Ahrefs has launched a free SEO tool that provides SEO and site diagnostic data. It’s called Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. I test drove the tool and have to say I was very impressed with the usefulness of his SEO data on and off page.
what is that:
This is a tool limited to providing on-page, off-page SEO data for verified sites.
privacy issues
Some people began thoughtfully questioning possible privacy issues and whether Ahrefs would be willing to use customer data.
So I asked Ahrefs.
1. Is GSC verification just for verification?
yes. GSC Validation was released a few weeks ago. This is a very convenient way to verify your website without adding DNS records or uploading files.
2. Does Ahrefs currently use data from free accounts?
No.
3. If Ahrefs decides to use the data, will it be anonymized?
The use of anonymized data is just an idea. I’m considering using anonymized data…and looking only at keywords, positions, impressions, and ctr.
This is just an idea, haven’t tried it yet. GSC data is a low quality source as it counts bot traffic, similar to traffic estimates provided by Google. This is why I say “may use”.
4. If Ahref decides to use the data anonymously, will it first ask for permission or send a notice with the latest privacy statement?
We always comply with all regulations and remain transparent to our users, especially when it comes to ethical issues.
Dmitry Gerasimenko, founder and CEO of Ahrefs tweeted the following statement:
“We currently do not use data from the GSC other than listing websites to verify ownership. is meant to be investigated, but is not currently being done. It may seem weak, but it’s the best way to describe the state of things. ”
Overview of Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools are incredibly easy to use. Navigation is intuitive and pretty much where you would expect your data. The data seems to be fetched with just a click or two.
Contributing to a frictionless user experience is the liberal use of tooltips. Every point that might make you wonder about something has an unobtrusive gray question mark icon that, when clicked, provides the clarification you need.
Even the light gray selection of tooltip icons shows how well the interface is planned. Icons do not interfere with workflow and contribute to a smooth user experience.
webmaster tools dashboard
The tool’s dashboard is suitably simple. It has the following read functions:
- health score
- domain rating
- referring domain
- back link
- organic traffic
- organic keywords
- Link disavow tool
Click on any section (except the organic traffic section) for a detailed report. Going directly to the information on the website is very easy and intuitive.
Link disavow tool
The Disavowed Link tool is an administrative tool that helps you create and maintain your disavow list in an organized way. Users can upload a spreadsheet or manually add URLs and domains.
Disavowal data is used by Ahrefs to ignore specified URLs in reports and can also be exported for uploading to Google Search Console.
Click the health score icon to view SEO data related to crawl status, crawl errors and warnings, and HTTP status response codes (200, 301, 404, 500). This is a general overview of a successful site crawl.
A 500 status response code is especially important feedback as it can alert you to server or database problems. For example, an improperly configured server will give up and start serving 500 response codes.
Ahrefs Backlink Tool
The Backlinks Tool provides an overview of your backlinks with the ability to see specific types of backlinks.
For example, publishers can narrow the selection of links by limiting them to one link per domain, or all links from each domain.
Ahrefs backlink filter
This tool can selectively limit the view to the following variables:
- Link type (dofollow, redirect, .gov, etc.)
- Platforms (blogs, e-commerce, forums, etc.)
- language
- Traffic (by date)
- word or phrase
Word or phrase backlink filter
The “Word or Phrase” backlink filter is my favorite filter. You can enter .org into this tool and filter backlinks to show all .org backlinks.
Enter the word “resource” to find all sites linking to you that have that word in the URL.
Word or phrase filters include or exclude words or phrases you enter.
This is a killer feature that helps in many ways. This is a powerful way to identify high or low quality links or find specific kinds of backlinks in your profile.
Tool limitations
There are limits on the number of URLs crawled and how long the data is retained.
Site audit
• URLs crawled monthly – 5,000 per project
• Data retention period – 3 months.
• JS Rendering – Yessite explorer
• Backlink index – “live” only
• Rows per report – 1,000
• Rows per month – 100,000
• Export rows per report – 1,000
• Export rows per month – 10,000Advanced SE Report:
• Content Gap – 10 lines per report
• Crossing links – 10 rows per report
• Competing Pages/Domains – 10 rows per report
• Home Page/Subdomain/Path – 10 rows per report
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools Verdict
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is a killer service. There are so many features packed into this tool that we won’t cover it here.
It’s hard to believe that something this useful is free. Due to her attention to detail, focus on usefulness and ease of use, this is her SEO audit tool of the best that every web publisher should use.
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Ahrefs Webmaster Tools webpage
