Ahrefs can be used for much more than keyword research. Its Site Audit tool crawls websites and identifies technical and on-page SEO problems, while Site Explorer helps investigate competitors, organic keywords, top-performing pages, backlinks and other search-related signals. Ahrefs currently says Site Audit can identify and prioritize more than 170 SEO issues.
The important part is knowing what to do with the information.
An SEO audit can produce a long list of warnings, errors and notices, but not every issue deserves the same priority. A missing metadata field, a broken internal link, a blocked crawler, a redirect problem and a server error can have very different causes and consequences.
Ahrefs can also help answer the competitive side of SEO. Site Explorer lets you investigate where competitors receive organic and AI search visibility, which pages perform, what keywords they rank for, and which websites link to them.
This creates a useful workflow: audit your own website, investigate competitors, identify opportunities, fix important technical problems, and then monitor the results.
In this guide, you will learn how to use Ahrefs for a practical SEO audit, how to investigate competitor websites, which common problems to look for, how to prioritize fixes, and how to use a second crawl to check whether improvements were successful.
The goal is not to achieve a perfect-looking audit report at any cost. The goal is to find and fix problems that can genuinely improve crawlability, indexability, accessibility, internal linking, content quality, and overall search visibility.
Read more: How to Use Ahrefs for Keyword Research and Content Planning
Visit the official Ahrefs website →
Table of Contents
What Is an Ahrefs SEO Audit?
An Ahrefs SEO audit is a crawl-based analysis of a website using Site Audit.
AhrefsSiteAudit crawls the pages it can access and checks them for technical and on-page SEO issues. Site Audit currently groups more than 170 predefined issues into areas such as titles, meta descriptions, H1 tags, content, duplicates, indexability, links, redirects, images, JavaScript, CSS, robots.txt and sitemaps.
The result is not a Google ranking report.
It is a diagnostic report that helps you understand what may need attention on your website.
Typical findings can include:
- Broken internal links
- 404 pages
- Redirect problems
- Missing or duplicate titles
- Missing H1 tags
- Indexability problems
- Sitemap issues
- Robots.txt problems
- Duplicate content
- Orphan pages
- Internal linking problems
- Certain JavaScript and CSS issues
- Page-speed and Core Web Vitals-related information
The exact issues found depend on the website and how the crawl is configured.
How to Start a Site Audit in Ahrefs
Start by creating or selecting your website project in Ahrefs and opening Site Audit.
Before crawling, review the project settings.
Ahrefs provides settings that control how Site Audit crawls a website, including scheduling and crawl configuration.
A practical setup should consider:
- Which domain or subdomain should be crawled
- Whether the site uses HTTP or HTTPS
- Sitemap availability
- Crawl scope
- Robots.txt behavior
- Crawl speed
- JavaScript requirements
- Any areas that should intentionally be excluded
For a large website, crawl configuration becomes especially important because a poorly configured crawl may produce incomplete or misleading results.
Check Whether Ahrefs Can Crawl Your Website
If Site Audit cannot access important pages, fix the crawl-access problem before relying on the audit.
Ahrefs identifies several possible causes, including robots.txt rules, firewall restrictions, CDN security settings, hosting restrictions, IP blocks and server-level configuration.
For example, a firewall may return a 403 response to Ahrefs even though normal visitors can access the website.
In that situation, changing page content will not solve the underlying issue.
The correct approach is to determine why the crawler is being blocked and then configure the relevant security, firewall, CDN or hosting settings appropriately.
After making the change, run another crawl.
Understand the Ahrefs Site Audit Overview
Once the crawl is finished, the overview gives you a high-level view of the website’s SEO condition.
Ahrefs organizes issues by importance, including Errors, Warnings and Notices, and provides reports showing affected URLs and issue categories.
Do not immediately try to eliminate every warning.
Instead, ask:
Is this issue real?
How many pages does it affect?
Are the affected pages important?
Does it interfere with crawling, indexing, accessibility or user experience?
Can the issue be fixed safely?
This approach prevents an audit from becoming a checklist exercise.
