\> Linked Domains \\> add a dofollow filter*\n\nBy default, Ahrefs shows the most linked-to domains first.\n\nReverse this list.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/linked-domains-spam-700x385-1.png)\n\nWhen I gave this report a quick onceover for my own website, everything looked pretty above board (phew!)\n\nBUT…this isn’t the case for all sites.\n\nHere’s an outbound link I found on Moz.com:\n\n![linked domain moz](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/linked-domain-moz.jpg)\n\nThis is clearly a spammy domain.\n\nIf you find anything like this, remove (or replace) the links on your website.\n\nAlso:\n\nSometimes, you’ll find that your website is linking to a particular URL many times.\n\n**Example:**\n\n![lots of outgoing links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lots-of-outgoing-links.jpg)\n\nUpon closer inspection, we can see that this is a [Wordpress theme](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/blogging\/best-wordpress-theme-for-blogging\/ \"Wordpress theme\") link present in the theme HTML.\n\n![lots of outbound links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lots-of-outbound-links.png)\n\nIn all honesty, this probably isn’t going to cause any huge issues.\n\nHowever, as it’s a dofollow link across (almost) every page of the website, at the very least it’s diluting authority for no good reason.\n\nI recommend that you remove anything like this from your website’s HTML, too.\n\n### \\#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links\n**Broken outbound links lead to a bad user experience.**\n\nNot only is it annoying to click a link on a website and be taken to a broken page but also, it leaves the visitor questioning the validity of your content.\n\nWhy?\n\n**Because they’ll assume your website hasn’t been updated in awhile.**\n\nOr that you simply don’t put much effort into your content—certainly not enough to curate resources that actually exist.\n\nAlso, if Google thinks your content is going to lead to a bad user experience, they certainly aren’t going to rank your website.\n\n**Luckily, this is easily fixable.**\n\nHere’s how:\n\nEnter your website into *Site Explorer*, then go to *Outgoing Links \\> Broken Links*.\n\nIf anything shows up in this report, there are issues to be fixed.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/broken-outbound-links-700x339-1.png)\n\nLooks like I have 56 broken outbound links on my website 🙁\n\nYou should fix these links by either removing them or replacing them.\n\n[![download the link building checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-link-building-leak-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo\/)\n\n## Keyword Research\nFixing the errors outlined above should be enough to give you a small traffic boost.\n\nBUT:\n\n**Now it’s time for the big guns.**\n\nNo matter what website you’re working on, your SEO strategy *should* follow roughly the same blueprint, which is:\n\n- Find keywords you want to rank for (and that you already rank for)\n- Prioritise keywords\/topics into long-term opportunities + short-term opportunities (i.e. low-hanging fruit)\n- Create some content (or improve existing content) around those keywords\n- Build links to content (wherever appropriate\/necessary)\n- Analyse what did\/didn’t work and refine your strategy\/plan going forward.\n- **Rinse and repeat all of the above**\n\nTrust me:\n\nDo those things, in that order, and I guarantee you’ll see **a HUGE traffic increase.**\n\nSo, let’s get started with the first step: **keyword discovery**.\n\n### \\#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer\nKeywords Explorer is the first place I turn when I want to discover keywords for a new (or existing) website.\n\nThat’s because all you need is a few “seed” keywords and it’ll give you thousands of ideas.\n\nHere’s the process:\n\nGo to Keywords explorer and enter a few [seed keyword](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/seed-keywords\/ \"seed keyword\") ideas.\n\n**Note**: There’s no exact process for coming up with these. Just make an educated guess.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/keywords-explorer-700x296-1.png)\n\nHit the search button.\n\n**Note**: Make sure to select the appropriate country (e.g. United States) before searching, otherwise you’ll see keyword volume estimates and whatnot for a country unrelated to your business.\n\nGo to the metrics tab.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/keyword-metrics-kw-explorer-700x355-1.png)\n\nThis shows you monthly search volume, [Keyword Difficulty](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/keyword-difficulty\/ \"Keyword Difficulty\") (KD), and tons of other information.\n\nIf a keyword looks good (i.e. it has some decent [search volume](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-search-volume\/) and is relevant to your business), save it to a keywords list.\n\n![Screen Recording 2017 10 26 at 09.45 pm](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screen-Recording-2017-10-26-at-09.45-pm.gif)\n\n**Note:** If a keyword is super-relevant to your business, it makes sense to prioritise it, even if the search volume for that keyword is quite low. As I’ll mention later in this guide, search volume isn’t always the best indicator of traffic. However, it is a good starting point and it’s still worth looking at.\n\n### \\#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)\nRight now, [Ahrefs has the biggest keywords database in the industry](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/big-data).\n\nBecause of this, Keywords Explorer will show you with a bunch (and I really do mean a bunch!) of other keyword ideas based on your seed keywords.\n\nJust hit one of these 6 options on the left-hand menu:\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kw-explorer-menu-700x319-1.png)\n\nPersonally, I usually just select “all”.\n\nHowever, this will usually give you a few million keywords to play with (see, I told you they had a lot of data), which is pretty damn impossible to work with.\n\nSo, I tend to play with the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to narrow them down.\n\nYour best bet is to filter for keywords with a KD score of less than 10.\n\n![kd filter keywords explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kd-filter-keywords-explorer.png)\n\nWhy? Because anything below KD 10 means that top-ranking results have less than or equal to 10 backlinks on average, so it should be fairly easy to rank for them.\n\n![kd score 10 keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/kd-score-10-keywords.png)\n\nI usually just tick anything that looks good and add it to my keywords list.\n\nAnd if you prefer to get a little more granular with your keyword suggestions, you can learn more about what “phrase match”, “having same terms”, etc. mean [here](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-generator\/#section4).\n\n**Note**: Ahrefs presented me with 32K+ keyword suggestions from just the 8 keywords I entered above…so you certainly won’t be short of ideas\\!\n\n### \\#9: Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors\nEnter a competitor’s domain into *Site Explorer*, then go to *Organic search* \\> *Top Pages*\n\nHere you will see which of your competitors pages are attracting the most organic search traffic.\n\nYou’ll also see the top keyword that page ranks for, along with the search volume for that keyword.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/robbie-richards-competitor-700x348-1.png)\n\n**Note**: It’s also worth paying attention to the RD (Referring Domains) column as this shows how many ref.domains are pointing to that page. If you can identify pages that receive a lot of traffic, yet only have a few RDs, it’s most likely a topic that you can rank for pretty easily\\!\n\nPretty cool, right!?\n\n**BUT it gets even better…**\n\nThis report also shows you all of the other keywords these pages rank for (in order of the amount of traffic they drive to your competitors page).\n\n![top pages keywords suggestions](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/top-pages-keywords-suggestions.jpg)\n\nThis is not only useful for generating additional keyword ideas but also, finding keywords\/topics\/phrases that you can sprinkle into your content to increase relevance (i.e. [LSI keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/lsi\/ \"LSI keywords\")).\n\n### \\#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”\nContent gaps exist when your competitors rank for keywords that you don’t rank for.\n\nThink about it:\n\nIf you could see what those keywords are, you could [create content](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/blogging\/free-content\/ \"create content\") to compete with them (and ideally outrank them).\n\n**Here’s how to find those keywords with Ahrefs:**\n\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer, then go to *Organic Search* \\> *Content Gap*\n\nNow, enter the domains of (at least) three competitors plus your domain in the “*but the following target doesn’t rank for”* field.\n\n![content gap](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/content-gap.jpg)\n\nHit “show keywords”.\n\n![content gap results](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/content-gap-results.jpg)\n\nBingo…here are hundreds of keywords that (at least) one of your competitors rank for, yet you don’t.\n\n**Tip:** Enter competitors with a similar Domain Rating (DR) score. This will ensure that the Content Gap analysis kicks back keywords you stand a chance of ranking for. If you enter Moz.com as a competitor and you have a DR 40 site, the sad truth is that you’re probably never going to outrank Moz.\n\nI recommend paying particular attention to any keywords where your competitors are ranking in the top 10.\n\nWhy?\n\n**Because if they’re ranking in the top 10, chances are you could, too\\!**\n\nIs Ahrefs out of your budget? No worries, you can use one of these [free keyword research tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/free-keyword-research-tools\/) to find the right keywords for your business.\n\n[![download the on page seo checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-seo-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/wnig7cbedwexyepxxjpv\/)\n\n## Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)\nAt this stage, you should have a *big* list of keywords that you could try to rank for.\n\n**BUT:**\n\nJust because you *can* target these keywords doesn’t mean you *should*.\n\n> 1\\. *Some will be easier to rank for than others (in fact, you may not even stand a hope in hell of ranking for some of them).*  \n>  2. *Some will drive a lot of traffic (while others will drive very little).*  \n>  3. *Some will require creating new content (others won’t).*\n\nAnalysing keywords for certain attributes will allow you to prioritise your list, and divide your ideas into long-term and short-term topics.\n\nHere are a few tips:\n\n### \\#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6\nAlready ranking in positions 4-6 for some high-volume keywords?\n\nThese are your low-hanging fruit.\n\nWhy? Because [CTR increases exponentially within the top 5 positions](https:\/\/www.advancedwebranking.com\/cloud\/ctrstudy\/).\n\n![Google Organic CTR History](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Google_Organic_CTR_History.jpg)\n\nTherefore, it only takes a ranking increase of one position to see BIG traffic boosts from these keywords.\n\nAnd improving rankings by 1-2 positions can be as simple as building a handful of high-quality links.\n\n**But how do you find these keywords?**\n\n**Simple.**\n\nEnter your site into Site Explorer, then go to *Organic Search \\> Organic Keywords*\n\nThis will show you all of the keywords your website is currently ranking for.\n\n![organic keywords matthew woodward](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/organic-keywords-matthew-woodward.jpg)\n\n**Note**: By default, they’re ordered by the amount of organic traffic they send to your website—neat\\!\n\nBut here’s the trick:\n\nAdd a positions filter to show the keywords you’re currently ranking in positions 4-6.\n\n![positions filter organic keywords](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/positions-filter-organic-keywords.png)\n\nThese keywords are your low-hanging fruit—they should be prioritised when it comes to on-page optimization and link building.\n\n### \\#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential\nSometimes individual keywords won’t have a particularly high search volume.\n\n**Example:** “[best keyword research tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/keywords\/keyword-research-tools\/)”\n\n![best keyword research tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/best-keyword-research-tools.jpg)\n\nIf you were to rank \\#1 for this keyword, you would receive roughly 30% of these clicks.\n\nThat’s a measly 75 visitors\/month (approx.)\n\nHardly worth bothering, right!?\n\n**Not so fast.**\n\nLooking at individual search volumes for a single keyword rarely shows you the true ranking potential of that topic.\n\nThis is because pages almost always naturally rank for TONs of variations of that keyword (i.e. “long-tail keywords”).\n\nSo how do you figure out the true ranking potential of a topic?\n\n**Easy…**\n\nCheck how much organic traffic the top ranking pages for that keyword are getting.\n\nIf it’s a lot, the topic\/keyword has a high traffic potential.\n\nHere’s how: Go to *Keywords Explorer* and enter a keyword.\n\nScroll down to the SERP overview and you’ll see who’s ranking in the top 10. You can also see how much organic traffic these top ranking pages are attracting (across all keywords).\n\n![serp overview](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/serp-overview.jpg)\n\nThese are the SERPs for “best keyword research tool” and as you can see, the top ranking pages are getting WAY more than 75 visits\/month.\n\n**So, this topic DEFINITELY has a high traffic potential and is worth prioritising.**\n\n[![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\n## Content Research\nKeyword research? ***CHECK.***\n\nKeyword prioritisation? ***CHECK.***\n\n(You’re off to a good start!)\n\nBut…you ain’t going to rank for any of those keywords without creating some EPIC content around them.\n\nObviously, some of the keywords you’ve found (e.g. the low-hanging opportunities in positions 4-6) won’t require new content. You just need to optimise—and build some extra links to—your existing content.\n\nFor others, however, you’re going to need to create something new\\!\n\n**BUT here’s the problem:**\n\nIt’s NOT always easy to discern exactly what you should be writing about solely by looking at a keyword.\n\n**Example:**\n\nLet’s take the keyword “keyword research”.\n\n![keyword research keyword](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/keyword-research-keyword.png)\n\nIt’s a great keyword with a ridiculously high search volume (at least for this niche).\n\n**BUT, it’s also massively competitive.**\n\nIf I was to write a reasonably generic guide to keyword research, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance of ranking in the top 3 for this exact keyword.\n\nHowever, that doesn’t mean that I can’t write about keyword research at all…I just need to “niche down” a little and write a UNIQUE piece of content.\n\nHere’s how:\n\n### \\#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer\nAhrefs has [an index of 800+ million pieces of content on various topics](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/big-data).\n\nThey also add 5+ million new pieces of content to this index every 24 hours (which is absolutely INSANE).\n\nBut, data and stats aside, what benefit does this have?\n\nWell, it means that you can enter (almost) any keyword into *Content Explorer* and it’ll kick back a TON of content ideas.\n\n**Example:**\n\n![content explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/content-explorer.jpg)\n\nThat’s 3900+ content ideas for “keyword research”.\n\nAnd this is only results where the phrase “keyword research” is in the article title…\n\nYou can also search for content where the phrase is mentioned anywhere in the article content, which will return exponentially more results\\!\n\n![in content ahrefs kw explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/in-content-ahrefs-kw-explorer.png)\n\nBUT, like I said, it would be VERY difficult to rank for this exact keyword without “niching down”.\n\nThis is because the “big guys” (e.g. Moz, Ahrefs, etc) are currently dominating the SERPs for this topic.\n\nHowever, we can use the in-built filters in content Explorer to find ideas that:\n\n- We can actually compete with\n- Will actually generate traffic for us\n\nHere’s the setup:\n\n![content explorer filters](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/content-explorer-filters.png)\n\nHere’s exactly what we’re doing here (and why!):\n\n- **Filtering for only English results:** Pretty self-explanatory, right!?\n- **Filtering ONLY for results from websites with a DR between 0-59:** Because the DR of my website (matthewwoodward.co.uk) is also 59, I only want to see results for sites with the same (or lower) DR. Why? Because these are the sites I’ll be able to compete with easily.\n- **Filtering ONLY for pages with \\<5 referring domains AND \\>500 organic visitors per month**: This is the important part! By looking for pages that are receiving 500+ organic visits AND have very few links, we can uncover pages that will be VERY easy to outrank. Stealing their traffic will most likely require nothing more than creating better content and building a handful of links (at the most)\n\nHere’s what Content Explorer found for my search:\n\n![keyword research filtered](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/keyword-research-filtered.jpg)\n\nThis page talks about how to uncover keywords by looking at YouTube tags.\n\nIt receives 525 organic visits per month, has 0 referring domains, and is 183 words long.\n\nIf this isn’t easily beatable content, then I don’t know what is\\!\n\n**Note**: Remember, if your search doesn’t return many results, you can always find pages containing your keyword anywhere in the content (using the “in content”) filter to broaden your horizons.\n\n### \\#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer\nNobody understands [search intent](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/search-intent\/ \"search intent\") like Google does.\n\nTheir algorithm relies on showing users what they want to see.\n\nBecause of this, there’s no better way to understand the intent behind a search term (i.e. what people are actually looking to find) than analysing the top 10 search results.\n\n**Example:**\n\nLet’s take a keyword like “SEO tools”…\n\nNow, there are plenty of SEO tools—some free, some paid—on the market. If we wanted to rank for this keyword, maybe a winning formula for a piece of content would be to create a list of all of these SEO tools, right!?\n\nAgain, not so fast.\n\nLet’s go to Keywords Explorer, enter the keyword, and scroll down to the SERP overview.\n\nThis shows us the top 10 ranking results.\n\n![seo tools keywords explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/seo-tools-keywords-explorer-1.jpg)\n\nInstantly, I spot a pattern…\n\nAlthough most of the results are lists of SEO tools, a lot of them are actually lists of **free** SEO tools.\n\n![free seo tools keywords explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/free-seo-tools-keywords-explorer.jpg)\n\nIn fact, 7\/10 results contain the word “free” in the title tag.\n\nThis tells me that although people are generally typing in “SEO tools”, they actually appear to be looking for a list of the best [free SEO tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/free-seo-tools\/).\n\nIt would, therefore, be much smarter to go down this route when creating a piece of content around this keyword\/topic.\n\nAlso:\n\nKeywords Explorer tells us how many links (and referring domains) each of these pages has, allowing us to quickly spot topics with great potential to attract a TON of links.\n\n[![download the link building checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-link-building-leak-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo\/)\n\n## Link Building\nI’ll let you in on a (sad) secret:\n\nYou ain’t going to rank for any worthwhile keyword\/topic without links.\n\nSure, less competitive keywords may only require a handful of links whereas more competitive keywords may require many more links (sometimes even thousands) but still, the bottomline is this:\n\n**You. Need. Links.**\n\nBut here’s the good news:\n\n**Ahrefs shines in this department.**\n\nNot only do they boast [the largest live link index on the market](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/big-data), they have a TON of [link building tools](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/link-building-tools\/) that can help you with the task at hand.\n\nIn fact, I don’t know any serious link builders that AREN’T using Ahrefs.\n\nIt really is *that* good.\n\nHere are a few ways to use Ahrefs to build all the links you need:\n\n### \\#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks\nRemember those branded alerts I told you to set up at the beginning of this guide?\n\n![ahrefs setup 4](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-setup-4.png)\n\nIf you set them up correctly, you’ve most likely received an email that looks something like this:\n\n![branded mention](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/branded-mention.jpg)\n\nBasically, this tells you whenever anyone mentions your name (or any other branded terms) on the web.\n\nSo:\n\n> *If someone mentions you personally in a blog post, you’ll know about it.*\n> \n> *If someone talks about your brand (e.g. Apple) in a review, you’ll know about it.*\n> \n> *Etc.*\n\n**BUT:**\n\nJust because someone has mentioned your name (or brand name) in a piece of content doesn’t necessarily mean that they remembered to link to you.\n\nAnd if they didn’t…getting the link is usually as easy as reaching out and asking for it.\n\n**Example:**\n\nIf you look closely at the screenshot above, you’ll see that I was recently mentioned in an article about starting a membership website.\n\nHere’s the part where I’m mentioned:\n\n![create a membership website mention](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/create-a-membership-website-mention.jpg)\n\nWeirdly, they didn’t link to the tutorial they mentioned in that paragraph.\n\nIt’s highly likely that they simply forgot, or made a mistake.\n\nSo:\n\nGetting a link from this article would likely take nothing more than a simple email asking them to add a link.\n\n### \\#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)\nMonitoring branded keywords is a good start.\n\nBUT, that’s the tip of the iceberg…\n\nHere’s why:\n\nIn Ahrefs Alerts, you can monitor for mentions of ANY keyword.\n\nFor example, here’s an alert I set up for “link building”:\n\n![link building alert](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/link-building-alert.png)\n\nNow, each week, I get an email from Ahrefs showing me any newly published content containing that term (i.e. link building) from the past 7 days.\n\n**Example:**\n\n![gmail ahrefs link building alert](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/gmail-ahrefs-link-building-alert.jpg)\n\nThat’s 93 new mentions of “link building” in just one week\\!\n\nBUT…how does this help to build links?\n\nBasically, you can use these alerts to discover content that could be improved by adding a link to your website (or a particular resource on your website).\n\n**Example:**\n\nTake a look at that 2nd article (the one by SearchEngineLand.com).\n\nIt talks about “[7 Reasons Why Your Broken Link Building Campaign Isn’t Working](https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/broken-link-building-not-working\/217555\/)”…\n\n![sel post](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sel-post.jpg)\n\nIt’s a great article, BUT…\n\nI get the feeling that readers of this article are likely struggling with link building in general.\n\nScrolling to the end of the post, it looks like the author also thinks this…that’s why he’s chosen to include a few links to additional link building resources.\n\n![more resources sel](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/more-resources-sel.png)\n\nIt just so happens that I also have a TON of great link building resources on my blog, such as [this list of 44 link building strategies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/strategies\/).\n\n![44 link building strategies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/44-link-building-strategies.jpg)\n\nBecause this would also be a great additional resource to include at the end of that SEL post, I could simply reach out to the author of that post (Kevin) and suggest that he add a link to my post in that final section.\n\nThis is a great, simple way to build links to any piece of content 🙂\n\nNot that this method is also commonly use for [niche edits](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/niche-edits\/) & [link inserts](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/link-inserts\/)\\!\n\n### \\#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions\nYou can learn a lot from your competitors.\n\nBUT…\n\nDid you know that monitoring your competitors can be a great source of link prospects?\n\nBasically, if you can identify where your competitors are being mentioned AND linked-to, you can often steal these links\/mentions from yourself.\n\n**Example:**\n\nHere are the top 3 Google results for “[long tail pro](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/long-tail-pro\/ \"long tail pro\")”:\n\n![long tail pro google](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/long-tail-pro-google.jpg)\n\nRight now, I’m ranking in position \\#3.\n\nBUT…I’d *really* like to rank \\#1.\n\nThis means that my competitors for this keyword are:\n\n- *longtailpro.com*\n- *dumbpassiveincome.com*\n\nNow:\n\nRight off the bat, I could throw these URLs into Ahrefs Site Explorer, look at their backlinks, and see if there are any easily replicable links I could steal for myself.\n\nBUT…that’s a different strategy altogether\\!\n\nWhat I want to talk about is monitoring both competitor links AND branded keywords to give you a constant supply of link opportunities.\n\nSo, let’s start with backlink monitoring:\n\nLike I said, one of my competitors is dumbpassiveincome.com—they have a similar [Long Tail Pro review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/long-tail-pro\/) to mine.\n\nHowever, I personally believe my review to be better. I also updated my review *very* recently, so it’s super fresh.\n\n**I, therefore, believe that anyone choosing to link to my competitors Long Tail Pro review would be better off linking to mine.**\n\nSo, I want to monitor my competitors review for new links.\n\nIf they get any, I can then reach out to the person linking to them and suggest that they link to my review instead (as it’s better).\n\nHere’s how to set up an alert for these links:\n\nGo to the *Backlinks* section within Ahrefs Alerts and hit “*\\+ New Alert”.*\n\nEnter the URL of the page you want to monitor for backlinks, choose *“New backlinks”* under the *“Scope”* option, and enter your email address.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-alerts-backlinks-700x563-1.png)\n\nYou’ll now receive an email whenever there’s a new link to your competitor’s URL—you can then swoop in and steal the link for yourself.\n\nBUT…competitor backlinks aren’t the only thing worth monitoring:\n\nYou can also monitor competitors branded keywords.\n\n**Example:**\n\nBecause I have a review of Long Tail Pro, it would be worth setting up an alert for branded keywords like “Long Tail Pro”.\n\nHere’s why:\n\nIf someone is mentioning Long Tail Pro on the web, their readers would find a review and tutorial for the tool rather useful.\n\nSo, whenever I see Long Tail Pro being mentioned, I can simply reach out to the website owner and suggest they add a link to my review within their post.\n\n**Easy.**\n\nHere’s how to set this up:\n\nGo to the *Mentions* section of Ahrefs Alerts and hit *“+ New Alert”.*\n\nAdd your keyword, add any blocked domains (e.g. your own website), and your email address.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-alerts-mentions-700x420-1.png)\n\nNow you’ll receive an email alert whenever your keyword (e.g. “long tail pro”) is mentioned on the web.\n\n### \\#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)\nAhh, the infamous “skyscraper technique”…\n\nIt’s perhaps *the* most famous link-building technique there is\\!\n\nAnd for good reason, too—it’s super powerful\\!\n\nFor those unfamiliar, here’s the basic process:\n\n- Find a piece of content with a TON of links.\n- Make something even better.\n- [Contact](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/contact\/ \"Contact\") anyone linking to the old, inferior piece of content and suggest that they link to yours instead.\n\nSmart.\n\nBUT…\n\nHow do you find “skyscraper” content (i.e. content with a TON of links that you can build upon) in the first place?\n\nHere’s a super simple method:\n\nEnter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to *Pages* \\> *Best by Links*\n\nYou will now see every page on the domain ordered by \\# of backlinks.\n\n![backlinko best by links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/backlinko-best-by-links.jpg)\n\nThe two posts I’ve highlighted above have thousands of backlinks.\n\nIf I was to put-together an even better version of any of these posts, I would have thousands of prospects to pitch to\\!\n\n**Note:** You can gather a list of “skyscraper” prospects by checking the backlink profile of that particular URL in Site Explorer. Just sift through all the links and choose prospects to reach out to.\n\nBUT…\n\nWhat if you already have an EPIC piece of content and you want to build some links to it?\n\nHere’s a simple trick that I haven’t seen anyone talk about before:\n\nEnter a keyword into Content Explorer, then filter ONLY for pages with 100+ referring domains.\n\n**Example:**\n\nLet’s say that I wanted to build some links to [my list of 44 link building strategies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/strategies\/).\n\nI would enter the keyword “[link building strategies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/strategies\/ \"link building strategies\")” into Content Explorer and add a referring domains filter.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/referring-domains-100-content-explorer-700x362-1.jpg)\n\nThis gives me 76 results—all of these are (a) about link building strategies, and (b) have 100+ referring domains.\n\nNow, the trick is then to sift through the results looking for content that is very similar—yet inferior to—your content.\n\nHere’s a good example:\n\n![moz content explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/moz-content-explorer-1.jpg)\n\nThis page has 109 referring domains, yet it only lists 31 strategies where mine lists 44.\n\nIt also hasn’t been updated since 2014\\!\n\nAnyone linking to this page is a prime “skyscraper” prospect for my post—I just need to reach out and suggest they change the link to my page (and tell them why they should).\n\n### \\#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)\n**Nobody likes broken links.**\n\nYou *know* the ones…\n\nThey take you to pages like this:\n\n![backlinko page not found 404](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/backlinko-page-not-found-404.png)\n\nIt drives me crazy whenever this happens\\!\n\nBUT…\n\nBroken links are a link-builders dream.\n\nWhy? Because if you can find a broken link with a TON of backlinks, you can build links with this simple 3-step process:\n\n1. Find out what the broken link used to be\n2. Create a similar—but better—piece of content\n3. Ask anyone linking to the broken content to link to your content instead\n\nHowever, before you can do this, you need to actually find a broken link with the following attributes:\n\n- It has a TON of links pointing to it\n- It’s relevant to your website\n- It can be replicated without too much work\n\nHere’s how to do this:\n\nEnter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to *Pages* \\> *Best by Links*.\n\nThis shows you the most linked-to pages on that domain.\n\nBUT…we don’t want to see all pages—we want to see broken pages.\n\nTo do this, filter the list to show ONLY 404 errors.\n\n![backlinko broken links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/backlinko-broken-links.png)\n\nMost websites will have at least a few broken links.\n\nSimply sift through these pages looking for broken links that have a decent number of backlinks AND would be relevant to your website.\n\n**Note:** You can use [Wayback Machine](https:\/\/archive.org\/web\/) to see how any page used to look.\n\nIf you identify a page that meets all of the criteria mentioned above, create a similar piece of content then publish it on your website.\n\nIt’s then just a case of reaching out to anyone linking to the old broken link and suggesting that they fix the link by replacing it with your link.\n\n**Simple.**\n\n### \\#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects\nGuest posting is one of the oldest link building tactics in the [book](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/books\/ \"book\").\n\nIt goes something like this:\n\n- Find websites that accept guest posts (in your niche)\n- Reach out to them and pitch a post idea\n- Write the post, land the link\n\nIf you’ve ever done guest posting before, you’ll know there’s no shortage of opportunities around.\n\n**Example:**\n\nGoogle finds 4,000+ “write for us” pages (i.e. websites that are accepting guest posts) for search term “SEO”.\n\n![seo guest post](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/seo-guest-post.png)\n\nThat’s a LOT of prospects\\!\n\n**BUT there’s a problem…**\n\nWhile you *could* write for thousands of websites, it’s important to remember that guest posting takes a lot of work.\n\nNot only do you have to pitch the websites, you also have to write a top notch article, too.\n\nThis can be pretty time-consuming (or, if you’re outsourcing it, expensive!)\n\nAnd, because we want people to actually read our guest post, there’s ZERO point writing posts for websites that get little\/no traffic.\n\nSo, the question is: **how do you know how much traffic a website gets?**\n\nSimple…just enter the domain into Site Explorer and Ahrefs will show you an estimate of organic traffic.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/matthew-woodward-organic-traffic-700x152-1.png)\n\nBUT…what if you have a long list of prospects?\n\nNo worries, just paste the entire list into Ahrefs Batch Analysis tool like so:\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/batch-analysis-ahrefs-700x283-1.png)\n\n**Note:** Make sure to select the option for *“domain with all its subdomains”* under the *mode* drop-down.\n\nHere’s the result (ordered by organic search traffic):\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-batch-analysis-domains-700x314-1.png)\n\nThis is a *great* way to cut down your list and ensure that you’re ONLY writing for websites that actually [get traffic](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/free-backlinks\/ \"get traffic\")\\!\n\n[![download the on page seo checklist](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-seo-checklist.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/wnig7cbedwexyepxxjpv\/)\n\n## Site Audit\nKeyword discovery and research…***DONE.***\n\nContent creation…***DONE.***\n\nLink building…***DONE.*** (well, link building is never done, but you should have at least made a start!)