Ahrefs
SEO intelligence and web analytics software for marketers and agencies.
Available information varies by company and source.
Profile record updated:
Company facts
- Official name
- Ahrefs Pte. Ltd.
- Entity type
- COMPANY
- Founded
- 2010
- Headquarters
- Singapore
- Company size
- 50–200
- Market role
- MarTech Vendor
- Official website
- ahrefs.com
What Ahrefs does
Ahrefs operates a B2B SaaS model built around proprietary search, backlink, keyword, and website crawl datasets. It creates value by turning those datasets into workflow tools for SEO research, technical auditing, content planning, rank monitoring, analytics, and developer integrations. Customers subscribe to access the platform on an ongoing basis, and higher-value customers expand spend through larger plans, additional seats, API usage, and add-on products.
Category differentiation
Ahrefs is a B2B SEO and website intelligence software vendor, not an advertising network, media agency, or consumer publishing platform. It competes with search intelligence suites rather than with web hosting, CMS, or pure analytics-only vendors.
Strategic context
AI-supported assessment from the existing company research; distinguish interpretation from sourced facts.
Ahrefs is a Singapore-based B2B software company that sells a cloud-based search marketing and website intelligence suite. Its core products cover backlink analysis, keyword research, technical site auditing, rank tracking, content discovery, web analytics, bot analytics, API access, and newer tools for AI search visibility and social media management. The company primarily serves SEO professionals, digital marketers, agencies, developers, and in-house growth teams. The business makes money mainly through recurring software subscriptions, with pricing tiers based on projects, tracked keywords, crawl limits, users, historical data access, and other usage thresholds. Additional revenue comes from API access, usage-based credits, and paid add-ons. Ahrefs is privately held, bootstrapped, and operates without outside funding.
Company news briefing
Briefing updated:
Ahrefs has continued to adapt its analytics toolkit to generative environments by rolling out 'AI-adjusted Volume' to estimate AI search demand, alongside real-time brand monitoring tools like Firehose. The company is actively supporting LLM crawler management with a free llms.txt generator while promoting its browser-based Letaido AI marketing platform. Furthermore, recent platform data reveals that US branded searches triggering Google AI Overviews have risen significantly, increasingly citing third-party sources and presenting new reputation management challenges for brands.
Business model & monetisation
Ahrefs monetises primarily via tiered SaaS subscriptions sold on recurring monthly or annual plans. Pricing scales by usage and feature access, including projects, keyword tracking, crawl credits, user seats, reporting, and historical data. Secondary monetisation comes from API access, pay-as-you-go or quota-based usage for data and exports, and paid add-ons such as AI Content Helper and Brand Radar.
- Core platform subscriptions
- Tiered SaaS plans for SEO and website intelligence tools
- API access
- Usage-tiered access bundled with eligible paid plans or higher tiers
- Add-on products
- Paid extensions such as AI content and AI visibility tools
- Usage-based credits and exports
- Consumption-based charges for reports, crawl usage, and related limits
Products & capabilities
No products with linked sources are available in this view.
Products & market categories
Recent recorded signals
Dates refer to the source publication. Older entries are historical context, not evidence of a new event.
Google AI Overviews for Brands Include Third-Party Sources
Search · Recorded impact score: 3/5
Google's AI Overviews increasingly appear for brand-related search queries, providing visibility but also risks. A recent Ahrefs analysis shows that in September, 73.3% of branded searches in the US triggered AI Overviews on desktop, up from 61.3% in July. These overviews often cite third-party sources like Wikipedia, YouTube, and LinkedIn, not just the brand's own content. This can lead to misinformation or negative portrayals, and Google may be liable for false statements, as a German court ruling indicated. Brands and SEOs must manage their reputation across third-party sources, as clicks from AI Overviews can benefit not only the brand but also publishers and creators.
- Google's AI Overviews appear for 73.3% of branded searches on US desktop in September, up from 61.3% in July.
- AI Overviews for brands often cite third-party sources like Wikipedia, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
714 Suppression Campaigns: Negative Results Trends Analyzed
SEO / Online Reputation Management · Recorded impact score: 1/5
Erase.com analyzed 714 online reputation suppression campaigns (Aug 2024 - May 2026) to identify what impacts success in pushing down negative search results. Key findings reveal that the starting position of the worst negative result is the strongest predictor of clearing Page 1; campaigns starting at position 4 or lower were 3.5x more likely to succeed. The number of negatives also mattered. Publishing volume was not a differentiator; instead, the placement of new assets within the top 10 was key. Most successful campaigns cleared Page 1 within 3-4 months. Court records were easiest to suppress, while Reddit threads and review sites were hardest. The rise of AI Overviews, which often cite URLs beyond Page 1, suggests that pushing negatives only to Page 2 may be insufficient.
