Safe Official docs SEO Tools

AhrefsBot

Q: What is the official user-agent string for AhrefsBot?

The official user-agent string for AhrefsBot is: AhrefsBot . This is the exact string you must use in robots.txt, Nginx, Apache, or Cloudflare firewall rules to target this bot. User-agent matching in robots.txt is case-insensitive, but the string must be spelled correctly. You can verify that a request genuinely comes from AhrefsBot by performing a reverse-DNS lookup on the source IP - legitimate bots resolve back to their operator's domain.

Q: Is AhrefsBot safe?

Yes, AhrefsBot is a safe and legitimate crawler. It is operated by Ahrefs, which publicly documents its crawler at an official URL and follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309). The user-agent string AhrefsBot is verifiable via reverse-DNS lookup on the crawling IP addresses. You can safely allow it unless you have a specific reason to block (e.g., AI training opt-out or SEO tool visibility).

Q: Will blocking AhrefsBot hurt my SEO?

❓ Impact Unknown - The SEO consequences of blocking AhrefsBot are not fully documented. Before blocking, check your analytics to confirm whether this bot generates referral traffic, review your server logs for crawl frequency, and test in a staging environment if possible.

Q: How do I block AhrefsBot in robots.txt?

Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file: User-agent: AhrefsBot Disallow: / This instructs AhrefsBot not to crawl any path on your site. The Disallow: / directive covers the entire domain including subfolders. To only block specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/ ). Note: robots.txt is publicly readable - any bot or human can inspect it at yourdomain.com/robots.txt .

Q: How do I verify if AhrefsBot is crawling my site?

Search your web server access logs for the string AhrefsBot (case-insensitive grep: grep -i "AhrefsBot" /var/log/nginx/access.log ). You can also check Google Search Console → Coverage → Crawl Stats for Googlebot variants. For AhrefsBot specifically, filter by user-agent in your log analysis tool (GoAccess, AWStats, etc.).

Operated by Ahrefs

Scout's quick take

AhrefsBot gathers data for an SEO platform. Blocking it does not affect your rankings; it only hides your site from that tool's reports.

# Block only if you really mean to
User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /

Run the free crawlability checker Build a full robots.txt

Quick Facts

User-Agent:: AhrefsBot
Category:: SEO Tools
Operator:: Ahrefs
Safety:: Safe
Blocking Impact:: Varies - Evaluate before blocking
SEO Impact Score:: 0/10
Official docs:: ahrefs.com

Confirmed by the operator

Ahrefs names AhrefsBot on its own documentation page, linked above. The token, purpose and robots.txt behaviour on this profile come from that page, re-checked on October 19, 2026.

What is AhrefsBot?

AhrefsBot is the crawler for Ahrefs, a popular SEO toolset. It is one of the most active bots on the web, used to build their backlink database.

AhrefsBot is the crawler for Ahrefs, a popular SEO toolset. It is one of the most active bots on the web, used to build their backlink database.
AhrefsBot is a commercial SEO analytics crawler operated by Ahrefs. It builds backlink graphs, crawls for technical SEO issues, and tracks keyword rankings. The user-agent AhrefsBot is well-known and respected in the SEO industry. Blocking it removes your domain from Ahrefs's index, preventing competitors from analysing your backlink profile via their platform. However, other Ahrefs users also lose visibility into links pointing TO your site - weigh this trade-off carefully.

What happens if you block AhrefsBot?

❓ Impact Unknown - The SEO consequences of blocking AhrefsBot are not fully documented. Before blocking, check your analytics to confirm whether this bot generates referral traffic, review your server logs for crawl frequency, and test in a staging environment if possible.

Generally safe to allow; provides legitimate crawling value.

What is the Ahrefs bot name?

The Ahrefs bot name is AhrefsBot, and that is the exact token to use in robots.txt; Ahrefs also runs AhrefsSiteAudit for its site audit tool. Both are documented on the Ahrefs robot page.

User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /

How to block AhrefsBot with robots.txt

<code>User-agent: AhrefsBot</code> - Matching is case-insensitive. Robots.txt is fetched from the root of each subdomain separately.

Block completely (robots.txt)

User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /

Allow all (robots.txt)

User-agent: AhrefsBot
Allow: /

Block private only (robots.txt)

User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /admin/
Allow: /

Nginx server block

# Nginx: Hard-block AhrefsBot
if ($http_user_agent ~* "AhrefsBot") {
    return 403 "Bot blocked";
}

Apache .htaccess

# Apache: Hard-block AhrefsBot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "AhrefsBot" bad_bot
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
Deny from env=bad_bot

Meta robots tag

X-Robots-Tag header

X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow

Is AhrefsBot safe to allow?

