Boost Your SEO with 5 Free Tools from Ahrefs!
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Ahrefs' Webmaster Tools (AWT)
- Site Audit
- Scheduled Audits
- Site Explorer
- Ahrefs Backlink Checker
- Ahrefs' Keyword Generator
- SERP Checker
- Ahrefs' SEO Toolbar
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Introduction
In this article, we will explore the top free SEO tools offered by Ahrefs and how they can be used to improve the SEO of your website. Ahrefs is known for its powerful SEO software, and they also provide a range of free tools that can help website owners and SEO professionals optimize their sites.
1️⃣ Ahrefs' Webmaster Tools (AWT)
Ahrefs' Webmaster Tools (AWT) is a package of two core tools that can be used for any websites you own. These tools are Site Audit and Site Explorer.
Site Audit
Site Audit is a tool that scans your website for over 100 technical and on-page SEO issues. It then organizes these issues into digestible reports, making it easy for you to identify and fix them. The Overview report provides you with your website's health score, which represents the percentage of URLs that don't have errors. You can also see a list of the top issues and detailed instructions on how to fix them. Site Audit also allows you to set up scheduled audits on a weekly basis, helping you monitor changes on your site and maintain a healthy website.
Site Explorer
Site Explorer is another powerful tool in AWT that provides backlink and search traffic data. It gives you access to top-level metrics for your website, such as Domain Rating, total backlinks, total referring domains, the number of keywords your site ranks for, and estimated search traffic. Additionally, Site Explorer allows you to view all the pages that link to your website, providing you with valuable information about the linking pages and domains. You can also explore the keywords your website ranks for and find opportunities to improve your site's visibility.
2️⃣ Ahrefs Backlink Checker
Ahrefs Backlink Checker is a valuable free tool for analyzing backlinks. With this tool, you can see the top 100 backlinks pointing to a specific URL or domain. By analyzing the backlinks pointing to a page, you can assess the quality and relevance of those links. This information is incredibly useful when it comes to link building. If you find a page with outdated data or content, you can leverage the backlink information to create your own updated page and reach out to relevant websites to ask them to replace the outdated link with a link to your new and improved page.
3️⃣ Ahrefs' Keyword Generator
Ahrefs' Keyword Generator is a powerful tool that helps you find keyword ideas for search engines like Google, Bing, YouTube, and Amazon. By entering a broad keyword related to your niche, the tool generates the top 100 keywords that include your phrase. It also provides search volumes and keyword difficulty scores for the top 10 keywords. If you're looking for keyword ideas specifically for blog posts, you can use the Questions tab, which shows keywords phrased as questions. The Keyword Generator provides valuable insights into keyword popularity and difficulty, helping you optimize your content strategy.
4️⃣ SERP Checker
SERP Checker is a versatile tool that shows you the top 10 rankings for a specific keyword and provides SEO metrics for the top 3 pages. It allows you to assess ranking difficulty using metrics such as Domain Rating, URL Rating, and Referring Domains. Furthermore, you can view estimated traffic to these pages, giving you a sense of the potential traffic you could gain from ranking for a specific keyword. SERP Checker also provides non-personalized search results from 171 countries, allowing you to analyze the global search landscape.
5️⃣ Ahrefs' SEO Toolbar
Ahrefs' SEO Toolbar is a browser extension that provides useful SEO metrics while you browse the web. With this toolbar, you can quickly access keyword metrics and SEO metrics right within Google Search. It shows both page- and domain-level metrics, giving you valuable insights into the SEO performance of any webpage. While some features of the SEO Toolbar require a premium plan, there are several free features available, such as identifying broken outgoing links, generating on-page SEO reports, and analyzing the types of outgoing links.
6️⃣ Conclusion
In conclusion, Ahrefs offers a range of powerful and free SEO tools that can significantly improve your website's search engine optimization. From Ahrefs' Webmaster Tools, which provide comprehensive insights into your website's health and performance, to the Backlink Checker, Keyword Generator, SERP Checker, and SEO Toolbar, Ahrefs has you covered for all aspects of SEO. By utilizing these tools effectively, you can optimize your website, build high-quality backlinks, conduct thorough keyword research, and gain a competitive edge in search engine rankings.
7️⃣ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Are the free SEO tools offered by Ahrefs sufficient for optimizing my website?
A: Yes, Ahrefs' free SEO tools offer extensive functionality and can go a long way in optimizing your website. However, their paid plans provide even more advanced features and additional data that can further enhance your SEO efforts.
Q: Can I use Ahrefs' Webmaster Tools for multiple websites?
A: Yes, Ahrefs' Webmaster Tools can be used for any websites you own, allowing you to monitor and optimize multiple websites from a single platform.
Q: Are there any limitations to the free Backlink Checker tool?
A: The free Backlink Checker tool allows you to see the top 100 backlinks pointing to a URL or domain. If you require a more comprehensive backlink analysis, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Q: How can the Keyword Generator help me with my content strategy?
A: The Keyword Generator provides valuable insights into keyword popularity and difficulty, allowing you to identify relevant keywords to target in your content. By incorporating these keywords into your content strategy, you can improve your website's visibility in search results.
Q: Can the SERP Checker tool provide localized search results?
A: Yes, the SERP Checker tool offers non-personalized search results from 171 countries, allowing you to analyze global search trends and assess competition in specific regions.
Q: Is the Ahrefs' SEO Toolbar only available for premium plan subscribers?
A: While some features of the SEO Toolbar require a premium plan, there are several free features available that do not require an account. These free features can still provide valuable insights into the SEO performance of webpages.