\n\nHere’s the good news: **that’s *most* of the difficult stuff out of the way.**\n\nBut, even if you’ve executed everything perfectly thus far, the truth is that simple on-site errors can often hinder your success.\n\nI’m talking about…\n\n- Rogue “noindex” tags\n- Missing [meta description](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/meta-description\/ \"meta description\")\n- [Thin content](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/thin-content\/ \"Thin content\")\n\nAnd so forth.\n\nThis is where [Ahrefs Site Audit](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit) tool comes in handy.\n\nIn a nutshell, it will diagnose pretty much every on-site issue you could think of, without you really having to lift a finger.\n\nHere are a few useful things you can do with it:\n\n**Note:** I’m not going to cover how to set up a project or run crawls in the Site Audit tool because, honestly, it’s pretty self-explanatory. But, if you’re struggling, [this post](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/new-site-audit-tool\/) (by Ahrefs) explains exactly how to do it, along with a lot more\\!\n\n### \\#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the *Performance* Report)\nGo to *Internal Pages* \\> *Performance* and you will see a report that looks something like this:\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/site-audit-performance-700x395-1.png)\n\nAt first glance, this may appear as nothing more than a myriad of pie charts.\n\nBut, this is actually showing you the number of pages on your website that are slow to load, in various ways.\n\nI recommend paying particular attention to the “Load time” chart:\n\n![performance load time](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/performance-load-time.jpg)\n\nThe red section of the pie chart shows the number of pages that are too slow to load (and thus, need fixing).\n\nIf you click on the red section, you will see exactly which pages these are, along with how slowly they actually load:\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/site-audit-loading-time-700x286-1.png)\n\nOne cool thing to note here is that Ahrefs also shows you the amount of organic traffic these pages are receiving.\n\nIf you spot a slow loading page that is receiving a lot of traffic, I recommend prioritising the speeding-up of that page.\n\nWhy? Because chances are it will attract even more traffic if you improve the visitor experience.\n\n### \\#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the *HTML Tags* Report\n**Mistakes with HTML tags can wreak havoc on your website.**\n\nFor example, if you accidentally add a *noindex* tag to a page, Google won’t even index that page.\n\nThis means that even if you write great content and build epic links, it ain’t going to rank.\n\nAnd, while not all HTML tag errors are potentially this catastrophic, they’re still worth fixing.\n\nAhrefs’ Site Audit tool makes this super-easy, as it uncovers all the errors for you.\n\nTo view them, just go to *Internal Pages \\> HTML Tags:*\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/html-tags-internal-pages-site-audit-700x246-1.png)\n\nHere, it will list all of the issues the crawler has found with your website.\n\nIn the example above, you can see that I have a few missing meta tags, along with a few other errors.\n\nTo learn more about where these errors actually occur, just click on one of the errors:\n\n![Screen20Recording202017 12 2820at2003.4820pm](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screen20Recording202017-12-2820at2003.4820pm.gif)\n\nIt will then tell you more information about the errors, including the pages on which the errors occur:\n\n![meta description issues](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/meta-description-issues.png)\n\nBecause Ahrefs does the hard work for you (i.e. the discovery of these errors), you can usually fix them pretty easily just by editing a bit of HTML code.\n\n### \\#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports\nEarlier in this guide, I showed you how to check for (and remove) toxic backlinks.\n\nThis is super-important.\n\nBut, there are other link-based issues that can impact the performance of your website.\n\nI’m talking about…\n\n- Broken outgoing links\n- “[Nofollow](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/nofollow\/ \"Nofollow\")” internal links\n- [HTTPS](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/https\/) pages internally linking to HTTP pages\n\nAnd so forth.\n\nLuckily, the *Incoming* and *Outgoing Links* reports in the Site Audit tool will help you to uncover and fix these issues.\n\nLet’s start by taking a look at the *Incoming Links* report:\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/incoming-links-site-audit-700x239-1.png)\n\nIn this example, you can see that there are a few issues with my website—namely nofollowed internal links.\n\nThis isn’t always cause for concern but generally, your internal links should be used to send “link juice” to important and relevant pages.\n\nTherefore, they should be *dofollow* links.\n\nIf you click any of these errors, you will see exactly where they reside:\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nofollow-internal-links-site-audit-700x269-1.png)\n\nLet’s take a look at the *Outgoing Links* report, too:\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/site-audit-outgoing-links-700x257-1.png)\n\nAgain, we have a few errors, including:\n\n- Pages that link out to broken pages (these should be replaced and fixed!)\n- HTTPS pages linking to unsecure internal pages (this is definitely not the best practice!)\n- Pages without outgoing links ([some studies](https:\/\/www.rebootonline.com\/blog\/long-term-outgoing-link-experiment\/) have found outgoing links to have a positive effect on rankings)\n\nIf you want to investigate an error further (and see exactly *where* the error occurs), just click through to take a look.\n\nAnd this is only the tip of the iceberg—there are plenty of supporting graphs, data visualizations, and other pieces of information in these reports.\n\n**Recommended reading:** *[This is the new Site Audit tool](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/new-site-audit-tool\/) by Ahrefs (an overview of the Site Audit tool written by [Tim Soulo](https:\/\/sg.linkedin.com\/in\/timsoulo) from Ahrefs)*\n\nCheck out my [4 step SEO audit case study](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/4-step-seo-audit-results\/) to see how regular SEO audits can help your website grows.\n\n## Analysing Your Progress\/Success\n**SEO is *hard* work.**\n\nThat’s why it’s important to keep your eye on progress and make sure that the grunt work is having a positive impact on your website.\n\n**[Google Analytics](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/google-analytics\/ \"Google Analytics\") will be your best bet here.**\n\nBUT…if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably end up seeing your Ahrefs dashboard much more than your [Google Analytics](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/google-analytics-alternatives\/) account.\n\nSo:\n\nHere are a few things to look for in Ahrefs to make sure you’re heading in the right direction:\n\n### \\#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank\nAre you building a consistent flow of links to your website?\n\nIf so, you should see your Domain Rating (DR) increase over time.\n\nHere’s what it looks like on your dashboard:\n\n![ahrefs dr](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-dr.png)\n\nIf it increases, you’ll see a green arrow appear alongside this number with the amount of points it’s increased (much like with the [URL rating](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/glossary\/url-rating-ur\/ \"URL rating\") below).\n\nSimilarly, you should start to see your Ahrefs Rank decrease.\n\nBasically, the lower your Ahrefs Rank is, the better, so keep an eye on it.\n\n**Note:** Don’t obsess over these metrics. However, they are a decent indicator as to the overall status of your website.\n\n### \\#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)\nRemember during the Ahrefs setup process when I told you to track a bunch of your top keywords in Ahrefs?\n\nWell, that’s because these keywords also show up in your dashboard, like this:\n\n![tracked keywords ahrefs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tracked-keywords-ahrefs.png)\n\nBasically, this shows how many of your tracked keywords are ranking in the top 1-3, 4-10, 11-20, and 21-50 search results.\n\nAs rankings improve, they’ll show up here.\n\nThis is my personal favourite way to keep an eye on what really matters—if I see improvements here, I *know* that my traffic is probably increasing, too.\n\nOf course, if you want to take a more granular look at keyword rankings (with graphs and whatnot), you can use Ahrefs Rank Tracker.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ahrefs-rank-tracker-700x425-1.jpg)\n\nThis can also show you some super-cool data such as the number of featured snippets you own, and much more.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/serp-snippets-700x208-1.png)\n\nBUT:\n\nIf you need daily keyword ranking updates you might want to checkout my [Accuranker review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/accuranker\/) because Ahrefs only updates every 3 days.\n\nWant to write product reviews like this one? Use my [product review template](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/tools\/product-review-template\/)\\!\n\n[![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https:\/\/linksthatrank.com\/backlink-blacklist\/)\n\n## Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)\nBefore I wrap this up, I want to mention a handful of tools that incorporate Ahrefs data.\n\nI know from talking to [Tim Soulo](https:\/\/sg.linkedin.com\/in\/timsoulo) that Ahrefs are *very* picky about which tools they allow to use their data. That’s why this list is quite short.\n\nHere are the tools I can personally vouch for:\n\n- **[URL Profiler](https:\/\/urlprofiler.com\/)**: Pulls in a bunch of metrics (including Ahrefs metrics) for a list of URLs. This is one of my personal favourites. See my full [URL Profiler review](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/url-profiler\/) for more.\n- **[Ninja Outreach](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/get\/ninjaoutreach\/ \"NinjaOutreach\")**: Use the free trial of this tool to contact thosuands of backlink opportunities\/broken backlinks itc in a couple of clicks. They have a range of link building email templates [built in](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/get\/ninjaoutreach\/ \"NinjaOutreach\")\\!\n- **[Screaming Frog](https:\/\/www.screamingfrog.co.uk\/seo-spider\/)****:** Industry-leading [crawling](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/how-search-engines-work\/ \"crawling\") & [SEO Spider](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/seo-spider\/) tool. A must-have for anyone who’s serious about SEO. It now also allows you to pull in metrics (e.g. DR, Ahrefs Rank, etc.) from Ahrefs directly. More details [here](https:\/\/www.screamingfrog.co.uk\/seo-spider\/user-guide\/configuration\/#ahrefs).\n- **[Link Miner (Chrome Extension)](https:\/\/chrome.google.com\/webstore\/detail\/linkminer\/ogdhdnpiclkaeicicamopfohidjokoom?hl=en)**: Analyse and extract links from any web page. Perfect for finding broken links and quickly assessing them by pulling in metrics from Ahrefs.\n- **[SeoTools for Excel](http:\/\/seotoolsforexcel.com\/)**: Excel add-on that’s absolutely packed with functionality. If you want to pull Ahrefs metrics directly into your spreadsheets, this one is for you! More details [here](http:\/\/seotoolsforexcel.com\/ahrefs\/).\n\nAnd [here are a few more tools that integrate Ahrefs data](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/apps) (although I haven’t tested these personally).\n\n[![increase your search traffic in 28 days](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta3-28-day-seo.jpg)](https:\/\/load.searchlogistics.com\/c\/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24\/)\n\n## Wrapping It Up\n**[Ahrefs](https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/) is an *incredible* tool.**\n\nNot just for link-building, but for (almost) everything else, too.\n\nSeriously, if I was limited to using only one SEO tool forever, Ahrefs would probably be my \\#1 choice.\n\nBUT…enough with the praise…\n\nHere’s a quick recap of my surefire process for increasing traffic in my Ahrefs review-\n\n- **Make sure your website is healthy (i.e. there are no bad-backlinks, broken links, etc)**\n  - [Look for “Dodgy” Links in the *Backlinks* and *Referring Domains* Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-bad-backlinks)\n  - [Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-unnatural-anchor-text)\n  - [Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-links-same-c-class)\n  - [Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-fix-broken-links)\n  - [Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-low-quality-links)\n  - [Fix Broken Outbound Links](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#fix-broken-outboind-links)\n  - [Look for potential issues with Ahrefsbot and fix them.](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/ahrefsbot\/)\n- **Find all of the best keywords**\n  - [Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#keyword-explorer)\n  - [See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#keyword-ideas)\n  - [Find the Keywords\/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-competitor-keywords) \/ [**VIDEO TUTORIAL**](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lvyVrnpAs68)\n  - [Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#analyse-competitors)\n- **Prioritise your keywords AND find low-hanging fruit (i.e. quick-win opportunities)**\n  - [Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-keyword-opportunities)\n  - [Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-keyword-potential)\n- **Research and create some EPIC content**\n  - [Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#content-ideas)\n  - [Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#content-seo-research)\n- **Build links to your EPIC content**\n  - [Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#branded-link-reclaimation)\n  - [Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#monitor-keywords)\n  - [Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#monitor-competitors)\n  - [Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-link-building-opportunities)\n  - [Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#broken-backlink-building) \/ [**VIDEO TUTORIAL**](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=D8LramMafYc)\n  - [Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-guest-post-sites)\n- **Complete a site audit and fix all outstanding issues**\n  - [Use The Site Audit Tool To Find Every SEO Problem](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#site-seo-audit)\n  - [Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the *Performance* Report)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-slow-pages)\n  - [Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the *HTML Tags* Report](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-html-problems)\n  - [Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming\/Outgoing Links Reports](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#find-link-problems)\n- **Keep an eye on your progress and make sure you’re on the right track\\!**\n  - [Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#increase-seo-metrics)\n  - [Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/reviews\/ahrefs\/#increase-rankings)\n  - [Increase Domain Authority (DA)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/learn\/seo\/link-building\/increase-domain-authority\/)\n\nDo this, in this order, and you won’t go far wrong\\!\n\n**How do you use Ahrefs in your SEO campaigns?**\n\n[![We have publish tons of SEO case studies](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cta1-seo-case-studies-2.jpg)](https:\/\/www.searchlogistics.com\/case-studies\/)","meta_canonical":null}

3. Robots.txt Check

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4. Spam/Ban Check

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URL	https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/
Last Crawled	2026-04-07 20:39:21 (1 day ago)
First Indexed	2023-04-05 16:25:02 (3 years ago)
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Meta Title	Ahrefs Review: 25x Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic
Meta Description	Learn how to increase your traffic with my Ahrefs review that shows you 25 awesome ways to use it to take your site to the next level.
Meta Canonical	null
Boilerpipe Text	Ahrefs is a very popular SEO tool that was originally built to check backlinks . However over the last years it has developed into something much more with a class leading database of backlinks and keywords . Ahrefs is one of the most popular SEO tools for a reason. And if you want to drive a TON of organic traffic to your website? Here’s the basic formula: Pick a topic/keyword Create an exceptional piece of content Promote it. Build links to it. Rank it. Sounds simple, right!? I’ll let you in on a little secret: It is simple, but only if you use the right tools for the job. What do I mean by that? Well, there are a ton of questions you need to answer before you get started, such as: 1. Which keywords/topics should you be trying to rank for? 2. Is it even possible to outrank the competition? 3. What kind of content should you create? (e.g. blog post, infographic , interactive content, etc) 4. How many links do you need to build to rank for your chosen keywords? (and can you build that many links?) In this post, I’ll be showing you how to answer all these questions (and more) with only one tool: Ahrefs . What Will I Learn? What You Will Learn What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)? Ahrefs Pros & Cons 📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like 📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review Backlink Health Check #1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports #2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues #3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs #4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks #5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links #6: Fix Broken Outbound Links Keyword Research #7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer #8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords) #9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors #10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps” Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities) #11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6 #12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential Content Research #13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer #14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer Link Building #15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks #16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You) #17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions #18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects) #19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report) #20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects Site Audit #21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report) #22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report #23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports Analysing Your Progress/Success #24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank #25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords) Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs) Wrapping It Up What You Will Learn Let me make one thing clear: My aim here isn’t to list everything Ahrefs can do. (If that’s what you want, you can find a big list of features here .) My aim is to show actionable ways to use Ahrefs (and no other tools) to get more organic traffic to your website. Here’s everything I’ll be teaching you: Getting Started: How to get started with Ahrefs and set yourself up for success ( note : do not skip this stage, it is very important). Backlink Health Check: How to identify (and fix) any backlink issues that may be holding your website back in the SERPs . WARNING : Fixing these issues can lead to an instant rankings boost! Keyword Research : Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is perhaps the best keyword research tool on the market. I’ll show you how to use this tool (and a couple of other Ahrefs tools) to build an initial keyword list for your website. Keyword Prioritisation: How to prioritise your keywords list and identify “low-hanging” opportunities that can boost traffic FAST. Content Research: How to figure out EXACTLY what type of content you should be creating to rank for your chosen keywords. Link Building : How to build links to your website using a variety of methods ( note : this is where Ahrefs really shines!) Site Audit: How to diagnose and fix errors with your website ( note: this is highly recommended, as on-site errors can hold back your success, even if you’ve done everything right thus far!) Analyse your Progress/Success: How to use Ahrefs to make sure you’re on the right track and that things are improving with your website. I’ve made a big effort to lay this out as a checklist, rather than a random list of ideas/tactics. This means that if you follow this guide from start-to-finish… I guarantee you will see results. What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)? Ahrefs is a powerful—and complete—SEO analysis tool. It does pretty much everything you could ever need to do from an SEO standpoint, including: Keyword research (via Keywords Explorer ) Content research (via Content Explorer ) Backlink research (via Site Explorer ) Rank tracking (via Rank Tracker ) Competitor research (via Site Explorer , Link Intersect Tool , etc) Site auditing (i.e. diagnosing site health issues, etc.) (via the Site Audit tool ) Right now, the only important thing Ahrefs can’t do is manage or send link building outreach emails . But you can use Gmail for that. Everything else is covered. You can search a database of 4.9 million keywords in seconds with Keywords Explorer . You can search 700+ million pieces of content to find content ideas that will generate a ton of traffic, with Content Explorer . You can search the world’s largest index of backlinks (over 35 trillion!) to see all your competitors backlin ks, with Site Explorer . You can find and fix hundreds of on-site issues in seconds, with the Site Audit tool. And that’s the tip of the iceberg, really. But, impressive industry-leading stats aside, what does this mean for the average Joe? Simple. You have everything you need—under one roof—to grow your website traffic like crazy. This post will walk you through the process of doing this, step-by-step. Ahrefs Pros & Cons Ahrefs is an incredibly powerful tool! But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect for everyone. Here are some pros and cons to help you decide if Ahrefs is right for you. PROS CONS ✅ Comprehensive all-in-one SEO tool ❌ Large learning curve ✅ Largest live backlink index (35 trillion) ❌ No built-in link outreach tool ✅ Powerful keyword research tools ❌ Higher plan prices ✅ Great site audit tool ❌ Rank tracking only updates every week ✅ Excellent competitor analysis tools ❌ Overwhelming amounts of data ✅ Real-time brand mention alerts ✅ Quality content gap analysis ✅ Intuitive user interface 📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like Comprehensive All-In-One SEO Platform – Ahrefs has every tool you need to execute a high-level SEO campaign . It has everything from keyword research to in-depth backlink analysis and even technical SEO audits. You won’t need to juggle multiple tools because Ahrefs can almost do it all! Large Live Backlink Index – Get the most comprehensive competitive backlink data with Ahrefs’ massive 35 trillion live link index. You’ll see links that other tools miss, get more usable data and ultimately end up with more link building opportunities. Powerful Keyword Research Tools – Ahrefs keyword research tools are comprehensive and user-friendly. This is an area where Ahrefs really shines. It’s easy to find quality long-tail keywords to target and have all the data you need to make good keyword decisions. Quality Site Audit Tool – Technical SEO isn’t easy. But Ahrefs makes it easier with a very solid site audit tool that balances in-depth SEO auditing with user-friendliness. The tool analyses your site for over 170+ technical and on-page SEO factors. Real-Time Mention Alerts – Ahrefs has an excellent mention monitoring tool. You set up alerts for your name, brand and products. Every time someone mentions them online, you get a real-time notification, which makes it perfect for tracking your brand and finding unlinked mentions. Content Gap Analysis – The content gap analysis is a feature that many tools offer. But Ahrefs does it better! In just a few clicks, you can literally see hundreds of keywords you’re missing out on and where your competitors are beating you in the SERPs. 📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike Large Learning Curve – Ahrefs has a ton of tools and features. That means there will be a significant learning curve to take full advantage of everything Ahrefs offers. The silver lining is that the user interface is intuitive, so if you have some experience, you’ll be fine. No Built-In Outreach Tool – Ahrefs doesn’t offer any outreach capabilities, unlike Semrush or SEO Powersuite. That means you will need to have an individual outreach tool to pair with Ahrefs for link building outreach. It’s not a major issue, but something to be aware of. High Pricing Plans – The free plan that Ahrefs offers is very limited, and paid plans start at $129 per month. That means it’s not cheap! Make sure you get enough value out of it long-term to justify the high prices. Ranking Tracking Not Updated Frequently – Ahrefs only updates the keyword rankings you are tracking every 7 days. That’s not great! If you want daily keyword rank tracking updates, you will need to pay extra as an add-on or use another tool. Can Be Overwhelming – There is a lot of data inside Ahrefs. That means beginners can easily get overwhelmed or distracted by the sheer volume of information. You need to be clear on your goals and use Ahrefs to help you accomplish them. Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review In this short section, I’ll show you how to get started with my Ahrefs review and how to set up your account for success. So, first things first, head over to Ahrefs and sign up . Note: You can access Ahrefs for free by signing up to Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (but you’ll only get LIMITED access to the tool). Once you’re in, Ahrefs will prompt you to add a project (i.e. website) to your account. This is pretty straightforward—give your project a name and hit “next”. Make sure to use the http + https naming scheme. You’ll then be asked to add keywords that you want to track. Ahrefs actually suggests a bunch of keywords that your website is already ranking for. Basically, the higher up the list of suggestions they are, the more traffic those keywords are sending to your website. I recommend adding the first 4-5 pages worth of keywords. Why? Because this allows you to track your most important keywords (i.e. the keywords that are the most traffic to your website). Step #3….add some competitors. Again, you can either add competitors manually (if you know them) or choose from the suggestions Ahrefs gives. I recommend adding 5 competitors from the suggestions Ahrefs gives. And finally, add some branded keywords to track. I really recommend taking a moment to set this one up. We’ll be using it later in the guide. Note: By default, Ahrefs sends you daily emails about these keywords. If you prefer not to have daily emails flooding your inbox, go into the settings and change this to weekly (or monthly). That’s it. You’re ready to rock! Backlink Health Check Backlinks from spammy, low-quality websites . Backlinks with over-optimised anchor text . These types of backlinks can spell disaster for your website. At best , they’ll prevent your website from ranking as well as it should. At worst , they’ll lead to a Google Penguin penalty . That’s why you need to nip any “bad” backlinks in the bud before you invest time, energy, and money optimizing your website. But: How do you do this? Like I said earlier, Ahrefs has the largest backlink index on the planet – this makes it the perfect tool for identifying and fixing any “bad” backlinks. NOTE: Ahrefs just released a new Site Audit tool to help diagnose even more issues with your website. I’ll be running through this later in the guide. Here’s how to do it: #1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports Enter your domain into Site Explorer, then navigate to the referring domains tab. By default, this will show you all referring domains ordered by Domain Rating (DR)—highest to lowest. But remember: You’re looking for low-quality links, so reverse this (i.e. order by DR low to high). Look for domains that look low-quality or suspicious, such as: Anything you don’t recognise Foreign-language websites (e.g. .ru, .dk domains, etc) .xyz domains Low-quality wiki pages Article directories [empty anchors] Of course, it would be pretty time-consuming if you had to check every backlink manually. But, luckily, Ahrefs has a few filters to help you out. If you move to the Backlinks report, there are filters for both languages and platform . I recommend filtering by languages like Russian to find spammy backlinks , as Russian sites are kind of notorious for link spam. Note : You can get even more specific with languages by filtering for exact TLDs (e.g. .dk, .ru, etc.) in the Referring Domains report. You can also easily uncover low-quality Wiki pages with the Wikis filter in the Backlinks report: But remember, even if something looks super-dodgy, always check out the link manually before making a judgement. Otherwise, you run the risk of disavowing links that may be helping your website. If you can confirm that the link is “bad”, hit the checkbox next to the domain. You can then simply click “ disavow links ” to send them to your disavow area + create a disavow file. NOTE: You can only see checkboxes if the domain that you’re reviewing is added to Ahrefs Dashboard . This should be the case if you added your domain(s) in the “getting started” section above. #2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues Anchor text is the clickable text within a link. Example: The anchor text for this link is “this link here”. Anchor text helps to tell Google (and potential visitors) what your website is about—that’s why it remains a Google ranking factor . But: Anchor text over-optimisation (i.e. too many keyword-rich links) can trigger a Google penalty . If your website has an unnatural link profile with tons of exact match (or partial match) anchor texts, this could be an issue. Here’s how to identify—and fix—these issues with Ahrefs: Enter your domain into Site Explorer , then go to the Anchors report under Backlink Profile . This will show you exactly what anchor text is being used within the links back to your website. If you have a healthy backlink profile, most of your anchors will probably be: Branded anchors (e.g. “matthew woodward”, “matthewwoodward.co.uk”, etc.) Generic anchors (e.g. “click here”, “this post”, etc.) What you don’t want to see is lots of exact-match anchors. This is a sign of over-optimisation. If you spot anything that looks dodgy, hit details > referring domains to see which sites are linking to you. Right now, you can’t disavow these links directly from within the anchors report. However, you can simply hit the export button then upload the file manually to the disavow area. Learn how to disavow backlinks step by step. #3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs Every website has its own IP address that looks something like this: 104.27.136.155 In simple terms, while you may be used to typing in matthewwoodward.co.uk to get to my blog, that’s really just a memorable way of navigating to an IP address where my website resides. Basically: Because humans are better at remembering website URLs than a random string of numbers, we let the browser do the work and translate a URL into an IP address behind the scenes. Now, IP addresses are separated into blocks: A, B, C, and D blocks, like so: AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD If we have the following two websites: 104.27.136.155 104.27.136.7 We would say they’re on the same C-block. In internet terms, these sites are neighbours. Note: More information on IP addresses here . Why does this matter? Lots of links from the same C-block IP can be a bad sign. This is because it signals to Google that these sites may be closely related (e.g. a PBN) and therefore, not the most natural links ever. Luckily, you can use Ahrefs’ Referring IPs report to find these. Here’s how: Enter your domains into Site Explorer , then hit the Referring IPs report under Backlink Profile . Ahrefs groups referring IPs by C-blocks by default—very useful! In the example above, you can see that the first few results look a bit dodgy—there are thousands of links, from hundreds of domains, all on the same C-block IP. Let’s take a deeper look. Yep, they’re spammy. They need disavowing/removing. Again, there’s no way to disavow these directly from this report but you can export the domains to a .csv and upload them manually. #4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks Building backlinks is damn hard. It’s laborious . Time consuming . And costly . So: It makes sense to ensure that you’re getting the full benefit of the links you build, right? Definitely. Unfortunately, links sometimes break. And when this happens, you won’t feel the benefit of those links. That’s why fixing broken links is a quick way to regain some valuable link juice and increase rankings.Here’s how to do it: Enter your domain into Site Explorer then go to Pages > Best by links. Then, add a filter so you see only pages with a 404 status code. You will now see all 404 pages on your website ranked by the number of referring domains they have. Here’s how to reclaim the “link juice” for these pages: Restore the broken page— this should be done if there is an actual error on your part (i.e. you’ve accidentally deleted a valuable page at some point). Add a 301 redirect to the broken page —this should point to either the new location of the page, a suitable alternative, or the homepage. Reach out and asking the website owner to fix the link —this is your best bet if there’s an actual problem with the link such as incorrect formatting. So, just restore these pages or redirect them to something relevant to preserve all your link juice. Do this for any valuable broken links and you’ll see an instant boost! #5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links Spammy inbound links are BAD. But outbound links are also extremely important. You, therefore, need to make sure that you’re not linking to low-quality (or totally irrelevant) websites. Here’s how to do it: Enter your domain into Site Explorer then go to… Outgoing links > Linked Domains > add a dofollow filter By default, Ahrefs shows the most linked-to domains first. Reverse this list. When I gave this report a quick onceover for my own website, everything looked pretty above board (phew!) BUT…this isn’t the case for all sites. Here’s an outbound link I found on Moz.com: This is clearly a spammy domain. If you find anything like this, remove (or replace) the links on your website. Also: Sometimes, you’ll find that