See it on a real storeBots, pages and people sent by AI on an example store. No sign-up.SEO tools, run by Ahrefs.
What is AhrefsBot? Ahrefs' SEO tool crawler. Verifiable by reverse DNS.
Run by Ahrefs.
Purpose: SEO tools. A visit means an SEO tool is crawling your site, either for its own index of links and pages or because someone ran an audit or test on your site.
robots.txt name: AhrefsBot.
Verifiable by reverse DNS.
At a glance, the facts in one table.
AhrefsBot at a glance. Taken from SenseGap's open bot directory, the same data that sorts every visit in the dashboard.
All bots| AhrefsBot | |
|---|---|
| Operator | Ahrefs |
| Purpose | SEO tools |
| User agent contains | AhrefsBot, AhrefsSiteAudit |
| robots.txt name | AhrefsBot |
| Verification | Reverse DNS |
| Documentation | None listed |
Purpose, what it does and why it came.
What AhrefsBot does. SenseGap sorts every visit by purpose. AhrefsBot is in the SEO tools group.
AhrefsBot is Ahrefs' crawler that collects data for Ahrefs' SEO tools.
What a visit means
A visit means an SEO tool is crawling your site, either for its own index of links and pages or because someone ran an audit or test on your site.
Detection, the header SenseGap matches.
How SenseGap recognizes AhrefsBot. By its User-Agent header. A separate check then decides whether the visit is real.
Every request carries a User-Agent header naming the software that sent it. SenseGap counts a request as AhrefsBot when that header contains any of AhrefsBot or AhrefsSiteAudit, in any letter case. The header is plain text, so any script can copy it. Matching the name is where recognition starts, not where trust starts.
/AhrefsBot|AhrefsSiteAudit/iVerification, how to tell a real visit from a fake.
How to verify AhrefsBot. Ahrefs publishes the DNS names its servers use, so a real visit can be proven.
How we verify bots- 01
Look up the visiting address
Run a reverse DNS lookup on the IP address the request came from. It returns a hostname.
- 02
Check the hostname
The hostname must end in .ahrefs.com or .ahrefs.net. Anything else is not AhrefsBot.
*.ahrefs.com *.ahrefs.net - 03
Look the hostname up again
Run a forward lookup on that hostname. It must return the same IP address, otherwise the reverse record could have been set by anyone.
$ host <visiting-ip>
… domain name pointer <hostname>.ahrefs.com.
$ host <hostname>.ahrefs.com
<hostname>.ahrefs.com has address <visiting-ip>SenseGap runs this check on every visit that claims to be AhrefsBot. A pass is marked Real. A visit that sends the name and fails is marked Fake, and stays out of your other reports.
robots.txt, rules you can copy.
Block or allow AhrefsBot in robots.txt. Its robots.txt name is AhrefsBot. Paste a group into the robots.txt at your site's root.
User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /User-agent: AhrefsBot
Allow: /User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /private/One rule catches people out. Under the robots.txt standard (RFC 9309), a crawler that finds a group naming it follows only that group and ignores your User-agent: * rules. If you add a AhrefsBot group, repeat in it anything from the catch-all group you still want applied.
robots.txt is a request, not a lock. To enforce a block, match the User-Agent header at your server or CDN. In nginx:
# nginx, inside a server block
if ($http_user_agent ~* "AhrefsBot|AhrefsSiteAudit") {
return 403;
}SenseGap reads your robots.txt and shows, bot by bot, what you allow and which bots fetched pages you disallowed. See what you get.
Trade-off, what blocking changes.
Should you block AhrefsBot? It depends on what you want from Ahrefs. Here is what each choice means.
If you allow it
Your site's data in the tool stays complete, and audits you run with it keep working.
If you block it
The tool's picture of your site becomes incomplete, and its audits of your site may fail. It has no effect on how search engines rank you.
SEO tools, other bots with the same job.
Other SEO tool crawlers. Same purpose, different companies.
Browse the directoryFAQ, AhrefsBot in short answers.
AhrefsBot, answered plainly
What is AhrefsBot?
AhrefsBot is Ahrefs' crawler that collects data for Ahrefs' SEO tools.
Who runs AhrefsBot?
Ahrefs. SenseGap's directory has no documentation link for it yet.
What does a visit from AhrefsBot mean?
A visit means an SEO tool is crawling your site, either for its own index of links and pages or because someone ran an audit or test on your site.
What user agent does AhrefsBot use?
Its User-Agent header contains one of "AhrefsBot" or "AhrefsSiteAudit". SenseGap matches any of these regardless of letter case.
How do I block AhrefsBot?
Add "User-agent: AhrefsBot" followed by "Disallow: /" to your robots.txt. robots.txt is a request, not a lock; to enforce it, block the user agent at your server or CDN.
How do I know a visit is really AhrefsBot?
Run a reverse DNS lookup on the address: the hostname must end in .ahrefs.com or .ahrefs.net, and a forward lookup of that hostname must return the same address. SenseGap runs these checks on every visit.
Does Ahrefs publish IP ranges for AhrefsBot?
Not as a list SenseGap uses. It can be verified by reverse DNS instead: real hosts end in .ahrefs.com or .ahrefs.net.
What happens if I block AhrefsBot?
The tool's picture of your site becomes incomplete, and its audits of your site may fail. It has no effect on how search engines rank you.