How Ahrefs Counts Links

Understanding how ahrefs counts links is important for mid-advanced marketeers and SEO freelancers who want to improve their link building strategies and enhance their website’s authority.

In this knowledge-based article, we will delve into the intricacies of ahrefs’ link counting methods.

How Ahrefs Counts Links

Ahrefs is a popular SEO tool that provides a range of features for conducting website analysis and improving your website’s search engine optimization.

One of its key features is its ability to track the number of backlinks to your website or that of your competitors.

However, what you might not know is that ahrefs’ link counting methods are not as straightforward as counting the number of links.

Unique Domains and URLs

Ahrefs counts links from unique domains and unique URLs.

This means that if a website has multiple links pointing to your website from the same page or subdomain, ahrefs will only count it as one link.

Similarly, if a website has linked to multiple pages on your website, ahrefs will count each of those as individual links.

Internal Links

Ahrefs does not count internal links as backlinks.

This is because backlinks are defined as links from external websites that point to your website.

Internal links are links from one page on your website to another page on the same website.

Reciprocal Links

Reciprocal links are links that are exchanged between two websites.

For example, if website A links to website B and website B links back to website A, this is a reciprocal link.

Ahrefs counts reciprocal links as backlinks, but it may not provide the same value as a one-way link.

This is because Google’s algorithm may penalize websites that engage in reciprocal link schemes.

Nofollow Links

A nofollow link is a link that has the rel=”nofollow” attribute in its HTML code.

This attribute tells search engines not to follow the link or pass any link juice to the linked website.

Ahrefs still counts nofollow links as backlinks, but they may not pass as much value as dofollow links.

Redirects

A redirect is a process of forwarding one URL to another URL.

Ahrefs will count a link even if it redirects to another URL.

However, it is important to note that redirects do not pass the same amount of link juice as direct links.

Link Manipulation

Ahrefs aims to provide accurate information to its users.

Therefore, it has algorithms in place to detect and exclude links that have been manipulated or created solely for the purpose of link building.

This includes links from link farms, paid links, and spammy links.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, ahrefs counts links based on unique domains and URLs, excludes internal links, counts reciprocal links and nofollow links, factors in redirects, and excludes manipulated links.

Understanding how ahrefs counts links can help you to improve your link building strategies, track your progress, and compare your website’s performance with that of your competitors.