16 Popular Ahrefs Features You Need to Know

Ahrefs, first launched in 2011, was initially known as a backlink analysis tool for websites. However, after more than a decade of development, Ahrefs has expanded and added many features, becoming a comprehensive SEO tool favored by experts in the industry. In this article, Sadesign will explore with you the most outstanding features of Ahrefs, helping you optimize your SEO strategy effectively.

1. Ahrefs Rank

Ahrefs Rank is an important metric for assessing a website’s position in the online ecosystem. It is determined by the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing to your website. This means that if your website has many high-quality links from reputable sources, your Ahrefs Rank will be higher. Thanks to this metric, you can compare your SEO performance with your competitors and find out the strengths and weaknesses of their strategies.

Monitoring Ahrefs Rank not only helps you evaluate your own rankings, but it also provides valuable information about changes in the competitive landscape. When you notice a competitor’s Ahrefs Rank increasing, it could be a sign that they are using more effective SEO strategies, and you may need to adjust your plan to maintain or improve your position in search.

2. URL Rating

URL Rating (UR) is a metric that represents the trustworthiness and strength of a particular URL. The URL Rating scale ranges from 1 to 100, with higher values ​​indicating that the URL has a strong backlink profile. This metric is useful in determining how competitive a particular page is in search results. A URL with a high UR is more likely to stand out in the ranking battle than a URL with a low UR.

When analyzing URL Rating, you should pay attention to the quality of backlinks pointing to that URL. Not only the quantity but also the quality of these links will affect UR. Improving your URL Rating by building quality links can help increase your site's visibility in search and attract more traffic.

3. Domain Rating

Domain Rating (DR) is an important indicator of the overall strength of a domain. Like other metrics, DR is also calculated from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating that the domain has a stronger backlink profile and is more authoritative in the eyes of search engines. DR not only reflects the presence of backlinks but also shows the competitiveness of the domain compared to competitors in the same field.

Tracking your Domain Rating can help you identify trends in your website’s growth as well as evaluate the effectiveness of your SEO strategies. If your DR increases, this could be a sign that you are building a quality backlink network and increasing your credibility in the eyes of users and search engines.

4. Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. Ahrefs provides an overview of all the backlinks to your website or a specific URL, giving you a better understanding of how users and search engines perceive your site. The number of backlinks is more than just a simple metric; it also reflects the popularity and trustworthiness of your website on the internet.

One important thing to note when looking at backlink counts in Ahrefs is the difference between backlink counts and referring pages. Backlink counts represent the total number of links to your site, while referring pages show how many different sites are linking to you. Building a diverse and high-quality backlink profile

5. Referring Domains

Referring Domains is an important indicator in assessing the strength of a website's backlink profile. This indicator is not simply the total number of domains that link to your website, but also includes detailed parameters such as Live, Recent and Historical, giving you a deeper insight into the quality and stability of these links. By analyzing Referring Domains, you can better understand the origin of traffic as well as the presence of the website in the online ecosystem.

Tracking Referring Domains not only helps you determine the number of websites that are linking to you, but also allows you to analyze the quality of these links. A large number of Referring Domains from reputable sources is not only beneficial for SEO, but also builds trust in your brand in the eyes of consumers. This can lead to improved search rankings and more organic traffic.

6. Organic Keywords

Organic Keywords is a metric that shows the number of keywords that your website is likely to rank in the top 100 of Google. This metric is important because it reflects your presence in natural search results, and also shows your ability to optimize content for target keywords. Understanding the number of organic keywords helps you evaluate the effectiveness of the SEO strategy you are applying.

Additionally, tracking Organic Keywords can also help you identify potential opportunities to expand your content and improve your rankings for other keywords. If you find that certain keywords are bringing in significant traffic, you can decide to invest more in optimizing or developing content around those keywords to increase your search presence.

7. Organic Traffic

Organic Traffic is a metric that reflects the traffic that users get to your website through natural search results on Google. This metric not only shows the number of visitors but also shows the attractiveness of your content and SEO strategy to users. Obtaining high organic traffic is the main goal of many SEO campaigns because it is often associated with better conversion rates than traffic from other sources.

Tracking Organic Traffic helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your SEO efforts, and provides information about when and why traffic changes. If you notice an increase in Organic Traffic, this could be a sign that your content is attracting users’ attention and meeting their search needs.

8. Top Content

Top Content is a metric that allows you to identify the articles on your website that receive the most traffic from Google. This metric is not simply a measure of the number of visitors, but also reflects the quality of the content and its ability to attract readers. Once you know what content is performing well, you can focus on developing more similar articles or optimizing existing content to increase traffic.

Analyzing Top Content also helps you identify trends and audience preferences. By understanding which content is generating the most engagement, you can adjust your content strategy to better meet the needs and preferences of your users. This not only improves your search rankings, but also builds a stronger connection with your target audience.

9. Keyword Difficulty

Keyword Difficulty is an important metric to evaluate how difficult it is to rank for a particular keyword on page 1 of Google. It is ranked on a scale of 1 to 100, where a higher score indicates greater competition. Keyword difficulty is not only based on the number of backlinks but also depends on the authority of the website and the quality of the related content. Understanding Keyword Difficulty will help you determine which keywords are feasible to target in your SEO strategy.

