How to connect Ahrefs to SEO Ops

Plan: Premium. The Free plugin does not include the Ahrefs connection. See pricing.

Ahrefs is a source of backlink and referring-domain data. This guide shows how to add your Ahrefs API key to SEO Ops and check that it works.

What it does

Once connected and set up for a website, SEO Ops fetches Domain Rating, referring domains, backlinks, organic keywords and traffic from Ahrefs and shows them as measures on the client page, in reports and in the client portal. A daily job refreshes every client, and you can refresh by hand at any time.

A figure is either a real value from Ahrefs or Unavailable, with the reason. It is never shown as zero or estimated, a good value is never replaced by a failed refresh, and the current month is labelled “month to date”.

Before you start

• You need an Ahrefs account whose plan includes API access. This depends on your plan, so check with Ahrefs if you are unsure.
• You need to be able to manage integrations in SEO Ops.

Step 1: Get your API key

In your Ahrefs account, open the API settings and create or copy an API key. Treat it like a password.

Step 2: Add the key in SEO Ops

1. Go to Settings › Integrations.
2. On the Ahrefs card, choose Add API key.
3. Paste the key and choose Save. It is stored encrypted and is never shown again, apart from the last four characters.

Step 3: Test it

Choose Test. SEO Ops asks Ahrefs for your subscription limits and usage, which is a harmless request that only proves the key works. A working key turns the card to Connected. Otherwise it shows Error with a short reason.

Step 4: Choose the data for each website

1. Open the client, then the Websites section, and choose Data sources next to the website.
2. Under Ahrefs, leave Domain to look up empty to use the website’s own domain, or enter a different domain or target.
3. Save. Then on the client page choose Add standard measures and Refresh data.

A daily job then refreshes every client.

If something goes wrong

• The key is rejected: check you copied the whole key, and that your plan includes API access.
• Could not reach Ahrefs: try again shortly.
• The key will not save: see the integrations overview for how the plugin stores secrets.

Changing or removing the key

Change key replaces it. Disconnect deletes it, and anything that would come from Ahrefs shows as Unavailable.

See also: connect Semrush.