Fix Critical Crawl and Server Problems First
Technical problems that prevent crawlers or users from reaching important pages deserve early attention.
4xx Errors
A 4xx response generally means the requested resource could not be accessed successfully.
A common example is a 404 Not Found response.
Ahrefs reports internal URLs returning 404 responses and can identify pages containing links to broken URLs.
Not every 404 is automatically a problem.
Deleted pages can legitimately return 404.
The important question is whether valuable pages, internal links, external backlinks or search traffic are being affected.
How to Fix Important 404 Errors
For an important broken URL, consider whether the page should:
- Be restored
- Be replaced with a relevant page
- Have internal links updated
- Be redirected when there is a genuinely appropriate replacement
- Remain a 404 if the page has been intentionally removed and has no suitable replacement
Avoid redirecting every deleted URL to the homepage simply to eliminate a 404 report.
The replacement should make sense for the original URL.
5xx Server Errors
A 5xx response indicates a server-side problem.
Ahrefs notes that a 500 error means the server cannot fulfill the request. Persistent 5xx problems can require investigation of server configuration, hosting, application errors or related infrastructure.
If many important pages return 5xx errors, this should generally receive high priority.
Check the affected URLs directly and review relevant server or application logs.
If the issue is widespread, involve the hosting provider or developer rather than trying to solve it solely inside Ahrefs.
Read more: What Is Ahrefs? SEO Features, Data, and Best Use Cases
Check Broken Internal Links
Broken internal links create dead ends for users and crawlers.
Ahrefs Site Audit can identify pages linking to URLs returning 4xx or 5xx responses.
For each broken internal link, determine:
Where does the link appear?
What URL does it point to?
Is there a relevant replacement?
Should the link be removed?
Should the destination URL be restored?
If the destination has moved permanently, updating the internal link to point directly to the relevant live URL is usually cleaner than leaving unnecessary redirect paths.
Review Redirect Problems
Redirects are normal on modern websites, but poorly implemented redirects can create unnecessary problems.
Ahrefs can identify broken redirects where the destination returns a 4xx or 5xx response.
For example:
Old URL → redirect → deleted URL
This does not provide a useful destination.
A better solution may be:
Old URL → relevant live URL
The same principle applies to unnecessary redirect chains.
When you find redirect problems, inspect the source URL, redirect destination and final response before changing anything.
Check Indexability
One of the most important questions in a technical SEO audit is:
Can search engines access and index the pages that should appear in search?
Review issues involving:
- Noindex directives
- Canonical URLs
- Robots.txt
- Sitemap inclusion
- HTTP status codes
- Redirects
- Duplicate pages
- Canonical conflicts
A page intentionally excluded from search is not necessarily an error.
For example, some administrative or utility pages may appropriately use noindex.
The issue becomes important when valuable content is accidentally excluded.
Review Robots.txt and XML Sitemaps
Ahrefs Site Audit can check robots.txt and sitemap-related issues as part of its crawl. Ahrefs specifically provides reports for situations such as robots.txt problems, sitemap parsing and URLs affected by crawl restrictions.
Check whether:
- Important sections are accidentally blocked
- The sitemap is accessible
- The sitemap contains appropriate URLs
- URLs excluded from indexing are unnecessarily included
- Important pages are missing from the sitemap where the site’s architecture expects them
Remember that robots.txt and indexing directives serve different purposes.
Blocking a URL from crawling does not function as a universal replacement for a noindex directive.
Check Titles and Meta Descriptions
Site Audit can identify problems with page titles and meta descriptions.
Look for:
- Missing titles
- Duplicate titles
- Extremely long or problematic titles
- Missing descriptions
- Duplicate descriptions
But do not treat every duplicate as equally harmful.
For example, pages in a legitimate series or specific site structures may share certain patterns.
The better question is whether the metadata clearly describes each important page and helps users understand what they will find.
Titles are especially important because they communicate page relevance to both search systems and users.
Review H1 and Heading Issues
Ahrefs can identify issues involving H1 tags.
