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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.

Swift Dev Journal is a website with articles and books for iOS and Mac developers who build apps in Swift. It is a learning resource rather than a tool or service: you go there to read tutorials and longer-form material, not to sign up for an account or run code in the browser. If you are looking for practical, task-level walkthroughs of SwiftUI, Mac app development, or Instruments, it is worth bookmarking.

What the site covers

The homepage describes it as "a site with articles and books on developing iOS and Mac apps in Swift." The full article list is long, so the landing page groups popular articles by topic. The main clusters are:

• SwiftUI — building interfaces, passing data, lists, text views, sheets, and document handling.
• SwiftUI on Mac — Mac-specific behavior such as list editing, drag and drop, open/save panels, menus, and window management.
• Instruments — measuring and diagnosing app performance.
• New Swift developers — build failures, crashes, optionals, and the debugger.
• Mac development — from first project to document-based apps and Markdown editors.

Who it is for

The material assumes you are writing Swift and working in Xcode. Two groups get the most out of it:

1. Developers moving from tutorials to real apps. Articles like "Going from Tutorials to Your First Real App: First Steps" and "Why Won't My Xcode Project Build?" target the gap between following along and shipping something.
2. iOS developers adding Mac support. The Mac section covers the parts that differ from iOS, such as menu commands, WindowGroup, and open/save panels.

If you have never written Swift, the site is not a structured beginner course — it is a collection of focused articles, so you would pair it with a fundamentals resource.

Representative articles by topic

How to use it

Start from the Articles link in the navigation menu for the complete list, or use the topic groupings on the homepage to jump to what you need. Because the articles are task-focused, the efficient approach is to search the site for the specific problem you are solving — a sheet that won't dismiss, a list row that won't delete, a launch that feels slow — rather than reading front to back.

The site also mentions books alongside articles, so if you prefer a continuous narrative over individual posts, that is the alternative format offered.

Swift Dev Journal lists five Instruments articles on its home page, all aimed at iOS and Mac developers who want to profile app performance with Apple's Instruments tool. The topics cover memory usage, CPU profiling, SwiftUI view updates, app launch time, and flame graphs. The site describes itself as "a site with articles and books on developing iOS and Mac apps in Swift," and these Instruments pieces sit alongside its SwiftUI, Mac development, and beginner-focused articles.

The Five Instruments Articles

Based on the site's home page listing, the Instruments section contains:

What Each Article Covers

Memory Usage

"Measuring Your App's Memory Usage with Instruments" targets developers who need to understand their app's memory footprint. This is typically relevant when diagnosing leaks, excessive allocations, or memory growth over time.

CPU Profiling

"Find the Slow Spots in Your Code with the CPU Profiler Instrument" addresses performance bottlenecks. The CPU Profiler helps you see where your code spends the most time, which is useful when an app feels sluggish but the cause isn't obvious.

SwiftUI View Updates

"Find the SwiftUI Views that Update the Most Using Instruments" is specific to SwiftUI. Excessive view updates are a common source of performance problems in SwiftUI apps, and this article focuses on using Instruments to spot them.

App Launch Time

"Measure App Launch Time with Instruments" covers startup performance. Launch time affects first impressions and is a metric Apple tracks, so measuring it is a practical starting point for optimization work.

Flame Graphs

"Instruments Flame Graph Introduction" explains how to read flame graphs, a visualization that shows call stacks and where time is spent. Understanding flame graphs makes the other profiling articles more useful.

Who These Articles Are For

The Instruments articles assume you're building iOS or Mac apps in Swift and want to move beyond guesswork when diagnosing performance issues. They fit into the site's broader catalog, which also includes SwiftUI tutorials (from simple apps to master-detail interfaces), Mac development guides (from project setup to document-based apps), and beginner articles like "Why Won't My Xcode Project Build?" and "Fixing and Avoiding Crashes in Swift Code."

If you're new to Instruments entirely, the flame graph introduction is a reasonable entry point before diving into the specific measurement articles. If you already know which symptom you're chasing—slow launch, high memory, or janky SwiftUI updates—start with the matching article.

Swift Dev Journal is a site with articles and books on developing iOS and Mac apps in Swift. Its SwiftUI coverage is split into two groups: general SwiftUI articles that apply across Apple platforms, and SwiftUI Mac articles focused on macOS-specific behavior. The homepage lists popular articles by topic rather than the full archive, so the list below reflects what is surfaced there.

General SwiftUI Articles

These cover the core building blocks of a SwiftUI app, from first project to data flow and common view types.

