Ahrefs Competitor Research: A Practical Guide
Competitor research in Ahrefs can help you understand how other websites attract search traffic, earn backlinks and build visibility for important topics. Used well, it gives you evidence to inform your own SEO strategy—not a blueprint to copy blindly.
This guide explains how to identify relevant competitors, analyse their organic search performance and turn your findings into practical actions.
What is competitor research in Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is an SEO toolkit that includes tools for researching websites, keywords, backlinks and search results. Its competitor research features let you examine information such as:
- Keywords a website ranks for
- Pages that receive organic search traffic
- Websites linking to a competitor
- Topics competitors cover that your site does not
- Changes in a website’s estimated search visibility over time
These figures are estimates based on Ahrefs’ data and methods. They can help you spot patterns, but they should not be treated as a competitor’s exact analytics or revenue figures.
Start by choosing the right competitors
Your search competitors are not always the same as your direct business competitors. A company may compete with you commercially but target different search terms. Equally, a publisher, directory or comparison site may compete with you for valuable search results without selling the same products.
Begin with a few websites that appear regularly in search results for the topics you want to rank for. Consider including:
- Direct commercial competitors
- Websites ranking for the same services or products
- Publishers or resources that attract your target audience
Keep the list focused. Comparing your site with a huge international brand or a general-purpose directory may produce interesting data, but not necessarily useful priorities.
Review a competitor’s organic search performance
Enter a competitor’s domain into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to explore its organic search data. Depending on the available reports and your account access, you can review estimated organic traffic, ranking keywords and the pages attracting search visits.
Use the overview as a starting point, then look for more specific patterns:
- Top pages: Which pages appear to attract the most organic traffic?
- Top keywords: What types of searches bring people to the site?
- Search intent: Are the results informational, commercial, transactional or navigational?
- Page types: Are rankings driven by guides, product pages, category pages, tools or local landing pages?
- Recent changes: Has visibility increased or declined, and which pages or topics might explain the change?
Do not focus on a traffic estimate alone. A page with fewer visits may attract more relevant visitors or support a more valuable business goal than a high-traffic article.
Find keyword opportunities with Content Gap
Ahrefs’ Content Gap report can compare the keywords your site ranks for with those ranking for selected competitors. This can reveal topics you may not have covered, or searches where competitors have established a stronger presence.
To make the results useful:
- Choose competitors with a similar audience or search focus.
- Compare a small group of sites at a time.
- Filter for keywords that match your services, products or expertise.
- Check the current search results to understand what users are looking for.
- Decide whether the opportunity calls for a new page, an improvement to an existing page or no action.
A keyword gap is not automatically a content brief. Before creating a page, assess whether your site can provide a genuinely useful and credible answer, and whether the topic supports your wider goals.
Analyse competitors’ top-performing pages
A competitor’s best-performing pages can show how it organises information around a topic. Look at the page itself as well as the data behind it. Consider:
- How clearly the page answers the search query
- Which related questions and subtopics it covers
- Whether it includes original examples, research or expertise
- How it links to relevant pages across the site
- Whether it offers a tool, template, comparison or other useful resource
The aim is not to reproduce another website’s wording or structure. Use the research to understand what searchers may expect, then create something distinct and more useful for your audience.
Explore backlink opportunities
Backlinks can help search engines discover and assess pages, although link quantity alone is not a reliable measure of quality. Ahrefs’ backlink reports can show which websites link to a competitor and which pages attract those links.
Look for links that make sense for your own organisation. For example, a competitor may have earned links from industry publications, professional associations, local organisations or useful research. These findings can suggest legitimate outreach or resource ideas.
Before pursuing a link, ask whether it is relevant, editorially earned and likely to be useful to real visitors. Avoid treating every competitor backlink as a link to replicate, and steer clear of schemes that manipulate search rankings.
Turn research into an action plan
Competitor research is most valuable when it leads to clear decisions. For each opportunity, record:
- The topic, keyword or page you have identified
- Why it is relevant to your audience and business
- What your site currently offers on the subject
- The action required, such as improving a page or creating a new one
- How you will measure progress
Prioritise opportunities by relevance, potential value, level of effort and your ability to deliver something distinctive. A smaller number of well-chosen improvements is often more useful than a long list of keywords with no clear plan.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Taking estimates as exact figures: Ahrefs data is useful for comparison and research, but it is not a substitute for your own analytics or search performance data.