A page may have:
- No H1
- Multiple H1 elements
- An empty H1
- Poorly structured headings
Do not obsess over a specific heading count simply to make an audit score look better.
The real goal is a clear document structure.
A useful page should have a descriptive main heading and logical subheadings that help users understand the content.
Find Duplicate Content
Duplicate or near-duplicate pages can make a website harder to manage and may create unnecessary URL variations.
Ahrefs Site Audit includes duplicate-content checks covering areas such as duplicate titles, descriptions, headings and content.
When a duplicate is found, determine why it exists.
Possible causes include:
- URL parameters
- Multiple versions of a page
- CMS-generated URLs
- Print pages
- Similar product pages
- Pagination
- HTTP/HTTPS configuration
- Trailing-slash variations
- Duplicate content intentionally reused across templates
The solution may involve canonicalization, redirects, consolidation, URL handling or leaving the pages alone if the duplication is intentional.
Do not delete or redirect pages simply because Ahrefs reports similarity.
Review Internal Linking
Internal links help users and search crawlers discover related content.
During an audit, look for:
- Important pages with few internal links
- Broken internal links
- Orphan pages
- Pages buried too deeply in the site
- Unhelpful anchor text
- Important content receiving no contextual links
Internal linking should support the website’s information architecture.
For example, a major guide about AI writing tools could link naturally to related articles covering individual tools, comparisons and practical tutorials.
This creates useful connections between related content rather than adding links simply to increase a numerical metric.
Analyze Page Performance Issues
Ahrefs Site Audit also provides information related to page speed and Core Web Vitals, including metrics from Chrome UX Report and Lighthouse according to its current Site Audit documentation.
Use this information to identify pages that deserve further investigation.
However, do not assume that every performance warning requires an immediate redesign.
A better workflow is:
- Identify affected pages.
- Determine whether the issue is widespread.
- Check the actual page experience.
- Confirm the underlying cause.
- Implement an appropriate technical fix.
- Re-test.
For performance work, specialized tools such as Google’s own performance resources can also provide additional diagnostic information.
Use Site Explorer for Competitor Research
After auditing your own website, use Site Explorer to understand the competitive environment.
Ahrefs describes Site Explorer as a tool for studying what works for other websites, including their organic and AI search traffic, top pages, keywords, backlinks and paid traffic.
Enter a relevant competitor domain and investigate:
- Organic keywords
- Top pages
- Estimated organic traffic
- Backlinks
- Referring domains
- Ranking trends
- Paid search activity
- AI search visibility where available
The purpose is not to copy the competitor.
It is to understand where their visibility comes from.
Find Competitor Top Pages
Start with the competitor’s most successful pages.
Look for patterns.
Do they receive traffic from:
- Product reviews?
- How-to guides?
- Comparisons?
- Definitions?
- Software tutorials?
- Templates?
- Research?
- Commercial landing pages?
This can reveal the types of content that work in your industry.
Then examine the actual pages.
Ask what they do well and where they leave questions unanswered.
Analyze Competitor Keywords
Competitor keyword data can reveal topics your site may have overlooked.
Look for keywords where:
- The competitor has strong visibility
- The topic is relevant to your audience
- Your site has no meaningful page
- The search intent is clear
- You can provide genuinely useful information
Do not turn every competitor keyword into a new article.
Some keywords will belong to the same topic.
Others may be irrelevant to your website.
The objective is opportunity discovery, not competitor duplication.
Analyze Competitor Backlinks
Ahrefs can also help investigate which websites link to competitors.
Backlink research can help identify:
- Industry publications
- Resource pages
- Relevant blogs
- Research sources
- Partner websites
- Pages that naturally attract references
The best use of competitor backlink analysis is to understand why another page earned a link.
If a competitor’s original research attracted many relevant links, creating another generic article on the same topic may not be enough.
You may need original research, better data, stronger explanations or a more useful resource.
Use Content Gap for Competitor Research
Content Gap is useful when you want to find keywords where competitors have visibility but your website does not.
Ahrefs’ current Content Gap tool is designed to compare competitor keyword rankings and identify opportunities.