your website is linking to a particular URL many times. Example: Upon closer inspection, we can see that this is a Wordpress theme link present in the theme HTML. In all honesty, this probably isn’t going to cause any huge issues. However, as it’s a dofollow link across (almost) every page of the website, at the very least it’s diluting authority for no good reason. I recommend that you remove anything like this from your website’s HTML, too. #6: Fix Broken Outbound Links Broken outbound links lead to a bad user experience. Not only is it annoying to click a link on a website and be taken to a broken page but also, it leaves the visitor questioning the validity of your content. Why? Because they’ll assume your website hasn’t been updated in awhile. Or that you simply don’t put much effort into your content—certainly not enough to curate resources that actually exist. Also, if Google thinks your content is going to lead to a bad user experience, they certainly aren’t going to rank your website. Luckily, this is easily fixable. Here’s how: Enter your website into Site Explorer , then go to Outgoing Links > Broken Links . If anything shows up in this report, there are issues to be fixed. Looks like I have 56 broken outbound links on my website 🙁 You should fix these links by either removing them or replacing them. Keyword Research Fixing the errors outlined above should be enough to give you a small traffic boost. BUT: Now it’s time for the big guns. No matter what website you’re working on, your SEO strategy should follow roughly the same blueprint, which is: Find keywords you want to rank for (and that you already rank for) Prioritise keywords/topics into long-term opportunities + short-term opportunities (i.e. low-hanging fruit) Create some content (or improve existing content) around those keywords Build links to content (wherever appropriate/necessary) Analyse what did/didn’t work and refine your strategy/plan going forward. Rinse and repeat all of the above Trust me: Do those things, in that order, and I guarantee you’ll see a HUGE traffic increase. So, let’s get started with the first step: keyword discovery . #7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer Keywords Explorer is the first place I turn when I want to discover keywords for a new (or existing) website. That’s because all you need is a few “seed” keywords and it’ll give you thousands of ideas. Here’s the process: Go to Keywords explorer and enter a few seed keyword ideas. Note : There’s no exact process for coming up with these. Just make an educated guess. Hit the search button. Note : Make sure to select the appropriate country (e.g. United States) before searching, otherwise you’ll see keyword volume estimates and whatnot for a country unrelated to your business. Go to the metrics tab. This shows you monthly search volume, Keyword Difficulty (KD), and tons of other information. If a keyword looks good (i.e. it has some decent search volume and is relevant to your business), save it to a keywords list. Note: If a keyword is super-relevant to your business, it makes sense to prioritise it, even if the search volume for that keyword is quite low. As I’ll mention later in this guide, search volume isn’t always the best indicator of traffic. However, it is a good starting point and it’s still worth looking at. #8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords) Right now, Ahrefs has the biggest keywords database in the industry . Because of this, Keywords Explorer will show you with a bunch (and I really do mean a bunch!) of other keyword ideas based on your seed keywords. Just hit one of these 6 options on the left-hand menu: Personally, I usually just select “all”. However, this will usually give you a few million keywords to play with (see, I told you they had a lot of data), which is pretty damn impossible to work with. So, I tend to play with the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to narrow them down. Your best bet is to filter for keywords with a KD score of less than 10. Why? Because anything below KD 10 means that top-ranking results have less than or equal to 10 backlinks on average, so it should be fairly easy to rank for them. I usually just tick anything that looks good and add it to my keywords list. And if you prefer to get a little more granular with your keyword suggestions, you can learn more about what “phrase match”, “having same terms”, etc. mean here . Note : Ahrefs presented me with 32K+ keyword suggestions from just the 8 keywords I entered above…so you certainly won’t be short of ideas! #9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors Enter a competitor’s domain into Site Explorer , then go to Organic search > Top Pages Here you will see which of your competitors pages are attracting the most organic search traffic. You’ll also see the top keyword that page ranks for, along with the search volume for that keyword. Note : It’s also worth paying attention to the RD (Referring Domains) column as this shows how many ref.domains are pointing to that page. If you can identify pages that receive a lot of traffic, yet only have a few RDs, it’s most likely a topic that you can rank for pretty easily! Pretty cool, right!? BUT it gets even better… This report also shows you all of the other keywords these pages rank for (in order of the amount of traffic they drive to your competitors page). This is not only useful for generating additional keyword ideas but also, finding keywords/topics/phrases that you can sprinkle into your content to increase relevance (i.e. LSI keywords ). #10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps” Content gaps exist when your competitors rank for keywords that you don’t rank for. Think about it: If you could see what those keywords are, you could create content to compete with them (and ideally outrank them). Here’s how to find those keywords with Ahrefs: Enter your domain into Site Explorer, then go to Organic Search > Content Gap Now, enter the domains of (at least) three competitors plus your domain in the “ but the following target doesn’t rank for” field. Hit “show keywords”. Bingo…here are hundreds of keywords that (at least) one of your competitors rank for, yet you don’t. Tip: Enter competitors with a similar Domain Rating (DR) score. This will ensure that the Content Gap analysis kicks back keywords you stand a chance of ranking for. If you enter Moz.com as a competitor and you have a DR 40 site, the sad truth is that you’re probably never going to outrank Moz. I recommend paying particular attention to any keywords where your competitors are ranking in the top 10. Why? Because if they’re ranking in the top 10, chances are you could, too! Is Ahrefs out of your budget? No worries, you can use one of these free keyword research tools to find the right keywords for your business. Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities) At this stage, you should have a big list of keywords that you could try to rank for. BUT: Just because you can target these keywords doesn’t mean you should . 1. Some will be easier to rank for than others (in fact, you may not even stand a hope in hell of ranking for some of them). 2. Some will drive a lot of traffic (while others will drive very little). 3. Some will require creating new content (others won’t). Analysing keywords for certain attributes will allow you to prioritise your list, and divide your ideas into long-term and short-term topics. Here are a few tips: #11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6 Already ranking in positions 4-6 for some high-volume keywords? These are your low-hanging fruit. Why? Because CTR increases exponentially within the top 5 positions . Therefore, it only takes a ranking increase of one position to see BIG traffic boosts from these keywords. And improving rankings by 1-2 positions can be as simple as building a handful of high-quality links. But how do you find these keywords? Simple. Enter your site into Site Explorer, then go to Organic Search > Organic Keywords This will show you all of the keywords your website is currently ranking for. Note : By default, they’re ordered by the amount of organic traffic they send to your website—neat! But here’s the trick: Add a positions filter to show the keywords you’re currently ranking in positions 4-6. These keywords are your low-hanging fruit—they should be prioritised when it comes to on-page optimization and link building. #12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential Sometimes individual keywords won’t have a particularly high search volume. Example: “ best keyword research tools ” If you were to rank #1 for this keyword, you would receive roughly 30% of these clicks. That’s a measly 75 visitors/month (approx.) Hardly worth bothering, right!? Not so fast. Looking at individual search volumes for a single keyword rarely shows you the true ranking potential of that topic. This is because pages almost always naturally rank for TONs of variations of that keyword (i.e. “long-tail keywords”). So how do you figure out the true ranking potential of a topic? Easy… Check how much organic traffic the top ranking pages for that keyword are getting. If it’s a lot, the topic/keyword has a high traffic potential. Here’s how: Go to Keywords Explorer and enter a keyword. Scroll down to the SERP overview and you’ll see who’s ranking in the top 10. You can also see how much organic traffic these top ranking pages are attracting (across all keywords). These are the SERPs for “best keyword research tool” and as you can see, the top ranking pages are getting WAY more than 75 visits/month. So, this topic DEFINITELY has a high traffic potential and is worth prioritising. Content Research Keyword research? CHECK. Keyword prioritisation? CHECK. (You’re off to a good start!) But…you ain’t going to rank for any of those keywords without creating some EPIC content around them. Obviously, some of the keywords you’ve found (e.g. the low-hanging opportunities in positions 4-6) won’t require new content. You just need to optimise—and build some extra links to—your existing content. For others, however, you’re going to need to create something new! BUT here’s the problem: It’s NOT always easy to discern exactly what you should be writing about solely by looking at a keyword. Example: Let’s take the keyword “keyword research”. It’s a great keyword with a ridiculously high search volume (at least for this niche). BUT, it’s also massively competitive. If I was to write a reasonably generic guide to keyword research, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance of ranking in the top 3 for this exact keyword. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t write about keyword research at all…I just need to “niche down” a little and write a UNIQUE piece of content. Here’s how: #13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer Ahrefs has an index of 800+ million pieces of content on various topics . They also add 5+ million new pieces of content to this index every 24 hours (which is absolutely INSANE). But, data and stats aside, what benefit does this have? Well, it means that you can enter (almost) any keyword into Content Explorer and it’ll kick back a TON of content ideas. Example: That’s 3900+ content ideas for “keyword research”. And this is only results where the phrase “keyword research” is in the article title… You can also search for content where the phrase is mentioned anywhere in the article content, which will return exponentially more results! BUT, like I said, it would be VERY difficult to rank for this exact keyword without “niching down”. This is because the “big guys” (e.g. Moz, Ahrefs, etc) are currently dominating the SERPs for this topic. However, we can use the in-built filters in content Explorer to find ideas that: We can actually compete with Will actually generate traffic for us Here’s the setup: Here’s exactly what we’re doing here (and why!): Filtering for only English results: Pretty self-explanatory, right!? Filtering ONLY for results from websites with a DR between 0-59: Because the DR of my website (matthewwoodward.co.uk) is also 59, I only want to see results for sites with the same (or lower) DR. Why? Because these are the sites I’ll be able to compete with easily. Filtering ONLY for pages with <5 referring domains AND >500 organic visitors per month : This is the important part! By looking for pages that are receiving 500+ organic visits AND have very few links, we can uncover pages that will be VERY easy to outrank. Stealing their traffic will most likely require nothing more than creating better content and building a handful of links (at the most) Here’s what Content Explorer found for my search: This page talks about how to uncover keywords by looking at YouTube tags. It receives 525 organic visits per month, has 0 referring domains, and is 183 words long. If this isn’t easily beatable content, then I don’t know what is! Note : Remember, if your search doesn’t return many results, you can always find pages containing your keyword anywhere in the content (using the “in content”) filter to broaden your horizons. #14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer Nobody understands search intent like Google does. Their algorithm relies on showing users what they want to see. Because of this, there’s no better way to understand the intent behind a search term (i.e. what people are actually looking to find) than analysing the top 10 search results. Example: Let’s take a keyword like “SEO tools”… Now, there are plenty of SEO tools—some free, some paid—on the market. If we wanted to rank for this keyword, maybe a winning formula for a piece of content would be to create a list of all of these SEO tools, right!? Again, not so fast. Let’s go to Keywords Explorer, enter the keyword, and scroll down to the SERP overview. This shows us the top 10 ranking results. Instantly, I spot a pattern… Although most of the results are lists of SEO tools, a lot of them are actually lists of free SEO tools. In fact, 7/10 results contain the word “free” in the title tag. This tells me that although people are generally typing in “SEO tools”, they actually appear to be looking for a list of the best free SEO tools . It would, therefore, be much smarter to go down this route when creating a piece of content around this keyword/topic. Also: Keywords Explorer tells us how many links (and referring domains) each of these pages has, allowing us to quickly spot topics with great potential to attract a TON of links. Link Building I’ll let you in on a (sad) secret: You ain’t going to rank for any worthwhile keyword/topic without links. Sure, less competitive keywords may only require a handful of links whereas more competitive keywords may require many more links (sometimes even thousands) but still, the bottomline is this: You. Need. Links. But here’s the good news: Ahrefs shines in this department. Not only do they boast the largest live link index on the market , they have a TON of link building tools that can help you with the task at hand. In fact, I don’t know any serious link builders that AREN’T using Ahrefs. It really is that good. Here are a few ways to use Ahrefs to build all the links you need: #15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks Remember those branded alerts I told you to set up at the beginning of this guide? If you set them up correctly, you’ve most likely received an email that looks something like this: Basically, this tells you whenever anyone mentions your name (or any other branded terms) on the web. So: If someone mentions you personally in a blog post, you’ll know about it. If someone talks about your brand (e.g. Apple) in a review, you’ll know about it. Etc. BUT: Just because someone has mentioned your name (or brand name) in a piece of content doesn’t necessarily mean that they remembered to link to you. And if they didn’t…getting the link is usually as easy as reaching out and asking for it. Example: If you look closely at the screenshot above, you’ll see that I was recently mentioned in an article about starting a membership website. Here’s the part where I’m mentioned: Weirdly, they didn’t link to the tutorial they mentioned in that paragraph. It’s highly likely that they simply forgot, or made a mistake. So: Getting a link from this article would likely take nothing more than a simple email asking them to add a link. #16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You) Monitoring branded keywords is a good start. BUT, that’s the tip of the iceberg… Here’s why: In Ahrefs Alerts, you can monitor for mentions of ANY keyword. For example, here’s an alert I set up for “link building”: Now, each week, I get an email from Ahrefs showing me any newly published content containing that term (i.e. link building) from the past 7 days. Example: That’s 93 new mentions of “link building” in just one week! BUT…how does this help to build links? Basically, you can use these alerts to discover content that could be improved by adding a link to your website (or a particular resource on your website). Example: Take a look at that 2nd article (the one by SearchEngineLand.com). It talks about “ 7 Reasons Why Your Broken Link Building Campaign Isn’t Working ”… It’s a great article, BUT… I get the feeling that readers of this article are likely struggling with link building in general. Scrolling to the end of the post, it looks like the author also thinks this…that’s why he’s chosen to include a few links to additional link building resources. It just so happens that I also have a TON of great link building resources on my blog, such as this list of 44 link building strategies . Because this would also be a great additional resource to include at the end of that SEL post, I could simply reach out to the author of that post (Kevin) and suggest that he add a link to my post in that final section. This is a great, simple way to build links to any piece of content 🙂 Not that this method is also commonly use for niche edits & link inserts ! #17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions You can learn a lot from your competitors. BUT… Did you know that monitoring your competitors can be a great source of link prospects? Basically, if you can identify where your competitors are being mentioned AND linked-to, you can often steal these links/mentions from yourself. Example: Here are the top 3 Google results for “ long tail pro ”: Right now, I’m ranking in position #3. BUT…I’d really like to rank #1. This means that my competitors for this keyword are: longtailpro.com dumbpassiveincome.com Now: Right off the bat, I could throw these URLs into Ahrefs Site Explorer, look at their backlinks, and see if there are any easily replicable links I could steal for myself. BUT…that’s a different strategy altogether! What I want to talk about is monitoring both competitor links AND branded keywords to give you a constant supply of link opportunities. So, let’s start with backlink monitoring: Like I said, one of my competitors is dumbpassiveincome.com—they have a similar Long Tail Pro review to mine. However, I personally believe my review to be better. I also updated my review very recently, so it’s super fresh. I, therefore, believe that anyone choosing to link to my competitors Long Tail Pro review would be better off linking to mine. So, I want to monitor my competitors review for new links. If they get any, I can then reach out to the person linking to them and suggest that they link to my review instead (as it’s better). Here’s how to set up an alert for these links: Go to the Backlinks section within Ahrefs Alerts and hit “ + New Alert”. Enter the URL of the page you want to monitor for backlinks, choose “New backlinks” under the “Scope” option, and enter your email address. You’ll now receive an email whenever there’s a new link to your competitor’s URL—you can then swoop in and steal the link for yourself. BUT…competitor backlinks aren’t the only thing worth monitoring: You can also monitor competitors branded keywords. Example: Because I have a review of Long Tail Pro, it would be worth setting up an alert for branded keywords like “Long Tail Pro”. Here’s why: If someone is mentioning Long Tail Pro on the web, their readers would find a review and tutorial for the tool rather useful. So, whenever I see Long Tail Pro being mentioned, I can simply reach out to the website owner and suggest they add a link to my review within their post. Easy. Here’s how to set this up: Go to the Mentions section of Ahrefs Alerts and hit “+ New Alert”. Add your keyword, add any blocked domains (e.g. your own website), and your email address. Now you’ll receive an email alert whenever your keyword (e.g. “long tail pro”) is mentioned on the web. #18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects) Ahh, the infamous “skyscraper technique”… It’s perhaps the most famous link-building technique there is! And for good reason, too—it’s super powerful! For those unfamiliar, here’s the basic process: Find a piece of content with a TON of links. Make something even better. Contact anyone linking to the old, inferior piece of content and suggest that they link to yours instead. Smart. BUT… How do you find “skyscraper” content (i.e. content with a TON of links that you can build upon) in the first place? Here’s a super simple method: Enter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to Pages > Best by Links You will now see every page on the domain ordered by # of backlinks. The two posts I’ve highlighted above have thousands of backlinks. If I was to put-together an even better version of any of these posts, I would have thousands of prospects to pitch to! Note: You can gather a list of “skyscraper” prospects by checking the backlink profile of that particular URL in Site Explorer. Just sift through all the links and choose prospects to reach out to. BUT… What if you already have an EPIC piece of content and you want to build some links to it? Here’s a simple trick that I haven’t seen anyone talk about before: Enter a keyword into Content Explorer, then filter ONLY for pages with 100+ referring domains. Example: Let’s say that I wanted to build some links to my list of 44 link building strategies . I would enter the keyword “ link building strategies ” into Content Explorer and add a referring domains filter. This gives me 76 results—all of these are (a) about link building strategies, and (b) have 100+ referring domains. Now, the trick is then to sift through the results looking for content that is very similar—yet inferior to—your content. Here’s a good example: This page has 109 referring domains, yet it only lists 31 strategies where mine lists 44. It also hasn’t been updated since 2014! Anyone linking to this page is a prime “skyscraper” prospect for my post—I just need to reach out and suggest they change the link to my page (and tell them why they should). #19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report) Nobody likes broken links. You know the ones… They take you to pages like this: It drives me crazy whenever this happens! BUT… Broken links are a link-builders dream. Why? Because if you can find a broken link with a TON of backlinks, you can build links with this simple 3-step process: Find out what the broken link used to be Create a similar—but better—piece of content Ask anyone linking to the broken content to link to your content instead However, before you can do this, you need to actually find a broken link with the following attributes: It has a TON of links pointing to it It’s relevant to your website It can be replicated without too much work Here’s how to do this: Enter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to Pages > Best by Links . This shows you the most linked-to pages on that domain. BUT…we don’t want to see all pages—we want to see broken pages. To do this, filter the list to show ONLY 404 errors. Most websites will have at least a few broken links. Simply sift through these pages looking for broken links that have a decent number of backlinks AND would be relevant to your website. Note: You can use Wayback Machine to see how any page used to look. If you identify a page that meets all of the criteria mentioned above, create a similar piece of content then publish it on your website. It’s then just a case of reaching out to anyone linking to the old broken link and suggesting that they fix the link by replacing it with your link. Simple. #20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects Guest posting is one of the oldest link building tactics in the book . It goes something like this: Find websites that accept guest posts (in your niche) Reach out to them and pitch a post idea Write the post, land the link If you’ve ever done guest posting before, you’ll know there’s no shortage of opportunities around. Example: Google finds 4,000+ “write for us” pages (i.e. websites that are accepting guest posts) for search term “SEO”. That’s a LOT of prospects! BUT there’s a problem… While you could write for thousands of websites, it’s important to remember that guest posting takes a lot of work. Not only do you have to pitch the websites, you also have to write a top notch article, too. This can be pretty time-consuming (or, if you’re outsourcing it, expensive!) And, because we want people to actually read our guest post, there’s ZERO point writing posts for websites that get little/no traffic. So, the question is: how do you know how much traffic a website gets? Simple…just enter the domain into Site Explorer and Ahrefs will show you an estimate of organic traffic. BUT…what if you have a long list of prospects? No worries, just paste the entire list into Ahrefs Batch Analysis tool like so: Note: Make sure to select the option for “domain with all its subdomains” under the mode drop-down. Here’s the result (ordered by organic search traffic): This is a great way to cut down your list and ensure that you’re ONLY writing for websites that actually get traffic ! Site Audit Keyword discovery and research… DONE. Content creation… DONE. Link building… DONE. (well, link building is never done, but you should have at least made a start!) Here’s the good news: that’s most of the difficult stuff out of the way. But, even if you’ve executed everything perfectly thus far, the truth is that simple on-site errors can often hinder your success. I’m talking about… Rogue “noindex” tags Missing meta description Thin content And so forth. This is where Ahrefs Site Audit tool comes in handy. In a nutshell, it will diagnose pretty much every on-site issue you could think of, without you really having to lift a finger. Here are a few useful things you can do with it: Note: I’m not going to cover how to set up a project or run crawls in the Site Audit tool because, honestly, it’s pretty self-explanatory. But, if you’re struggling, this post (by Ahrefs) explains exactly how to do it, along with a lot more! #21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report) Go to Internal Pages > Performance and you will see a report that looks something like this: At first glance, this may appear as nothing more than a myriad of pie charts. But, this is actually showing you the number of pages on your website that are slow to load, in various ways. I recommend paying particular attention to the “Load time” chart: The red section of the pie chart shows the number of pages that are too slow to load (and thus, need fixing). If you click on the red section, you will see exactly which pages these are, along with how slowly they actually load: One cool thing to note here is that Ahrefs also shows you the amount of organic traffic these pages are receiving. If you spot a slow loading page that is receiving a lot of traffic, I recommend prioritising the speeding-up of that page. Why? Because chances are it will attract even more traffic if you improve the visitor experience. #22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report Mistakes with HTML tags can wreak havoc on your website. For example, if you accidentally add a noindex tag to a page, Google won’t even index that page. This means that even if you write great content and build epic links, it ain’t going to rank. And, while not all HTML tag errors are potentially this catastrophic, they’re still worth fixing. Ahrefs’ Site Audit tool makes this super-easy, as it uncovers all the errors for you. To view them, just go to Internal Pages > HTML Tags: Here, it will list all of the issues the crawler has found with your website. In the example above, you can see that I have a few missing meta tags, along with a few other errors. To learn more about where these errors actually occur, just click on one of the errors: It will then tell you more information about the errors, including the pages on which the errors occur: Because Ahrefs does the hard work for you (i.e. the discovery of these errors), you can usually fix them pretty easily just by editing a bit of HTML code. #23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports Earlier in this guide, I showed you how to check for (and remove) toxic backlinks. This is super-important. But, there are other link-based issues that can impact the performance of your website. I’m talking about… Broken outgoing links “ Nofollow ” internal links HTTPS pages internally linking to HTTP pages And so forth. Luckily, the Incoming and Outgoing Links reports in the Site Audit tool will help you to uncover and fix these issues. Let’s start by taking a look at the Incoming Links report: In this example, you can see that there are a few issues with my website—namely nofollowed internal links. This isn’t always cause for concern but generally, your internal links should be used to send “link juice” to important and relevant pages. Therefore, they should be dofollow links. If you click any of these errors, you will see exactly where they reside: Let’s take a look at the Outgoing Links report, too: Again, we have a few errors, including: Pages that link out to broken pages (these should be replaced and fixed!) HTTPS pages linking to unsecure internal pages (this is definitely not the best practice!) Pages without outgoing links ( some studies have found outgoing links to have a positive effect on rankings) If you want to investigate an error further (and see exactly where the error occurs), just click through to take a look. And this is only the tip of the iceberg—there are plenty of supporting graphs, data visualizations, and other pieces of information in these reports. Recommended reading: This is the new Site Audit tool by Ahrefs (an overview of the Site Audit tool written by Tim Soulo from Ahrefs) Check out my 4 step SEO audit case study to see how regular SEO audits can help your website grows. Analysing Your Progress/Success SEO is hard work. That’s why it’s important to keep your eye on progress and make sure that the grunt work is having a positive impact on your website. Google Analytics will be your best bet here. BUT…if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably end up seeing your Ahrefs dashboard much more than your Google Analytics account. So: Here are a few things to look for in Ahrefs to make sure you’re heading in the right direction: #24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank Are you building a consistent flow of links to your website? If so, you should see your Domain Rating (DR) increase over time. Here’s what it looks like on your dashboard: If it increases, you’ll see a green arrow appear alongside this number with the amount of points it’s increased (much like with the URL rating below). Similarly, you should start to see your Ahrefs Rank decrease. Basically, the lower your Ahrefs Rank is, the better, so keep an eye on it. Note: Don’t obsess over these metrics. However, they are a decent indicator as to the overall status of your website. #25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords) Remember during the Ahrefs setup process when I told you to track a bunch of your top keywords in Ahrefs? Well, that’s because these keywords also show up in your dashboard, like this: Basically, this shows how many of your tracked keywords are ranking in the top 1-3, 4-10, 11-20, and 21-50 search results. As rankings improve, they’ll show up here. This is my personal favourite way to keep an eye on what really matters—if I see improvements here, I know that my traffic is probably increasing, too. Of course, if you want to take a more granular look at keyword rankings (with graphs and whatnot), you can use Ahrefs Rank Tracker. This can also show you some super-cool data such as the number of featured snippets you own, and much more. BUT: If you need daily keyword ranking updates you might want to checkout my Accuranker review because Ahrefs only updates every 3 days. Want to write product reviews like this one? Use my product review template ! Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs) Before I wrap this up, I want to mention a handful of tools that incorporate Ahrefs data. I know from talking to Tim Soulo that Ahrefs are very picky about which tools they allow to use their data. That’s why this list is quite short. Here are the tools I can personally vouch for: URL Profiler : Pulls in a bunch of metrics (including Ahrefs metrics) for a list of URLs. This is one of my personal favourites. See my full URL Profiler review for more. Ninja Outreach : Use the free trial of this tool to contact thosuands of backlink opportunities/broken backlinks itc in a couple of clicks. They have a range of link building email templates built in ! Screaming Frog : Industry-leading crawling & SEO Spider tool. A must-have for anyone who’s serious about SEO. It now also allows you to pull in metrics (e.g. DR, Ahrefs Rank, etc.) from Ahrefs directly. More details here . Link Miner (Chrome Extension) : Analyse and extract links from any web page. Perfect for finding broken links and quickly assessing them by pulling in metrics from Ahrefs. SeoTools for Excel : Excel add-on that’s absolutely packed with functionality. If you want to pull Ahrefs metrics directly into your spreadsheets, this one is for you! More details here . And here are a few more tools that integrate Ahrefs data (although I haven’t tested these personally). Wrapping It Up Ahrefs is an incredible tool. Not just for link-building, but for (almost) everything else, too. Seriously, if I was limited to using only one SEO tool forever, Ahrefs would probably be my #1 choice. BUT…enough with the praise… Here’s a quick recap of my surefire process for increasing traffic in my Ahrefs review- Make sure your website is healthy (i.e. there are no bad-backlinks, broken links, etc) Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links Fix Broken Outbound Links Look for potential issues with Ahrefsbot and fix them. Find all of the best keywords Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords) Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors / VIDEO TUTORIAL Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps” Prioritise your keywords AND find low-hanging fruit (i.e. quick-win opportunities) Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6 Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential Research and create some EPIC content Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer Build links to your EPIC content Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You) Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects) Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report) / VIDEO TUTORIAL Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects Complete a site audit and fix all outstanding issues Use The Site Audit Tool To Find Every SEO Problem Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report) Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports Keep an eye on your progress and make sure you’re on the right track! Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords) Increase Domain Authority (DA) Do this, in this order, and you won’t go far wrong! How do you use Ahrefs in your SEO campaigns?
