How to use ahrefs for free​?

Methods of Using Ahrefs Without Paying

SEO tools and digital marketing tools have gained popularity worldwide, and one of the most reputed is Ahrefs. For industry professionals, Ahrefs offers deep insights for growth tracking using a site audit, tracking backlinks, or even competitor analysis. Despite all these benefits, the extensive suite of features offered by Ahrefs can prove to be a huge obstacle for smaller businesses and startups due to their straining budgets.

how to use ahrefs for free​?

However, there is a silver lining to this dark cloud. Even though Ahrefs operates primarily as a paid tool, it has its own free features which can be used without spending a single penny. This guide will help you take the most out of Ahrefs by exploiting its features for free.

Ahrefs in the SEO Community

In case you were looking for what makes Ahrefs stand out in the crowd, here are some reasons:

Backlink Monitoring: Monitor backlinks of your competitors and other related businesses to grab insight into their business strategies.

Keyword Planning: Discover the most potent keywords for you to utilize in your upcoming content.

Site Audit: Scan your website for any technical SEO faults so that they can be remedied.

Content Explorer: Monitor trends in your area of expertise and get ideas for content.

Competitor Analysis: Discover your competitors’ most successful pages and the keywords driving traffic to them.

Although all these features can be accessed through a subscription, it is possible to access limited parts of Ahrefs for free through certain avenues.

How To Access Ahrefs For Free

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Getting access through Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT) is one of the easiest methods to access Ahrefs for free. This is an offer of Ahrefs that helps users track their websites for SEO performance, examines issues, and various actionable insights.

What features come with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools?

Site Audit

You can do a site audit to evaluate your SEO issues like broken links, duplicate content, and pages that are slow to load. The tool assigns a health score to your site and gives you common issues along with steps to rectify them.

Backlink Data

AWT allows you to monitor who is linking to your site which assists in managing your backlink profile as well as assessing the value of these backlinks.

Organic Traffic Monitoring

It analyzes your organic traffic data which gives insight into which pages are performing well, and the keywords driving traffic to the page.

Registration process for Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Visit the link for Ahrefs Webmaster Tools.

Provide your email to create an account and link your website using Google Search Console or manual verification.

Begin retrieving free SEO insights and audit data specific to your site.

Ahrefs Free SEO Tools

With the aim of assisting users with particular tasks, Ahrefs has made available a number of free SEO tools. These tools are helpful for users who want quick insights within a brief timeframe without requiring extensive access to the platform.

Some of the widely used tools are:

Backlink Checker: With this tool, you can view the top 100 backlinks for any URL or domain. If you are interested in knowing who links to your competitors, this tool is a great starting point.

Keyword Generator: This tool helps you generate up to 100 keywords for your niche and target audience.

SERP Checker: It shows how hard is it to rank for a certain keyword and which sites are currently ranking for it.

Broken Link Checker: Find broken links on your or a competitor’s domain for simple link-building opportunities.

Website Authority Checker: Determine the domain rating (DR) of any website instantly to assess its authority.

Visit Ahrefs Free Tools and pick the tool that caters to your preferred needs.

Content Explorer Free Mode

For content marketers seeking inspiration and current trends, the Ahrefs Content Explorer tool is a goldmine.

Ahrefs does provide a limited free mode, but the full-featured Content Explorer requires a paid subscription.

What you can do in free mode:

Look for trending content within your niche by using the appropriate keywords.

Sort results based on social shares and traffic, among other metrics.

Access restricted information regarding content performance data to help inform your strategy.

Trial Period

Ahrefs offers a full subscription but for those not ready to commit right away, a 7-day trial is available. For $7, you will have access to all tools available, including backlink analysis, site audits, keyword research tools, and many others.

While this isn’t free by any means, it remains an economical choice for users needing short-term access to premium features of the platform. Make sure to use the trial period wisely by getting all your tasks planned ahead of time.

Indirect Access Through Ahrefs Data Partners

A number of platforms offer free services that incorporate Ahrefs’ data. These include marketing platforms, browser extensions, and content optimization plugins that offer SEO insights or backlinks information sourced from Ahrefs.

While these tools may not offer the full depth of research available through Ahrefs, they may still provide some useful snippets. One such example is the browser plugin SEO Minion.

Exploit and Leverage Ahrefs Tutorials and Blog

Even without direct access to Ahrefs tools, their website offers a wealth of materials.

Ahrefs Blog: Contains a wealth of case studies, SEO advice, and insights from the industry.

YouTube Tutorials: The channel provides guides on SEO, content marketing, and the use of Ahrefs products.

Pro Tip: Even without direct access to Ahrefs, the tutorials can help deepen your grasp of SEO concepts.

Maximizing Ahrefs Free Features

Combine Tools: Use insights from other SEO platforms alongside Ahrefs’ free tools. You can leverage Google Analytics and combine it with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for advanced analysis.

Plan in Advance: Outline goals ahead of time if you plan to use the 7-day trial to extract maximum value.

Track Progress: Monitoring metrics like website traffic and backlink changes using Ahrefs Webmaster Tools will keep you ahead of SEO pitfalls without needing a paid subscription.

The Value of Paid Features

Even though significant insights can be gleaned from Ahrefs free version, the premium subscription reveals even more data.

Should your SEO objectives shift to more advanced tasks, such as large-scale competitor keyword tracking or API integrations, it may be necessary to change your plan to one that fits your business outcomes.

Take Immediate Action

Ahrefs is a particularly useful resource for a website owner who wants to enhance their site’s SEO metrics. The paid version offers a plethora of tools, but even the free version offers quite a bit of actionable insights for both beginners and seasoned professionals.

To get started, sign up for Ahrefs Free Webmaster account and take advantage of their Free SEO Tools. These tools can boost your SEO campaigns without breaking the bank, whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or part of a marketing team.

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