A practical workflow is:
Your website + relevant competitors → competitor keyword gaps → filter → inspect SERPs → group related topics → decide whether to create or improve content
The critical step is filtering.
A competitor may rank for hundreds or thousands of keywords that have nothing to do with your audience.
Only keep opportunities that fit your website’s:
- Topic
- Audience
- Expertise
- Business model
- Content strategy
- Search intent
Combine Site Audit With Competitor Research
These two Ahrefs workflows solve different problems.
Site Audit asks:
“What is wrong with my website?”
Site Explorer asks:
“What is working for other websites?”
Together they provide a stronger SEO research process.
For example, you may discover through Site Audit that an important article has weak internal linking.
Site Explorer may then show that competitors receive substantial search visibility from similar content.
That gives you two pieces of information:
- A technical/content opportunity on your website
- Evidence that the broader topic has competitive search visibility
This can help you decide whether to improve the existing page, create supporting content or restructure part of the site.
Prioritize SEO Fixes
One of the biggest mistakes in SEO audits is treating every issue as equally important.
A practical priority system is:
High Priority
Issues that affect important pages and can interfere with crawling, indexing, accessibility or users.
Examples can include:
- Important pages returning 5xx errors
- Valuable pages accidentally blocked
- Incorrect noindex directives
- Critical broken internal links
- Broken redirects affecting important URLs
Medium Priority
Issues that affect quality or efficiency but do not necessarily prevent important pages from being accessed.
Examples can include:
- Duplicate metadata
- Internal-link improvements
- Some redirect cleanup
- Content duplication
- Missing optimization elements
Lower Priority
Issues that may improve consistency but have limited direct impact.
These should be evaluated in context rather than fixed simply because they appear in a report.
Do Not Chase a Perfect Health Score
Ahrefs provides an SEO Health Score based on the number of internal URLs that have errors.
A higher score can be useful as a monitoring signal, but it should not become the primary SEO objective.
A website with a near-perfect technical score can still have:
- Poor content
- Weak search intent alignment
- Low-quality backlinks
- Poor internal linking
- Weak topical coverage
- Uncompetitive pages
Likewise, a website may have legitimate notices that do not represent serious problems.
The objective is to improve the website, not simply to make a dashboard green.
How to Fix SEO Issues Found in Ahrefs
The correct fix depends on the issue.
A simple workflow is:
Identify the issue
Open the report and understand what Ahrefs detected.
Inspect affected URLs
Do not fix an issue blindly across hundreds of pages.
Determine the cause
Understand why the problem exists.
Choose the appropriate solution
Use a content, CMS, technical, server or configuration fix as appropriate.
Test the change
Check that the affected URL behaves correctly.
Run another crawl
Use a new Site Audit crawl to determine whether the issue remains.
This process is much safer than applying a bulk change simply because an audit report recommends it.
Ahrefs Patches for Some SEO Fixes
Ahrefs currently offers Patches, which can apply certain changes directly from Site Audit.
According to Ahrefs’ documentation, the initial Patches release supports changes to page titles and meta descriptions. Ahrefs describes Patches as a quick or temporary way to make certain changes and says additional fields are planned.
This can be useful when an issue needs a quick correction or when you want to test a change before making a permanent implementation elsewhere.
However, Patches should not replace proper website management.
For important technical changes, your normal CMS, codebase or development workflow may remain the appropriate place for the permanent fix.
Verify Fixes With a New Crawl
Fixing an issue is only half the process.
Run another crawl after important changes and compare the results.
Ahrefs supports historical crawl reporting and comparison, allowing you to monitor changes between audits.
For example:
Before: 45 broken internal links
Fix: Update or remove incorrect links
After: New crawl confirms the affected links are resolved
This provides evidence that the technical change actually worked.
A Practical Ahrefs SEO Audit Workflow
A repeatable workflow can look like this:
Start with crawl access
Make sure Ahrefs can reach the website.
Run Site Audit
Allow the crawl to complete before relying on the results. Ahrefs notes that reports can be incomplete while a crawl is still running.