- Choosing irrelevant competitors: A website may be large or visible without being a meaningful benchmark for your audience.
- Chasing every keyword: Search volume does not tell you whether a term is relevant or likely to support your goals.
- Copying competitor content: Research should inform original work, not lead to duplication.
- Ignoring search intent: A page may struggle if it does not match what people want when they make a particular search.
- Focusing only on rankings: Useful outcomes may include qualified enquiries, sales, newsletter sign-ups or stronger visibility across a topic—not just a position in search results.
Conclusion
Ahrefs competitor research can reveal which topics, pages and links contribute to other websites’ search visibility. The most effective process is to choose relevant competitors, investigate their organic keywords and top pages, review credible backlink opportunities, then validate each finding against your audience and business priorities.
Use the data as a guide rather than a guarantee. A clear understanding of your own expertise and customers is what turns competitor research into an SEO strategy worth pursuing.
Ahrefs Competitor Research: 6 Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I find competitors in Ahrefs?
- How can I compare my website’s organic keywords with competitors in Ahrefs?
- How do I use Ahrefs’ Content Gap tool to find keyword opportunities?
- How can I analyse a competitor’s top-performing pages in Ahrefs?
- How do I use Ahrefs to research competitors’ backlinks?
- Are Ahrefs’ competitor traffic and keyword estimates accurate?
How do I find competitors in Ahrefs?
To find competitors in Ahrefs, enter your website into Site Explorer and open the organic competitors report. It shows websites that rank for many of the same keywords as yours. Review the list and focus on sites targeting a similar audience or offering, as some may be publishers or directories rather than direct business rivals. You can also search Google for your key topics and check which sites repeatedly appear in the results.
How can I compare my website’s organic keywords with competitors in Ahrefs?
To compare your website’s organic keywords with competitors in Ahrefs, open Site Explorer and enter your domain, then use the Organic keywords report to review the terms you rank for. Next, open Content Gap, add your website and your competitors’ domains, and run the comparison to find keywords they rank for that your site does not. You can also identify terms where competitors rank higher than you. Filter the results by relevance, search volume or ranking position, then check the search results and intent before deciding whether to improve an existing page or create new content.
How do I use Ahrefs’ Content Gap tool to find keyword opportunities?
To find keyword opportunities with Ahrefs’ Content Gap tool, enter your website alongside a few relevant competitors and compare the keywords they rank for that your site does not. Filter the results by factors such as search volume, keyword difficulty and competitor rankings, then review each term to check that it matches your audience’s needs and search intent. Use the strongest relevant opportunities to improve an existing page or plan useful new content; a keyword gap is a starting point for research, not an automatic reason to create a page.
How can I analyse a competitor’s top-performing pages in Ahrefs?
To analyse a competitor’s top-performing pages in Ahrefs, enter their domain in Site Explorer and open the Top pages report. Review the pages receiving the most estimated organic traffic, along with the keywords they rank for and the traffic trend over time. Click through to promising pages to check their topics, format, search intent and internal links, then compare them with your own content. Use the findings to identify useful gaps or opportunities, but create original, more helpful content rather than copying a competitor’s approach.
How do I use Ahrefs to research competitors’ backlinks?
To research competitors’ backlinks in Ahrefs, enter a competitor’s website into Site Explorer and open the Backlinks or Referring domains report. Review which websites link to them, which pages attract those links and the context of each link. Use filters to narrow the results by factors such as link type, platform or domain rating, but prioritise relevance and credibility over raw metrics. Look for realistic opportunities—such as industry publications or useful resources you could create—and assess each prospect before starting outreach. Backlink data is an estimate, so treat it as a source of ideas rather than a complete record.
Are Ahrefs’ competitor traffic and keyword estimates accurate?
Ahrefs’ competitor traffic and keyword figures are estimates, not exact analytics from another website. They’re based on Ahrefs’ own data and models, so they may differ from a competitor’s actual performance. They’re most useful for comparing sites, spotting trends and finding potential keyword opportunities; use your own analytics and Search Console data to assess your site’s actual results.