AhrefsBot — Ahrefs SEO crawler
AhrefsBot is the crawler operated by Ahrefs to build its SEO and backlink index. It is a third-party crawler, not a search engine, so it does not affect Google or Bing rankings directly. It uses the AhrefsBot robots.txt token and is documented as respecting robots.txt and crawl-delay.
What this means
AhrefsBot crawls the web to build the backlink and SEO index used by the Ahrefs toolset. It is a third-party crawler: it is not Googlebot or Bingbot, and its visits do not directly change your search rankings.
Seeing AhrefsBot in your logs means your site is being included in Ahrefs' index, which is what powers competitor and backlink analysis in that product.
robots.txt considerations
Ahrefs documents that AhrefsBot respects robots.txt and supports crawl-delay. To slow it down, set a crawl-delay for the AhrefsBot token; to exclude it entirely, target the AhrefsBot token with a Disallow rule. As with any crawler, the user agent is spoofable.
- robots.txt token: AhrefsBot
- Third-party SEO/backlink crawler (not a search engine)
- Documented to respect robots.txt and crawl-delay
How it appears in analytics and logs
A request carrying the AhrefsBot token is the Ahrefs SEO/backlink crawler fetching a URL — a bot event from a third-party tool, not a search engine and not a human visit. It does not influence search rankings by itself.
Diagnostic use case
Recognise AhrefsBot as third-party SEO crawling, decide whether to allow it, and control its crawl rate via robots.txt where supported.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID classifies AhrefsBot server-side as an SEO crawler and shows its activity separately from human traffic and from search-engine crawlers, so third-party SEO crawling is visible without log parsing.
Common mistakes
- Assuming AhrefsBot crawling affects Google or Bing rankings — it does not.
- Treating SEO-tool crawl hits as human visits.
- Blocking AhrefsBot without realising it removes you from that tool's index.
Privacy and accuracy notes
Identification uses the user agent — no human identity. WebmasterID records AhrefsBot as a bot event, separate from human analytics.
Related pages
- SemrushBot — Semrush SEO crawler
SemrushBot is the crawler operated by Semrush to gather data for its SEO toolset. It is a third-party crawler, not a search engine, so it does not affect search rankings directly. It uses the SemrushBot robots.txt token and is documented as respecting robots.txt.
- MJ12bot — Majestic's web crawler
MJ12bot is the crawler behind Majestic's backlink index. It is notable for being distributed — run across many independent operators — rather than a single central crawl. It uses the MJ12bot robots.txt token and is documented as honouring robots.txt.
- Bot vs human
Separate automated crawlers from real human visits.
Sources and verification notes
- Ahrefs — AhrefsBot documentationDocuments AhrefsBot, robots.txt handling, and crawl-delay support.
Last reviewed 2026-06-24. Facts are checked against primary/official sources where available; uncertain specifics are marked “Data not yet verified” rather than guessed.