Yes, AhrefsBot is a safe and legitimate crawler. It is operated by Ahrefs, which publicly documents its crawler at an official URL and follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309). The user-agent string AhrefsBot is verifiable via reverse-DNS lookup on the crawling IP addresses. You can safely allow it unless you have a specific reason to block (e.g., AI training opt-out or SEO tool visibility).

Verify by reverse-DNS lookup: legitimate AhrefsBot requests resolve to ahrefs's domain.

What does AhrefsBot do?

Understanding AhrefsBot's purpose helps you decide whether to allow or block it.

Analyzes website structure and SEO health
Tracks backlinks and referring domains
Monitors keyword rankings and competitor analysis
Crawls sites for technical SEO audits
Generates reports for SEO professionals

AhrefsBot in context

AhrefsBot is a utility crawler operated by Ahrefs. In plain terms, it checks pages for an SEO, uptime or analytics service. Our database files it under SEO tools and ranks it Tier 4, specialist crawlers that matter to particular sites or markets. 19 of the 19 SEO tools in our database share this tier.

Its safety rating is safe and its blocking impact is not documented. So the decision about AhrefsBot rests on what you want from Ahrefs, not on its behaviour. How we rate safety and impact.

How site owners treat AhrefsBot

In our own study of robots.txt files across the Tranco top 10,000 sites (fetched October 20, 2026, 5,583 valid files), 347 files (6.2%) name AhrefsBot in a User-agent line, and 456 (8.2%) block it from the homepage. 229 of those blocks come from a group written for this crawler by name, and 227 come from a broad User-agent: * rule that catches it by accident. Larger sites are stricter: 11.6% of the top 1,000 block it, against 7.9% of the middle band and 7.8% of the tail.

Does it follow robots.txt?

AhrefsBot's operator does not clearly document how it treats robots.txt. Write the AhrefsBot rule anyway, then confirm in your logs that its requests stop.

Ahrefs crawlers and close alternatives

AhrefsBot is one of 2 Ahrefs crawlers in our database. A User-agent: AhrefsBot group controls AhrefsBot only; the other Ahrefs tokens below need their own lines.

AhrefsBot: this crawler (Tier 4)
AhrefsSiteAudit: Ahrefs Site Audit, checks pages for an SEO, uptime or analytics service (Tier 4)

To give AhrefsBot the same answer as its siblings, stack User-agent: AhrefsBot with their lines above one set of rules; to treat AhrefsBot differently, give it its own group.

Other SEO tools that do the same job (checks pages for an SEO, uptime or analytics service) include AwarioBot from Awario, AwarioRssBot from Awario, AwarioSmartBot from Awario, Chrome-Lighthouse from Google, DataForSeoBot from DataForSEO, DotBot from Moz. Deciding about AhrefsBot is usually a decision about the whole group, so check how your file treats these too.

We first recorded AhrefsBot on March 17, 2026. Ahrefs documents it on ahrefs.com, and we recheck that page before each release.

Which rule AhrefsBot actually follows

AhrefsBot reads exactly one group in robots.txt, the most specific one that names AhrefsBot, and never combines rules across groups. This short file shows the trap:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /private/

User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /drafts/

Find the group. AhrefsBot looks for a group naming AhrefsBot. One exists, so it ignores User-agent: * completely.
Apply only that group. It is refused /drafts/ and nothing else.
The surprise. /private/ is open to AhrefsBot, because that rule lives in the * group it no longer reads. To keep it out of both, repeat Disallow: /private/ inside its own group.

Test yourself: does a rule under User-agent: * apply to AhrefsBot if the file also has a User-agent: AhrefsBot group?

No. Once a group names it, AhrefsBot reads only that group. Put every rule you want it to follow inside its own group.

Test yourself: will blocking AhrefsBot remove your pages from AI answers?

Often, yes. AhrefsBot is a utility crawler, so pages it cannot fetch can drop out of the answers or results it supports.

Test yourself: is User-agent: ahrefsbot the same as User-agent: AhrefsBot?

Yes. RFC 9309 makes user-agent matching case-insensitive. Paths are a different story: Disallow: /Blog/ does not block /blog/.