Review critical errors
Start with crawlability, server errors, indexability and important broken pages.
Review internal links
Fix broken links and improve important pages with weak internal connections.
Review metadata and content issues
Investigate missing, duplicate or problematic titles, descriptions and headings.
Review redirects and canonicals
Look for broken redirect destinations and canonical problems.
Check sitemap and robots.txt
Make sure important content is accessible and appropriately represented.
Analyze competitors
Use Site Explorer to study top pages, keywords and backlinks.
Run Content Gap
Find relevant competitor opportunities.
Prioritize content improvements
Decide which existing pages need updates and which topics justify new content.
Implement fixes
Make changes through the appropriate CMS, development or content workflow.
Crawl again
Verify the results and monitor the website over time.
Common Mistakes When Using Ahrefs for SEO Audits
Fixing every warning immediately
Not every warning has the same impact.
Trusting a metric without checking the page
SEO metrics provide context. They do not replace inspection.
Copying competitors
Competitor research should inform your strategy, not create duplicate content.
Redirecting every 404
Some 404 pages should remain 404 pages.
Removing pages because Ahrefs reports duplication
First understand why the duplication exists.
Ignoring server problems
A widespread 5xx problem can require hosting or development support rather than an SEO content change.
Optimizing for the Health Score
A better score is useful, but real SEO performance matters more than a dashboard number.
Making changes without verification
Always check important fixes and re-crawl when appropriate.
When Should You Run an Ahrefs SEO Audit?
The right frequency depends on the size and activity of the website.
A site undergoing frequent technical or content changes may benefit from more regular monitoring.
A smaller website with limited changes may not need the same frequency.
Ahrefs Site Audit supports scheduled crawls, allowing users to configure recurring audits.
You should also consider running an audit after:
- A major redesign
- CMS migration
- Domain migration
- URL restructuring
- Large content updates
- Changes to robots.txt
- Major internal-link changes
- Significant technical development
- Unexpected organic traffic or indexing changes
Ahrefs vs Google Search Console for SEO Audits
Ahrefs and Google Search Console are complementary tools.
| Factor | Ahrefs | Google Search Console |
|---|---|---|
| Technical site crawling | Strong | More limited |
| Competitor research | Yes | No |
| Backlink research | Strong | Limited |
| Organic keyword research | Strong | Focused on your own Search performance |
| Indexing information | Yes, through its crawl and reports | First-party Google indexing/search data |
| Search performance data | Estimated/third-party where applicable | First-party Google data |
| Site Audit issue explanations | Extensive | Different reporting focus |
| Best use | Technical audit + competitive research | Monitoring Google Search performance and indexing |
Google Search Console remains important because it provides first-party information about your site’s presence and performance in Google Search.
Ahrefs adds another layer of research and diagnostics.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Finds a wide range of technical and on-page SEO issues | Large audits can produce many issues to review |
| Site Explorer supports competitor research | Some SEO data is estimated rather than first-party |
| Content Gap can reveal competitor opportunities | Not every competitor keyword is relevant |
| Broken links and redirect issues are easy to investigate | Fixes often need CMS, developer or server access |
| Crawl history helps monitor changes | A high Health Score does not guarantee strong SEO |
| Issue reports include explanations and recommendations | Beginners may need time to understand technical SEO |
| Free Ahrefs tools provide useful auditing capabilities for verified sites | Larger websites may need higher crawl allowances |
Comparison Table
| Feature | Ahrefs | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website crawling | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| Technical SEO checks | Extensive | Selected Google-focused reports | Extensive |
| Competitor research | Yes | No | No |
| Backlink analysis | Yes | Basic | No |
| Organic keyword research | Yes | Own-site performance | No |
| Content Gap | Yes | No | No |
| Crawl visualization/data | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| First-party Google Search data | No | Yes | No |
| Best use | SEO audit + competitor research | Google Search monitoring | Deep technical crawling |
| Cost | Free and paid options | Free | Free and paid versions |
Alternatives
Google Search Console
What it is: Google’s first-party platform for monitoring website performance and indexing in Google Search.