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Watch This Video Now\!](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/algorithm/drop-in-search-traffic/) [![How To Get Out Of Google Sandbox As Quickly As Possible](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![How To Get Out Of Google Sandbox As Quickly As Possible](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/google-sandbox-menu.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/algorithm/google-sandbox/) [How To Get Out Of Google Sandbox As Quickly As Possible](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/algorithm/google-sandbox/) [![How To Improve Your Core Web Vitals In 15 Minutes](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![How To Improve Your Core Web Vitals In 15 Minutes](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/how-to-improve-core-web-vitals-menu.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/algorithm/improve-core-web-vitals/) [How To Improve Your Core Web Vitals In 15 Minutes](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/algorithm/improve-core-web-vitals/) [View All Posts](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/algorithm/) - [![Steal your SEO strategy with this free download](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Steal your SEO strategy with this free download](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/menupic1b.png)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/i7gktsslyygsshtinic3/) General SEO [![How To Exclude Words From Google Search Results](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![How To Exclude Words From Google Search Results](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/how-to-exclude-words-from-google-search-menub.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/exclude-words-from-google-search/) [How To Exclude Words From Google Search Results](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/exclude-words-from-google-search/) [![SEO Checklist: 45x Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![SEO Checklist: 45x Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/seo-checklist-menu.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/seo-checklist/) [SEO Checklist: 45x Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/seo-checklist/) [![Testing The 12 Fastest WordPress Hosting Providers](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Testing The 12 Fastest WordPress Hosting Providers](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/fastest-wordpress-hosting-menub.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/blogging/fastest-wordpress-hosting/) [Testing The 12 Fastest WordPress Hosting Providers](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/blogging/fastest-wordpress-hosting/) [![Learn How To Find Powerful Expired Domains Step By Step](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Learn How To Find Powerful Expired Domains Step By Step](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/expired-domains-menub.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/expired-domains/) [Learn How To Find Powerful Expired Domains Step By Step](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/expired-domains/) [![The Fastest & Easiest Way To Get Wikipedia Backlinks](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![The Fastest & Easiest Way To Get Wikipedia Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/wikipedia-backlinks-menub.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/wikipedia/) [The Fastest & Easiest Way To Get Wikipedia Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/wikipedia/) [![The Ultimate Guide To Search Engine Submission](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![The Ultimate Guide To Search Engine Submission](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/seo-submission-software-menub.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/search-engine-submission/) [The Ultimate Guide To Search Engine Submission](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/search-engine-submission/) [View All Posts](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/) - [![Download the Google Leak Link Building Checklist](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Download the Google Leak Link Building Checklist](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/cta-nav-link-leak-checklist.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo/) SEO Tools & Reviews [![SEMRush Review: How To Increase Search Traffic](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![SEMRush Review: How To Increase Search Traffic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/semrush-menu.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/semrush/) [SEMRush Review: How To Increase Search Traffic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/semrush/) [![Surfer SEO Review - How I Used It To Win The \#1 Position](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Surfer SEO Review - How I Used It To Win The \#1 Position](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/surfer-seo-review-menu.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/surfer-seo/) [Surfer SEO Review - How I Used It To Win The \#1 Position](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/surfer-seo/) [![NitroPack Review & Case Study](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![NitroPack Review & Case Study](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/nitropack-review-menu.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/nitropack/) [NitroPack Review & Case Study](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/nitropack/) [![WPX Hosting Review – Faster Than You Might Think](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![WPX Hosting Review – Faster Than You Might Think](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/wpx-hosting-review-menu.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/wpx-hosting/) [WPX Hosting Review – Faster Than You Might Think](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/wpx-hosting/) [![My Kinsta Hosting Review & Case Study](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%2099'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![My Kinsta Hosting Review & Case Study](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/kinsta-review-menub.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/kinsta/) [My Kinsta Hosting Review & Case Study](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/kinsta/) [![guest posting services](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20165%20100'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![guest posting services](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/guest-posting-services-menub.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/guest-posting-services/) [5 Guest Posting Services You Can Rely On](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/guest-posting-services/) [View All Posts](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/) - [![Get The 28 Day SEO Hardcover Book on Amazon](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20351%20556'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Get The 28 Day SEO Hardcover Book on Amazon](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/menupic1-28db.png)](https://geni.us/28dayseochallenge) [Contact Us](https://www.searchlogistics.com/contact/) # Ahrefs Review: An In-Depth Look - Matthew Woodward - Updated on Oct 30, 2025 [Home](https://www.searchlogistics.com/) \> [Learn](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/) \> [Reviews](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/) \> Ahrefs ## ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2093%2090'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/stra.png) Ahrefs Review - Review Of: [Ahrefs](http://www.ahrefs.com/) - Reviewed By: Matthew Woodward - Rating: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) - Updated On: Oct 30, 2025 Summary: Ahrefs provides everything you need to increase search engine traffic to any website. It’s huge database of information combined with intelligent tools makes it easy for anyone to increase their rankings. [View More Details](http://www.ahrefs.com/) What Will I Learn? - [What You Will Learn](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#What_You_Will_Learn "What You Will Learn") - [What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#What_Is_Ahrefs_And_Why_Should_You_Care "What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?") - [Ahrefs Pros & Cons](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Ahrefs_Pros_Cons "Ahrefs Pros & Cons") - [📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Pros_What_I_Think_Youll_Like "📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like") - [📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Cons_What_I_Think_Youll_Dislike "📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike") - [Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Getting_Started_With_My_Ahrefs_Review "Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review") - [Backlink Health Check](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Backlink_Health_Check "Backlink Health Check") - [\#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#1_Look_for_Dodgy_Links_in_the_Backlinks_and_Referring_Domains_Reports "#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports") - [\#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#2_Look_for_Unnatural_Anchor_Text_Issues "#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues") - [\#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#3_Look_for_LOTS_of_Links_from_the_Same_C-block_IPs "#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs") - [\#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#4_Find_AND_Fix_Broken_Backlinks "#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks") - [\#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#5_Remove_ALL_Low-Quality_or_Irrelevant_Outbound_Links "#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links") - [\#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#6_Fix_Broken_Outbound_Links "#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links") - [Keyword Research](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Keyword_Research "Keyword Research") - [\#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#7_Pop_a_Few_Seed_Keywords_into_Keywords_Explorer "#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer") - [\#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#8_See_Other_Keyword_Ideas_Based_on_Your_Seed_Keywords "#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)") - [\#9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#9_Find_the_KeywordsTopics_that_Send_the_Most_Traffic_to_Your_Competitors "#9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors") - [\#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#10_Analyse_YOUR_Competitors_to_Find_Keyword_Content_Gaps "#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”") - [Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Keyword_Prioritisation_PLUS_How_to_Identify_Low-Hanging_Opportunities "Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)") - [\#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#11_Find_Keywords_That_Youre_Already_Ranking_for_in_Positions_4-6 "#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6") - [\#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#12_Find_Keywords_AND_Topics_with_High_Traffic_Potential "#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential") - [Content Research](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Content_Research "Content Research") - [\#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#13_Find_UNIQUE_EASILY_BEATABLE_Content_Ideas_Using_Content_Explorer "#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer") - [\#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#14_Find_Content_Ideas_That_People_ACTUALLY_Care_About_with_Keywords_Explorer "#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer") - [Link Building](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Link_Building "Link Building") - [\#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#15_Use_Branded_Alerts_to_Reclaim_Backlinks "#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks") - [\#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#16_Monitor_TOPICAL_Keyword_Alerts_Then_Convince_People_to_Link_to_You "#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)") - [\#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#17_Monitor_Competitor_Links_AND_Brand_Mentions "#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions") - [\#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#18_Find_Skyscraper_Link_Building_Opportunities_AND_Prospects "#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)") - [\#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#19_Broken_Backlink_Building_with_the_top_pages_-_404_report "#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)") - [\#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#20_Find_Worthwhile_Guest_Post_Prospects "#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects") - [Site Audit](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Site_Audit "Site Audit") - [\#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#21_Find_Slow_Loading_Pages_Using_the_Performance_Report "#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)") - [\#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#22_Find_HTML_Tag_Issues_eg_Rogue_Noindex_Tags_with_the_HTML_Tags_Report "#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report") - [\#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#23_Find_Incoming_and_Outgoing_Link_Issues_eg_Broken_Outbound_Links_with_the_IncomingOutgoing_Links_Reports "#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports") - [Analysing Your Progress/Success](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Analysing_Your_ProgressSuccess "Analysing Your Progress/Success") - [\#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#24_Increased_Domain_Rating_DR_AND_Decreased_Ahrefs_Rank "#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank") - [\#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#25_Improved_Rankings_for_Your_Tracked_Keywords "#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)") - [Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Useful_Tools_That_Work_with_Ahrefs "Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)") - [Wrapping It Up](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Wrapping_It_Up "Wrapping It Up") ![Matthew Woodward](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20200%20140'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![Matthew Woodward](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/matt-sidebar.png) - [![YouTube](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2039%2039'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![YouTube](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-icon-youtube.png)Subscribe to my YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@SearchLogisticsHQ) - [![Facebook](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2039%2039'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Facebook](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-icon-facebook.png)Join My Facebook Group](https://www.facebook.com/SearchLogisticsHQ) - [![LinkedIn](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2039%2039'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![LinkedIn](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-icon-linkedin.png)Connect on Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewwoodwarduk/) - [![Learn](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2047%2047'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Learn](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-icon-learn.png)Free SEO Tutorials](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/) - [![Case Studies](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2047%2047'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Case Studies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-icon-case-study.png)SEO Case Studies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/case-studies/) - [![Links](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2047%2047'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-icon-links.png)Links That Rank](https://linksthatrank.com/) [![Trustworthy Link Building](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Trustworthy Link Building](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-banner-1.png)](https://linksthatrank.com/) [![Blacklisted Backlinks](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Blacklisted Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-banner-2.png)](https://linksthatrank.com/backlink-blacklist/) [![Rank Your Site](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Rank Your Site](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-banner-3.png)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/services/full-service-seo/) [![Quality Rater Tool](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Quality Rater Tool](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-banner-4.png)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/rdnrw5qwfzv3esnhgyah/) [![AI Overviews](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![AI Overviews](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-banner-5.png)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/bvqcmvrcbvkaixbmyvfu/) [![Google Search Leak](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20310%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Google Search Leak](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sb-banner-6.png)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/cgipbhkmqe3cpb3ybwu4/) Ahrefs is a very popular [SEO tool](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/tools/ "SEO tool") that was originally built to check [backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/backlinks/ "backlinks"). However over the last years it has developed into something much more with a class leading database of backlinks and [keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/ "keywords"). Ahrefs is one of the most popular [SEO](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/ "SEO") [tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/tools/ "tools") for a reason. And if you want to drive a TON of organic traffic to your website? Here’s the basic formula: - Pick a topic/keyword - Create an exceptional piece of content - Promote it. Build links to it. Rank it. Sounds simple, right!? I’ll let you in on a little secret: It is simple, but only if you use the right tools for the job. What do I mean by that? Well, there are a ton of questions you need to answer before you get started, such as: > 1\. Which keywords/topics should you be trying to rank for? > 2. Is it even possible to outrank the competition? > 3. What kind of content should you create? (e.g. blog post, [infographic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/statistics/infographic-statistics/), interactive content, etc) > 4. [How many links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/how-many-backlinks/ "How many links") do you need to build to rank for your chosen keywords? (and can you build that many links?) In this post, I’ll be showing you how to answer all these questions (and more) with only one tool: [Ahrefs](http://www.ahrefs.com/ "Ahrefs"). [![learn how to increase your search traffic in 28 days](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20300'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![learn how to increase your search traffic in 28 days](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta2-28-day-seo.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24/) What Will I Learn? - [What You Will Learn](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#What_You_Will_Learn "What You Will Learn") - [What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#What_Is_Ahrefs_And_Why_Should_You_Care "What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?") - [Ahrefs Pros & Cons](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Ahrefs_Pros_Cons "Ahrefs Pros & Cons") - [📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Pros_What_I_Think_Youll_Like "📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like") - [📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Cons_What_I_Think_Youll_Dislike "📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike") - [Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Getting_Started_With_My_Ahrefs_Review "Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review") - [Backlink Health Check](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Backlink_Health_Check "Backlink Health Check") - [\#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#1_Look_for_Dodgy_Links_in_the_Backlinks_and_Referring_Domains_Reports "#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports") - [\#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#2_Look_for_Unnatural_Anchor_Text_Issues "#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues") - [\#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#3_Look_for_LOTS_of_Links_from_the_Same_C-block_IPs "#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs") - [\#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#4_Find_AND_Fix_Broken_Backlinks "#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks") - [\#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#5_Remove_ALL_Low-Quality_or_Irrelevant_Outbound_Links "#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links") - [\#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#6_Fix_Broken_Outbound_Links "#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links") - [Keyword Research](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Keyword_Research "Keyword Research") - [\#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#7_Pop_a_Few_Seed_Keywords_into_Keywords_Explorer "#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer") - [\#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#8_See_Other_Keyword_Ideas_Based_on_Your_Seed_Keywords "#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)") - [\#9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#9_Find_the_KeywordsTopics_that_Send_the_Most_Traffic_to_Your_Competitors "#9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors") - [\#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#10_Analyse_YOUR_Competitors_to_Find_Keyword_Content_Gaps "#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”") - [Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Keyword_Prioritisation_PLUS_How_to_Identify_Low-Hanging_Opportunities "Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)") - [\#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#11_Find_Keywords_That_Youre_Already_Ranking_for_in_Positions_4-6 "#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6") - [\#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#12_Find_Keywords_AND_Topics_with_High_Traffic_Potential "#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential") - [Content Research](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Content_Research "Content Research") - [\#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#13_Find_UNIQUE_EASILY_BEATABLE_Content_Ideas_Using_Content_Explorer "#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer") - [\#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#14_Find_Content_Ideas_That_People_ACTUALLY_Care_About_with_Keywords_Explorer "#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer") - [Link Building](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Link_Building "Link Building") - [\#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#15_Use_Branded_Alerts_to_Reclaim_Backlinks "#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks") - [\#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#16_Monitor_TOPICAL_Keyword_Alerts_Then_Convince_People_to_Link_to_You "#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)") - [\#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#17_Monitor_Competitor_Links_AND_Brand_Mentions "#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions") - [\#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#18_Find_Skyscraper_Link_Building_Opportunities_AND_Prospects "#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)") - [\#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#19_Broken_Backlink_Building_with_the_top_pages_-_404_report "#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)") - [\#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#20_Find_Worthwhile_Guest_Post_Prospects "#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects") - [Site Audit](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Site_Audit "Site Audit") - [\#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#21_Find_Slow_Loading_Pages_Using_the_Performance_Report "#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)") - [\#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#22_Find_HTML_Tag_Issues_eg_Rogue_Noindex_Tags_with_the_HTML_Tags_Report "#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report") - [\#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#23_Find_Incoming_and_Outgoing_Link_Issues_eg_Broken_Outbound_Links_with_the_IncomingOutgoing_Links_Reports "#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports") - [Analysing Your Progress/Success](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Analysing_Your_ProgressSuccess "Analysing Your Progress/Success") - [\#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#24_Increased_Domain_Rating_DR_AND_Decreased_Ahrefs_Rank "#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank") - [\#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#25_Improved_Rankings_for_Your_Tracked_Keywords "#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)") - [Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Useful_Tools_That_Work_with_Ahrefs "Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)") - [Wrapping It Up](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Wrapping_It_Up "Wrapping It Up") ## What You Will Learn Let me make one thing clear: *My aim here isn’t* to list everything Ahrefs can do. (If that’s what you want, you can find [a big list of features here](https://ahrefs.com/pricing).) My aim is to show actionable ways to use Ahrefs (and no other tools) to get more organic traffic to your website. ![Ahrefs review](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%202560%201435'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Ahrefs review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Ahrefs-review-1-scaled.jpg) Here’s everything I’ll be teaching you: - [Getting Started:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#getting-started) How to get started with Ahrefs and set yourself up for success (note*: do not skip this stage, it is very* important). - [Backlink Health Check:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#backlink-health-check) How to identify (and fix) any backlink issues that may be holding your website back in the [SERPs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/search-engine-results-pages-serps/ "SERPs"). WARNING: Fixing these issues can lead to an instant rankings boost\! - [Keyword Research](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/research/ "Keyword Research"): Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is perhaps the [best keyword research tool](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/keyword-research-tools/ "best keyword research tool") on the market. I’ll show you how to use this tool (and a couple of other Ahrefs tools) to build an initial keyword list for your website. - [Keyword Prioritisation:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#keyword-prioritisation) How to prioritise your keywords list and identify “low-hanging” opportunities that can boost traffic FAST. - [Content Research:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#content-research) How to figure out EXACTLY what type of content you should be creating to rank for your chosen keywords. - [Link Building](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/ "Link Building"): How to build links to your website using a variety of methods (note: this is where Ahrefs really shines!) - [Site Audit:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#site-seo-audit) How to diagnose and fix errors with your website (note: this is highly recommended, as on-site errors can hold back your success, even if you’ve done everything right thus far!) - [Analyse your Progress/Success:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#analyse-progress) How to use Ahrefs to make sure you’re on the right track and that things are improving with your website. I’ve made a big effort to lay this out as a checklist, rather than a random list of ideas/tactics. This means that if you follow this guide from start-to-finish… I guarantee you will see results. ![Ahrefs review](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20793%202560'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Ahrefs review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ahrefs-review-infographic-scaled.jpg) ## What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)? Ahrefs is a powerful—and complete—SEO analysis tool. It does pretty much everything you could ever need to do from an SEO standpoint, including: - Keyword research (via [Keywords Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer)) - Content research (via [Content Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/content-explorer)) - Backlink research (via [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer)) - Rank tracking (via [Rank Tracker](https://ahrefs.com/rank-tracker)) - Competitor research (via [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer), [Link Intersect Tool](https://ahrefs.com/link-intersect), etc) - Site auditing (i.e. diagnosing site health issues, etc.) (via the [Site Audit tool](https://ahrefs.com/site-audit/)) Right now, the only important thing Ahrefs can’t do is manage or send link building [outreach emails](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/email-outreach/ "outreach emails"). But you can use [Gmail](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/gmail/ "Gmail") for that. Everything else is covered. > You can search a database of 4.9 million keywords in seconds with [Keywords Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer). > > You can search 700+ million pieces of content to find content ideas that will generate a ton of traffic, with [Content Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/content-explorer). > > You can search the world’s largest index of backlinks (over 35 trillion!) to see all your competitors backlinks, with [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer). > > You can find and fix hundreds of on-site issues in seconds, with the [Site Audit](https://ahrefs.com/site-audit) tool. And that’s the tip of the iceberg, really. But, impressive industry-leading stats aside, what does this mean for the average Joe? Simple. You have everything you need—under one roof—to grow your [website traffic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/blogging/website-traffic/ "website traffic") like crazy. This post will walk you through the process of doing this, step-by-step. ## Ahrefs Pros & Cons Ahrefs is an incredibly powerful tool\! But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect for everyone. Here are some pros and cons to help you decide if Ahrefs is right for you. \| PROS \| CONS \| \|---\|---\| \| ✅ Comprehensive all-in-one SEO tool \| ❌ Large learning curve \| \| ✅ Largest live backlink index (35 trillion) \| ❌ No built-in link outreach tool \| \| ✅ Powerful keyword research tools \| ❌ Higher plan prices \| \| ✅ Great site audit tool \| ❌ Rank tracking only updates every week \| \| ✅ Excellent competitor analysis tools \| ❌ Overwhelming amounts of data \| \| ✅ Real-time brand mention alerts \| \| \| ✅ Quality content gap analysis \| \| \| ✅ Intuitive user interface \| \| ### 📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like - Comprehensive All-In-One SEO Platform – Ahrefs has every tool you need to execute a high-level [SEO campaign](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24/ "SEO campaign"). It has everything from keyword research to in-depth backlink analysis and even technical SEO audits. You won’t need to juggle multiple tools because Ahrefs can almost do it all\! - Large Live Backlink Index – Get the most comprehensive competitive backlink data with Ahrefs’ massive 35 trillion live link index. You’ll see links that other tools miss, get more usable data and ultimately end up with more link building opportunities. - Powerful Keyword Research Tools – Ahrefs keyword research tools are comprehensive and user-friendly. This is an area where Ahrefs really shines. It’s easy to find quality long-tail keywords to target and have all the data you need to make good keyword decisions. - Quality Site Audit Tool – Technical SEO isn’t easy. But Ahrefs makes it easier with a very solid site audit tool that balances in-depth SEO auditing with user-friendliness. The tool analyses your site for over 170+ technical and [on-page SEO](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/on-page/ "on-page SEO") factors. - Real-Time Mention Alerts – Ahrefs has an excellent mention monitoring tool. You set up alerts for your name, brand and products. Every time someone mentions them online, you get a real-time notification, which makes it perfect for tracking your brand and finding unlinked mentions. - Content Gap Analysis – The content gap analysis is a feature that many tools offer. But Ahrefs does it better! In just a few clicks, you can literally see hundreds of keywords you’re missing out on and where your competitors are beating you in the SERPs. ### 📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike - Large Learning Curve – Ahrefs has a ton of tools and features. That means there will be a significant learning curve to take full advantage of everything Ahrefs offers. The silver lining is that the user interface is intuitive, so if you have some experience, you’ll be fine. - No Built-In Outreach Tool – Ahrefs doesn’t offer any outreach capabilities, unlike [Semrush](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/semrush/ "Semrush") or SEO Powersuite. That means you will need to have an individual outreach tool to pair with Ahrefs for link building outreach. It’s not a major issue, but something to be aware of. - High Pricing Plans – The free plan that Ahrefs offers is very limited, and paid plans start at \$129 per month. That means it’s not cheap! Make sure you get enough value out of it long-term to justify the high prices. - Ranking Tracking Not Updated Frequently – Ahrefs only updates the keyword rankings you are tracking every 7 days. That’s not great! If you want daily keyword rank tracking updates, you will need to pay extra as an add-on or use another tool. - Can Be Overwhelming – There is a lot of data inside Ahrefs. That means beginners can easily get overwhelmed or distracted by the sheer volume of information. You need to be clear on your goals and use Ahrefs to help you accomplish them. ## Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review In this short section, I’ll show you how to get started with my Ahrefs review and how to set up your account for success. So, first things first, [head over to Ahrefs and sign up](http://www.ahrefs.com/). Note: You can access Ahrefs for free by signing up to [Ahrefs Webmaster Tools](https://ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools) (but you’ll only get LIMITED access to the tool). Once you’re in, Ahrefs will prompt you to add a project (i.e. website) to your account. This is pretty straightforward—give your project a name and hit “next”. Make sure to use the http + https naming scheme. [![getting started with my ahrefs review](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20400'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![getting started with my ahrefs review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Image-2018-01-17-at-6.37.41-pm-700x400-1.png)](http://www.ahrefs.com/) You’ll then be asked to add keywords that you want to track. Ahrefs actually suggests a bunch of keywords that your website is already ranking for. Basically, the higher up the list of suggestions they are, the more traffic those keywords are sending to your website. I recommend adding the first 4-5 pages worth of keywords. ![ahrefs setup 2](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20621%20322'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![ahrefs setup 2](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-setup-2.jpg) Why? Because this allows you to track your most important keywords (i.e. the keywords that are the most traffic to your website). Step \#3….add some competitors. Again, you can either add competitors manually (if you know them) or choose from the suggestions Ahrefs gives. I recommend adding 5 competitors from the suggestions Ahrefs gives. ![ahrefs setup 3](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20387'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![ahrefs setup 3](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-setup-3.png) And finally, add some [branded keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/branded-keywords/) to track. I really recommend taking a moment to set this one up. We’ll be using it later in the guide. ![ahrefs setup 4](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20378'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![ahrefs setup 4](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-setup-4.png) Note: By default, Ahrefs sends you daily emails about these keywords. If you prefer not to have daily emails flooding your inbox, go into the settings and change this to weekly (or monthly). That’s it. You’re ready to rock\! [![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20300'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https://linksthatrank.com/backlink-blacklist/) ## Backlink Health Check > Backlinks from spammy, low-quality websites. > > Backlinks with over-optimised [anchor text](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/anchor-text/ "anchor text"). These types of backlinks can spell disaster for your website. At best, they’ll prevent your website from ranking as well as it should. At worst, they’ll lead to a [Google Penguin penalty](https://searchengineland.com/library/google/google-penguin-update). That’s why you need to nip any “bad” backlinks in the bud before you invest time, energy, and money optimizing your website. But: How do you do this? Like I said earlier, Ahrefs has the largest backlink index on the planet – this makes it the perfect tool for identifying and fixing any “bad” backlinks. NOTE: Ahrefs just released a new [Site Audit](https://ahrefs.com/site-audit) tool to help diagnose even more issues with your website. I’ll be running through this later in the guide. Here’s how to do it: ### \#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports Enter your domain into Site Explorer, then navigate to the referring domains tab. By default, this will show you all referring domains ordered by [Domain Rating](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/domain-rating-dr/ "Domain Rating") (DR)—highest to lowest. But remember: You’re looking for low-quality links, so reverse this (i.e. order by DR low to high). Look for [domains](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/expired-domains/) that look low-quality or suspicious, such as: - Anything you don’t recognise - Foreign-language websites (e.g. .ru, .dk domains, etc) - .xyz domains - Low-quality wiki pages - Article directories - \[empty anchors\] Of course, it would be pretty time-consuming if you had to check every backlink manually. But, luckily, Ahrefs has a few filters to help you out. If you move to the Backlinks report, there are filters for both languages and platform. I recommend filtering by languages like Russian to find [spammy backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/link-spam/ "spammy backlinks"), as Russian sites are kind of notorious for link spam. ![russian language filter ahrefs](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20712%20361'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![russian language filter ahrefs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/russian-language-filter-ahrefs.png) Note: You can get even more specific with languages by filtering for exact TLDs (e.g. .dk, .ru, etc.) in the Referring Domains report. You can also easily uncover low-quality Wiki pages with the Wikis filter in the Backlinks report: ![platform ahrefs](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20731%20308'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![platform ahrefs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/platform-ahrefs.png) But remember, even if something looks super-dodgy, always check out the link manually before making a judgement. Otherwise, you run the risk of disavowing links that may be helping your website. If you can confirm that the link is “bad”, hit the checkbox next to the domain. You can then simply click “[disavow links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/disavow/ "disavow links")” to send them to your [disavow](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/how-to-disavow-backlinks/ "disavow") area + create a disavow file. NOTE: You can only see checkboxes if the domain that you’re reviewing is added to Ahrefs [Dashboard](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/reporting/seo-dashboards/ "Dashboard"). This should be the case if you added your domain(s) in the “getting started” section above. ### \#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues Anchor text is the clickable text within a link. Example: ![anchor text](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%2084'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![anchor text](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/anchor-text.jpg) The anchor text for this link is “this link here”. Anchor text helps to tell Google (and potential visitors) what your website is about—that’s why [it remains a Google ranking factor](https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors). But: Anchor text over-optimisation (i.e. too many keyword-rich links) can trigger a [Google penalty](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/google-penalty/ "Google penalty"). If your website has an unnatural [link profile](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/link-profile/ "link profile") with tons of exact match (or partial match) anchor texts, this could be an issue. Here’s how to identify—and fix—these issues with Ahrefs: Enter your domain into Site Explorer, then go to the Anchors report under [Backlink Profile](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/backlink-analysis/ "Backlink Profile"). ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20426'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/anchors-matthew-woodward-ahrefs-700x426-1.png) This will show you exactly what anchor text is being used within the links back to your website. If you have a healthy backlink profile, most of your anchors will probably be: - [Branded](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/branded-keywords/ "Branded") anchors (e.g. “matthew woodward”, “matthewwoodward.co.uk”, etc.) - Generic anchors (e.g. “click here”, “this post”, etc.) What you don’t want to see is lots of exact-match anchors. This is a sign of over-optimisation. If you spot anything that looks dodgy, hit details \> referring domains to see which sites are linking to you. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20297'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/anchors-junk-links-700x297-1.png) Right now, you can’t disavow these links directly from within the anchors report. However, you can simply hit the export button then upload the file manually to the disavow area. ![ahrefs anchors export](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20674%2049'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![ahrefs anchors export](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-anchors-export.png) Learn [how to disavow backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/how-to-disavow-backlinks/) step by step. ### \#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs Every website has its own IP address that looks something like this: > 104\.27.136.155 In simple terms, while you may be used to typing in matthewwoodward.co.uk to get to my blog, that’s really just a memorable way of navigating to an IP address where my website resides. Basically: Because humans are better at remembering website URLs than a random string of numbers, we let the browser do the work and translate a URL into an IP address behind the scenes. Now, IP addresses are separated into blocks: A, B, C, and D blocks, like so: > AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD If we have the following two websites: - 104\.27.136.155 - 104\.27.136.7 We would say they’re on the same C-block. In internet terms, these sites are neighbours. Note: More information on IP addresses [here](http://www.freesoft.org/CIE/Topics/26.htm). Why does this matter? Lots of links from the same C-block IP can be a bad sign. This is because it signals to Google that these sites may be closely related (e.g. a PBN) and therefore, not the most [natural links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/natural-link/ "natural links") ever. Luckily, you can use Ahrefs’ Referring IPs report to find these. Here’s how: Enter your domains into Site Explorer, then hit the Referring IPs report under Backlink Profile. ![referring ips bad](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20849%20407'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![referring ips bad](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/referring-ips-bad.png) Ahrefs groups referring IPs by C-blocks by default—very useful\! In the example above, you can see that the first few results look a bit dodgy—there are thousands of links, from hundreds of domains, all on the same C-block IP. Let’s take a deeper look. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20400'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/referring-ips-spam-700x400-1.png) Yep, they’re spammy. They need disavowing/removing. Again, there’s no way to disavow these directly from this report but you can export the domains to a .csv and upload them manually. ### \#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks Building backlinks is damn hard. *It’s laborious. Time consuming. And costly.* So: It makes sense to ensure that you’re getting the full benefit of the links you build, right? Definitely. Unfortunately, links sometimes break. And when this happens, you won’t feel the benefit of those links. That’s why fixing [broken links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/broken-link/ "broken links") is a quick way to regain some valuable link juice and increase rankings.Here’s how to do it: Enter your domain into Site Explorer then go to Pages \> Best by links. Then, add a filter so you see only pages with a [404](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/404-error/ "404") status code. ![matthewwoodward broken links](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20757%20499'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![matthewwoodward broken links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/matthewwoodward-broken-links.png) You will now see all 404 pages on your website ranked by the number of referring domains they have. Here’s how to reclaim the “link juice” for these pages: - Restore the broken page—this should be done if there is an actual error on your part (i.e. you’ve accidentally deleted a valuable page at some point). - Add a [301 redirect](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/301-redirect/ "301 redirect") to the broken page—this should point to either the new location of the page, a suitable alternative, or the homepage. - Reach out and asking the website owner to fix the link—this is your best bet if there’s an actual problem with the link such as incorrect formatting. So, just restore these pages or redirect them to something relevant to preserve all your link juice. Do this for any valuable broken links and you’ll see an instant boost\! ### \#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links Spammy [inbound](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/inbound-link/ "inbound") links are BAD. *But outbound links are also extremely* important.** You, therefore, need to make sure that you’re not linking to low-quality (or totally irrelevant) websites. Here’s how to do it: Enter your domain into Site Explorer then go to… > Outgoing links \> Linked Domains \> add a dofollow filter By default, Ahrefs shows the most linked-to domains first. Reverse this list. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20385'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/linked-domains-spam-700x385-1.png) When I gave this report a quick onceover for my own website, everything looked pretty above board (phew!) BUT…this isn’t the case for all sites. Here’s an outbound link I found on Moz.com: ![linked domain moz](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20233'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![linked domain moz](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/linked-domain-moz.jpg) This is clearly a spammy domain. If you find anything like this, remove (or replace) the links on your website. Also: Sometimes, you’ll find that your website is linking to a particular URL many times. Example: ![lots of outgoing links](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20199'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![lots of outgoing links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/lots-of-outgoing-links.jpg) Upon closer inspection, we can see that this is a [Wordpress theme](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/blogging/best-wordpress-theme-for-blogging/ "Wordpress theme") link present in the theme HTML. ![lots of outbound links](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20777%20423'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![lots of outbound links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/lots-of-outbound-links.png) In all honesty, this probably isn’t going to cause any huge issues. However, as it’s a dofollow link across (almost) every page of the website, at the very least it’s diluting authority for no good reason. I recommend that you remove anything like this from your website’s HTML, too. ### \#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links Broken outbound links lead to a bad user experience. Not only is it annoying to click a link on a website and be taken to a broken page but also, it leaves the visitor questioning the validity of your content. Why? Because they’ll assume your website hasn’t been updated in awhile. Or that you simply don’t put much effort into your content—certainly not enough to curate resources that actually exist. Also, if Google thinks your content is going to lead to a bad user experience, they certainly aren’t going to rank your website. Luckily, this is easily fixable. Here’s how: Enter your website into Site Explorer, then go to Outgoing Links \> Broken Links. If anything shows up in this report, there are issues to be fixed. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20339'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/broken-outbound-links-700x339-1.png) Looks like I have 56 broken outbound links on my website 🙁 You should fix these links by either removing them or replacing them. Note: Here’s [a checklist from Vertical measures](http://www.verticalmeasures.com/search-optimization/how-broken-links-hurt-your-seo-and-your-heart/) that goes into detail regarding exactly how to deal with broken outbound links. [![download the link building checklist](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![download the link building checklist](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-link-building-leak-checklist.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo/) ## Keyword Research Fixing the errors outlined above should be enough to give you a small traffic boost. BUT: Now it’s time for the big guns. No matter what website you’re working on, your SEO strategy should follow roughly the same blueprint, which is: - Find keywords you want to rank for (and that you already rank for) - Prioritise keywords/topics into long-term opportunities + short-term opportunities (i.e. low-hanging fruit) - Create some content (or improve existing content) around those keywords - Build links to content (wherever appropriate/necessary) - Analyse what did/didn’t work and refine your strategy/plan going forward. - Rinse and repeat all of the above Trust me: Do those things, in that order, and I guarantee you’ll see a HUGE traffic increase. So, let’s get started with the first step: keyword discovery. ### \#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer Keywords Explorer is the first place I turn when I want to discover keywords for a new (or existing) website. That’s because all you need is a few “seed” keywords and it’ll give you thousands of ideas. Here’s the process: Go to Keywords explorer and enter a few [seed keyword](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/seed-keywords/ "seed keyword") ideas. Note: There’s no exact process for coming up with these. Just make an educated guess. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20296'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/keywords-explorer-700x296-1.png) Hit the search button. Note: Make sure to select the appropriate country (e.g. United States) before searching, otherwise you’ll see keyword volume estimates and whatnot for a country unrelated to your business. Go to the metrics tab. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20355'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/keyword-metrics-kw-explorer-700x355-1.png) This shows you monthly search volume, [Keyword Difficulty](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/keyword-difficulty/ "Keyword Difficulty") (KD), and tons of other information. If a keyword looks good (i.e. it has some decent [search volume](https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-search-volume/) and is relevant to your business), save it to a keywords list. ![Screen Recording 2017 10 26 at 09.45 pm](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20651%20231'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Screen Recording 2017 10 26 at 09.45 pm](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Recording-2017-10-26-at-09.45-pm.gif) Note: If a keyword is super-relevant to your business, it makes sense to prioritise it, even if the search volume for that keyword is quite low. As I’ll mention later in this guide, search volume isn’t always the best indicator of traffic. However, it is a good starting point and it’s still worth looking at. ### \#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords) Right now, [Ahrefs has the biggest keywords database in the industry](https://ahrefs.com/big-data). Because of this, Keywords Explorer will show you with a bunch (and I really do mean a bunch!) of other keyword ideas based on your seed keywords. Just hit one of these 6 options on the left-hand menu: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20319'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/kw-explorer-menu-700x319-1.png) Personally, I usually just select “all”. However, this will usually give you a few million keywords to play with (see, I told you they had a lot of data), which is pretty damn impossible to work with. So, I tend to play with the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to narrow them down. Your best bet is to filter for keywords with a KD score of less than 10. ![kd filter keywords explorer](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20655%20267'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![kd filter keywords explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/kd-filter-keywords-explorer.png) Why? Because anything below KD 10 means that top-ranking results have less than or equal to 10 backlinks on average, so it should be fairly easy to rank for them. ![kd score 10 keywords](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20714%20259'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![kd score 10 keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/kd-score-10-keywords.png) I usually just tick anything that looks good and add it to my keywords list. And if you prefer to get a little more granular with your keyword suggestions, you can learn more about what “phrase match”, “having same terms”, etc. mean [here](https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-generator/#section4). Note: Ahrefs presented me with 32K+ keyword suggestions from just the 8 keywords I entered above…so you certainly won’t be short of ideas\! ### \#9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors Enter a competitor’s domain into Site Explorer, then go to Organic search \> Top Pages Here you will see which of your competitors pages are attracting the most organic search traffic. You’ll also see the top keyword that page ranks for, along with the search volume for that keyword. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20348'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/robbie-richards-competitor-700x348-1.png) Note: It’s also worth paying attention to the RD (Referring Domains) column as this shows how many ref.domains are pointing to that page. If you can identify pages that receive a lot of traffic, yet only have a few RDs, it’s most likely a topic that you can rank for pretty easily\! Pretty cool, right!? BUT it gets even better… This report also shows you all of the other keywords these pages rank for (in order of the amount of traffic they drive to your competitors page). ![top pages keywords suggestions](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20471'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![top pages keywords suggestions](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/top-pages-keywords-suggestions.jpg) This is not only useful for generating additional keyword ideas but also, finding keywords/topics/phrases that you can sprinkle into your content to increase relevance (i.e. [LSI keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/lsi/ "LSI keywords")). ### \#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps” Content gaps exist when your competitors rank for keywords that you don’t rank for. Think about it: If you could see what those keywords are, you could [create content](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/blogging/free-content/ "create content") to compete with them (and ideally outrank them). Here’s how to find those keywords with Ahrefs: Enter your domain into Site Explorer, then go to Organic Search \> Content Gap Now, enter the domains of (at least) three competitors plus your domain in the “but the following target doesn’t rank for” field. ![content gap](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20377'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![content gap](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/content-gap.jpg) Hit “show keywords”. ![content gap results](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20382'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![content gap results](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/content-gap-results.jpg) Bingo…here are hundreds of keywords that (at least) one of your competitors rank for, yet you don’t. Tip: Enter competitors with a similar Domain Rating (DR) score. This will ensure that the Content Gap analysis kicks back keywords you stand a chance of ranking for. If you enter Moz.com as a competitor and you have a DR 40 site, the sad truth is that you’re probably never going to outrank Moz. I recommend paying particular attention to any keywords where your competitors are ranking in the top 10. Why? Because if they’re ranking in the top 10, chances are you could, too\! Is Ahrefs out of your budget? No worries, you can use one of these [free keyword research tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/tools/free-keyword-research-tools/) to find the right keywords for your business. [![download the on page seo checklist](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![download the on page seo checklist](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-seo-checklist.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/wnig7cbedwexyepxxjpv/) ## Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities) At this stage, you should have a big list of keywords that you could try to rank for. BUT: Just because you can target these keywords doesn’t mean you should. > 1\. Some will be easier to rank for than others (in fact, you may not even stand a hope in hell of ranking for some of them). > 2. Some will drive a lot of traffic (while others will drive very little). > 3. Some will require creating new content (others won’t). Analysing keywords for certain attributes will allow you to prioritise your list, and divide your ideas into long-term and short-term topics. Here are a few tips: ### \#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6 Already ranking in positions 4-6 for some high-volume keywords? These are your low-hanging fruit. Why? Because [CTR increases exponentially within the top 5 positions](https://www.advancedwebranking.com/cloud/ctrstudy/). ![Google Organic CTR History](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20403'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Google Organic CTR History](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Google_Organic_CTR_History.jpg) Therefore, it only takes a ranking increase of one position to see BIG traffic boosts from these keywords. And improving rankings by 1-2 positions can be as simple as building a handful of high-quality links. But how do you find these keywords? Simple. Enter your site into Site Explorer, then go to Organic Search \> Organic Keywords This will show you all of the keywords your website is currently ranking for. ![organic keywords matthew woodward](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20378'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![organic keywords matthew woodward](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/organic-keywords-matthew-woodward.jpg) Note: By default, they’re ordered by the amount of organic traffic they send to your website—neat\! But here’s the trick: Add a positions filter to show the keywords you’re currently ranking in positions 4-6. ![positions filter organic keywords](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20270'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![positions filter organic keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/positions-filter-organic-keywords.png) These keywords are your low-hanging fruit—they should be prioritised when it comes to on-page optimization and link building. ### \#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential Sometimes individual keywords won’t have a particularly high search volume. Example: “[best keyword research tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/keyword-research-tools/)” ![best keyword research tools](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20304'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![best keyword research tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/best-keyword-research-tools.jpg) If you were to rank \#1 for this keyword, you would receive roughly 30% of these clicks. That’s a measly 75 visitors/month (approx.) Hardly worth bothering, right!? Not so fast. Looking at individual search volumes for a single keyword rarely shows you the true ranking potential of that topic. This is because pages almost always naturally rank for TONs of variations of that keyword (i.e. “long-tail keywords”). So how do you figure out the true ranking potential of a topic? Easy… Check how much organic traffic the top ranking pages for that keyword are getting. If it’s a lot, the topic/keyword has a high traffic potential. Here’s how: Go to Keywords Explorer and enter a keyword. Scroll down to the SERP overview and you’ll see who’s ranking in the top 10. You can also see how much organic traffic these top ranking pages are attracting (across all keywords). ![serp overview](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20297'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![serp overview](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/serp-overview.jpg) These are the SERPs for “best keyword research tool” and as you can see, the top ranking pages are getting WAY more than 75 visits/month. So, this topic DEFINITELY has a high traffic potential and is worth prioritising. [![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20300'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https://linksthatrank.com/backlink-blacklist/) ## Content Research Keyword research? *CHECK.* Keyword prioritisation? *CHECK.* (You’re off to a good start!) But…you ain’t going to rank for any of those keywords without creating some EPIC content around them. Obviously, some of the keywords you’ve found (e.g. the low-hanging opportunities in positions 4-6) won’t require new content. You just need to optimise—and build some extra links to—your existing content. For others, however, you’re going to need to create something new\! BUT here’s the problem: It’s NOT always easy to discern exactly what you should be writing about solely by looking at a keyword. Example: Let’s take the keyword “keyword research”. ![keyword research keyword](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20313'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![keyword research keyword](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/keyword-research-keyword.png) It’s a great keyword with a ridiculously high search volume (at least for this niche). BUT, it’s also massively competitive. If I was to write a reasonably generic guide to keyword research, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance of ranking in the top 3 for this exact keyword. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t write about keyword research at all…I just need to “niche down” a little and write a UNIQUE piece of content. Here’s how: ### \#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer Ahrefs has [an index of 800+ million pieces of content on various topics](https://ahrefs.com/big-data). They also add 5+ million new pieces of content to this index every 24 hours (which is absolutely INSANE). But, data and stats aside, what benefit does this have? Well, it means that you can enter (almost) any keyword into Content Explorer and it’ll kick back a TON of content ideas. Example: ![content explorer](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20466'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![content explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/content-explorer.jpg) That’s 3900+ content ideas for “keyword research”. And this is only results where the phrase “keyword research” is in the article title… You can also search for content where the phrase is mentioned anywhere in the article content, which will return exponentially more results\! ![in content ahrefs kw explorer](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20681%20233'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![in content ahrefs kw explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/in-content-ahrefs-kw-explorer.png) BUT, like I said, it would be VERY difficult to rank for this exact keyword without “niching down”. This is because the “big guys” (e.g. Moz, Ahrefs, etc) are currently dominating the SERPs for this topic. However, we can use the in-built filters in content Explorer to find ideas that: - We can actually compete with - Will actually generate traffic for us Here’s the setup: ![content explorer filters](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20621%20123'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![content explorer filters](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/content-explorer-filters.png) Here’s exactly what we’re doing here (and why!): - Filtering for only English results: Pretty self-explanatory, right!? - Filtering ONLY for results from websites with a DR between 0-59: Because the DR of my website (matthewwoodward.co.uk) is also 59, I only want to see results for sites with the same (or lower) DR. Why? Because these are the sites I’ll be able to compete with easily. - Filtering ONLY for pages with \<5 referring domains AND \>500 organic visitors per month: This is the important part! By looking for pages that are receiving 500+ organic visits AND have very few links, we can uncover pages that will be VERY easy to outrank. Stealing their traffic will most likely require nothing more than creating better content and building a handful of links (at the most) Here’s what Content Explorer found for my search: ![keyword research filtered](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20185'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![keyword research filtered](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/keyword-research-filtered.jpg) This page talks about how to uncover keywords by looking at YouTube tags. It receives 525 organic visits per month, has 0 referring domains, and is 183 words long. If this isn’t easily beatable content, then I don’t know what is\! Note: Remember, if your search doesn’t return many results, you can always find pages containing your keyword anywhere in the content (using the “in content”) filter to broaden your horizons. ### \#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer Nobody understands [search intent](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/search-intent/ "search intent") like Google does. Their algorithm relies on showing users what they want to see. Because of this, there’s no better way to understand the intent behind a search term (i.e. what people are actually looking to find) than analysing the top 10 search results. Example: Let’s take a keyword like “SEO tools”… Now, there are plenty of SEO tools—some free, some paid—on the market. If we wanted to rank for this keyword, maybe a winning formula for a piece of content would be to create a list of all of these SEO tools, right!? Again, not so fast. Let’s go to Keywords Explorer, enter the keyword, and scroll down to the SERP overview. This shows us the top 10 ranking results. ![seo tools keywords explorer](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20528'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![seo tools keywords explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/seo-tools-keywords-explorer-1.jpg) Instantly, I spot a pattern… Although most of the results are lists of SEO tools, a lot of them are actually lists of free SEO tools. ![free seo tools keywords explorer](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20203'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![free seo tools keywords explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/free-seo-tools-keywords-explorer.jpg) In fact, 7/10 results contain the word “free” in the title tag. This tells me that although people are generally typing in “SEO tools”, they actually appear to be looking for a list of the best [free SEO tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/free-seo-tools/). It would, therefore, be much smarter to go down this route when creating a piece of content around this keyword/topic. Also: Keywords Explorer tells us how many links (and referring domains) each of these pages has, allowing us to quickly spot topics with great potential to attract a TON of links. [![download the link building checklist](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![download the link building checklist](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-link-building-leak-checklist.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo/) ## Link Building I’ll let you in on a (sad) secret: You ain’t going to rank for any worthwhile keyword/topic without links. Sure, less competitive keywords may only require a handful of links whereas more competitive keywords may require many more links (sometimes even thousands) but still, the bottomline is this: You. Need. Links. But here’s the good news: Ahrefs shines in this department. Not only do they boast [the largest live link index on the market](https://ahrefs.com/big-data), they have a TON of [link building tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/link-building-tools/) that can help you with the task at hand. In fact, I don’t know any serious link builders that AREN’T using Ahrefs. It really is that good. Here are a few ways to use Ahrefs to build all the links you need: ### \#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks Remember those branded alerts I told you to set up at the beginning of this guide? ![ahrefs setup 4](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20378'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![ahrefs setup 4](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-setup-4.png) If you set them up correctly, you’ve most likely received an email that looks something like this: ![branded mention](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20433'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![branded mention](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/branded-mention.jpg) Basically, this tells you whenever anyone mentions your name (or any other branded terms) on the web. So: > If someone mentions you personally in a blog post, you’ll know about it. > > If someone talks about your brand (e.g. Apple) in a review, you’ll know about it. > > Etc. BUT: Just because someone has mentioned your name (or brand name) in a piece of content doesn’t necessarily mean that they remembered to link to you. And if they didn’t…getting the link is usually as easy as reaching out and asking for it. Example: If you look closely at the screenshot above, you’ll see that I was recently mentioned in an article about starting a membership website. Here’s the part where I’m mentioned: ![create a membership website mention](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20201'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![create a membership website mention](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/create-a-membership-website-mention.jpg) Weirdly, they didn’t link to the tutorial they mentioned in that paragraph. It’s highly likely that they simply forgot, or made a mistake. So: Getting a link from this article would likely take nothing more than a simple email asking them to add a link. ### \#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You) Monitoring branded keywords is a good start. BUT, that’s the tip of the iceberg… Here’s why: In Ahrefs Alerts, you can monitor for mentions of ANY keyword. For example, here’s an alert I set up for “link building”: ![link building alert](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20546'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![link building alert](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/link-building-alert.png) Now, each week, I get an email from Ahrefs showing me any newly published content containing that term (i.e. link building) from the past 7 days. Example: ![gmail ahrefs link building alert](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20469'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![gmail ahrefs link building alert](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/gmail-ahrefs-link-building-alert.jpg) That’s 93 new mentions of “link building” in just one week\! BUT…how does this help to build links? Basically, you can use these alerts to discover content that could be improved by adding a link to your website (or a particular resource on your website). Example: Take a look at that 2nd article (the one by SearchEngineLand.com). It talks about “[7 Reasons Why Your Broken Link Building Campaign Isn’t Working](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/broken-link-building-not-working/217555/)”… ![sel post](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20314'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![sel post](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sel-post.jpg) It’s a great article, BUT… I get the feeling that readers of this article are likely struggling with link building in general. Scrolling to the end of the post, it looks like the author also thinks this…that’s why he’s chosen to include a few links to additional link building resources. ![more resources sel](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20223'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![more resources sel](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/more-resources-sel.png) It just so happens that I also have a TON of great link building resources on my blog, such as [this list of 44 link building strategies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/strategies/). ![44 link building strategies](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20297'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![44 link building strategies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/44-link-building-strategies.jpg) Because this would also be a great additional resource to include at the end of that SEL post, I could simply reach out to the author of that post (Kevin) and suggest that he add a link to my post in that final section. This is a great, simple way to build links to any piece of content 🙂 Not that this method is also commonly use for [niche edits](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/niche-edits/) & [link inserts](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/link-inserts/)\! ### \#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions You can learn a lot from your competitors. BUT… Did you know that monitoring your competitors can be a great source of link prospects? Basically, if you can identify where your competitors are being mentioned AND linked-to, you can often steal these links/mentions from yourself. Example: Here are the top 3 Google results for “[long tail pro](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/long-tail-pro/ "long tail pro")”: ![long tail pro google](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20546'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![long tail pro google](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/long-tail-pro-google.jpg) Right now, I’m ranking in position \#3. BUT…I’d really like to rank \#1. This means that my competitors for this keyword are: - longtailpro.com - dumbpassiveincome.com Now: Right off the bat, I could throw these URLs into Ahrefs Site Explorer, look at their backlinks, and see if there are any easily replicable links I could steal for myself. BUT…that’s a different strategy altogether\! What I want to talk about is monitoring both competitor links AND branded keywords to give you a constant supply of link opportunities. So, let’s start with backlink monitoring: Like I said, one of my competitors is dumbpassiveincome.com—they have a similar [Long Tail Pro review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/long-tail-pro/) to mine. However, I personally believe my review to be better. I also updated my review very recently, so it’s super fresh. I, therefore, believe that anyone choosing to link to my competitors Long Tail Pro review would be better off linking to mine. So, I want to monitor my competitors review for new links. If they get any, I can then reach out to the person linking to them and suggest that they link to my review instead (as it’s better). Here’s how to set up an alert for these links: Go to the Backlinks section within Ahrefs Alerts and hit “\+ New Alert”. Enter the URL of the page you want to monitor for backlinks, choose “New backlinks” under the “Scope” option, and enter your email address. