AhrefsSiteAudit (Ahrefs): what it is and how to allow or block it
Updated · checked against the operator's documentation on
AhrefsSiteAudit is Ahrefs' Site Audit crawler, separate from AhrefsBot. Verify it by IP list or reverse DNS; it obeys robots.txt by default, so block it by name. Its robots.txt token is AhrefsSiteAudit.
Facts
- Operator
- Ahrefs
- Category
- SEO tool crawler
- robots.txt token
AhrefsSiteAudit
- Honors robots.txt?
- Yes by default, per Ahrefs. Ahrefs says it obeys robots.txt by default, including allow, disallow and crawl-delay, and that only verified site owners can let it disobey robots.txt on their own site. Ahrefs says it crawls at most 30 URLs per minute.
- User-agent example
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; AhrefsSiteAudit/6.1; +http://ahrefs.com/robot/site-audit)
- Official source
- Ahrefs: AhrefsBot and AhrefsSiteAudit
- Published IP ranges
- https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/public/crawler-ip-ranges
- Compared with the source
What it is used for
Per Ahrefs, AhrefsSiteAudit powers the Site Audit tool, which checks websites for technical and on-page issues such as broken links, slow performance, security misconfigurations and SEO pitfalls. AhrefsBot, which builds the link index, is a separate crawler.
Crawls the web for a marketing or SEO tool, mostly to build a backlink or site database. It does not decide whether you rank, and blocking it only removes you from that tool's data.
What happens if you block it
Site Audit crawls by Ahrefs users can no longer read your pages, unless you have verified the site and allowed it to ignore robots.txt. AhrefsBot has its own token.
Is it really AhrefsSiteAudit?
Anyone can send AhrefsSiteAudit as a user agent, so a log line proves nothing by itself. The way to tell is the requesting IP address.
- Compare the IP address with the Ahrefs: published IP ranges. A request from outside those ranges is not the operator's crawler.
- Ahrefs says the reverse DNS suffix of the IP hostname is always ahrefs.com or ahrefs.net.
- Guide: How to block AhrefsBot, SemrushBot, MJ12bot and other SEO crawlers.
- Guide: robots.txt syntax: groups, wildcards and matching rules.
- Guide: Fake Googlebots and PHP scanners: what hit our new server in 48 hours.
- Paste any user agent from your logs into the user-agent lookup, or follow the scripts in Fake Googlebots and PHP scanners.
How to allow or block AhrefsSiteAudit
Add one of these groups to the robots.txt at the root of your domain. A group that names the bot overrides a general User-agent: * group.
User-agent: AhrefsSiteAudit Allow: /
User-agent: AhrefsSiteAudit Disallow: /
Does your site allow AhrefsSiteAudit today? The checker evaluates your robots.txt for this and every other bot.Check my site
What we see on this site
No request identifying as AhrefsSiteAudit has been recorded since 19 Oct, so there is nothing to show yet. We never fill this in with estimates.
Counts come from this site's own server; they hold no IP addresses or URLs, and a user agent is only a claim. See the bot traffic data and the methodology.
Questions about AhrefsSiteAudit
What is AhrefsSiteAudit?
Ahrefs' crawler for its Site Audit tool, which checks websites for technical and on-page issues. Per Ahrefs, AhrefsSiteAudit powers the Site Audit tool, which checks websites for technical and on-page issues such as broken links, slow performance, security misconfigurations and SEO pitfalls. AhrefsBot, which builds the link index, is a separate crawler.
Is AhrefsSiteAudit safe and legitimate?
The real AhrefsSiteAudit is an SEO tool crawler run by Ahrefs. A user-agent string is only a claim, though, so anyone can send it. Compare the requesting IP address with the published IP ranges. Ahrefs says the reverse DNS suffix of the IP hostname is always ahrefs.com or ahrefs.net.
Does AhrefsSiteAudit obey robots.txt?
Yes by default, per Ahrefs. Ahrefs says it obeys robots.txt by default, including allow, disallow and crawl-delay, and that only verified site owners can let it disobey robots.txt on their own site. Ahrefs says it crawls at most 30 URLs per minute.
How do I block AhrefsSiteAudit?
Add a group to the robots.txt at the root of your domain: User-agent: AhrefsSiteAudit followed by Disallow: /. A group that names the bot overrides a general User-agent: * group.
Will blocking AhrefsSiteAudit hurt my Google rankings or AI visibility?
Not for Google rankings. SEO tool crawlers do not decide whether you rank; blocking one only removes you from that tool's data. Site Audit crawls by Ahrefs users can no longer read your pages, unless you have verified the site and allowed it to ignore robots.txt. AhrefsBot has its own token.
Related bots
More from Ahrefs
Other SEO tool crawlers
- SemrushBot SemrushSemrush's crawler that builds the webgraph of links behind its Backlink Analytics tool.
- MJ12bot MajesticMajestic's crawler that maps link relationships between websites for its search engine and backlink index.
- serpstatbot SerpstatSerpstat's crawler that collects links for its backlink database.
- SERankingBacklinksBot SE RankingSE Ranking's crawler that collects links for its backlink index.
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