In the digital freelance environment, SEO can mean the difference between visibility and obscurity. Strategic decisions require data, not just intuition, which is where Ahrefs comes into play.

Ahrefs can crawl millions of pages per minute, discovering new improvement opportunities daily. It's among the world's most comprehensive and widely used SEO tools, providing precise, valuable, and updated information to rank highly in search engines.

That's why you should understand what Ahrefs is and how to make the most of it, especially if you're working independently, managing multiple projects without a team.

Ahrefs: Definition, Features, and How to Leverage It

What Is Ahrefs?

Ahrefs analyzes websites, monitors competitors, and identifies keyword opportunities, giving you a competitive advantage by revealing effective strategies you can apply to your project.

It evaluates organic traffic, backlinks, and search rankings, making it one of the most powerful and complete digital marketing tools available.

What Is Ahrefs Used For?

In short, Ahrefs allows you to:

• Assess SEO performance.

• Discover high-potential keywords.

• Explore backlinks.

• Analyze competitors.

• Detect technical errors affecting rankings.

It also serves to find ideas for new content, so if you want to succeed as a freelance copywriter, it will be very useful.

Ahrefs: Main Features and Functions

Ahrefs’ features and functions offer flexibility for freelancers managing digital projects:

Features

• User-friendly interface: Designed for anyone, even beginners, making SEO data accessible and understandable.

• Accuracy: Continuously updated databases ensure decisions are based on fresh information.

• Global coverage: Supports multiple languages and countries, helpful for international SEO research.

• Custom reports: Generate tailored reports highlighting the most relevant data for your clients, beneficial for brand management strategies.

Ahrefs offers multiple functionalities to improve your website’s ranking:

Functions

• Site Explorer: Analyze any domain's traffic sources, backlink strength, and ranking keywords.

• Keywords Explorer: Identify profitable keyword ideas, search volumes, and ranking difficulties.

• Rank Tracker: Track keyword rankings by country, city, or device type.

• Content Explorer: Find the most shared and linked articles in your niche.

• Backlink Analysis: Examine backlinks pointing to your site or competitors', assessing their frequency and quality.

• Site Audit: Perform technical audits to detect issues like broken links, SEO errors, or slow-loading pages.

As if that were not enough, it offers complementary metrics to evaluate and improve your SEO strategy, such as:

• The authority of the domain.

• The number of inbound links.

• The volume of keywords that generate traffic.

These figures give you a clearer picture of the overall performance of a website and help you make decisions with greater certainty.

Why Use Ahrefs to Improve Your SEO?

The primary reason to use Ahrefs is that it helps you save time and make smarter decisions. Additionally, it offers several significant advantages, such as:

All-in-one platform

If you're working independently, Ahrefs provides everything you need to enhance your SEO from a single location. You won't need to switch between multiple tools since Ahrefs allows you to research keywords, review backlinks, audit sites, and more, all within one comprehensive dashboard.

Actionable data

Ahrefs doesn’t just provide raw data; it also offers detailed context, helping you understand what's working and what's not. Using this information, you can adjust your strategy effectively, increasing your chances of achieving successful outcomes.

Designed for everyone

Despite its powerful features, Ahrefs maintains a user-friendly interface suitable for both beginners and seasoned SEO professionals. Additionally, the platform includes educational resources that facilitate deeper exploration and understanding of its tools.

Discover opportunities from competitors

With Ahrefs, you'll uncover what others in your niche are doing—what keywords they're targeting and which content drives their traffic. This insight enables you to identify gaps or weaknesses in competitors' strategies that you can leverage to your advantage.

How to Use Ahrefs to Boost Your SEO Results?

Ahrefs, being a comprehensive SEO tool, offers various functionalities to enhance your website's ranking.

Here are practical ways to leverage it effectively:

General site analysis

Once registered and logged into Ahrefs, you'll access a dashboard providing an overview of your projects. Here you can monitor metrics such as site health, keyword rankings, and backlink profile, giving you an immediate snapshot of your SEO strategy's performance.

Review and strengthen your backlink profile

By entering a URL into the Site Explorer, Ahrefs displays detailed information about backlinks directing traffic to your site. This data helps evaluate if your backlink profile is robust or requires improvements. It's also valuable for identifying new opportunities, whether you're managing your projects or affiliate marketing strategies. Specifically, the backlink analysis tool allows you to:

• Identify high-quality backlinks.

• Detect toxic or lost links.

• Discover new opportunities for link building.

• Enhance your site's authority using metrics like Domain Rating (DR).

Find high-potential keywords

With the Keywords Explorer tool, you can discover terms that users search for and analyze their search volume, ranking difficulty, cost-per-click value, and actual click-through rates. Additionally, Ahrefs provides related keyword suggestions and lets you perform keyword research specifically for search engines such as Google, YouTube, or Amazon.

Monitor your keyword rankings

Rank Tracker allows you to follow the performance of your keywords in Google's search results, segmented by location and device type. By tracking their fluctuations over time, you can timely adjust your SEO strategy to maintain or improve visibility online.

Activate alerts to stay informed

By configuring Ahrefs notifications, you'll receive timely alerts about significant changes, such as brand mentions or gains and losses of backlinks. This helps you stay informed and proactively respond to variations in your SEO environment without needing constant manual checks.

Ahrefs: Pricing and Plans

The current Ahrefs plans are designed to meet the needs of different profiles. As it offers more features, the amount goes up, but so does the number of users.

For more clarity, check this chart with Ahrefs pricing and plans:

Annual billing currently offers a 17% discount.

Is There a Free Ahrefs Version?

While no comprehensive free trials exist, you can access limited Ahrefs features for free via Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT), providing:

• Site Audit.

• Site Explorer.

This is a valuable, cost-free option for enhancing your SEO, although it requires verifying website ownership via Google Analytics or Search Console.

Ahrefs can significantly boost your freelance visibility and professionalism. However, managing your earnings is equally important. 

That’s where DolarApp comes in, offering an innovative solution to receive, save, and convert digital dollars at competitive exchange rates. This is especially beneficial for freelancers working with international clients.