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20563'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-alerts-backlinks-700x563-1.png) You’ll now receive an email whenever there’s a new link to your competitor’s URL—you can then swoop in and steal the link for yourself. BUT…competitor backlinks aren’t the only thing worth monitoring: You can also monitor competitors branded keywords. Example: Because I have a review of Long Tail Pro, it would be worth setting up an alert for branded keywords like “Long Tail Pro”. Here’s why: If someone is mentioning Long Tail Pro on the web, their readers would find a review and tutorial for the tool rather useful. So, whenever I see Long Tail Pro being mentioned, I can simply reach out to the website owner and suggest they add a link to my review within their post. Easy. Here’s how to set this up: Go to the Mentions section of Ahrefs Alerts and hit “+ New Alert”. Add your keyword, add any blocked domains (e.g. your own website), and your email address. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20420'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-alerts-mentions-700x420-1.png) Now you’ll receive an email alert whenever your keyword (e.g. “long tail pro”) is mentioned on the web. ### \#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects) Ahh, the infamous “skyscraper technique”… It’s perhaps the most famous link-building technique there is\! And for good reason, too—it’s super powerful\! For those unfamiliar, here’s the basic process: - Find a piece of content with a TON of links. - Make something even better. - [Contact](https://www.searchlogistics.com/contact/ "Contact") anyone linking to the old, inferior piece of content and suggest that they link to yours instead. Smart. Note: Here’s [Brian’s full post on the Skyscraper Technique](https://backlinko.com/skyscraper-technique). BUT… How do you find “skyscraper” content (i.e. content with a TON of links that you can build upon) in the first place? Here’s a super simple method: Enter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to Pages \> Best by Links You will now see every page on the domain ordered by \# of backlinks. ![backlinko best by links](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20569'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![backlinko best by links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/backlinko-best-by-links.jpg) The two posts I’ve highlighted above have thousands of backlinks. If I was to put-together an even better version of any of these posts, I would have thousands of prospects to pitch to\! Note: You can gather a list of “skyscraper” prospects by checking the backlink profile of that particular URL in Site Explorer. Just sift through all the links and choose prospects to reach out to. BUT… What if you already have an EPIC piece of content and you want to build some links to it? Here’s a simple trick that I haven’t seen anyone talk about before: Enter a keyword into Content Explorer, then filter ONLY for pages with 100+ referring domains. Example: Let’s say that I wanted to build some links to [my list of 44 link building strategies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/strategies/). I would enter the keyword “[link building strategies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/strategies/ "link building strategies")” into Content Explorer and add a referring domains filter. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20362'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/referring-domains-100-content-explorer-700x362-1.jpg) This gives me 76 results—all of these are (a) about link building strategies, and (b) have 100+ referring domains. Now, the trick is then to sift through the results looking for content that is very similar—yet inferior to—your content. Here’s a good example: ![moz content explorer](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20219'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![moz content explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/moz-content-explorer-1.jpg) This page has 109 referring domains, yet it only lists 31 strategies where mine lists 44. It also hasn’t been updated since 2014\! Anyone linking to this page is a prime “skyscraper” prospect for my post—I just need to reach out and suggest they change the link to my page (and tell them why they should). ### \#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report) Nobody likes broken links. You know the ones… They take you to pages like this: ![backlinko page not found 404](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20206'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![backlinko page not found 404](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/backlinko-page-not-found-404.png) It drives me crazy whenever this happens\! BUT… Broken links are a link-builders dream. Why? Because if you can find a broken link with a TON of backlinks, you can build links with this simple 3-step process: 1. Find out what the broken link used to be 2. Create a similar—but better—piece of content 3. Ask anyone linking to the broken content to link to your content instead However, before you can do this, you need to actually find a broken link with the following attributes: - It has a TON of links pointing to it - It’s relevant to your website - It can be replicated without too much work Here’s how to do this: Enter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to Pages \> Best by Links. This shows you the most linked-to pages on that domain. BUT…we don’t want to see all pages—we want to see broken pages. To do this, filter the list to show ONLY 404 errors. ![backlinko broken links](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20620%20295'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![backlinko broken links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/backlinko-broken-links.png) Most websites will have at least a few broken links. Simply sift through these pages looking for broken links that have a decent number of backlinks AND would be relevant to your website. Note: You can use [Wayback Machine](https://archive.org/web/) to see how any page used to look. If you identify a page that meets all of the criteria mentioned above, create a similar piece of content then publish it on your website. It’s then just a case of reaching out to anyone linking to the old broken link and suggesting that they fix the link by replacing it with your link. Simple. ### \#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects Guest posting is one of the oldest link building tactics in the [book](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/books/ "book"). It goes something like this: - Find websites that accept guest posts (in your niche) - Reach out to them and pitch a post idea - Write the post, land the link If you’ve ever done guest posting before, you’ll know there’s no shortage of opportunities around. Example: Google finds 4,000+ “write for us” pages (i.e. websites that are accepting guest posts) for search term “SEO”. ![seo guest post](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20621%20163'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![seo guest post](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/seo-guest-post.png) That’s a LOT of prospects\! BUT there’s a problem… While you could write for thousands of websites, it’s important to remember that guest posting takes a lot of work. Not only do you have to pitch the websites, you also have to write a top notch article, too. This can be pretty time-consuming (or, if you’re outsourcing it, expensive!) And, because we want people to actually read our guest post, there’s ZERO point writing posts for websites that get little/no traffic. So, the question is: how do you know how much traffic a website gets? Simple…just enter the domain into Site Explorer and Ahrefs will show you an estimate of organic traffic. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20152'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/matthew-woodward-organic-traffic-700x152-1.png) BUT…what if you have a long list of prospects? No worries, just paste the entire list into Ahrefs Batch Analysis tool like so: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20283'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/batch-analysis-ahrefs-700x283-1.png) Note: Make sure to select the option for “domain with all its subdomains” under the mode drop-down. Here’s the result (ordered by organic search traffic): ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20314'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-batch-analysis-domains-700x314-1.png) This is a great way to cut down your list and ensure that you’re ONLY writing for websites that actually [get traffic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/free-backlinks/ "get traffic")\! [![download the on page seo checklist](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![download the on page seo checklist](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-seo-checklist.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/wnig7cbedwexyepxxjpv/) ## Site Audit Keyword discovery and research…*DONE.* Content creation…*DONE.* Link building…*DONE.* (well, link building is never done, but you should have at least made a start!) Here’s the good news: *that’s most* of the difficult stuff out of the way. But, even if you’ve executed everything perfectly thus far, the truth is that simple on-site errors can often hinder your success. I’m talking about… - Rogue “noindex” tags - Missing [meta description](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/meta-description/ "meta description") - [Thin content](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/thin-content/ "Thin content") And so forth. This is where [Ahrefs Site Audit](https://ahrefs.com/site-audit) tool comes in handy. In a nutshell, it will diagnose pretty much every on-site issue you could think of, without you really having to lift a finger. Here are a few useful things you can do with it: Note:** I’m not going to cover how to set up a project or run crawls in the Site Audit tool because, honestly, it’s pretty self-explanatory. But, if you’re struggling, [this post](https://ahrefs.com/blog/new-site-audit-tool/) (by Ahrefs) explains exactly how to do it, along with a lot more\! ### \#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report) Go to Internal Pages \> Performance and you will see a report that looks something like this: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20395'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/site-audit-performance-700x395-1.png) At first glance, this may appear as nothing more than a myriad of pie charts. But, this is actually showing you the number of pages on your website that are slow to load, in various ways. I recommend paying particular attention to the “Load time” chart: ![performance load time](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20763%20388'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![performance load time](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/performance-load-time.jpg) The red section of the pie chart shows the number of pages that are too slow to load (and thus, need fixing). If you click on the red section, you will see exactly which pages these are, along with how slowly they actually load: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20286'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/site-audit-loading-time-700x286-1.png) One cool thing to note here is that Ahrefs also shows you the amount of organic traffic these pages are receiving. If you spot a slow loading page that is receiving a lot of traffic, I recommend prioritising the speeding-up of that page. Why? Because chances are it will attract even more traffic if you improve the visitor experience. ### \#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report Mistakes with HTML tags can wreak havoc on your website. For example, if you accidentally add a noindex tag to a page, Google won’t even index that page. This means that even if you write great content and build epic links, it ain’t going to rank. And, while not all HTML tag errors are potentially this catastrophic, they’re still worth fixing. Ahrefs’ Site Audit tool makes this super-easy, as it uncovers all the errors for you. To view them, just go to Internal Pages \> HTML Tags: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20246'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/html-tags-internal-pages-site-audit-700x246-1.png) Here, it will list all of the issues the crawler has found with your website. In the example above, you can see that I have a few missing meta tags, along with a few other errors. To learn more about where these errors actually occur, just click on one of the errors: ![Screen20Recording202017 12 2820at2003.4820pm](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20768%20392'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Screen20Recording202017 12 2820at2003.4820pm](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen20Recording202017-12-2820at2003.4820pm.gif) It will then tell you more information about the errors, including the pages on which the errors occur: ![meta description issues](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20747%20506'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![meta description issues](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/meta-description-issues.png) Because Ahrefs does the hard work for you (i.e. the discovery of these errors), you can usually fix them pretty easily just by editing a bit of HTML code. ### \#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports Earlier in this guide, I showed you how to check for (and remove) toxic backlinks. This is super-important. But, there are other link-based issues that can impact the performance of your website. I’m talking about… - Broken outgoing links - “[Nofollow](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/nofollow/ "Nofollow")” internal links - [HTTPS](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/https/) pages internally linking to HTTP pages And so forth. Luckily, the Incoming and Outgoing Links reports in the Site Audit tool will help you to uncover and fix these issues. Let’s start by taking a look at the Incoming Links report: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20239'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/incoming-links-site-audit-700x239-1.png) In this example, you can see that there are a few issues with my website—namely nofollowed internal links. This isn’t always cause for concern but generally, your internal links should be used to send “link juice” to important and relevant pages. Therefore, they should be dofollow links. Note: I have [a full guide on internal linking best practices here](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/on-page/internal-link-building/). If you click any of these errors, you will see exactly where they reside: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20269'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/nofollow-internal-links-site-audit-700x269-1.png) Let’s take a look at the Outgoing Links report, too: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20257'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/site-audit-outgoing-links-700x257-1.png) Again, we have a few errors, including: - Pages that link out to broken pages (these should be replaced and fixed!) - HTTPS pages linking to unsecure internal pages (this is definitely not the best practice!) - Pages without outgoing links ([some studies](https://www.rebootonline.com/blog/long-term-outgoing-link-experiment/) have found outgoing links to have a positive effect on rankings) If you want to investigate an error further (and see exactly where the error occurs), just click through to take a look. And this is only the tip of the iceberg—there are plenty of supporting graphs, data visualizations, and other pieces of information in these reports. Recommended reading: [This is the new Site Audit tool](https://ahrefs.com/blog/new-site-audit-tool/) by Ahrefs (an overview of the Site Audit tool written by [Tim Soulo](https://sg.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo) from Ahrefs) Check out my [4 step SEO audit case study](https://www.searchlogistics.com/case-studies/4-step-seo-audit-results/) to see how regular SEO audits can help your website grows. ## Analysing Your Progress/Success *SEO is hard* work. That’s why it’s important to keep your eye on progress and make sure that the grunt work is having a positive impact on your website. [Google Analytics](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/google-analytics/ "Google Analytics") will be your best bet here. BUT…if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably end up seeing your Ahrefs dashboard much more than your [Google Analytics](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/tools/google-analytics-alternatives/) account. So: Here are a few things to look for in Ahrefs to make sure you’re heading in the right direction: ### \#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank Are you building a consistent flow of links to your website? If so, you should see your Domain Rating (DR) increase over time. Here’s what it looks like on your dashboard: ![ahrefs dr](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20837%20329'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![ahrefs dr](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-dr.png) If it increases, you’ll see a green arrow appear alongside this number with the amount of points it’s increased (much like with the [URL rating](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/url-rating-ur/ "URL rating") below). Similarly, you should start to see your Ahrefs Rank decrease. Basically, the lower your Ahrefs Rank is, the better, so keep an eye on it. Note:** Don’t obsess over these metrics. However, they are a decent indicator as to the overall status of your website. ### \#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords) Remember during the Ahrefs setup process when I told you to track a bunch of your top keywords in Ahrefs? Well, that’s because these keywords also show up in your dashboard, like this: ![tracked keywords ahrefs](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20619%20230'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![tracked keywords ahrefs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/tracked-keywords-ahrefs.png) Basically, this shows how many of your tracked keywords are ranking in the top 1-3, 4-10, 11-20, and 21-50 search results. As rankings improve, they’ll show up here. This is my personal favourite way to keep an eye on what really matters—if I see improvements here, I know that my traffic is probably increasing, too. Of course, if you want to take a more granular look at keyword rankings (with graphs and whatnot), you can use Ahrefs Rank Tracker. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20425'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-rank-tracker-700x425-1.jpg) This can also show you some super-cool data such as the number of featured snippets you own, and much more. ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20700%20208'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/serp-snippets-700x208-1.png) BUT: If you need daily keyword ranking updates you might want to checkout my [Accuranker review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/accuranker/) because Ahrefs only updates every 3 days. Want to write product reviews like this one? Use my [product review template](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/tools/product-review-template/)\! [![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20300'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https://linksthatrank.com/backlink-blacklist/) ## Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs) Before I wrap this up, I want to mention a handful of tools that incorporate Ahrefs data. I know from talking to [Tim Soulo](https://sg.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo) that Ahrefs are very picky about which tools they allow to use their data. That’s why this list is quite short. Here are the tools I can personally vouch for: - [URL Profiler](https://urlprofiler.com/): Pulls in a bunch of metrics (including Ahrefs metrics) for a list of URLs. This is one of my personal favourites. See my full [URL Profiler review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/url-profiler/) for more. - [Ninja Outreach](https://www.searchlogistics.com/get/ninjaoutreach/ "NinjaOutreach"): Use the free trial of this tool to contact thosuands of backlink opportunities/broken backlinks itc in a couple of clicks. They have a range of link building email templates [built in](https://www.searchlogistics.com/get/ninjaoutreach/ "NinjaOutreach")\! - [Screaming Frog](https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/): Industry-leading [crawling](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/how-search-engines-work/ "crawling") & [SEO Spider](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/seo-spider/) tool. A must-have for anyone who’s serious about SEO. It now also allows you to pull in metrics (e.g. DR, Ahrefs Rank, etc.) from Ahrefs directly. More details [here](https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/#ahrefs). - [Link Miner (Chrome Extension)](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/linkminer/ogdhdnpiclkaeicicamopfohidjokoom?hl=en): Analyse and extract links from any web page. Perfect for finding broken links and quickly assessing them by pulling in metrics from Ahrefs. - [SeoTools for Excel](http://seotoolsforexcel.com/): Excel add-on that’s absolutely packed with functionality. If you want to pull Ahrefs metrics directly into your spreadsheets, this one is for you! More details [here](http://seotoolsforexcel.com/ahrefs/). And [here are a few more tools that integrate Ahrefs data](https://ahrefs.com/apps) (although I haven’t tested these personally). [![increase your search traffic in 28 days](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20450'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![increase your search traffic in 28 days](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-28-day-seo.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24/) ## Wrapping It Up *[Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/) is an incredible* tool. Not just for link-building, but for (almost) everything else, too. Seriously, if I was limited to using only one SEO tool forever, Ahrefs would probably be my \#1 choice. BUT…enough with the praise… Here’s a quick recap of my surefire process for increasing traffic in my Ahrefs review- - Make sure your website is healthy (i.e. there are no bad-backlinks, broken links, etc)** - [Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-bad-backlinks) - [Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-unnatural-anchor-text) - [Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-links-same-c-class) - [Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-fix-broken-links) - [Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-low-quality-links) - [Fix Broken Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#fix-broken-outboind-links) - [Look for potential issues with Ahrefsbot and fix them.](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/ahrefsbot/) - Find all of the best keywords - [Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#keyword-explorer) - [See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#keyword-ideas) - [Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-competitor-keywords) / [VIDEO TUTORIAL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvyVrnpAs68) - [Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#analyse-competitors) - Prioritise your keywords AND find low-hanging fruit (i.e. quick-win opportunities) - [Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-keyword-opportunities) - [Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-keyword-potential) - Research and create some EPIC content - [Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#content-ideas) - [Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#content-seo-research) - Build links to your EPIC content - [Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#branded-link-reclaimation) - [Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#monitor-keywords) - [Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#monitor-competitors) - [Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-link-building-opportunities) - [Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#broken-backlink-building) / [VIDEO TUTORIAL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8LramMafYc) - [Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-guest-post-sites) - Complete a site audit and fix all outstanding issues - [Use The Site Audit Tool To Find Every SEO Problem](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#site-seo-audit) - [Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-slow-pages) - [Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-html-problems) - [Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-link-problems) - Keep an eye on your progress and make sure you’re on the right track\! - [Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#increase-seo-metrics) - [Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#increase-rankings) - [Increase Domain Authority (DA)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/increase-domain-authority/) Do this, in this order, and you won’t go far wrong\! How do you use Ahrefs in your SEO campaigns? [![We have publish tons of SEO case studies](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20900%20200'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![We have publish tons of SEO case studies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta1-seo-case-studies-2.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/case-studies/) [Previous SEO Case Studies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/case-studies/) OR [Next Increase Your Search Traffic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/challenge/) ## Frequently Asked Questions What is Ahrefs used for? Ahrefs is a digital marketing tool that is used to analyze websites’ link profiles, keyword rankings, and SEO health. On top of that, you can also use Ahrefs to do keyword research for Google, YouTube, and even Amazon. Many people use it as well to find content ideas by searching what content performed well (in terms of social shares and links). Is Ahrefs worth the money? Yes, Ahrefs is totally worth the money! Ahrefs is the best SEO tool you can get on the market right now. Indeed, with this tool, you can spy on your competitors’ SEO strategies and uncover their backlinks, keywords, and other factors that make them rank higher in the SERPs. Can I use Ahrefs for free? Yes. Aherfs launched a tool called “Ahrefs Webmaster Tools” which is a free tool that helps you monitor your website’s SEO health and gives you an inside look at Ahrefs reporting tools, without paying anything! However, if you want to get complete access to Ahrefs tools, you’ll have to pay. How reliable is Ahrefs? At the time of writing, Aherfs is the most reliable and accurate SEO tool available. It has the biggest backlink index of any other tool which means that its data stay fresh and updated. What does Ahrefs domain rank mean? Ahrefs domain rank (AR) is the order in which all the websites in Ahrefs database rank in terms of the quality of the website backlink profile. The domain rating (DR) metric will be used to determine the AR. The website with an AR of 1 has the best backlink profile. What is a good Ahrefs rank? Ahrefs Rank (AR) is used by Ahrefs to determine the order of all websites within its database from high to low. The lower the rank, the better the backlink profile. To find out if you have a good Ahrefs rank, you should compare it to your competitors. How is Ahrefs domain rating calculated? To calculate the domain rating (DR), Ahrefs measures your link profiles quality and quantity against all other websites that are stored in its database then it gives you a rating between 0 – 100. The Ahrefs domain rating gives you (and others) an indication of the link popularity and the amount of traffic of a domain. What’s a good domain rating? Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) works by ranking domains between 0 – 100. This shows you how strong a website’s backlink profile is. The higher your DR is the better. Are there any good alternatives to Ahrefs? Yes! You might want to take a look at my [SEMRush review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/semrush/), my [Serpstat review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/serpstat/), and my [SEO Powersuite review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/seo-powersuite/) which will show you how to use each of the tools to increase your search visiblity. If you are struggling with on-page SEO then you might want to look at my [Surfer SEO review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/surfer-seo/) which is a much more specialised tool for on-site tasks. ## ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2090%2087'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/str.png) Ahrefs Review [![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20171%2044'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Ahrefs-review.png)](http://www.ahrefs.com/) - Review Of: [Ahrefs](http://www.ahrefs.com/) - Reviewed By: Matthew Woodward - Rating: ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) ![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%2029%2028'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/themes/hello-elementor/assets/images/fullstar.png) - Updated On: Oct 30, 2025 Summary: Ahrefs provides everything you need to increase search engine traffic to any website. It’s huge database of information combined with intelligent tools makes it easy for anyone to increase their rankings. [View More Details](http://www.ahrefs.com/) ## You Might Also Like [![DO NOT BUY SEO LINK MONSTER](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20203%20122'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![DO NOT BUY SEO LINK MONSTER](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/buy-seo-203x122.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/seo-link-monster/) [DO NOT BUY SEO LINK MONSTER](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/seo-link-monster/) [![WP Rocket Review – The Fastest Way To Speed Up Your Site](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20203%20122'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![WP Rocket Review – The Fastest Way To Speed Up Your Site](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/wp-rocket-review-203x122.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/wp-rocket/) [WP Rocket Review – The Fastest Way To Speed Up Your Site](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/wp-rocket/) [![AccuRanker Review](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20203%20122'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![AccuRanker Review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/accuranker-review-203x122.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/accuranker/) [AccuRanker Review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/accuranker/) [![Rank Math Review – Why I Ditched Yoast For RankMath](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20203%20122'%3E%3C/svg%3E)![Rank Math Review – Why I Ditched Yoast For RankMath](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/rank-math-review-203x122.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/rank-math/) [Rank Math Review – Why I Ditched Yoast For RankMath](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/rank-math/) Link Building ![Logo](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20235%2060'%3E%3C/svg%3E) ![Logo](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/spl_logo2.png) Link building you will be proud of. 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Readable Markdown	Ahrefs is a very popular [SEO tool](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/tools/ "SEO tool") that was originally built to check [backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/backlinks/ "backlinks"). However over the last years it has developed into something much more with a class leading database of backlinks and [keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/ "keywords"). Ahrefs is one of the most popular [SEO](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/ "SEO") [tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/tools/ "tools") for a reason. And if you want to drive a TON of organic traffic to your website? Here’s the basic formula: - Pick a topic/keyword - Create an exceptional piece of content - Promote it. Build links to it. Rank it. Sounds simple, right!? I’ll let you in on a little secret: It is simple, but only if you use the right tools for the job. What do I mean by that? Well, there are a ton of questions you need to answer before you get started, such as: > 1\. Which keywords/topics should you be trying to rank for? > 2. Is it even possible to outrank the competition? > 3. What kind of content should you create? (e.g. blog post, [infographic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/statistics/infographic-statistics/), interactive content, etc) > 4. [How many links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/how-many-backlinks/ "How many links") do you need to build to rank for your chosen keywords? (and can you build that many links?) In this post, I’ll be showing you how to answer all these questions (and more) with only one tool: [Ahrefs](http://www.ahrefs.com/ "Ahrefs"). [![learn how to increase your search traffic in 28 days](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta2-28-day-seo.