(opens in new tab)Popular SEO platform Ahrefs has launched a new free service, in a bid to democratize access to SEO tools.
“The fellow marketers have long been asking us for an affordable Ahrefs (opens in new tab) account that would let them get SEO data just for their own website,” explained the firm, whose new service will soon join our list of the best free SEO tools (opens in new tab).
Ahrefs Webmasters Tools (opens in new tab) allows you to manage backlinks and keywords and audit your website for free - you don’t even need a credit card to sign up. According to a company spokesperson, thousands have already taken advantage of the new free service.
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“Believe it or not, we care about people who can't yet afford tools that help make websites and content discovered. Big players invest heavily in professional SEO and content promotion to help get their content found. What does it make to small businesses, nonprofits, and educational institutions? They struggle to get the organic traffic that their websites deserve,” she added.
Naturally, you don't get all the bells and whistles with the free service. Given the need not to cannibalise its paid tools (Ahrefs cost $990 per year at minimum and $9,990 for the premium tier), it's unsurprising that there are some limitations on crawled URLs and how long data is retained.
Note, the service does use Google Search console (opens in new tab) verification, but only in a limited fashion. According to Dmitry Gerasimenko, Ahrefs found and CEO, "we don’t use any data from GSC besides the list of websites for ownership verification. [But] we will explore if aggregated data can help us build better models."
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