What Is Ahrefsbot? Friend or Foe for Your Website SEO?

Noticed Ahrefsbot crawling your website? Wondering if it’s a friend or foe?

You’re in the right place ‘cause I’ll address all your concerns. Here’s what’s in store for you:

1. I’ll answer the question, “What is Ahrefsbot?” No BS, promise.
2. You’ll learn how to control Ahrefsbot’s crawling, maximizing benefits while minimizing server resource use.
3. Most importantly, you’ll see how Ahrefsbot fuels smarter keyword research, content creation, and competitor analysis, propelling your website to organic traffic glory.

What is Ahrefsbot?

Ahrefsbots is Ahrefs’ web crawler. It’s a bot. A spider. It’s not much more complicated than that.

And what’s a web crawler?

Navigating the internet through hyperlinks, web crawlers systematically crawl and index web pages into a database. In Ahrefsbot’s case, it collects data to fuel SEO analysis. A task that Ahrefsbot has been so successful at that it has propelled the company to the top of the food chain—2023 bringing in $100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR).

What’s more, at the time of writing, Ahrefsbot’s relentless data gathering has propelled it to become the eighth most active web crawler globally and the most active crawler in the “search engine optimization” category, leaving its digital footprints on billions of web pages daily. This insatiable appetite forms the lifeblood of Ahrefs’ suite of powerful SEO tools, empowering backlink analysis, competitor research, and a plethora of other insights.

Learn more: Interested in broadening your SEO knowledge even further? Check out our SEO glossary, where we’ve explained over 250+ terms.

How Does AhrefsBot Work?

Now that we’ve peeled back the curtain on Ahrefsbot’s identity, let’s delve into its inner workings:

• Ahrefsbot tracks links pointing to your website, analyzing its quality, source, and historical evolution. Using this gathered information, it then builds a backlink profile that unlocks insights into your competitive landscape, content performance, and potential penalty risks.
• It scans the web for your brand name, product mentions, and competitor comparisons, providing valuable brand sentiment analysis and uncovering potential outreach opportunities.
• Ahrefsbot provides estimated organic traffic volumes for keywords and competitor pages, allowing you to prioritize content creation and track SEO campaign progress.
• The data Ahrefsbot collects is used to analyze your competitors’ backlinks, keyword targets, and content strategies, enabling you to identify their strengths and weaknesses and inform your own SEO moves.
• Ahrefsbot facilitates site audits, highlighting technical SEO flaws like broken links, slow loading times, and mobile-friendliness issues. Armed with this knowledge, you can optimize your website’s technical foundation, laying the groundwork for SEO success.

Balancing Act: AhrefsBot and Your Server

Ahrefsbot can be your ally, but keep in mind that every web crawler chews server resources. Let’s ensure it fuels your SEO without straining your server.

The Crawl Cost Dance

Ahrefsbot’s data feast comes at a server resource cost. Imagine millions of tiny digital feet scurrying across your website, requesting pages, and crunching data. While the impact varies on website size and complexity, consider this:

• Small Blog: Ahrefsbot’s visit might cause a slight blip in CPU usage, barely noticeable to your visitors.
• eCommerce Giant: With thousands of product pages, the crawl could put a significant strain on servers, potentially impacting page load times.

Robots.txt: Your Crawling Etiquette Guide

Think of robots.txt as your polite “welcome mat” for bots like Ahrefsbot. If you don’t want Ahrefsbot crawling your web pages, directives are your best friend. Here’s how to manage access:

• Allow Directives: Specify which pages Ahrefsbot can access—for example, allow it to crawl all public pages but keep internal development sections off-limits.
• Disallow Directives: Tell Ahrefsbot which pages to steer clear of—perhaps temporary product promotions or pages under construction.
• Granular Control: Go beyond simple allow/disallow. Use wildcards and regular expressions to precisely control which sections, files, or parameters Ahrefsbot can access.

AhrefsBot FAQ

Q1: How Can I Identify Ahrefsbot’s Activity on My Site?

Answer: Think of Ahrefsbot as a polite visitor, leaving a calling card with each visit. Here’s how to identify its activity:

• User-Agent String: When Ahrefsbot knocks on your website’s door, it introduces itself with a unique “user-agent string” in your server logs. Look for this signature: AhrefsBot/7.0; +http://ahrefs.com/robot/
• Log Analysis: Dive into your server logs to trace Ahrefsbot’s activity. Look for its IP addresses (which occasionally change, so check Ahrefs’ official documentation for updates) and the specific pages it has crawled.

2: Can Ahrefsbot Affect My Website’s Performance?

Answer: While Ahrefsbot is generally respectful of your resources, it’s essential to consider its potential impact:

• Crawl Rate: Ahrefsbot typically crawls at a moderate pace, but its frequency can vary depending on your website’s size, popularity, and the tools you use from Ahrefs.
• Resource Usage: Each page Ahrefsbot crawls requires server resources to process the request. If your website is already under strain, Ahrefsbot’s activity could contribute to slower load times or performance issues.

Q3: Is Blocking Ahrefsbot From My Website Beneficial?

Answer: Before reaching for the “block” hammer, weigh the pros and cons:

Pros:

• Blocking Ahrefsbot conserves server resources, potentially improving website performance.
• If you’re concerned about sensitive data exposure, blocking can limit access.

Cons:

• Blocking Ahrefsbot can deprive you of backlink analysis, competitor research, and keyword data.
• Ahrefs’ tools rely on Ahrefsbot’s data, so disallowing it could limit your website’s representation in their reports and rankings.

Conclusion and Next Steps

Don’t let Ahrefsbot’s potential remain untapped. Partner with Loganix and let our SEO experts transform its data deluge into a potent weapon for conquering search engine rankings.

Ready to take your SEO game to the next level?

🚀 Visit our SEO service page today and claim your rightful place atop search results. 🚀