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24/) What Will I Learn? - [What You Will Learn](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#What_You_Will_Learn "What You Will Learn") - [What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#What_Is_Ahrefs_And_Why_Should_You_Care "What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)?") - [Ahrefs Pros & Cons](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Ahrefs_Pros_Cons "Ahrefs Pros & Cons") - [📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Pros_What_I_Think_Youll_Like "📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like") - [📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#%F0%9F%93%8B_Ahrefs_Cons_What_I_Think_Youll_Dislike "📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike") - [Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Getting_Started_With_My_Ahrefs_Review "Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review") - [Backlink Health Check](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Backlink_Health_Check "Backlink Health Check") - [\#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#1_Look_for_Dodgy_Links_in_the_Backlinks_and_Referring_Domains_Reports "#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports") - [\#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#2_Look_for_Unnatural_Anchor_Text_Issues "#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues") - [\#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#3_Look_for_LOTS_of_Links_from_the_Same_C-block_IPs "#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs") - [\#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#4_Find_AND_Fix_Broken_Backlinks "#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks") - [\#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#5_Remove_ALL_Low-Quality_or_Irrelevant_Outbound_Links "#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links") - [\#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#6_Fix_Broken_Outbound_Links "#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links") - [Keyword Research](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Keyword_Research "Keyword Research") - [\#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#7_Pop_a_Few_Seed_Keywords_into_Keywords_Explorer "#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer") - [\#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#8_See_Other_Keyword_Ideas_Based_on_Your_Seed_Keywords "#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)") - [\#9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#9_Find_the_KeywordsTopics_that_Send_the_Most_Traffic_to_Your_Competitors "#9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors") - [\#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#10_Analyse_YOUR_Competitors_to_Find_Keyword_Content_Gaps "#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”") - [Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Keyword_Prioritisation_PLUS_How_to_Identify_Low-Hanging_Opportunities "Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities)") - [\#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#11_Find_Keywords_That_Youre_Already_Ranking_for_in_Positions_4-6 "#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6") - [\#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#12_Find_Keywords_AND_Topics_with_High_Traffic_Potential "#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential") - [Content Research](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Content_Research "Content Research") - [\#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#13_Find_UNIQUE_EASILY_BEATABLE_Content_Ideas_Using_Content_Explorer "#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer") - [\#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#14_Find_Content_Ideas_That_People_ACTUALLY_Care_About_with_Keywords_Explorer "#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer") - [Link Building](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Link_Building "Link Building") - [\#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#15_Use_Branded_Alerts_to_Reclaim_Backlinks "#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks") - [\#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#16_Monitor_TOPICAL_Keyword_Alerts_Then_Convince_People_to_Link_to_You "#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)") - [\#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#17_Monitor_Competitor_Links_AND_Brand_Mentions "#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions") - [\#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#18_Find_Skyscraper_Link_Building_Opportunities_AND_Prospects "#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)") - [\#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#19_Broken_Backlink_Building_with_the_top_pages_-_404_report "#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)") - [\#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#20_Find_Worthwhile_Guest_Post_Prospects "#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects") - [Site Audit](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Site_Audit "Site Audit") - [\#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#21_Find_Slow_Loading_Pages_Using_the_Performance_Report "#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)") - [\#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#22_Find_HTML_Tag_Issues_eg_Rogue_Noindex_Tags_with_the_HTML_Tags_Report "#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report") - [\#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#23_Find_Incoming_and_Outgoing_Link_Issues_eg_Broken_Outbound_Links_with_the_IncomingOutgoing_Links_Reports "#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports") - [Analysing Your Progress/Success](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Analysing_Your_ProgressSuccess "Analysing Your Progress/Success") - [\#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#24_Increased_Domain_Rating_DR_AND_Decreased_Ahrefs_Rank "#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank") - [\#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#25_Improved_Rankings_for_Your_Tracked_Keywords "#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)") - [Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Useful_Tools_That_Work_with_Ahrefs "Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs)") - [Wrapping It Up](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#Wrapping_It_Up "Wrapping It Up") ## What You Will Learn Let me make one thing clear: *My aim here isn’t* to list everything Ahrefs can do. (If that’s what you want, you can find [a big list of features here](https://ahrefs.com/pricing).) My aim is to show actionable ways to use Ahrefs (and no other tools) to get more organic traffic to your website. ![Ahrefs review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Ahrefs-review-1-scaled.jpg) Here’s everything I’ll be teaching you: - [Getting Started:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#getting-started) How to get started with Ahrefs and set yourself up for success (note*: do not skip this stage, it is very* important). - [Backlink Health Check:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#backlink-health-check) How to identify (and fix) any backlink issues that may be holding your website back in the [SERPs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/search-engine-results-pages-serps/ "SERPs"). WARNING: Fixing these issues can lead to an instant rankings boost\! - [Keyword Research](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/research/ "Keyword Research"): Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is perhaps the [best keyword research tool](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/keyword-research-tools/ "best keyword research tool") on the market. I’ll show you how to use this tool (and a couple of other Ahrefs tools) to build an initial keyword list for your website. - [Keyword Prioritisation:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#keyword-prioritisation) How to prioritise your keywords list and identify “low-hanging” opportunities that can boost traffic FAST. - [Content Research:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#content-research) How to figure out EXACTLY what type of content you should be creating to rank for your chosen keywords. - [Link Building](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/ "Link Building"): How to build links to your website using a variety of methods (note: this is where Ahrefs really shines!) - [Site Audit:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#site-seo-audit) How to diagnose and fix errors with your website (note: this is highly recommended, as on-site errors can hold back your success, even if you’ve done everything right thus far!) - [Analyse your Progress/Success:](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#analyse-progress) How to use Ahrefs to make sure you’re on the right track and that things are improving with your website. I’ve made a big effort to lay this out as a checklist, rather than a random list of ideas/tactics. This means that if you follow this guide from start-to-finish… I guarantee you will see results. ![Ahrefs review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ahrefs-review-infographic-scaled.jpg) ## What Is Ahrefs (And Why Should You Care)? Ahrefs is a powerful—and complete—SEO analysis tool. It does pretty much everything you could ever need to do from an SEO standpoint, including: - Keyword research (via [Keywords Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer)) - Content research (via [Content Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/content-explorer)) - Backlink research (via [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer)) - Rank tracking (via [Rank Tracker](https://ahrefs.com/rank-tracker)) - Competitor research (via [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer), [Link Intersect Tool](https://ahrefs.com/link-intersect), etc) - Site auditing (i.e. diagnosing site health issues, etc.) (via the [Site Audit tool](https://ahrefs.com/site-audit/)) Right now, the only important thing Ahrefs can’t do is manage or send link building [outreach emails](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/email-outreach/ "outreach emails"). But you can use [Gmail](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/gmail/ "Gmail") for that. Everything else is covered. > You can search a database of 4.9 million keywords in seconds with [Keywords Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer). > > You can search 700+ million pieces of content to find content ideas that will generate a ton of traffic, with [Content Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/content-explorer). > > You can search the world’s largest index of backlinks (over 35 trillion!) to see all your competitors backlinks, with [Site Explorer](https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer). > > You can find and fix hundreds of on-site issues in seconds, with the [Site Audit](https://ahrefs.com/site-audit) tool. And that’s the tip of the iceberg, really. But, impressive industry-leading stats aside, what does this mean for the average Joe? Simple. You have everything you need—under one roof—to grow your [website traffic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/blogging/website-traffic/ "website traffic") like crazy. This post will walk you through the process of doing this, step-by-step. ## Ahrefs Pros & Cons Ahrefs is an incredibly powerful tool\! But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect for everyone. Here are some pros and cons to help you decide if Ahrefs is right for you. \| PROS \| CONS \| \|---\|---\| \| ✅ Comprehensive all-in-one SEO tool \| ❌ Large learning curve \| \| ✅ Largest live backlink index (35 trillion) \| ❌ No built-in link outreach tool \| \| ✅ Powerful keyword research tools \| ❌ Higher plan prices \| \| ✅ Great site audit tool \| ❌ Rank tracking only updates every week \| \| ✅ Excellent competitor analysis tools \| ❌ Overwhelming amounts of data \| \| ✅ Real-time brand mention alerts \| \| \| ✅ Quality content gap analysis \| \| \| ✅ Intuitive user interface \| \| ### 📋 Ahrefs Pros: What I Think You’ll Like - Comprehensive All-In-One SEO Platform – Ahrefs has every tool you need to execute a high-level [SEO campaign](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24/ "SEO campaign"). It has everything from keyword research to in-depth backlink analysis and even technical SEO audits. You won’t need to juggle multiple tools because Ahrefs can almost do it all\! - Large Live Backlink Index – Get the most comprehensive competitive backlink data with Ahrefs’ massive 35 trillion live link index. You’ll see links that other tools miss, get more usable data and ultimately end up with more link building opportunities. - Powerful Keyword Research Tools – Ahrefs keyword research tools are comprehensive and user-friendly. This is an area where Ahrefs really shines. It’s easy to find quality long-tail keywords to target and have all the data you need to make good keyword decisions. - Quality Site Audit Tool – Technical SEO isn’t easy. But Ahrefs makes it easier with a very solid site audit tool that balances in-depth SEO auditing with user-friendliness. The tool analyses your site for over 170+ technical and [on-page SEO](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/on-page/ "on-page SEO") factors. - Real-Time Mention Alerts – Ahrefs has an excellent mention monitoring tool. You set up alerts for your name, brand and products. Every time someone mentions them online, you get a real-time notification, which makes it perfect for tracking your brand and finding unlinked mentions. - Content Gap Analysis – The content gap analysis is a feature that many tools offer. But Ahrefs does it better! In just a few clicks, you can literally see hundreds of keywords you’re missing out on and where your competitors are beating you in the SERPs. ### 📋 Ahrefs Cons: What I Think You’ll Dislike - Large Learning Curve – Ahrefs has a ton of tools and features. That means there will be a significant learning curve to take full advantage of everything Ahrefs offers. The silver lining is that the user interface is intuitive, so if you have some experience, you’ll be fine. - No Built-In Outreach Tool – Ahrefs doesn’t offer any outreach capabilities, unlike [Semrush](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/semrush/ "Semrush") or SEO Powersuite. That means you will need to have an individual outreach tool to pair with Ahrefs for link building outreach. It’s not a major issue, but something to be aware of. - High Pricing Plans – The free plan that Ahrefs offers is very limited, and paid plans start at \$129 per month. That means it’s not cheap! Make sure you get enough value out of it long-term to justify the high prices. - Ranking Tracking Not Updated Frequently – Ahrefs only updates the keyword rankings you are tracking every 7 days. That’s not great! If you want daily keyword rank tracking updates, you will need to pay extra as an add-on or use another tool. - Can Be Overwhelming – There is a lot of data inside Ahrefs. That means beginners can easily get overwhelmed or distracted by the sheer volume of information. You need to be clear on your goals and use Ahrefs to help you accomplish them. ## Getting Started With My Ahrefs Review In this short section, I’ll show you how to get started with my Ahrefs review and how to set up your account for success. So, first things first, [head over to Ahrefs and sign up](http://www.ahrefs.com/). Note: You can access Ahrefs for free by signing up to [Ahrefs Webmaster Tools](https://ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools) (but you’ll only get LIMITED access to the tool). Once you’re in, Ahrefs will prompt you to add a project (i.e. website) to your account. This is pretty straightforward—give your project a name and hit “next”. Make sure to use the http + https naming scheme. [![getting started with my ahrefs review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Image-2018-01-17-at-6.37.41-pm-700x400-1.png)](http://www.ahrefs.com/) You’ll then be asked to add keywords that you want to track. Ahrefs actually suggests a bunch of keywords that your website is already ranking for. Basically, the higher up the list of suggestions they are, the more traffic those keywords are sending to your website. I recommend adding the first 4-5 pages worth of keywords. ![ahrefs setup 2](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-setup-2.jpg) Why? Because this allows you to track your most important keywords (i.e. the keywords that are the most traffic to your website). Step \#3….add some competitors. Again, you can either add competitors manually (if you know them) or choose from the suggestions Ahrefs gives. I recommend adding 5 competitors from the suggestions Ahrefs gives. ![ahrefs setup 3](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-setup-3.png) And finally, add some [branded keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/branded-keywords/) to track. I really recommend taking a moment to set this one up. We’ll be using it later in the guide. ![ahrefs setup 4](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-setup-4.png) Note: By default, Ahrefs sends you daily emails about these keywords. If you prefer not to have daily emails flooding your inbox, go into the settings and change this to weekly (or monthly). That’s it. You’re ready to rock\! [![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https://linksthatrank.com/backlink-blacklist/) ## Backlink Health Check > Backlinks from spammy, low-quality websites. > > Backlinks with over-optimised [anchor text](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/anchor-text/ "anchor text"). These types of backlinks can spell disaster for your website. At best, they’ll prevent your website from ranking as well as it should. At worst, they’ll lead to a [Google Penguin penalty](https://searchengineland.com/library/google/google-penguin-update). That’s why you need to nip any “bad” backlinks in the bud before you invest time, energy, and money optimizing your website. But: How do you do this? Like I said earlier, Ahrefs has the largest backlink index on the planet – this makes it the perfect tool for identifying and fixing any “bad” backlinks. NOTE: Ahrefs just released a new [Site Audit](https://ahrefs.com/site-audit) tool to help diagnose even more issues with your website. I’ll be running through this later in the guide. Here’s how to do it: ### \#1: Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports Enter your domain into Site Explorer, then navigate to the referring domains tab. By default, this will show you all referring domains ordered by [Domain Rating](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/domain-rating-dr/ "Domain Rating") (DR)—highest to lowest. But remember: You’re looking for low-quality links, so reverse this (i.e. order by DR low to high). Look for [domains](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/expired-domains/) that look low-quality or suspicious, such as: - Anything you don’t recognise - Foreign-language websites (e.g. .ru, .dk domains, etc) - .xyz domains - Low-quality wiki pages - Article directories - \[empty anchors\] Of course, it would be pretty time-consuming if you had to check every backlink manually. But, luckily, Ahrefs has a few filters to help you out. If you move to the Backlinks report, there are filters for both languages and platform. I recommend filtering by languages like Russian to find [spammy backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/link-spam/ "spammy backlinks"), as Russian sites are kind of notorious for link spam. ![russian language filter ahrefs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/russian-language-filter-ahrefs.png) Note: You can get even more specific with languages by filtering for exact TLDs (e.g. .dk, .ru, etc.) in the Referring Domains report. You can also easily uncover low-quality Wiki pages with the Wikis filter in the Backlinks report: ![platform ahrefs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/platform-ahrefs.png) But remember, even if something looks super-dodgy, always check out the link manually before making a judgement. Otherwise, you run the risk of disavowing links that may be helping your website. If you can confirm that the link is “bad”, hit the checkbox next to the domain. You can then simply click “[disavow links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/disavow/ "disavow links")” to send them to your [disavow](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/how-to-disavow-backlinks/ "disavow") area + create a disavow file. NOTE: You can only see checkboxes if the domain that you’re reviewing is added to Ahrefs [Dashboard](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/reporting/seo-dashboards/ "Dashboard"). This should be the case if you added your domain(s) in the “getting started” section above. ### \#2: Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues Anchor text is the clickable text within a link. Example: ![anchor text](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/anchor-text.jpg) The anchor text for this link is “this link here”. Anchor text helps to tell Google (and potential visitors) what your website is about—that’s why [it remains a Google ranking factor](https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors). But: Anchor text over-optimisation (i.e. too many keyword-rich links) can trigger a [Google penalty](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/google-penalty/ "Google penalty"). If your website has an unnatural [link profile](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/link-profile/ "link profile") with tons of exact match (or partial match) anchor texts, this could be an issue. Here’s how to identify—and fix—these issues with Ahrefs: Enter your domain into Site Explorer, then go to the Anchors report under [Backlink Profile](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/backlink-analysis/ "Backlink Profile"). ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/anchors-matthew-woodward-ahrefs-700x426-1.png) This will show you exactly what anchor text is being used within the links back to your website. If you have a healthy backlink profile, most of your anchors will probably be: - [Branded](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/branded-keywords/ "Branded") anchors (e.g. “matthew woodward”, “matthewwoodward.co.uk”, etc.) - Generic anchors (e.g. “click here”, “this post”, etc.) What you don’t want to see is lots of exact-match anchors. This is a sign of over-optimisation. If you spot anything that looks dodgy, hit details \> referring domains to see which sites are linking to you. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/anchors-junk-links-700x297-1.png) Right now, you can’t disavow these links directly from within the anchors report. However, you can simply hit the export button then upload the file manually to the disavow area. ![ahrefs anchors export](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-anchors-export.png) Learn [how to disavow backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/how-to-disavow-backlinks/) step by step. ### \#3: Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs Every website has its own IP address that looks something like this: > 104\.27.136.155 In simple terms, while you may be used to typing in matthewwoodward.co.uk to get to my blog, that’s really just a memorable way of navigating to an IP address where my website resides. Basically: Because humans are better at remembering website URLs than a random string of numbers, we let the browser do the work and translate a URL into an IP address behind the scenes. Now, IP addresses are separated into blocks: A, B, C, and D blocks, like so: > AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD If we have the following two websites: - 104\.27.136.155 - 104\.27.136.7 We would say they’re on the same C-block. In internet terms, these sites are neighbours. Note: More information on IP addresses [here](http://www.freesoft.org/CIE/Topics/26.htm). Why does this matter? Lots of links from the same C-block IP can be a bad sign. This is because it signals to Google that these sites may be closely related (e.g. a PBN) and therefore, not the most [natural links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/natural-link/ "natural links") ever. Luckily, you can use Ahrefs’ Referring IPs report to find these. Here’s how: Enter your domains into Site Explorer, then hit the Referring IPs report under Backlink Profile. ![referring ips bad](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/referring-ips-bad.png) Ahrefs groups referring IPs by C-blocks by default—very useful\! In the example above, you can see that the first few results look a bit dodgy—there are thousands of links, from hundreds of domains, all on the same C-block IP. Let’s take a deeper look. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/referring-ips-spam-700x400-1.png) Yep, they’re spammy. They need disavowing/removing. Again, there’s no way to disavow these directly from this report but you can export the domains to a .csv and upload them manually. ### \#4: Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks Building backlinks is damn hard. *It’s laborious. Time consuming. And costly.* So: It makes sense to ensure that you’re getting the full benefit of the links you build, right? Definitely. Unfortunately, links sometimes break. And when this happens, you won’t feel the benefit of those links. That’s why fixing [broken links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/broken-link/ "broken links") is a quick way to regain some valuable link juice and increase rankings.Here’s how to do it: Enter your domain into Site Explorer then go to Pages \> Best by links. Then, add a filter so you see only pages with a [404](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/404-error/ "404") status code. ![matthewwoodward broken links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/matthewwoodward-broken-links.png) You will now see all 404 pages on your website ranked by the number of referring domains they have. Here’s how to reclaim the “link juice” for these pages: - Restore the broken page—this should be done if there is an actual error on your part (i.e. you’ve accidentally deleted a valuable page at some point). - Add a [301 redirect](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/301-redirect/ "301 redirect") to the broken page—this should point to either the new location of the page, a suitable alternative, or the homepage. - Reach out and asking the website owner to fix the link—this is your best bet if there’s an actual problem with the link such as incorrect formatting. So, just restore these pages or redirect them to something relevant to preserve all your link juice. Do this for any valuable broken links and you’ll see an instant boost\! ### \#5: Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links Spammy [inbound](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/inbound-link/ "inbound") links are BAD. *But outbound links are also extremely* important.** You, therefore, need to make sure that you’re not linking to low-quality (or totally irrelevant) websites. Here’s how to do it: Enter your domain into Site Explorer then go to… > Outgoing links \> Linked Domains \> add a dofollow filter By default, Ahrefs shows the most linked-to domains first. Reverse this list. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/linked-domains-spam-700x385-1.png) When I gave this report a quick onceover for my own website, everything looked pretty above board (phew!) BUT…this isn’t the case for all sites. Here’s an outbound link I found on Moz.com: ![linked domain moz](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/linked-domain-moz.jpg) This is clearly a spammy domain. If you find anything like this, remove (or replace) the links on your website. Also: Sometimes, you’ll find that your website is linking to a particular URL many times. Example: ![lots of outgoing links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/lots-of-outgoing-links.jpg) Upon closer inspection, we can see that this is a [Wordpress theme](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/blogging/best-wordpress-theme-for-blogging/ "Wordpress theme") link present in the theme HTML. ![lots of outbound links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/lots-of-outbound-links.png) In all honesty, this probably isn’t going to cause any huge issues. However, as it’s a dofollow link across (almost) every page of the website, at the very least it’s diluting authority for no good reason. I recommend that you remove anything like this from your website’s HTML, too. ### \#6: Fix Broken Outbound Links Broken outbound links lead to a bad user experience. Not only is it annoying to click a link on a website and be taken to a broken page but also, it leaves the visitor questioning the validity of your content. Why? Because they’ll assume your website hasn’t been updated in awhile. Or that you simply don’t put much effort into your content—certainly not enough to curate resources that actually exist. Also, if Google thinks your content is going to lead to a bad user experience, they certainly aren’t going to rank your website. Luckily, this is easily fixable. Here’s how: Enter your website into Site Explorer, then go to Outgoing Links \> Broken Links. If anything shows up in this report, there are issues to be fixed. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/broken-outbound-links-700x339-1.png) Looks like I have 56 broken outbound links on my website 🙁 You should fix these links by either removing them or replacing them. [![download the link building checklist](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-link-building-leak-checklist.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo/) ## Keyword Research Fixing the errors outlined above should be enough to give you a small traffic boost. BUT: Now it’s time for the big guns. No matter what website you’re working on, your SEO strategy should follow roughly the same blueprint, which is: - Find keywords you want to rank for (and that you already rank for) - Prioritise keywords/topics into long-term opportunities + short-term opportunities (i.e. low-hanging fruit) - Create some content (or improve existing content) around those keywords - Build links to content (wherever appropriate/necessary) - Analyse what did/didn’t work and refine your strategy/plan going forward. - Rinse and repeat all of the above Trust me: Do those things, in that order, and I guarantee you’ll see a HUGE traffic increase. So, let’s get started with the first step: keyword discovery. ### \#7: Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer Keywords Explorer is the first place I turn when I want to discover keywords for a new (or existing) website. That’s because all you need is a few “seed” keywords and it’ll give you thousands of ideas. Here’s the process: Go to Keywords explorer and enter a few [seed keyword](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/seed-keywords/ "seed keyword") ideas. Note: There’s no exact process for coming up with these. Just make an educated guess. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/keywords-explorer-700x296-1.png) Hit the search button. Note: Make sure to select the appropriate country (e.g. United States) before searching, otherwise you’ll see keyword volume estimates and whatnot for a country unrelated to your business. Go to the metrics tab. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/keyword-metrics-kw-explorer-700x355-1.png) This shows you monthly search volume, [Keyword Difficulty](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/keyword-difficulty/ "Keyword Difficulty") (KD), and tons of other information. If a keyword looks good (i.e. it has some decent [search volume](https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-search-volume/) and is relevant to your business), save it to a keywords list. ![Screen Recording 2017 10 26 at 09.45 pm](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Recording-2017-10-26-at-09.45-pm.gif) Note: If a keyword is super-relevant to your business, it makes sense to prioritise it, even if the search volume for that keyword is quite low. As I’ll mention later in this guide, search volume isn’t always the best indicator of traffic. However, it is a good starting point and it’s still worth looking at. ### \#8: See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords) Right now, [Ahrefs has the biggest keywords database in the industry](https://ahrefs.com/big-data). Because of this, Keywords Explorer will show you with a bunch (and I really do mean a bunch!) of other keyword ideas based on your seed keywords. Just hit one of these 6 options on the left-hand menu: ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/kw-explorer-menu-700x319-1.png) Personally, I usually just select “all”. However, this will usually give you a few million keywords to play with (see, I told you they had a lot of data), which is pretty damn impossible to work with. So, I tend to play with the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to narrow them down. Your best bet is to filter for keywords with a KD score of less than 10. ![kd filter keywords explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/kd-filter-keywords-explorer.png) Why? Because anything below KD 10 means that top-ranking results have less than or equal to 10 backlinks on average, so it should be fairly easy to rank for them. ![kd score 10 keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/kd-score-10-keywords.png) I usually just tick anything that looks good and add it to my keywords list. And if you prefer to get a little more granular with your keyword suggestions, you can learn more about what “phrase match”, “having same terms”, etc. mean [here](https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-generator/#section4). Note: Ahrefs presented me with 32K+ keyword suggestions from just the 8 keywords I entered above…so you certainly won’t be short of ideas\! ### \#9: Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors Enter a competitor’s domain into Site Explorer, then go to Organic search \> Top Pages Here you will see which of your competitors pages are attracting the most organic search traffic. You’ll also see the top keyword that page ranks for, along with the search volume for that keyword. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/robbie-richards-competitor-700x348-1.png) Note: It’s also worth paying attention to the RD (Referring Domains) column as this shows how many ref.domains are pointing to that page. If you can identify pages that receive a lot of traffic, yet only have a few RDs, it’s most likely a topic that you can rank for pretty easily\! Pretty cool, right!? BUT it gets even better… This report also shows you all of the other keywords these pages rank for (in order of the amount of traffic they drive to your competitors page). ![top pages keywords suggestions](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/top-pages-keywords-suggestions.jpg) This is not only useful for generating additional keyword ideas but also, finding keywords/topics/phrases that you can sprinkle into your content to increase relevance (i.e. [LSI keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/lsi/ "LSI keywords")). ### \#10: Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps” Content gaps exist when your competitors rank for keywords that you don’t rank for. Think about it: If you could see what those keywords are, you could [create content](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/blogging/free-content/ "create content") to compete with them (and ideally outrank them). Here’s how to find those keywords with Ahrefs: Enter your domain into Site Explorer, then go to Organic Search \> Content Gap Now, enter the domains of (at least) three competitors plus your domain in the “but the following target doesn’t rank for” field. ![content gap](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/content-gap.jpg) Hit “show keywords”. ![content gap results](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/content-gap-results.jpg) Bingo…here are hundreds of keywords that (at least) one of your competitors rank for, yet you don’t. Tip: Enter competitors with a similar Domain Rating (DR) score. This will ensure that the Content Gap analysis kicks back keywords you stand a chance of ranking for. If you enter Moz.com as a competitor and you have a DR 40 site, the sad truth is that you’re probably never going to outrank Moz. I recommend paying particular attention to any keywords where your competitors are ranking in the top 10. Why? Because if they’re ranking in the top 10, chances are you could, too\! Is Ahrefs out of your budget? No worries, you can use one of these [free keyword research tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/tools/free-keyword-research-tools/) to find the right keywords for your business. [![download the on page seo checklist](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-seo-checklist.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/wnig7cbedwexyepxxjpv/) ## Keyword Prioritisation (PLUS How to Identify Low-Hanging Opportunities) At this stage, you should have a big list of keywords that you could try to rank for. BUT: Just because you can target these keywords doesn’t mean you should. > 1\. Some will be easier to rank for than others (in fact, you may not even stand a hope in hell of ranking for some of them). > 2. Some will drive a lot of traffic (while others will drive very little). > 3. Some will require creating new content (others won’t). Analysing keywords for certain attributes will allow you to prioritise your list, and divide your ideas into long-term and short-term topics. Here are a few tips: ### \#11: Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6 Already ranking in positions 4-6 for some high-volume keywords? These are your low-hanging fruit. Why? Because [CTR increases exponentially within the top 5 positions](https://www.advancedwebranking.com/cloud/ctrstudy/). ![Google Organic CTR History](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Google_Organic_CTR_History.jpg) Therefore, it only takes a ranking increase of one position to see BIG traffic boosts from these keywords. And improving rankings by 1-2 positions can be as simple as building a handful of high-quality links. But how do you find these keywords? Simple. Enter your site into Site Explorer, then go to Organic Search \> Organic Keywords This will show you all of the keywords your website is currently ranking for. ![organic keywords matthew woodward](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/organic-keywords-matthew-woodward.jpg) Note: By default, they’re ordered by the amount of organic traffic they send to your website—neat\! But here’s the trick: Add a positions filter to show the keywords you’re currently ranking in positions 4-6. ![positions filter organic keywords](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/positions-filter-organic-keywords.png) These keywords are your low-hanging fruit—they should be prioritised when it comes to on-page optimization and link building. ### \#12: Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential Sometimes individual keywords won’t have a particularly high search volume. Example: “[best keyword research tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/keywords/keyword-research-tools/)” ![best keyword research tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/best-keyword-research-tools.jpg) If you were to rank \#1 for this keyword, you would receive roughly 30% of these clicks. That’s a measly 75 visitors/month (approx.) Hardly worth bothering, right!? Not so fast. Looking at individual search volumes for a single keyword rarely shows you the true ranking potential of that topic. This is because pages almost always naturally rank for TONs of variations of that keyword (i.e. “long-tail keywords”). So how do you figure out the true ranking potential of a topic? Easy… Check how much organic traffic the top ranking pages for that keyword are getting. If it’s a lot, the topic/keyword has a high traffic potential. Here’s how: Go to Keywords Explorer and enter a keyword. Scroll down to the SERP overview and you’ll see who’s ranking in the top 10. You can also see how much organic traffic these top ranking pages are attracting (across all keywords). ![serp overview](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/serp-overview.jpg) These are the SERPs for “best keyword research tool” and as you can see, the top ranking pages are getting WAY more than 75 visits/month. So, this topic DEFINITELY has a high traffic potential and is worth prioritising. [![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https://linksthatrank.com/backlink-blacklist/) ## Content Research Keyword research? *CHECK.