Should you allow AhrefsBot? Decide by situation

Recommended setting for AhrefsBot by type of site
If you are...	Recommended setting
You publish content and want AI answers to cite it	Low stakes either way. It does not decide whether AI answers cite you.
You license content and want to stop AI training	Blocking it does not stop training, because AhrefsBot is a utility crawler. Block the operator's training crawler instead.
You run an online shop	Allow it unless your logs show it is costly.
Your server is under load from bots	Rate-limit before blocking. It is rated safe in our database.

Check AhrefsBot on your own site

Open /robots.txt on your domain and search for AhrefsBot. If it is not named, it follows User-agent: *.
List the Disallow lines in the group AhrefsBot follows and test your key URLs against them; the longest match wins, and Allow wins a tie.
Look beyond the file. A firewall or bot manager can refuse AhrefsBot even when robots.txt allows it, and that never shows in the file.
Run our AI bot checker to see how AhrefsBot and every other crawler we track are treated in one pass, including firewall refusals.

Common mistakes with AhrefsBot

The errors we see most often with AhrefsBot in the files and firewalls we test:

Treating AhrefsBot as an AI or search crawler. Blocking it has little effect on visibility; decide based on load and what it does with your data.
Relying on robots.txt alone when AhrefsBot is rated caution or aggressive. Back the rule with a server-side block.
Blocking AhrefsBot by IP alone. Ranges change; match the token and verify with logs.

All three hide inside a file that looks correct, so check AhrefsBot from outside after every change.

Spotting AhrefsBot in your logs

robots.txt says what AhrefsBot may do; your access logs show what it actually did.

Count requests

On a server with standard Nginx or Apache logs, this counts matching requests per day (adjust the log path for your host):

grep -iE "AhrefsBot" /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  | awk '{print $4}' | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq -c

And this shows which paths it requested most, which is the quickest way to see whether your Disallow lines are being respected:

grep -iE "AhrefsBot" /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  | awk '{print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20

Check the requests are genuine

Anyone can send the AhrefsBot user-agent, so confirm the source before acting on a match:

AhrefsBot: we hold no published IP list, so use reverse DNS where the operator documents a hostname and treat an unverifiable AhrefsBot request with caution.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official user-agent string for AhrefsBot?

The official user-agent string for AhrefsBot is: AhrefsBot. This is the exact string you must use in robots.txt, Nginx, Apache, or Cloudflare firewall rules to target this bot. User-agent matching in robots.txt is case-insensitive, but the string must be spelled correctly. You can verify that a request genuinely comes from AhrefsBot by performing a reverse-DNS lookup on the source IP - legitimate bots resolve back to their operator's domain.

Is AhrefsBot safe?

Will blocking AhrefsBot hurt my SEO?

How do I block AhrefsBot in robots.txt?

Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file:

User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /

This instructs AhrefsBot not to crawl any path on your site. The Disallow: / directive covers the entire domain including subfolders. To only block specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/). Note: robots.txt is publicly readable - any bot or human can inspect it at yourdomain.com/robots.txt.

Does AhrefsBot respect robots.txt?

Yes - AhrefsBot is a well-behaved bot operated by Ahrefs. It fetches and parses /robots.txt before crawling any page, following RFC 9309.

How do I verify if AhrefsBot is crawling my site?

Search your web server access logs for the string AhrefsBot (case-insensitive grep: grep -i "AhrefsBot" /var/log/nginx/access.log). You can also check Google Search Console → Coverage → Crawl Stats for Googlebot variants. For AhrefsBot specifically, filter by user-agent in your log analysis tool (GoAccess, AWStats, etc.).

What is the crawl frequency of AhrefsBot?

AhrefsBot crawls at a moderate rate. If you notice excessive traffic in your logs, you can add a Crawl-delay directive:

User-agent: AhrefsBot
Crawl-delay: 10

(10 second delay between requests).

Can I block AhrefsBot from specific pages only?

Yes. Instead of a global Disallow: / you can restrict AhrefsBot to specific paths:

User-agent: AhrefsBot
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /staging/
Allow: /

This allows AhrefsBot everywhere except the listed paths. Path matching in robots.txt uses prefix matching - Disallow: /private/ blocks /private/page.html but NOT /public/private/.

Why would I want to block AhrefsBot?

There are two main reasons to block AhrefsBot:
1. Competitive intelligence: Ahrefs users (your competitors) can analyse your backlink profile, keyword rankings, and site structure. Blocking prevents this.
2. Crawl budget: If your site is large, SEO tool crawlers consume crawl bandwidth without contributing to search rankings. Blocking frees up server resources for search engine bots.
The trade-off: you also become invisible in Ahrefs's backlink database, meaning links pointing TO your site from other domains won't appear in competitor reports either.