temp-mail.org Paid content Multilingual

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.

Cascadeur's site offers a free way to try the software and links to paid plans, but the public page does not spell out exactly what the free tier includes or where its limits sit. What it does confirm is the feature set — AI-assisted keyframe animation, AutoPosing, AutoPhysics, Ragdoll, Inbetweening, AI motion generation, rigging, retargeting, and UE Live Link — plus file compatibility with .FBX, .DAE, .GLB/.GLTF, and .USD. If you need a definitive free-vs-paid breakdown, treat the Plans page and the trial start as the two places to check, because the homepage itself doesn't publish export limits, watermark rules, or commercial-use terms.

What the public page actually tells you

The homepage positions Cascadeur as "the easiest way to animate" and invites you to "Try for free" or "Watch demo." It lists these capabilities without marking any as paid-only:

• Inbetweening — AI interpolation that generates motion between keyframes
• Ragdoll — procedural reactions to impacts, falls, and collisions
• AutoPosing — get natural poses by moving fewer control points
• Quadrupeds — rigging, AutoPosing, and one-click retargeting for four-legged animals
• AI Motion Generation — running, jumping, combat, acrobatics, idles, and more
• AutoPhysics — a character double showing a physically accurate result, for tuning secondary motion and inertia
• Rigging — drag-and-drop joints to auto-generate a rig for humanoids and quadrupeds
• Retargeting — copy/paste animation between characters regardless of skeleton or proportions
• UE Live Link — stream animation to Unreal Engine with real-time updates

It also names the solution areas: mocap cleanup, previz, animation editing, AI, video games, prototyping, and markerless mocap. Mocap cleanup is described as fixing foot sliding, knee pops, geometry penetration, poses via AutoPosing, weight via AutoPhysics, and edits via Animation Layers.

None of this is labeled "free" or "paid" on the page, so don't assume the list equals the free tier.

The two "free" paths are different things

The page shows two separate entry points, and mixing them up is the most common source of confusion:

The trial link points to cascadeur.com/plans#trial, which means trial terms live on the pricing page, not the homepage. If your decision depends on whether you can keep using it indefinitely at no cost, that answer has to come from the Plans page — the homepage doesn't provide it.

When the free route is likely enough

Based on the feature list alone, a free or trial route is worth starting with if you are:

• Learning the workflow — testing AutoPosing and Inbetweening on a simple humanoid before committing
• Evaluating mocap cleanup — checking whether the foot-sliding and knee-pop fixes fit your pipeline
• Prototyping — blocking previz or game animation without a production deadline
• Testing file compatibility — confirming your .FBX, .DAE, .GLB/.GLTF, or .USD assets import cleanly

When upgrading becomes the real question

Upgrade pressure usually comes from constraints the homepage doesn't state, so verify each against the Plans page before paying:

1. Export restrictions — if the free tier limits resolution, format, or adds a watermark, that alone can force an upgrade for client work.
2. Commercial use — confirm whether free-tier output can be used in shipped products. The page doesn't say.
3. Team or pipeline needs — UE Live Link and retargeting matter more in production; check whether they're gated.
4. Volume of work — a single test animation and a full game's combat set have very different tolerance for limits.

A concrete example: if you're cleaning up a markerless mocap take for a game prototype and the free route lets you fix foot sliding and apply AutoPhysics, you may never need to pay. If you're delivering that animation into a commercial build and the free tier restricts export or licensing, the upgrade decision is made for you by the terms, not the feature list.

How to decide without guessing

1. Open the Plans page and read the actual tier comparison — this is the only authoritative source in the material provided.
2. Start the trial and test the specific features your project needs: AutoPosing, AutoPhysics, Ragdoll, Inbetweening, retargeting, and UE Live Link.
3. Test an export end-to-end with your real file format (.FBX, .DAE, .GLB/.GLTF, or .USD) and inspect the output for watermarks or quality loss.
4. Check the commercial-use terms in writing before shipping anything.
5. Only then compare cost against the limits you actually hit.

The homepage is useful for understanding what Cascadeur does — AI-assisted keyframe animation for character work, mocap cleanup, and game pipelines. It is not a pricing document. For the free-vs-paid question specifically, the Plans page is the answer, and the trial is how you verify it against your own project.