* Keyword prioritisation? *CHECK.* (You’re off to a good start!) But…you ain’t going to rank for any of those keywords without creating some EPIC content around them. Obviously, some of the keywords you’ve found (e.g. the low-hanging opportunities in positions 4-6) won’t require new content. You just need to optimise—and build some extra links to—your existing content. For others, however, you’re going to need to create something new\! BUT here’s the problem: It’s NOT always easy to discern exactly what you should be writing about solely by looking at a keyword. Example: Let’s take the keyword “keyword research”. ![keyword research keyword](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/keyword-research-keyword.png) It’s a great keyword with a ridiculously high search volume (at least for this niche). BUT, it’s also massively competitive. If I was to write a reasonably generic guide to keyword research, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance of ranking in the top 3 for this exact keyword. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t write about keyword research at all…I just need to “niche down” a little and write a UNIQUE piece of content. Here’s how: ### \#13: Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer Ahrefs has [an index of 800+ million pieces of content on various topics](https://ahrefs.com/big-data). They also add 5+ million new pieces of content to this index every 24 hours (which is absolutely INSANE). But, data and stats aside, what benefit does this have? Well, it means that you can enter (almost) any keyword into Content Explorer and it’ll kick back a TON of content ideas. Example: ![content explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/content-explorer.jpg) That’s 3900+ content ideas for “keyword research”. And this is only results where the phrase “keyword research” is in the article title… You can also search for content where the phrase is mentioned anywhere in the article content, which will return exponentially more results\! ![in content ahrefs kw explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/in-content-ahrefs-kw-explorer.png) BUT, like I said, it would be VERY difficult to rank for this exact keyword without “niching down”. This is because the “big guys” (e.g. Moz, Ahrefs, etc) are currently dominating the SERPs for this topic. However, we can use the in-built filters in content Explorer to find ideas that: - We can actually compete with - Will actually generate traffic for us Here’s the setup: ![content explorer filters](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/content-explorer-filters.png) Here’s exactly what we’re doing here (and why!): - Filtering for only English results: Pretty self-explanatory, right!? - Filtering ONLY for results from websites with a DR between 0-59: Because the DR of my website (matthewwoodward.co.uk) is also 59, I only want to see results for sites with the same (or lower) DR. Why? Because these are the sites I’ll be able to compete with easily. - Filtering ONLY for pages with \<5 referring domains AND \>500 organic visitors per month: This is the important part! By looking for pages that are receiving 500+ organic visits AND have very few links, we can uncover pages that will be VERY easy to outrank. Stealing their traffic will most likely require nothing more than creating better content and building a handful of links (at the most) Here’s what Content Explorer found for my search: ![keyword research filtered](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/keyword-research-filtered.jpg) This page talks about how to uncover keywords by looking at YouTube tags. It receives 525 organic visits per month, has 0 referring domains, and is 183 words long. If this isn’t easily beatable content, then I don’t know what is\! Note: Remember, if your search doesn’t return many results, you can always find pages containing your keyword anywhere in the content (using the “in content”) filter to broaden your horizons. ### \#14: Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer Nobody understands [search intent](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/search-intent/ "search intent") like Google does. Their algorithm relies on showing users what they want to see. Because of this, there’s no better way to understand the intent behind a search term (i.e. what people are actually looking to find) than analysing the top 10 search results. Example: Let’s take a keyword like “SEO tools”… Now, there are plenty of SEO tools—some free, some paid—on the market. If we wanted to rank for this keyword, maybe a winning formula for a piece of content would be to create a list of all of these SEO tools, right!? Again, not so fast. Let’s go to Keywords Explorer, enter the keyword, and scroll down to the SERP overview. This shows us the top 10 ranking results. ![seo tools keywords explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/seo-tools-keywords-explorer-1.jpg) Instantly, I spot a pattern… Although most of the results are lists of SEO tools, a lot of them are actually lists of free SEO tools. ![free seo tools keywords explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/free-seo-tools-keywords-explorer.jpg) In fact, 7/10 results contain the word “free” in the title tag. This tells me that although people are generally typing in “SEO tools”, they actually appear to be looking for a list of the best [free SEO tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/free-seo-tools/). It would, therefore, be much smarter to go down this route when creating a piece of content around this keyword/topic. Also: Keywords Explorer tells us how many links (and referring domains) each of these pages has, allowing us to quickly spot topics with great potential to attract a TON of links. [![download the link building checklist](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-link-building-leak-checklist.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/pphg4phtjjjzicmlhbzo/) ## Link Building I’ll let you in on a (sad) secret: You ain’t going to rank for any worthwhile keyword/topic without links. Sure, less competitive keywords may only require a handful of links whereas more competitive keywords may require many more links (sometimes even thousands) but still, the bottomline is this: You. Need. Links. But here’s the good news: Ahrefs shines in this department. Not only do they boast [the largest live link index on the market](https://ahrefs.com/big-data), they have a TON of [link building tools](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/link-building-tools/) that can help you with the task at hand. In fact, I don’t know any serious link builders that AREN’T using Ahrefs. It really is that good. Here are a few ways to use Ahrefs to build all the links you need: ### \#15: Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks Remember those branded alerts I told you to set up at the beginning of this guide? ![ahrefs setup 4](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-setup-4.png) If you set them up correctly, you’ve most likely received an email that looks something like this: ![branded mention](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/branded-mention.jpg) Basically, this tells you whenever anyone mentions your name (or any other branded terms) on the web. So: > If someone mentions you personally in a blog post, you’ll know about it. > > If someone talks about your brand (e.g. Apple) in a review, you’ll know about it. > > Etc. BUT: Just because someone has mentioned your name (or brand name) in a piece of content doesn’t necessarily mean that they remembered to link to you. And if they didn’t…getting the link is usually as easy as reaching out and asking for it. Example: If you look closely at the screenshot above, you’ll see that I was recently mentioned in an article about starting a membership website. Here’s the part where I’m mentioned: ![create a membership website mention](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/create-a-membership-website-mention.jpg) Weirdly, they didn’t link to the tutorial they mentioned in that paragraph. It’s highly likely that they simply forgot, or made a mistake. So: Getting a link from this article would likely take nothing more than a simple email asking them to add a link. ### \#16: Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You) Monitoring branded keywords is a good start. BUT, that’s the tip of the iceberg… Here’s why: In Ahrefs Alerts, you can monitor for mentions of ANY keyword. For example, here’s an alert I set up for “link building”: ![link building alert](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/link-building-alert.png) Now, each week, I get an email from Ahrefs showing me any newly published content containing that term (i.e. link building) from the past 7 days. Example: ![gmail ahrefs link building alert](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/gmail-ahrefs-link-building-alert.jpg) That’s 93 new mentions of “link building” in just one week\! BUT…how does this help to build links? Basically, you can use these alerts to discover content that could be improved by adding a link to your website (or a particular resource on your website). Example: Take a look at that 2nd article (the one by SearchEngineLand.com). It talks about “[7 Reasons Why Your Broken Link Building Campaign Isn’t Working](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/broken-link-building-not-working/217555/)”… ![sel post](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sel-post.jpg) It’s a great article, BUT… I get the feeling that readers of this article are likely struggling with link building in general. Scrolling to the end of the post, it looks like the author also thinks this…that’s why he’s chosen to include a few links to additional link building resources. ![more resources sel](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/more-resources-sel.png) It just so happens that I also have a TON of great link building resources on my blog, such as [this list of 44 link building strategies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/strategies/). ![44 link building strategies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/44-link-building-strategies.jpg) Because this would also be a great additional resource to include at the end of that SEL post, I could simply reach out to the author of that post (Kevin) and suggest that he add a link to my post in that final section. This is a great, simple way to build links to any piece of content 🙂 Not that this method is also commonly use for [niche edits](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/niche-edits/) & [link inserts](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/link-inserts/)\! ### \#17: Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions You can learn a lot from your competitors. BUT… Did you know that monitoring your competitors can be a great source of link prospects? Basically, if you can identify where your competitors are being mentioned AND linked-to, you can often steal these links/mentions from yourself. Example: Here are the top 3 Google results for “[long tail pro](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/long-tail-pro/ "long tail pro")”: ![long tail pro google](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/long-tail-pro-google.jpg) Right now, I’m ranking in position \#3. BUT…I’d really like to rank \#1. This means that my competitors for this keyword are: - longtailpro.com - dumbpassiveincome.com Now: Right off the bat, I could throw these URLs into Ahrefs Site Explorer, look at their backlinks, and see if there are any easily replicable links I could steal for myself. BUT…that’s a different strategy altogether\! What I want to talk about is monitoring both competitor links AND branded keywords to give you a constant supply of link opportunities. So, let’s start with backlink monitoring: Like I said, one of my competitors is dumbpassiveincome.com—they have a similar [Long Tail Pro review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/long-tail-pro/) to mine. However, I personally believe my review to be better. I also updated my review very recently, so it’s super fresh. I, therefore, believe that anyone choosing to link to my competitors Long Tail Pro review would be better off linking to mine. So, I want to monitor my competitors review for new links. If they get any, I can then reach out to the person linking to them and suggest that they link to my review instead (as it’s better). Here’s how to set up an alert for these links: Go to the Backlinks section within Ahrefs Alerts and hit “\+ New Alert”. Enter the URL of the page you want to monitor for backlinks, choose “New backlinks” under the “Scope” option, and enter your email address. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-alerts-backlinks-700x563-1.png) You’ll now receive an email whenever there’s a new link to your competitor’s URL—you can then swoop in and steal the link for yourself. BUT…competitor backlinks aren’t the only thing worth monitoring: You can also monitor competitors branded keywords. Example: Because I have a review of Long Tail Pro, it would be worth setting up an alert for branded keywords like “Long Tail Pro”. Here’s why: If someone is mentioning Long Tail Pro on the web, their readers would find a review and tutorial for the tool rather useful. So, whenever I see Long Tail Pro being mentioned, I can simply reach out to the website owner and suggest they add a link to my review within their post. Easy. Here’s how to set this up: Go to the Mentions section of Ahrefs Alerts and hit “+ New Alert”. Add your keyword, add any blocked domains (e.g. your own website), and your email address. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-alerts-mentions-700x420-1.png) Now you’ll receive an email alert whenever your keyword (e.g. “long tail pro”) is mentioned on the web. ### \#18: Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects) Ahh, the infamous “skyscraper technique”… It’s perhaps the most famous link-building technique there is\! And for good reason, too—it’s super powerful\! For those unfamiliar, here’s the basic process: - Find a piece of content with a TON of links. - Make something even better. - [Contact](https://www.searchlogistics.com/contact/ "Contact") anyone linking to the old, inferior piece of content and suggest that they link to yours instead. Smart. BUT… How do you find “skyscraper” content (i.e. content with a TON of links that you can build upon) in the first place? Here’s a super simple method: Enter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to Pages \> Best by Links You will now see every page on the domain ordered by \# of backlinks. ![backlinko best by links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/backlinko-best-by-links.jpg) The two posts I’ve highlighted above have thousands of backlinks. If I was to put-together an even better version of any of these posts, I would have thousands of prospects to pitch to\! Note: You can gather a list of “skyscraper” prospects by checking the backlink profile of that particular URL in Site Explorer. Just sift through all the links and choose prospects to reach out to. BUT… What if you already have an EPIC piece of content and you want to build some links to it? Here’s a simple trick that I haven’t seen anyone talk about before: Enter a keyword into Content Explorer, then filter ONLY for pages with 100+ referring domains. Example: Let’s say that I wanted to build some links to [my list of 44 link building strategies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/strategies/). I would enter the keyword “[link building strategies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/strategies/ "link building strategies")” into Content Explorer and add a referring domains filter. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/referring-domains-100-content-explorer-700x362-1.jpg) This gives me 76 results—all of these are (a) about link building strategies, and (b) have 100+ referring domains. Now, the trick is then to sift through the results looking for content that is very similar—yet inferior to—your content. Here’s a good example: ![moz content explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/moz-content-explorer-1.jpg) This page has 109 referring domains, yet it only lists 31 strategies where mine lists 44. It also hasn’t been updated since 2014\! Anyone linking to this page is a prime “skyscraper” prospect for my post—I just need to reach out and suggest they change the link to my page (and tell them why they should). ### \#19: Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report) Nobody likes broken links. You know the ones… They take you to pages like this: ![backlinko page not found 404](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/backlinko-page-not-found-404.png) It drives me crazy whenever this happens\! BUT… Broken links are a link-builders dream. Why? Because if you can find a broken link with a TON of backlinks, you can build links with this simple 3-step process: 1. Find out what the broken link used to be 2. Create a similar—but better—piece of content 3. Ask anyone linking to the broken content to link to your content instead However, before you can do this, you need to actually find a broken link with the following attributes: - It has a TON of links pointing to it - It’s relevant to your website - It can be replicated without too much work Here’s how to do this: Enter a well-known competitors domain into Site Explorer, then go to Pages \> Best by Links. This shows you the most linked-to pages on that domain. BUT…we don’t want to see all pages—we want to see broken pages. To do this, filter the list to show ONLY 404 errors. ![backlinko broken links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/backlinko-broken-links.png) Most websites will have at least a few broken links. Simply sift through these pages looking for broken links that have a decent number of backlinks AND would be relevant to your website. Note: You can use [Wayback Machine](https://archive.org/web/) to see how any page used to look. If you identify a page that meets all of the criteria mentioned above, create a similar piece of content then publish it on your website. It’s then just a case of reaching out to anyone linking to the old broken link and suggesting that they fix the link by replacing it with your link. Simple. ### \#20: Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects Guest posting is one of the oldest link building tactics in the [book](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/books/ "book"). It goes something like this: - Find websites that accept guest posts (in your niche) - Reach out to them and pitch a post idea - Write the post, land the link If you’ve ever done guest posting before, you’ll know there’s no shortage of opportunities around. Example: Google finds 4,000+ “write for us” pages (i.e. websites that are accepting guest posts) for search term “SEO”. ![seo guest post](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/seo-guest-post.png) That’s a LOT of prospects\! BUT there’s a problem… While you could write for thousands of websites, it’s important to remember that guest posting takes a lot of work. Not only do you have to pitch the websites, you also have to write a top notch article, too. This can be pretty time-consuming (or, if you’re outsourcing it, expensive!) And, because we want people to actually read our guest post, there’s ZERO point writing posts for websites that get little/no traffic. So, the question is: how do you know how much traffic a website gets? Simple…just enter the domain into Site Explorer and Ahrefs will show you an estimate of organic traffic. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/matthew-woodward-organic-traffic-700x152-1.png) BUT…what if you have a long list of prospects? No worries, just paste the entire list into Ahrefs Batch Analysis tool like so: ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/batch-analysis-ahrefs-700x283-1.png) Note: Make sure to select the option for “domain with all its subdomains” under the mode drop-down. Here’s the result (ordered by organic search traffic): ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-batch-analysis-domains-700x314-1.png) This is a great way to cut down your list and ensure that you’re ONLY writing for websites that actually [get traffic](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/free-backlinks/ "get traffic")\! [![download the on page seo checklist](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-seo-checklist.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/wnig7cbedwexyepxxjpv/) ## Site Audit Keyword discovery and research…*DONE.* Content creation…*DONE.* Link building…*DONE.* (well, link building is never done, but you should have at least made a start!) Here’s the good news: *that’s most* of the difficult stuff out of the way. But, even if you’ve executed everything perfectly thus far, the truth is that simple on-site errors can often hinder your success. I’m talking about… - Rogue “noindex” tags - Missing [meta description](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/meta-description/ "meta description") - [Thin content](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/thin-content/ "Thin content") And so forth. This is where [Ahrefs Site Audit](https://ahrefs.com/site-audit) tool comes in handy. In a nutshell, it will diagnose pretty much every on-site issue you could think of, without you really having to lift a finger. Here are a few useful things you can do with it: Note:** I’m not going to cover how to set up a project or run crawls in the Site Audit tool because, honestly, it’s pretty self-explanatory. But, if you’re struggling, [this post](https://ahrefs.com/blog/new-site-audit-tool/) (by Ahrefs) explains exactly how to do it, along with a lot more\! ### \#21: Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report) Go to Internal Pages \> Performance and you will see a report that looks something like this: ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/site-audit-performance-700x395-1.png) At first glance, this may appear as nothing more than a myriad of pie charts. But, this is actually showing you the number of pages on your website that are slow to load, in various ways. I recommend paying particular attention to the “Load time” chart: ![performance load time](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/performance-load-time.jpg) The red section of the pie chart shows the number of pages that are too slow to load (and thus, need fixing). If you click on the red section, you will see exactly which pages these are, along with how slowly they actually load: ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/site-audit-loading-time-700x286-1.png) One cool thing to note here is that Ahrefs also shows you the amount of organic traffic these pages are receiving. If you spot a slow loading page that is receiving a lot of traffic, I recommend prioritising the speeding-up of that page. Why? Because chances are it will attract even more traffic if you improve the visitor experience. ### \#22: Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report Mistakes with HTML tags can wreak havoc on your website. For example, if you accidentally add a noindex tag to a page, Google won’t even index that page. This means that even if you write great content and build epic links, it ain’t going to rank. And, while not all HTML tag errors are potentially this catastrophic, they’re still worth fixing. Ahrefs’ Site Audit tool makes this super-easy, as it uncovers all the errors for you. To view them, just go to Internal Pages \> HTML Tags: ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/html-tags-internal-pages-site-audit-700x246-1.png) Here, it will list all of the issues the crawler has found with your website. In the example above, you can see that I have a few missing meta tags, along with a few other errors. To learn more about where these errors actually occur, just click on one of the errors: ![Screen20Recording202017 12 2820at2003.4820pm](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen20Recording202017-12-2820at2003.4820pm.gif) It will then tell you more information about the errors, including the pages on which the errors occur: ![meta description issues](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/meta-description-issues.png) Because Ahrefs does the hard work for you (i.e. the discovery of these errors), you can usually fix them pretty easily just by editing a bit of HTML code. ### \#23: Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports Earlier in this guide, I showed you how to check for (and remove) toxic backlinks. This is super-important. But, there are other link-based issues that can impact the performance of your website. I’m talking about… - Broken outgoing links - “[Nofollow](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/nofollow/ "Nofollow")” internal links - [HTTPS](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/https/) pages internally linking to HTTP pages And so forth. Luckily, the Incoming and Outgoing Links reports in the Site Audit tool will help you to uncover and fix these issues. Let’s start by taking a look at the Incoming Links report: ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/incoming-links-site-audit-700x239-1.png) In this example, you can see that there are a few issues with my website—namely nofollowed internal links. This isn’t always cause for concern but generally, your internal links should be used to send “link juice” to important and relevant pages. Therefore, they should be dofollow links. If you click any of these errors, you will see exactly where they reside: ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/nofollow-internal-links-site-audit-700x269-1.png) Let’s take a look at the Outgoing Links report, too: ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/site-audit-outgoing-links-700x257-1.png) Again, we have a few errors, including: - Pages that link out to broken pages (these should be replaced and fixed!) - HTTPS pages linking to unsecure internal pages (this is definitely not the best practice!) - Pages without outgoing links ([some studies](https://www.rebootonline.com/blog/long-term-outgoing-link-experiment/) have found outgoing links to have a positive effect on rankings) If you want to investigate an error further (and see exactly where the error occurs), just click through to take a look. And this is only the tip of the iceberg—there are plenty of supporting graphs, data visualizations, and other pieces of information in these reports. Recommended reading: [This is the new Site Audit tool](https://ahrefs.com/blog/new-site-audit-tool/) by Ahrefs (an overview of the Site Audit tool written by [Tim Soulo](https://sg.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo) from Ahrefs) Check out my [4 step SEO audit case study](https://www.searchlogistics.com/case-studies/4-step-seo-audit-results/) to see how regular SEO audits can help your website grows. ## Analysing Your Progress/Success *SEO is hard* work. That’s why it’s important to keep your eye on progress and make sure that the grunt work is having a positive impact on your website. [Google Analytics](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/google-analytics/ "Google Analytics") will be your best bet here. BUT…if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably end up seeing your Ahrefs dashboard much more than your [Google Analytics](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/tools/google-analytics-alternatives/) account. So: Here are a few things to look for in Ahrefs to make sure you’re heading in the right direction: ### \#24: Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank Are you building a consistent flow of links to your website? If so, you should see your Domain Rating (DR) increase over time. Here’s what it looks like on your dashboard: ![ahrefs dr](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-dr.png) If it increases, you’ll see a green arrow appear alongside this number with the amount of points it’s increased (much like with the [URL rating](https://www.searchlogistics.com/glossary/url-rating-ur/ "URL rating") below). Similarly, you should start to see your Ahrefs Rank decrease. Basically, the lower your Ahrefs Rank is, the better, so keep an eye on it. Note:** Don’t obsess over these metrics. However, they are a decent indicator as to the overall status of your website. ### \#25: Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords) Remember during the Ahrefs setup process when I told you to track a bunch of your top keywords in Ahrefs? Well, that’s because these keywords also show up in your dashboard, like this: ![tracked keywords ahrefs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/tracked-keywords-ahrefs.png) Basically, this shows how many of your tracked keywords are ranking in the top 1-3, 4-10, 11-20, and 21-50 search results. As rankings improve, they’ll show up here. This is my personal favourite way to keep an eye on what really matters—if I see improvements here, I know that my traffic is probably increasing, too. Of course, if you want to take a more granular look at keyword rankings (with graphs and whatnot), you can use Ahrefs Rank Tracker. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ahrefs-rank-tracker-700x425-1.jpg) This can also show you some super-cool data such as the number of featured snippets you own, and much more. ![](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/serp-snippets-700x208-1.png) BUT: If you need daily keyword ranking updates you might want to checkout my [Accuranker review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/accuranker/) because Ahrefs only updates every 3 days. Want to write product reviews like this one? Use my [product review template](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/tools/product-review-template/)\! [![Check if you are using blacklisted backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta2-backlink-blacklist-penalty.jpg)](https://linksthatrank.com/backlink-blacklist/) ## Useful Tools (That Work with Ahrefs) Before I wrap this up, I want to mention a handful of tools that incorporate Ahrefs data. I know from talking to [Tim Soulo](https://sg.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo) that Ahrefs are very picky about which tools they allow to use their data. That’s why this list is quite short. Here are the tools I can personally vouch for: - [URL Profiler](https://urlprofiler.com/): Pulls in a bunch of metrics (including Ahrefs metrics) for a list of URLs. This is one of my personal favourites. See my full [URL Profiler review](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/url-profiler/) for more. - [Ninja Outreach](https://www.searchlogistics.com/get/ninjaoutreach/ "NinjaOutreach"): Use the free trial of this tool to contact thosuands of backlink opportunities/broken backlinks itc in a couple of clicks. They have a range of link building email templates [built in](https://www.searchlogistics.com/get/ninjaoutreach/ "NinjaOutreach")\! - [Screaming Frog](https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/): Industry-leading [crawling](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/how-search-engines-work/ "crawling") & [SEO Spider](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/seo-spider/) tool. A must-have for anyone who’s serious about SEO. It now also allows you to pull in metrics (e.g. DR, Ahrefs Rank, etc.) from Ahrefs directly. More details [here](https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/#ahrefs). - [Link Miner (Chrome Extension)](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/linkminer/ogdhdnpiclkaeicicamopfohidjokoom?hl=en): Analyse and extract links from any web page. Perfect for finding broken links and quickly assessing them by pulling in metrics from Ahrefs. - [SeoTools for Excel](http://seotoolsforexcel.com/): Excel add-on that’s absolutely packed with functionality. If you want to pull Ahrefs metrics directly into your spreadsheets, this one is for you! More details [here](http://seotoolsforexcel.com/ahrefs/). And [here are a few more tools that integrate Ahrefs data](https://ahrefs.com/apps) (although I haven’t tested these personally). [![increase your search traffic in 28 days](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta3-28-day-seo.jpg)](https://load.searchlogistics.com/c/ta7mckv55iop9qygeh24/) ## Wrapping It Up *[Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/) is an incredible* tool. Not just for link-building, but for (almost) everything else, too. Seriously, if I was limited to using only one SEO tool forever, Ahrefs would probably be my \#1 choice. BUT…enough with the praise… Here’s a quick recap of my surefire process for increasing traffic in my Ahrefs review- - Make sure your website is healthy (i.e. there are no bad-backlinks, broken links, etc)** - [Look for “Dodgy” Links in the Backlinks and Referring Domains Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-bad-backlinks) - [Look for Unnatural Anchor Text Issues](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-unnatural-anchor-text) - [Look for LOTS of Links from the Same C-block IPs](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-links-same-c-class) - [Find (AND Fix) Broken Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-fix-broken-links) - [Remove ALL Low-Quality (or Irrelevant) Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-low-quality-links) - [Fix Broken Outbound Links](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#fix-broken-outboind-links) - [Look for potential issues with Ahrefsbot and fix them.](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/ahrefsbot/) - Find all of the best keywords - [Pop a Few “Seed” Keywords into Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#keyword-explorer) - [See Other Keyword Ideas (Based on Your Seed Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#keyword-ideas) - [Find the Keywords/Topics that Send the Most Traffic to Your Competitors](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-competitor-keywords) / [VIDEO TUTORIAL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvyVrnpAs68) - [Analyse YOUR Competitors to Find Keyword “Content Gaps”](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#analyse-competitors) - Prioritise your keywords AND find low-hanging fruit (i.e. quick-win opportunities) - [Find Keywords That You’re Already Ranking for in Positions 4-6](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-keyword-opportunities) - [Find Keywords AND Topics with High Traffic Potential](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-keyword-potential) - Research and create some EPIC content - [Find UNIQUE, EASILY BEATABLE Content Ideas Using Content Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#content-ideas) - [Find Content Ideas That People ACTUALLY Care About with Keywords Explorer](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#content-seo-research) - Build links to your EPIC content - [Use Branded Alerts to Reclaim Backlinks](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#branded-link-reclaimation) - [Monitor TOPICAL Keyword Alerts (Then Convince People to Link to You)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#monitor-keywords) - [Monitor Competitor Links AND Brand Mentions](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#monitor-competitors) - [Find “Skyscraper” Link Building Opportunities (AND Prospects)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-link-building-opportunities) - [Broken Backlink Building (with the top pages – 404 report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#broken-backlink-building) / [VIDEO TUTORIAL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8LramMafYc) - [Find Worthwhile Guest Post Prospects](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-guest-post-sites) - Complete a site audit and fix all outstanding issues - [Use The Site Audit Tool To Find Every SEO Problem](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#site-seo-audit) - [Find Slow Loading Pages (Using the Performance Report)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-slow-pages) - [Find HTML Tag Issues (e.g. Rogue “Noindex” Tags) with the HTML Tags Report](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-html-problems) - [Find Incoming and Outgoing Link Issues (e.g. Broken Outbound Links) with the Incoming/Outgoing Links Reports](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#find-link-problems) - Keep an eye on your progress and make sure you’re on the right track\! - [Increased Domain Rating (DR) AND Decreased Ahrefs Rank](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#increase-seo-metrics) - [Improved Rankings (for Your Tracked Keywords)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/reviews/ahrefs/#increase-rankings) - [Increase Domain Authority (DA)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/seo/link-building/increase-domain-authority/) Do this, in this order, and you won’t go far wrong\! How do you use Ahrefs in your SEO campaigns? [![We have publish tons of SEO case studies](https://www.searchlogistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cta1-seo-case-studies-2.jpg)](https://www.searchlogistics.com/case-studies/)
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