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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.

1. Open Site Explorer from the top navigation.
2. In the search box, paste your domain (e.g., example.com).
3. 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.
4. Press Enter.

You'll land on the Overview report. Don't try to absorb everything — focus on four numbers first.

Reading the Overview Snapshot

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:

1. Your top performers — understand what topics and formats work. Can you create more content like this?
2. 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.

1. Click Site Audit → New project.
2. Enter your domain and set crawl settings (default is usually fine for a small site).
3. 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:

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:

1. Fix 3 broken links found in Site Audit.
2. Rewrite title tags on 5 pages with duplicate titles.
3. Improve 4 pages ranking in positions 6–12 by adding missing subtopics and internal links.
4. 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.

To convert a PDF to Word online, upload the PDF to a converter such as Online Converter, select Word (.docx) as the output format, run the conversion, and download the resulting file. This works best for PDFs that contain real, selectable text. If your PDF is a scan or a photo of a page, the converter has no text to extract, and you will need an OCR (optical character recognition) step instead. The steps below cover the normal case first, then the fixes for when the result comes out wrong.

Before you start: check what kind of PDF you have

The single biggest factor in whether a PDF-to-Word conversion succeeds is whether the PDF holds text or just pixels.

• Digital/text PDF: You can select and copy text in a PDF reader. Conversion usually preserves text, and often images and tables.
• Scanned/image PDF: Selecting text does nothing, or selects the whole page as one block. Conversion will typically produce a Word file containing page images, not editable text.
• Mixed PDF: Some pages have text, others are scans. Expect the text pages to convert and the scanned pages to come through as images.

A quick test: open the PDF, try to highlight a sentence, and copy it into a plain text editor. If the words paste as text, you are in good shape. If nothing or a blank block pastes, plan for OCR.

Step-by-step: PDF to Word online

1. Open the converter. Go to the PDF-to-Word tool on the converter site (Online Converter lists "pdf to word" among its supported conversions).
2. Add your file. Upload the PDF or drag it into the upload area. Check the file is the version you want — re-exporting a corrected PDF first saves a round trip.
3. Choose Word as the output. Select the Word format, typically .docx. If the tool offers both .doc and .docx, pick .docx for modern Word and Google Docs compatibility.
4. Start the conversion. Run it and wait for processing. Large or image-heavy PDFs take longer than short text ones.
5. Download the .docx. Save it to your device.
6. Open and verify. Open the file in Word or a compatible editor and check the parts that matter most: headings, body text, tables, images, and page breaks.

What the conversion can and cannot preserve

Treat the .docx as a draft to clean up, not a pixel-perfect clone. Conversions that promise identical layout usually do so by embedding images, which defeats the purpose of editing.

Common problems and fixes

Garbled or wrong characters

Usually caused by an unusual font encoding or a PDF built from a non-standard source. Try a different converter, or copy the text out and paste it into Word as unformatted text, then reapply formatting.

Missing images

Some converters drop images they cannot extract cleanly. Check whether the images are embedded or linked in the original; if they are linked, re-export the PDF with images embedded before converting.

Broken tables

Tables with merged cells, no borders, or nested tables are the usual culprits. After conversion, rebuild the table in Word using Insert > Table, or paste the table content and use Convert Text to Table.

Scanned PDF converts to an image-only file

This is expected, not a bug. The converter found no text layer. Use an OCR tool to recognize the text first, then convert or edit the OCR output. OCR accuracy depends on scan quality: 300 DPI, straight pages, and high contrast give the best results.

Text runs together or loses spacing

Often a sign of a PDF with unusual text positioning. Try pasting into Word with Keep Text Only, then fix spacing manually, or run the conversion again with a different tool.

When PDF-to-Word is the wrong tool

• You only need to read or share the PDF. Keep it as a PDF; converting adds work and can introduce errors.
• The PDF is a scan and you need exact fidelity. OCR will introduce recognition errors; if the content is legal, medical, or financial, verify every number against the original.
• You need the layout to stay identical. A PDF is a fixed-layout format; Word is not. If layout is the priority, keep the PDF and edit the source document instead.
• The PDF is protected or encrypted. Converters generally cannot process password-protected files unless you unlock them first, and you should only do so for files you are authorized to modify.

Quick checklist after conversion

• Confirm all pages are present.
• Check numbers, dates, and names character by character in critical documents.
• Verify tables and images landed in the right place.
• Reapply heading styles so the document is navigable.
• Save your cleaned-up .docx before further editing.

If the result still looks wrong, the fastest path is usually to fix the source: re-export a clean, text-based PDF from the original document, then convert again.

To convert a PDF to Word, open a converter such as Soda PDF Online, upload your PDF, run OCR first if the file is a scan, then convert and download the .docx. The result is editable only when the PDF contains real text or when OCR has recognized the text in an image. Soda PDF offers this through its Online platform, Desktop app, and Chrome extension, so you can pick the one that matches where you work.

Before you start: check what kind of PDF you have

The single biggest factor in whether your Word file comes out editable is the source PDF itself.

