Ahrefs Site Audit Features: Full Guide 2024

Struggling to pinpoint technical SEO issues dragging down your website rankings? You’re not alone. Most site owners miss hidden errors like broken links, slow-loading pages, or incorrect canonical tags until their traffic drops.

Ahrefs Site Audit is one of the industry’s most trusted tools for uncovering these issues fast. But many users only scratch the surface of its capabilities. This guide breaks down every key Ahrefs Site Audit feature, how to use them, and how they directly impact your search performance.

What Is Ahrefs Site Audit?

Ahrefs Site Audit is a technical SEO tool that crawls your website the same way Googlebot does. It scans every accessible page, flags issues, and assigns a site health score from 0 to 100.

Unlike basic audit tools, it pulls data from Ahrefs’ own crawler (with 99.9% Googlebot mimicry) and integrates with the platform’s massive backlink and keyword databases for deeper insights.

Core Ahrefs Site Audit Features You Need to Know

1. Site Health Score

Your site health score is the first metric you see after a crawl. It aggregates all issues into a single number: 100 means no critical errors, 0 means widespread issues.

Issues are split into three tiers:

• Errors (Red): Critical issues like 4xx/5xx status codes, broken links, and crawlability blocks that hurt rankings immediately.
• Warnings (Yellow): Medium-priority issues like missing meta descriptions, thin content, or slow page speed that impact user experience.
• Notices (Blue): Minor issues like unused meta tags or low-priority crawl optimizations.

2. Page Speed & Core Web Vitals Integration

Ahrefs pulls real-world data from Google PageSpeed Insights for every crawled page. You get separate mobile and desktop speed scores, plus Core Web Vitals metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

This feature lets you prioritize fixes for pages that are losing rankings due to poor user experience.

3. Internal Link Analysis

Poor internal linking can make it hard for search engines to crawl your site. Ahrefs Site Audit flags:

• Orphan pages (no internal links pointing to them)
• Broken internal links
• Redirect chains (3+ consecutive redirects)
• Pages with too many or too few internal links

Fixing these issues helps search engines discover and index your content faster.

4. Canonical Tag & Redirect Checks

Incorrect canonical tags and redirect errors are common causes of duplicate content penalties. This Ahrefs Site Audit feature flags:

• Missing or incorrect canonical tags
• Redirect loops (e.g., Page A redirects to Page B, which redirects back to Page A)
• Meta refresh redirects (outdated, SEO-unfriendly)
• 302 temporary redirects used incorrectly for permanent changes

5. XML Sitemap & Robots.txt Validation

Your sitemap and robots.txt file tell search engines which pages to crawl. Ahrefs checks:

• If your sitemap includes broken or non-crawlable URLs
• If robots.txt is blocking important pages (like your blog or product pages)
• If your sitemap is out of date (missing new pages or including deleted ones)

6. Structured Data (Schema Markup) Testing

Schema markup helps search engines display rich snippets (star ratings, recipe cards, event details) in search results. Ahrefs validates your structured data and flags:

• Missing required schema fields
• Incorrect schema types (e.g., using Article schema for a product page)
• Broken JSON-LD or microdata markup

7. JavaScript SEO Audit

Modern websites built with React, Vue, or Angular often load content via JavaScript, which basic crawlers can’t see. Ahrefs Site Audit renders JavaScript the same way browsers do, so it catches:

• JS-loaded content that’s invisible to search engines
• Broken links or images loaded via JavaScript
• Slow JavaScript execution that hurts page speed

8. Customizable Crawl Settings

You don’t have to crawl your entire site every time. This feature lets you:

• Set crawl depth (limit how many levels of subpages the crawler scans)
• Exclude specific URL paths (e.g., /cart/ or /test/ pages)
• Schedule automatic crawls (daily, weekly, or monthly)
• Set custom user-agents to mimic specific devices or bots

9. Multi-Site Audit Support

Managing multiple client sites or properties? Ahrefs lets you add unlimited sites to your dashboard, track all their health scores in one place, and compare issue counts across projects.

How to Use Ahrefs Site Audit Features Effectively

Follow this simple workflow to get the most out of the tool:

1. Add your site to Ahrefs, verify ownership via DNS, HTML file, or Google Search Console.
2. Adjust crawl settings to fit your site size and priorities.
3. Run your first crawl (small sites take minutes, large sites may take hours).
4. Start with red errors: fix 4xx/5xx errors and crawlability blocks first.
5. Move to yellow warnings: optimize page speed, meta tags, and thin content.
6. Schedule weekly automatic crawls to catch new issues early.

Why Ahrefs Site Audit Stands Out

Unlike free audit tools or basic paid alternatives, Ahrefs Site Audit uses its own proprietary crawler (not third-party APIs) for 99% accuracy. It also integrates seamlessly with other Ahrefs tools: you can jump from a broken link in Site Audit to its backlink data in Site Explorer instantly.

As noted by Search Engine Journal’s 2024 review of top SEO tools, Ahrefs remains the gold standard for technical audits thanks to its depth and integration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Ahrefs Site Audit free?
No, Site Audit is included in all paid Ahrefs plans, which start at $99/month. There is no free tier for Site Audit.

How often should I run an audit?
Run a full audit weekly for small sites (under 1,000 pages) and monthly for larger sites. Run an extra audit after major site changes (redesigns, URL structure updates, or migration).

Can Ahrefs find duplicate content?
Yes, it flags duplicate title tags, meta descriptions, and thin content (pages with less than 100 words of unique text).

Does it check mobile-friendliness?
Yes, it checks for responsive design, proper mobile viewport tags, and mobile page speed scores.

Conclusion

Mastering Ahrefs Site Audit features is one of the fastest ways to improve your technical SEO and boost rankings. From fixing broken links to optimizing Core Web Vitals, every feature is designed to save you time and uncover issues you’d otherwise miss.

Ready to take control of your site’s health? Sign up for Ahrefs’ 7-day trial for just $7 and start using Site Audit today. Have questions about a specific feature? Drop them in the comments below!