Simple Guide to Ahrefs Backlink Checker: Know the Important Metrics

If you have a website, you must have wondered how competitors skyrocket their SERP ranking. With Backlinks? Not just with backlinks, but QUALITY BACKLINKS. 

If you also want to unlock the secrets to higher ranking and more traffic in 2025, mastering backlink analysis is your way to success. But how do we know which backlinks are high-quality and which ones are spammy? With Ahrefs Backlink Checker. 

Here, I have shared some simple steps to use the Ahrefs backlink analysis tool so that you can understand whom to trust in this digital landscape. Not only that, I will also walk you through the key metrics and technologies that only a few people would tell you. 

So, get started to upgrade your backlink portfolio and build trust.

Why Is Checking the Backlink Profile Essential?

Whether you are building an authoritative website or want to get backlinks from other websites, checking the backlink profile with a powerful tool like Ahrefs Backlink Checker is necessary to signal trustworthiness to the search engines. 

Here are the core reasons why you should check your backlink profile: 

➤ Detects and Manages Negative Links: Regular monitoring of your backlinks allows you to identify and address spammy or harmful backlinks. Low-quality links can damage your website’s reputation and hinder SEO performance. Checking and analyzing the backlink profile helped me remove bad potential links and protect my site. 

➤ Identify Link Building Opportunity: While building links to boost website authority, checking the backlink profile of a referring domain is essential. Analyzing their backlink profile opens new opportunities to more relevant, positive links. 

➤ Drive More Referral Traffic: Once you understand referring website relevancy by checking their backlinks from Ahrefs Backlink Checker, you can drive more targeted traffic to your site. This is how I managed to get thousands of organic traffic, as they are pre-qualified with an actual interest in my sites. 

➤ Boost Authoritativeness: Ensuring backlink compliance with search engine guidelines states that Google is granting you as an authority. This prevents potential penalties and boosts website ranking in an organic way. 

We will discuss the important metrics and technologies for backlink analysis with Ahrefs Backlink Checker ahead, but before that, let’s know the 7 easiest steps to use this tool from Ahrefs. 

7 Step Guide to Use Ahrefs Backlink Checker

Backlink monitoring is not entering a URL and checking backlink counts. Reviewing the report involves a number of crucial steps. Let me walk you through the steps: 

Step 1: Get Signed Up

First, go to the official site of Ahrefs and sign in by entering all necessary information. Signing into an account will allow you access to all its advanced features and detailed metrics. It’s a simple and fast process. 

Step 2: Enter Domain URL

After successfully logging in, enter your domain URL in the search bar and click on the “Check backlinks” button. The Ahrefs Backlink Checker will shortly generate an in-depth overview of your backlink profile. From the total number of backlinks to the authority score, referring domains, domain rating (DR), and URL rating. 

Step 3: Review Metrics 

The backlink checking tool of Ahrefs delivers detailed metrics, showcasing the quantity and quality of the domain’s backlinks. The numeric analysis will help you understand the domain’s authority. This way, you can track the progress over time and set a realistic goal to improve the website’s backlinking game. The overview includes:

• The most impactful backlinks 
• The anchor texts 
• List of linked domains to your site
• New, lost, or broken links 
• Authority scores of the linked domains 

Step 4: Check Referral Domains

A healthy backlink profile does not mean just a few links from repeated domains. It means your source is linked to unique domains with a high authority score and is relevant to your business. With Ahrefs Backlink Checker, you can filter your country or location to get a deeper analysis. 

Step 5: Analyze Distributed Anchor Text

Anchor texts also play a crucial role in a positive backlink profile. While checking for backlinks, you can also check for all anchor texts that have been used in your backlinks. Irrelevant anchor texts can make your website look spammy. So, with this tool, you will be able to ensure that your backlink profile looks natural. Here’s what to look for in the backlink checker: 

• Check for anchor distribution and frequency across all linked sites 
• Complete list of anchor texts that are used for your backlinks 
• Analyze filters for generic, branded, or exact-match anchors

Step 6: Competitors Research 

Enter your top competitor’s domain into Ahrefs and analyze their backlink profile. Monitor the top referral domains, anchor texts, and backlink quality to find new link-building opportunities. With the side-by-side comparison on Ahrefs Backlink Checker, you will be able to adapt smarter backlinking strategies. 

Step 7: Showcase Results in Backlink Portfolio 

Once you master backlink checking with Ahrefs, it’s your time to showcase achievements. Take snaps and upload your backlink portfolio on different platforms to gain trust from referring domains. This way, your website will get noticed easily, opening the opportunity to acquire higher-quality backlinks.

Must-Know Metrics and Technologies Before Usage 

There are several essential metrics and technologies for using Ahrefs Backlink Checker effectively. To utilize the tool to its fullest, you must understand these metrics and their impact on overall website performance. 

• Ahrefs Rank (AR): Ahrefs is an advanced tool that ranks all websites based on their backlink profile strength. The lower your website’s AR number is, the stronger your backlink profile is. 

• Organic Keywords: This metric reflects the total keywords for which your website appears in ranking higher on organic searches. It is best for monitoring organic performance. 

• Organic Traffic: On the backlink checker, you will also know the total number of organic search traffic your webpages receive

• URL Rating (UR): This proprietary metric of Ahrefs measures the strength of your specific page’s URL. It is counted on a similar level to DR on a page level. 

Important Facts to Remember 

While using the Ahrefs Backlink Checker, we often miss these important factors to check. Make sure you remember these: 

✔ You must prioritize high-quality links only from relevant, authorized websites and monitor spammy links.

✔ Keep track of unique domains by closely analyzing competitors.

✔ Avoid over-optimizing your anchor text to avoid penalties from search engines. 

Other Alternatives to Ahrefs Backlink Checker

Ahrefs is one of the most powerful tools for SEO analysis. However, if you find the pricing plans out of your budget, here are some affordable alternatives for small businesses or individual website owners: 

SEMRush

SEMRush is the direct competitor of Ahrefs. Its backlink analysis tool offers accurate and in-depth link analysis. It helps you find manipulative backlinks and suggests referring domains, new link lists, anchor texts, and more. This tool is a top choice for checking backlink profiles. 

Moz Pro

Moz Pro is a good competitor of Ahrefs Backlink Checker. The accuracy of Moz’s backlink analytics is influenced by many important factors such as market size, link quality database, update frequency, number of spammy links, and reliability of data source. This tool’s ability to find manipulative and toxic backlinks makes it a good alternative. 

Key Takeaways 

Using Ahrefs Backlink Checker requires effective analysis. It is about understanding some essential metrics, learning from the competitors, and making growth-driven decisions for safer SEO practices. Here you can apply filters so you get an in-depth analysis 

As I have mentioned above, there are a lot of other mandatory steps to analyse the backlink profile, rather than entering the domain URL and reviewing the numbers.  Hope this guide helps you make smart decisions, and feel free to ask any queries through the comments. 

Frequently Asked Questions