• Text-based PDF (exported from Word, a website, or a digital invoice): the text is already selectable. Conversion usually produces an editable .docx with most formatting intact.
• Scanned or image-based PDF (a photo, a scan, or a fax): the page is a picture. Without OCR, the converter can only place that image into a Word document — you get a non-editable picture, not text.

Quick test: open the PDF and try to select a sentence with your cursor. If you can highlight individual words, it's text-based. If the whole page selects as one block, or nothing selects, treat it as a scan and plan to run OCR.

Step-by-step: convert PDF to Word

1. Choose your platform. Soda PDF is available as a desktop application for Windows, an online tool in any browser, and a Google Chrome extension. Use Online for a one-off conversion on any device; use Desktop if you need offline work or batch conversion.
2. Upload or open the PDF. In the online tool, upload the file; in the desktop app, open it from your machine. The page evidence notes the online platform includes cloud storage, so files you manage there stay accessible across devices.
3. Run OCR first if the PDF is a scan. Soda PDF's OCR tool automatically scans and recognizes text within an image, and lets you manually select areas for recognition. It can turn individual or multiple page ranges into editable PDFs. Do this before converting, so the Word output contains real text rather than a picture.
4. Convert to Word. Use the Create & Convert tools, which convert Microsoft Office files to and from PDFs. The page evidence also notes batch conversion of multiple files is supported, which matters if you have a stack of documents.
5. Download the .docx.
6. Verify the result before you rely on it (see the checklist below).

What to check after conversion

Conversion is rarely pixel-perfect, especially with complex layouts. Open the .docx and check:

Fix layout breaks manually in Word. For heavily designed documents (brochures, forms with fields), expect more cleanup than for a plain report.

Choosing between online, desktop, and extension

• Soda PDF Online — best for occasional conversions from any device, and the only place the page evidence places the AI tools (AI Assistant for asking questions and summarizing, and Translate PDF for translating while keeping the original layout). Use it when you also want translation or document Q&A.
• Soda PDF Desktop — best for offline, uninterrupted work and for professional tools without an internet connection. Choose this for batch jobs and recurring conversions.
• Soda PDF Extension — best if you live in Chrome and want PDF tasks without leaving the browser.

Common sticking points

• The Word file is just an image. You skipped OCR on a scanned PDF. Run OCR, then convert again.
• Text is garbled. OCR misread unusual fonts, handwriting, or low-resolution scans. Re-scan at higher quality or correct the text manually.
• Formatting broke. The original used a complex layout. Rebuild tables and columns in Word rather than re-converting repeatedly.
• You need many files at once. Use the batch conversion capability rather than converting one by one.

Free vs. paid

Soda PDF's site presents a free download alongside a "Buy now" option and a Plans page, so paid tiers exist. The available material does not state exactly which conversion features or limits sit behind a paid plan, so check the Plans page for current terms before assuming a specific free quota. If you hit a limit mid-task, that's the signal to review the paid options.

A PDF invoice in legal billing is a fixed-format document that presents the fees and costs owed on a matter in a layout that looks the same on every device. It is the digital equivalent of a printed bill: readable, portable, and easy to attach to an email or upload to a client portal. Its main limitation is that it is not machine-readable in the way a LEDES file is, so a client's e-billing system cannot automatically ingest it. PDF works best for flat-fee matters, small or one-off engagements, and clients who do not run an automated billing platform.

What "PDF" means in a legal billing context

When a billing tool offers to send an invoice "in PDF," it is generating a rendered document rather than a structured data file. The distinction matters:

• PDF is a presentation format. A human reads it. Line items, totals, and matter details appear as text and tables on a page.
• LEDES (Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard) is a structured, delimited text format. An e-billing system parses it, validates it against outside counsel guidelines, and routes it for review.
• Email delivery is a transport method, not a format. You can email a PDF, email a LEDES file, or email a link to an online invoice.

These three are often confused because a single invoice can combine them: a LEDES file delivered by email, or a PDF attached to an email. The format is what the client's systems can read; the delivery method is how it arrives.

When a PDF invoice is the right choice

PDF is usually appropriate when the client does not require electronic submission through a billing platform. Common scenarios:

• Flat-fee and fixed-price matters. When the invoice is one or two lines, a structured file adds no value.
• Small businesses and individuals. Clients without an accounts payable system can open a PDF and pay from it.
• Retainers and replenishment requests. A simple statement of the retainer balance is easy to read as a PDF.
• Pro bono or courtesy bills. Where no formal e-billing review applies.
• Backup documentation. Even when a LEDES file is submitted, a PDF is often attached for the reviewer's convenience.

If the client has outside counsel guidelines requiring LEDES submission, a PDF alone will typically be rejected or returned for manual entry. Check the client's billing requirements before choosing the format.

PDF versus LEDES versus emailed invoice: a quick comparison

Core elements of a compliant legal PDF invoice

A PDF invoice should stand on its own. If a client's AP department picks it up with no context, it should still answer who, what, when, and how much.

