AhrefsBot
Ahrefs •
Since 2010
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Official Docs
What is AhrefsBot?
AhrefsBot is the web crawler that powers Ahrefs, one of the leading SEO tools used by digital marketers worldwide. The bot continuously crawls the web to build and maintain a comprehensive index of backlinks, making Ahrefs' link database one of the largest and most frequently updated in the industry. AhrefsBot analyzes link relationships, anchor texts, and website structures to provide SEO insights. While some website owners block AhrefsBot to prevent competitor analysis, the crawler respects robots.txt and operates ethically. Ahrefs uses the data to provide valuable SEO metrics including Domain Rating (DR), URL Rating (UR), and detailed backlink profiles.
User Agent String
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; AhrefsBot/7.0; +http://ahrefs.com/robot/)
How to Control AhrefsBot
Block Completely
To prevent AhrefsBot from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block AhrefsBot
User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /public/
Set Crawl Delay
To slow down the crawl rate (note: not all bots respect this directive):
User-agent: AhrefsBot
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify AhrefsBot
Verification Method:
Reverse DNS to ahrefs.com
Reverse DNS to ahrefs.com
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect AhrefsBot in your application:
Basic Pattern
/AhrefsBot/iStrict Pattern
/^Mozilla/5\.0 \(compatible; AhrefsBot/7\.0; \+http\://ahrefs\.com/robot/\)$/Flexible Pattern
/AhrefsBot[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/iVendor Match
/.*Ahrefs.*AhrefsBot/iImplementation Examples
// PHP Detection for AhrefsBot
function detect_ahrefsbot() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/AhrefsBot/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('AhrefsBot detected from IP: ' . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
// Set cache headers
header('Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600');
header('X-Robots-Tag: noarchive');
// Optional: Serve cached version
if (file_exists('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html')) {
readfile('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for AhrefsBot
import re
from flask import request, make_responsedef detect_ahrefsbot():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'AhrefsBot'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False# Django Middleware
class AhrefsBotMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for AhrefsBot
const express = require('express');
const app = express();// Middleware to detect AhrefsBot
function detectAhrefsBot(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /AhrefsBot/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('AhrefsBot detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'AhrefsBot';
}
next();
}app.use(detectAhrefsBot);
# Apache .htaccess rules for AhrefsBot# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} AhrefsBot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} AhrefsBot [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "AhrefsBot" is_bot=1# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /AhrefsBot/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for AhrefsBot# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_ahrefsbot {
default 0;
~*AhrefsBot 1;
}server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_ahrefsbot) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_ahrefsbot) {
root /var/www/cached;
try_files $uri $uri.html $uri/index.html @backend;
}
try_files $uri @backend;
}
# Add headers for bot requests
location @backend {
if ($is_ahrefsbot) {
add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600";
add_header X-Robots-Tag "noarchive";
}
proxy_pass http://backend;
}
}
Should You Block This Bot?
Recommendations based on your website type:
| Site Type | Recommendation | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | Optional | Evaluate based on bandwidth usage vs. benefits |
| Blog/News | Allow | Increases content reach and discoverability |
| SaaS Application | Block | No benefit for application interfaces; preserve resources |
| Documentation | Selective | Allow for public docs, block for internal docs |
| Corporate Site | Limit | Allow for public pages, block sensitive areas like intranets |
Advanced robots.txt Configurations
E-commerce Site Configuration
User-agent: AhrefsBot
Crawl-delay: 5
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /*?sort=
Disallow: /*?filter=
Disallow: /*&page=
Allow: /products/
Allow: /categories/
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Publishing/Blog Configuration
User-agent: AhrefsBot
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
AhrefsBotRobots.txt Name
AhrefsBotCategory
seoRespects robots.txt
Yes
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