- Erase.com analyzed 714 suppression campaigns from August 2024 to May 2026.
- Campaigns with the worst negative starting at position 4 or lower cleared Page 1 3.5x more often than those starting at position 1.
Publishers Shift from Clicks to Valuable Sessions
Publishing / Media · Recorded impact score: 2/5
Digital publishers face a decline in search referral traffic due to AI-generated answers in search engines. A Chartbeat analysis of over 2,500 publisher sites shows a global drop in Google search traffic of about one-third by November 2025, with a 38% decline in the US. An Ahrefs study of 300,000 keywords found that the top result's click-through rate is 34.5% lower for queries with AI Overviews. This shift makes volume-based monetization models unsustainable. Publishers are advised to focus on Revenue Per Session (RPS) rather than pageviews or individual clicks. This involves integrating editorial recommendations, native ads, and display formats into dynamic content feeds that are optimized for relevance and user experience, thereby increasing the value of each session despite fluctuating traffic.
- Chartbeat analysis of over 2,500 publisher sites shows global Google search traffic declined by one-third year-over-year through November 2025.
- Ahrefs analysis of 300,000 keywords shows a 34.5% lower click-through rate for top results on queries with AI Overviews.
Structured Data Doesn't Boost AI Citations; Earned Mentions Matter More
AI Search & SEO · Recorded impact score: 2/5
New research from Ahrefs indicates that structured data has little to no effect on citations from AI answer engines. A matched difference-in-differences study of 1,885 pages found JSON-LD schema produced no measurable lift in AI Mode or ChatGPT citations and a slight decline in AI Overviews. Ahrefs also analyzed 75,000 brands and found branded web mentions correlate far more strongly with AI visibility than backlinks. Moz data shows most AI Mode citations fall outside the organic top 10, and ChatGPT shares only 6.5% URL overlap with Google. Perplexity and AI Mode behave differently, and cross-platform citation volume can vary 615x. The article argues CMS migrations and schema tickets are unlikely to improve AI visibility; instead, brands should invest in earned mentions from trusted industry publications, video, original data, and named expert quotations, while treating technical setup only as a baseline floor.
- Ahrefs' matched study of 1,885 pages found JSON-LD schema produced no statistically significant lift in AI Mode or ChatGPT citations, and a slight decline in AI Overviews.
- Ahrefs' analysis of 75,000 brands found branded web mentions correlate with AI visibility at 0.664, versus 0.218 for backlinks; YouTube mentions correlated highest at 0.737.
AI search reduces advertisers' organic web traffic
Search · Recorded impact score: 4/5
Analysis of Brainlabs' Google Analytics data for 54 advertisers finds organic web sessions fell an average of 10.5% after Google’s AI "Overviews" became common, while sessions from AI platforms rose sharply. Although 46 of 54 clients saw declines (140.1M to 125.4M sessions), AI referrals produced higher-quality engagement: AI-driven key events rose 335% and the key-event conversion rate from AI referrals was 1.5x that of organic search. Impact varied by sector (fitness, fintech, insurance, CPG hit hardest; retail and beauty less affected). ChatGPT accounted for the largest share of AI referrals, according to referenced usage data.
- Brainlabs analyzed Google Analytics data for 54 clients and found overall sessions fell 10.5%, from 140.1 million to 125.4 million.
- 46 of Brainlabs' 54 clients experienced a decline in organic web traffic after Google Overviews became common.
Careers & open positions
Open positions indexed from verified career portals and applicant tracking systems.
| Position | Department | Location | Posted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Implementation Specialist, Americas(Mid-Level) | Enterprise | Palo Alto, CA, United States; Cambridge, MA, United States | |
| Marketing Manager, Brazil(Mid-Level) | Marketing | Remote | |
| Community & Partnerships Marketing Manager, Japan(Mid-Level) | Marketing | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Head of Influencer Marketing - Letaido(Director) | Marketing | Palo Alto, CA, United States; Cambridge, MA, United States | |
| Product Designer - Letaido(Mid-Level) | Product Design | Tokyo, Japan; Singapore; Palo Alto, CA, United States; Cambridge, MA, United States |
Explore company relationships
Questions about Ahrefs
What is Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is a B2B software platform for SEO, keyword research, backlink analysis, site auditing, rank tracking, and related website intelligence.
Who uses Ahrefs?
It is used by SEO professionals, digital marketers, agencies, content teams, developers, and enterprises that need search and website performance data.
How does Ahrefs make money?
It makes money mainly through tiered SaaS subscriptions, plus API access, usage-based credits, and paid add-ons.
Sources & coverage
This profile uses public, official and technically observable information. Missing information does not prove that a product or relationship does not exist. The list below does not imply that every profile statement has been verified.
16 publicly documented primary sources and citations linked across the market graph.
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