When you want to check the difficulty of a specific keyword, like “SEO services,” using the Keyword Explorer tool will give you an overview of the competition level and the factors that influence the ranking of that keyword. This allows you to effectively plan and adjust your SEO strategy, optimizing your ability to rank for high-potential keywords while still being within your control.

10. Top Pages

Top Pages is a metric that aggregates all the most interactive pages of a domain, sorted in descending order. The accompanying metrics provide information about traffic, value, and number of keywords for each page. Analyzing Top Pages helps you identify which content is attracting the most attention from users, thereby making smart decisions for future content strategies.

By monitoring Top Pages, you can spot content trends and find new opportunities to improve or repurpose existing content. If certain pages are bringing in a lot of traffic, this may be a sign that you should invest more in optimizing or developing related content to maximize the potential of these pages and increase your website’s presence in search engines.

11. Dashboard – Overview Board

Ahrefs Dashboard is a powerful tool that gives you an overview of your website’s SEO performance. Here, you can quickly track important metrics such as Ahrefs Rank, number of backlinks, Referring Domains, and Organic Traffic. This not only helps you grasp the current situation of your website, but also allows you to easily compare it with competitors in the same field. This convenience saves you time and effort in analyzing the data needed to adjust your SEO strategy.

In addition, the dashboard also provides you with detailed information about how the indicators change over time, thereby helping you quickly identify trends and fluctuations in the market. When you see an increase or decrease in a certain indicator, you can immediately adjust your SEO plan to better suit these changes. This not only improves work efficiency but also helps you maintain a competitive position in the market.

12. Backlink Profile

The Backlink Profile feature in Ahrefs is one of the most popular tools, helping you track and manage links pointing to your website effectively. This feature includes sections such as New Backlinks, which allows you to see a list of websites that have recently linked to you, helping you identify new link sources and potential collaboration opportunities. At the same time, Lost Backlinks will notify you of sites that have linked to you but have now removed the link, thereby helping you better understand the situation of your backlink profile.

Another highlight of Backlink Profile is the ability to detect Broken Backlinks, which are broken links pointing to your website. This detection not only helps you improve the quality of your backlink profile, but can also be an opportunity for you to contact and request these sites to restore the link or replace it with better quality content. Thanks to this feature, you can optimize your link building strategy more effectively.

13. Best By Links Growth

The Best By Links Growth feature allows you to track the growth of links pointing to each page on your website over specific time periods, such as 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days. This not only helps you identify the pages with the fastest link growth, but also provides insight into trends in your link building strategy. Once you know which pages are attracting new links, you can decide to invest more in optimizing the content or developing marketing campaigns for those pages.

Combining Best By Links Growth with Top Pages will help you find pages that are not only getting more links but are also growing the fastest. This will help you identify high-potential content and adjust your content strategy to optimize traffic. By analyzing your growing pages in more depth, you can make smart decisions about which content to leverage to achieve the best results.

14. Broken Outgoing Links

Ahrefs’ Broken Outgoing Links feature helps you identify broken links on your website. Finding broken links not only improves user experience but also helps improve your website’s reputation in the eyes of search engines. By fixing or removing these links, you can optimize your content structure, which can improve your search rankings and keep users on your page longer.

Additionally, Broken Outgoing Links can also be used as a useful tool for building backlinks for your website. When you find broken links, you can search for similar content sources and ask them to link to you instead of the broken pages. This not only helps you improve your backlink profile but also creates opportunities to connect with other websites in your industry.

15. PPC Keywords

The PPC Keywords feature gives you insight into the keywords that other websites are using in their paid advertising campaigns. This not only gives you a better understanding of your competitors’ advertising strategies, but also allows you to analyze how those keywords are impacting their profits. If you find that a certain keyword is valuable to another website, you can consider using the same keyword in your advertising campaigns.

Furthermore, tracking PPC Keywords also helps you identify opportunities to optimize your advertising budget. By analyzing keywords with high conversion rates and reasonable costs, you can adjust your advertising strategy to achieve optimal results. This not only helps you save costs but also enhances your marketing effectiveness on the search platform.

16. Content Gap

Ahrefs’ Content Gap feature is a powerful tool that helps you conduct effective competitor research. By adding your competitor’s URLs and your website to the tool, you will quickly get a list of keywords that your competitors are ranking for but you are not. This will not only help you identify potential opportunities, but also help you adjust your content strategy so that you don’t miss out on any traffic opportunities.

By analyzing keywords in Content Gap, you can develop new content or optimize existing posts to increase your competitiveness. When you know the keywords that your competitors are exploiting but you are not, you can plan to create better content and attract more traffic from organic searches. This will help you significantly improve your position in the market and increase your brand presence.

17. Conclusion

In short, Ahrefs is not only a backlink analysis tool but also a powerful assistant for anyone who wants to improve search rankings and optimize their website. With a series of useful features, from keyword analysis to SEO tracking, Ahrefs will definitely bring great benefits to your online marketing strategy. Let's explore and take advantage of these features to improve your work efficiency!