How to Use Ahrefs for Your First SEO Audit: A Step-by-Step Tutorial
If you're new to Ahrefs and want to run your first SEO audit, the fastest path is: open Site Explorer, enter your target URL, review the Overview for a health snapshot, then dig into Organic Keywords, Top Pages, and Site Audit to find specific problems. From there, build a short prioritized to-do list instead of trying to fix everything at once.
This tutorial walks through that workflow using a realistic starting scenario, explains what the numbers mean, and shows how to turn findings into actions.
Before You Start: Pick a Narrow Scope
A common beginner mistake is auditing an entire large website on day one. The reports become overwhelming, and you can't tell which issues matter.
Instead, choose one of these starting points:
- A single important page (your homepage or a key product/service page)
- A small site (under ~50 pages, e.g., a personal blog or small business site)
- One section of a bigger site (e.g.,
/blog/)
For this tutorial, assume you're auditing a small business site with about 30 pages. The same steps scale up later.
You'll need an Ahrefs account to follow along. Ahrefs offers paid plans, and pricing and feature limits change over time, so check the current Pricing page for what's included in each tier before committing.
Step 1: Enter Your Target in Site Explorer
Site Explorer is Ahrefs' core tool for analyzing any website or URL.
- Open Site Explorer from the top navigation.
- In the search box, paste your domain (e.g.,
example.com). - Choose the Exact URL or Domain mode depending on scope. For a full-site view, use Domain or Prefix; for a single page, use Exact URL.
- Press Enter.
You'll land on the Overview report. Don't try to absorb everything — focus on four numbers first.
Reading the Overview Snapshot
| Metric | What it tells you | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Rank (AR) | Relative strength of the site's backlink profile vs. others in the database | Useful for comparing against competitors, not as a standalone goal |
| Organic traffic | Estimated monthly visits from search | A rough trend indicator, not exact analytics |
| Organic keywords | Estimated number of keywords the site ranks for | Shows breadth of visibility |
| Backlinks / Referring domains | Total links and unique sites linking to you | Referring domains matter more than raw backlink count |
Important caveat: Ahrefs' traffic and keyword numbers are estimates based on its own data. They won't match Google Search Console or your analytics exactly. Treat them as directional, not absolute.
Step 2: See What You Already Rank For
Go to Organic Keywords in the left sidebar. This shows queries where your site appears in search results.
Sort by Traffic (descending) to see which pages bring the most estimated visitors. Then look for:
- Keywords ranking in positions 4–15 — these are often the easiest wins. A small content or on-page improvement can push them onto page one.
- Keywords with high volume but low position — potential opportunities if the topic is relevant.
- Irrelevant keywords — if you rank for something off-topic, it may signal thin or mismatched content.
Write down 5–10 of the position 4–15 keywords. These become your first optimization targets.
Step 3: Find Your Best and Weakest Pages
Open Top Pages. This ranks your URLs by estimated organic traffic.
Look for two things:
- Your top performers — understand what topics and formats work. Can you create more content like this?
- Pages with traffic but poor rankings — these may need on-page fixes (title, headings, internal links).
If a page gets zero traffic and targets a topic you care about, it's a candidate for a rewrite or consolidation.
Step 4: Run a Technical Site Audit
Now move to Site Audit. This crawls your site and flags technical and on-page issues.
- Click Site Audit → New project.
- Enter your domain and set crawl settings (default is usually fine for a small site).
- Start the crawl and wait for it to finish.
Once complete, you'll see a Health Score and a list of issues grouped by category.
Which Issues to Fix First
Not all issues are equal. Prioritize in this order:
| Priority | Issue type | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broken links (404s) | Bad for users and crawl efficiency |
| 2 | Pages blocked from indexing | They can't rank at all |
| 3 | Missing or duplicate title tags | Directly affects click-through and relevance |
| 4 | Slow-loading pages | Affects experience and rankings |
| 5 | Thin content | Low value to users and search engines |
Ignore low-impact warnings (like minor meta description length) until the big items are handled.
Step 5: Turn Findings Into a To-Do List
You now have raw data. Convert it into a short, actionable list. Example:
- Fix 3 broken links found in Site Audit.
- Rewrite title tags on 5 pages with duplicate titles.
- Improve 4 pages ranking in positions 6–12 by adding missing subtopics and internal links.
- Remove or update 2 thin pages with no traffic.
Keep the list to 5–10 items max for your first audit. Finishing a short list beats starting a long one.
Common Beginner Mistakes
- Chasing every red flag. Site Audit flags many minor issues. Fix what affects rankings and users first.
- Trusting estimates as exact numbers. Ahrefs data is modeled, not measured from your analytics.
- Auditing a huge site too early. Start small to learn the interface.
- Ignoring search intent. A page can be technically perfect but still fail if it doesn't match what searchers want.
- Forgetting to re-crawl. After fixes, run Site Audit again to confirm improvements.
Where to Go Next
Once your first audit is done:
- Compare with competitors using Site Explorer's Competing Domains and Content Gap reports.
- Track keyword rankings over time with Rank Tracker.
- Explore backlink opportunities in the Backlinks and Link Intersect reports.
- Set up recurring Site Audit crawls so new issues surface automatically.
Your first audit isn't about perfection — it's about building a repeatable habit: enter a target, read the key reports, pick the highest-impact fixes, and act. Do that once a month and your site's health compounds.