Firm and client identification

• Firm name, address, and contact details
• Tax or VAT identification number where applicable
• Client name and billing contact
• Invoice number and invoice date
• Client matter number or reference

Matter and timekeeper detail

• Matter name and description
• For each timekeeper: name, initials, and billing rate
• Time entries with date, narrative description, and time recorded in tenths of an hour
• Clear separation of fee earners if rates differ

Fees, expenses, and totals

• Fees subtotal
• Disbursements and expenses, itemized with dates
• Taxes applied
• Prior payments, credits, or trust retainer applied
• Total amount due and currency

Payment terms

• Due date and payment window
• Accepted payment methods
• Remittance details or a payment link
• Late-payment terms if the engagement letter specifies them

A useful test: hand the PDF to someone who has never seen the matter and ask them to confirm the amount due and the period covered. If they hesitate, the invoice is missing something.

Practical limitations to plan around

PDF invoices shift work to the recipient. Someone at the client has to read the document and key the data into their system, which introduces delay and transcription errors. PDFs also cannot be validated against billing guidelines automatically, so a reviewer may reject a line item that a LEDES rule would have caught before submission.

Two habits reduce the friction:

1. Send a consistent template. Clients learn where to find the total, the matter number, and the payment terms.
2. Keep a LEDES version in reserve. If a client later adopts an e-billing platform, you can convert rather than rebuild.

Choosing between PDF, LEDES, and email delivery

Work from the client's requirements backward:

• Does the client mandate LEDES submission? If yes, PDF is a supplement, not a substitute.
• Is the matter flat-fee or very small? PDF is usually sufficient.
• Does the client have no billing system? PDF delivered by email or portal is the simplest path.
• Is the invoice complex with many timekeepers and expenses? A structured format reduces disputes, even if the client accepts PDF.

When in doubt, ask the client's billing contact which format they prefer and whether a PDF attachment is acceptable alongside any required file. That one question prevents most rejected invoices.

Easy Legal Billing supports sending or scheduling invoices in LEDES, email, or PDF formats, which lets you match the format to each client's requirements rather than forcing one approach across every matter.

Converting a PDF to Excel works best when the PDF contains real, selectable text. If the table was scanned as an image, you need OCR (optical character recognition) first, or the output will be blank or garbled. Soda PDF offers PDF-to-Excel conversion as part of its Create & Convert tools, available in the desktop app, in the browser-based Online version, and through a Chrome extension — so the right starting point depends on whether you need offline batch work or a quick one-off conversion.

Step 1: Check whether your PDF is text-based or scanned

Open the PDF and try to select a cell value with your cursor.

• Text selects cleanly → the file is text-based. A standard PDF-to-Excel conversion should preserve rows and columns.
• Nothing selects, or the whole page highlights as one block → the page is an image. You need OCR before conversion, or the Excel output will be empty.

Soda PDF's OCR tool is described as scanning and recognizing text within an image, with the option to manually select areas for recognition and turn page ranges into editable output. Run that first on scanned tables, then convert.

Step 2: Pick the platform that matches your task

Soda PDF is available in three forms, and the conversion path differs slightly for each.

The site states that batch conversion of multiple files simultaneously is supported under Create & Convert, which matters if you have a folder of monthly statements rather than a single report.

Step 3: Run the conversion

1. Open the PDF in your chosen Soda PDF platform.
2. Go to the Create & Convert section.
3. Choose the Excel output format and select the file (or files, for batch).
4. If the tool lets you scope the conversion, target only the pages that contain the table — converting cover pages and narrative sections adds noise to the spreadsheet.
5. Start the conversion and download the resulting .xlsx file.

The expected result is a spreadsheet where each table row maps to a row and each column to a column. Treat that as the goal to verify against, not a guarantee.

Step 4: Verify the output before you rely on it

Open the Excel file and check these in order:

• Numbers: confirm they came through as numbers, not text. A column of values left-aligned in the cell is usually text.
• Dates: check the format survived. 03/04/2025 can silently flip between day-first and month-first conventions.
• Merged cells: multi-row headers and merged cells are the most common source of shifted data. Compare the first and last row of each table against the PDF.
• Totals: if the PDF has a total row, re-add the converted column and confirm it matches.

Common problems and what causes them

The table splits into many columns. Usually caused by the PDF's internal layout rather than the converter — invisible spacing rules get interpreted as column breaks. Try converting a single page at a time, or clean up the extra columns in Excel after import.

The output is empty or full of symbols. The PDF is a scan. Run OCR first, then convert.

Only part of the document converted. Free tiers of online converters commonly cap page count or file size. The Soda PDF site lists a free download and a separate Plans page, so check the current plan terms for your file size and page count before assuming a limit is a bug.

Formatting looks right but the numbers are wrong. This is the dangerous case — a shifted decimal or a dropped minus sign is easy to miss. Spot-check a handful of values against the source PDF rather than trusting the layout.

Choosing between the options

If you convert PDFs occasionally and want no install, the Online version is the shortest path. If you handle sensitive financial documents or large batches, the Desktop app keeps the work local and offline. If your PDFs are scans, budget time for OCR as a separate step regardless of which platform you use — no converter can read text that isn't there.