Ahrefs SEO Analysis

Query and analyze SEO data using the Ahrefs API for backlinks, keywords, rankings, and competitive intelligence.

Prerequisites

API Access

You need an Ahrefs subscription with API access:

• Lite: Basic metrics, limited filtering
• Standard: More endpoints, some filtering
• Advanced: Advanced filtering, more data
• Enterprise: Full API access, advanced filtering, high rate limits

Setup

1. Get your API token from Ahrefs Account Settings

2. Configure in OpenClaw: Add to ~/.openclaw/workspace/.env:

   AHREFS_API_TOKEN=your_api_token_here
   AHREFS_API_PLAN=enterprise  # Options: lite, standard, advanced, enterprise
   

3. Verify setup:

   grep AHREFS ~/.openclaw/workspace/.env
   

Plan-Specific Features

All Plans

• Domain Rating & Ahrefs Rank
• Basic backlinks stats (total counts)
• Organic keywords count
• Organic traffic estimates
• Top pages by traffic

Standard & Above

• Organic keywords with positions (all positions)
• Keywords in positions 1-3 (via org_keywords_1_3 metric)
• Referring domains list (basic)

Advanced & Enterprise

• Advanced filtering: Filter keywords by position (1-10 for first page)
• Geographic filtering: Filter backlinks by country/TLD (e.g., .au domains)
• Detailed keyword data: Access to best_position, sum_traffic, volume
• Detailed backlink data: Full backlinks list with filtering
• Higher rate limits: Fetch larger datasets (5000+ records)

Core Capabilities

Site Explorer (Domain Analysis)

Get comprehensive SEO metrics for any domain:

• Domain Rating (DR) & URL Rating (UR)
• Organic traffic estimates
• Referring domains & backlinks
• Organic keywords & rankings
• Top pages by traffic
• Historical data & trends
• [Advanced/Enterprise] Filter by country/TLD
• [Advanced/Enterprise] Position-based filtering (first page only)

Keywords Explorer (Keyword Research)

Discover and analyze keywords:

• Search volume (global & country-specific)
• Keyword difficulty (KD) score
• Cost per click (CPC) estimates
• SERP analysis & features
• Related keywords & questions
• Keyword ideas & suggestions
• Parent topic analysis
• Traffic potential estimates

Rank Tracker (Position Monitoring)

Track keyword rankings over time:

• Position tracking & visibility
• Competitor rankings comparison
• SERP feature tracking
• Historical position data
• Share of voice metrics
• Note: Requires pre-configured projects in Ahrefs

Site Audit (Technical SEO)

Identify technical SEO issues:

• Crawl data & site health scores
• On-page issues by severity
• Internal link analysis
• Page performance metrics
• Mobile usability issues
• Note: Requires pre-configured projects in Ahrefs

SERP Overview (Search Results)

Analyze search engine results:

• Top 100 organic results for any keyword
• SERP features present
• Domain metrics for ranking pages
• Keyword difficulty breakdown
• Click-through rate estimates

Batch Analysis (Bulk Processing)

Process multiple targets efficiently:

• Analyze up to 100 domains/URLs per request
• Bulk keyword metrics
• Batch backlink data
• Cost-effective for large datasets

Brand Radar (Brand Monitoring)

Track brand performance:

• Brand mention metrics
• Share of voice
• Competitor brand comparison
• Sentiment analysis preparation

Competitor Analysis

Compare domains and identify opportunities:

• Side-by-side domain comparison
• Content gap analysis
• Keyword overlaps & differences
• Backlink gap analysis
• Traffic comparison
• [Advanced/Enterprise] Filtered comparisons (first page keywords, local backlinks)

API Structure

Ahrefs API base URL: https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/

Authentication

All requests require the API token in the header:

Authorization: Bearer {AHREFS_API_TOKEN}

Important: Use AHREFS_API_TOKEN, NOT AHREFS_MCP_TOKEN.

Required Parameters

All API calls require:

• date: Current date in format YYYY-MM-DD
• target: Domain (e.g., example.com)

Common Endpoints

For detailed endpoint documentation and parameters, see references/api-endpoints.md.

API Unit Management

Understanding API Units

• Each API request consumes units from your monthly allowance
• Cost depends on rows returned (minimum 50 units per request)
• Enterprise plans include units; additional units can be purchased
• Track usage at: https://app.ahrefs.com/account/limits-and-usage/web

Cost Optimization Tips

1. Limit rows returned: Use limit parameter to reduce cost
2. Select specific columns: Use select parameter for only needed fields
3. Batch requests: Process multiple targets in one call (up to 100)
4. Cache results: Store frequently accessed data locally
5. Use date ranges: Limit historical data when not needed

Rate Limits

• 60 requests per minute (default)
• HTTP 429 returned if limit exceeded
• Implement exponential backoff for retries

Usage Examples

Site Explorer - Get Backlinks & Referring Domains

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
curl -X GET "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/backlinks-stats?date=$DATE&target=example.com" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN"

Returns:

{
  "metrics": {
    "live": 4545,
    "all_time": 25318,
    "live_refdomains": 718,
    "all_time_refdomains": 3272
  }
}

Get Organic Keywords & Traffic

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
curl -X GET "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/metrics?date=$DATE&target=example.com" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN"

Returns:

{
  "metrics": {
    "org_keywords": 6925,
    "org_traffic": 38702,
    "org_keywords_1_3": 1560,
    "org_cost": 2372016
  }
}

Get Domain Rating

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
curl -X GET "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/domain-rating?date=$DATE&target=example.com" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN"

Returns:

{
  "domain_rating": {
    "domain_rating": 43.0,
    "ahrefs_rank": 1189155
  }
}

Get Top Pages

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
curl -X GET "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/top-pages?date=$DATE&target=example.com&limit=10&select=url,sum_traffic" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN"

Keywords Explorer - Keyword Research

curl -X GET "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/keywords-explorer/overview?keyword=seo+tools&country=us" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN"

Returns:

{
  "keyword": "seo tools",
  "volume": 14000,
  "keyword_difficulty": 75,
  "cpc": 25.50,
  "serp_features": ["featured_snippet", "people_also_ask"],
  "traffic_potential": 18500
}

Keywords Explorer - Related Keywords

curl -X GET "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/keywords-explorer/related-keywords?keyword=seo+tools&country=us&limit=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN"

SERP Overview - Analyze Search Results

curl -X GET "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/serp-overview?keyword=seo+tools&country=us" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN"

Returns top 100 organic results with domain metrics.

Rank Tracker - Get Project Rankings

Note: Requires pre-configured project in Ahrefs web interface.

curl -X GET "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/rank-tracker/project?project_id=12345" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN"

Site Audit - Get Project Issues

Note: Requires pre-configured project in Ahrefs web interface.

curl -X GET "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-audit/project?project_id=12345" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN"

Batch Analysis - Multiple Domains

curl -X POST "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/batch/metrics" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AHREFS_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "targets": ["example.com", "competitor1.com", "competitor2.com"],
    "date": "2026-02-18"
  }'

Returns metrics for all domains in one request.

Common Workflows

Keyword Research Workflow

1. Get keyword overview (volume, difficulty, CPC)
2. Fetch related keywords and questions
3. Analyze SERP for top-ranking content
4. Identify keyword difficulty and traffic potential
5. Export prioritized keyword list

Competitive Analysis Workflow

1. Compare domain metrics (DR, traffic, keywords)
2. Analyze competitor backlink profiles
3. Identify content gaps
4. Find keywords competitors rank for but you don't
5. Discover backlink opportunities

Technical SEO Audit Workflow

Requires Site Audit project

1. Fetch site health overview
2. Identify critical issues by severity
3. Analyze internal linking structure
4. Review page performance metrics
5. Generate prioritized fix list

Content Strategy Workflow

1. Research target keywords (Keywords Explorer)
2. Analyze top-ranking content (SERP Overview)
3. Identify content gaps vs competitors
4. Plan content based on traffic potential
5. Track rankings over time (Rank Tracker)

Batch Domain Analysis Workflow

1. Compile list of target domains
2. Make batch API request (up to 100 domains)
3. Compare metrics across all domains
4. Identify patterns and opportunities
5. Export comparative analysis

Best Practices

1. Rate Limits: Respect API rate limits (60 req/min default)
2. API Units: Monitor usage and optimize queries (limit rows, select columns)
3. Caching: Cache responses for frequently accessed data
4. Pagination: Use limit and offset parameters for large datasets
5. Batch Requests: Use batch endpoints when analyzing multiple targets
6. Error Handling: Check for 401 (auth), 429 (rate limit), 404 (not found)
7. Project Requirements: Rank Tracker and Site Audit require pre-configured projects

Environment Variables

Load the token from the workspace .env file:

# PowerShell
$env:AHREFS_API_TOKEN = (Get-Content ~/.openclaw/workspace/.env -Raw | Select-String "AHREFS_API_TOKEN=([^\r\n]+)" | ForEach-Object { $_.Matches.Groups[1].Value })

# Bash
export AHREFS_API_TOKEN=$(grep AHREFS_API_TOKEN ~/.openclaw/workspace/.env | cut -d'=' -f2)

Response Format

API responses vary by endpoint but typically return JSON:

Stats endpoints (backlinks-stats, metrics, domain-rating):

{
  "metrics": { /* metric fields */ },
  "domain_rating": { /* rating fields */ }
}

List endpoints (top-pages, backlinks, etc.):

{
  "pages": [ /* array of results */ ],
  "backlinks": [ /* array of results */ ]
}

Troubleshooting

Authentication Errors

• Verify token is correctly set in .env
• Check token hasn't expired
• Ensure Bearer token format in header

Rate Limiting

• Implement exponential backoff
• Cache responses where appropriate
• Use batch endpoints when available

Data Not Found

• Verify domain/URL format
• Check if domain exists in Ahrefs index
• Try alternative target formats (with/without www)