Main strength: Direct Google Search performance and indexing information.
Main limitation: It does not provide the same competitor research and broad SEO crawling workflow as Ahrefs.
Best for: Every website owner who wants first-party Google Search data.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
What it is: A desktop crawler focused heavily on technical SEO analysis.
Main strength: Detailed crawling and technical investigation.
Main limitation: It is more specialized around crawling than Ahrefs’ broader competitor and search-intelligence platform.
Best for: SEO professionals conducting detailed technical audits.
Semrush
What it is: A broader SEO and digital marketing platform with auditing, competitor analysis, keyword research and content tools.
Main strength: Wide range of SEO and marketing capabilities.
Main limitation: The breadth of features can be more than a user needs for a simple technical audit.
Best for: SEO and marketing teams wanting a broader all-in-one platform.
FAQs
What is Ahrefs Site Audit used for?
Answer: Ahrefs Site Audit crawls a website and identifies technical and on-page SEO issues, including problems involving links, redirects, metadata, indexability, content, robots.txt and sitemaps.
How do I run an SEO audit in Ahrefs?
Answer: Create or select your website project, configure Site Audit settings, start a crawl, wait for the crawl to finish, review the issues by priority, investigate affected URLs, implement appropriate fixes and run another crawl to verify the changes.
Does Ahrefs fix SEO issues automatically?
Answer: Most issues require changes to your website or server. Ahrefs currently provides Patches for some changes, with its initial Patches functionality supporting page titles and meta descriptions.
What should I fix first in Ahrefs Site Audit?
Answer: Start with important problems affecting crawlability, server accessibility, indexability, valuable pages, broken internal links and critical redirects. Then work through lower-impact optimization issues.
Does Ahrefs check broken links?
Answer: Yes. Site Audit can identify pages that link to URLs returning 4xx or 5xx responses and provide information about the affected links.
Can Ahrefs analyze competitors?
Answer: Yes. Site Explorer can be used to investigate competitor organic keywords, top pages, backlinks and other search-related visibility signals.
Should I fix every Ahrefs warning?
Answer: No. Review each issue in context. Some warnings may be intentional or have limited practical impact, while other errors may affect important pages and deserve immediate attention.
Does a high Ahrefs Health Score mean my SEO is good?
Answer: Not necessarily. Health Score summarizes technical audit findings, but strong SEO also depends on content quality, search intent, relevance, authority, internal linking, user experience and other factors.
Quick Take
Main point: Ahrefs can combine technical SEO auditing with competitor research, making it useful for finding problems and discovering opportunities.
Best use case: Auditing crawlability, indexability, links, redirects and on-page issues while researching competitor keywords, pages and backlinks.
Main advantage: Site Audit and Site Explorer provide complementary views of your own website and the competitive search landscape.
Main limitation: Ahrefs identifies and explains potential issues, but many fixes require technical, CMS or editorial decisions outside the tool.
Best alternative: Google Search Console is essential for first-party Google Search data, while Screaming Frog is useful for users who need a highly focused technical crawler.
Conclusion
Ahrefs is most useful when an SEO audit is treated as a process rather than a score.
Start with Site Audit to understand whether search crawlers can access important content and whether technical or on-page problems need attention. Prioritize serious crawl, server, indexability, redirect and broken-link issues before spending time on minor warnings.
Then use Site Explorer to understand competitors. Their top pages, keywords and backlinks can reveal opportunities that are difficult to discover by looking only at your own website.
The most important step is connecting the two.
A technical fix can make an existing page easier to crawl and maintain. Competitor research can reveal whether that page also needs better content, stronger internal links or a clearer search-intent match.
Ahrefs is therefore best viewed as a diagnostic and research platform, not an automatic SEO solution.
Use its reports to identify problems, investigate causes, prioritize meaningful changes and verify the results with subsequent crawls.
Author Bio
TechyUpdate Editorial Team covers practical technology, AI tools, apps, software and digital productivity, with a focus on clear, useful and independently researched guides.