• Creating a Simple SwiftUI App
• Creating a Master-Detail Interface in SwiftUI
• Passing Data to SwiftUI Views
• Using Text Views in a SwiftUI App
• Make a Markdown Editor in SwiftUI
• Working with Lists in Multiplatform SwiftUI Apps
• Disable a Text Field in a SwiftUI List Until Tapping Edit Button
• Accessing the Document in a SwiftUI Menu
• Reducing the Number of .sheet Modifiers in Your SwiftUI Views
• Supporting SwiftUI Sidebar Selection with Multiple Data Types

What each one is useful for

SwiftUI Mac Articles

These target macOS specifics — list editing, drag and drop, panels, menus, windows, and alerts.

• Removing Items from SwiftUI Lists in Mac Apps
• Moving List Items Using Drag and Drop in SwiftUI Mac Apps
• SwiftUI Open and Save Panels
• Showing a SwiftUI sheet from a Mac Menu
• Adding a Help Menu to a SwiftUI App
• Open Document-like Windows Using SwiftUI WindowGroup
• Show an Alert from a Menu Item in a SwiftUI Mac App
• Add an Open Recent Menu to a SwiftUI App

What each one is useful for

Related Topics on the Same Site

If your interest goes beyond SwiftUI, the homepage also groups articles under Instruments, new Swift developers, and Mac development. The Instruments set covers measuring memory usage, finding slow code with the CPU Profiler, finding the SwiftUI views that update the most, measuring app launch time, and an introduction to flame graphs. The Mac development set includes creating a project, building the UI, connecting UI elements, a simple Mac app, a document-based Mac app, a Mac Markdown editor with live preview, UndoManager, open and save panels, and customizing the About box.

How to Find the Full List

The homepage states that the complete list of articles is long, so it only shows popular articles grouped by topic. To see everything, use the Articles link in the navigation menu. That is the reliable way to check whether a topic you need — beyond the popular ones listed above — has been covered.

Swift Dev Journal offers a set of Mac development articles aimed at Swift developers, ranging from a learning-resources roundup to hands-on tutorials for building Mac apps. The Mac-focused material covers project setup, UI construction, connecting UI elements to code, building a simple app, creating a document-based app, and a Markdown editor with live preview, plus supporting topics like undo management, open/save panels, and About box customization. It suits developers who already know some Swift and want to move from iOS or tutorials into building Mac apps.

Mac Development Articles on the Site

The site groups its Mac development content under a "Mac Development Articles" section. Based on the page listing, the following articles are available:

How the Mac Articles Are Organized

The Mac material falls into two rough groups:

• A guided introduction sequence. The three "Introduction to Mac Development" articles (Create a Project, Build the UI, Connecting UI Elements) read as a step-by-step path from an empty project to a working interface connected to code.
• Standalone project and feature tutorials. "Make a Simple Mac App in Swift," "Create a Document-Based Mac App in Swift," and "Create a Mac Markdown Editor with Live Preview" are self-contained builds, while the UndoManager, open/save panel, and About box articles address specific Mac app features.

If you are new to Mac development, start with the introduction sequence and then pick a project tutorial. If you already build Mac apps and need a specific feature, go directly to the relevant standalone article.

Related SwiftUI Mac Articles

The site also lists a separate "SwiftUI Mac Articles" group, which is relevant if your Mac app uses SwiftUI:

• Removing Items from SwiftUI Lists in Mac Apps
• Moving List Items Using Drag and Drop in SwiftUI Mac Apps
• SwiftUI Open and Save Panels
• Showing a SwiftUI sheet from a Mac Menu
• Adding a Help Menu to a SwiftUI App
• Open Document-like Windows Using SwiftUI WindowGroup
• Show an Alert from a Menu Item in a SwiftUI Mac App
• Add an Open Recent Menu to a SwiftUI App

These overlap with the general Mac development topics (open/save panels, documents) but approach them through SwiftUI specifically.

What Else the Site Covers

Beyond Mac development, Swift Dev Journal also publishes:

• SwiftUI articles for general app development, such as creating a simple SwiftUI app, master-detail interfaces, passing data to views, text views, a Markdown editor, lists in multiplatform apps, and reducing .sheet modifiers.
• Instruments articles on measuring memory usage, finding slow code with the CPU profiler, finding the most-updating SwiftUI views, measuring app launch time, and an introduction to flame graphs.
• Articles for new Swift developers, including why an Xcode project won't build, fixing and avoiding crashes, crashing with optionals, an introduction to Xcode's debugger, and going from tutorials to a first real app.

The site describes itself as offering articles and books on developing iOS and Mac apps in Swift, and notes that the full article list is long, with the homepage highlighting popular articles by topic.

How to Use These Resources

1. Open the site and use the Articles link in the navigation menu to see the complete list.
2. For Mac development specifically, work through the "Introduction to Mac Development" series in order, then choose a project tutorial that matches what you want to build.
3. If your app uses SwiftUI, check the SwiftUI Mac Articles group for menu, window, list, and panel patterns.
4. Use the Instruments articles when you need to profile memory, CPU, launch time, or view updates.

The page does not state pricing for the articles or books, so check the site directly for access terms.