Ahrefs tracks the backlinks, referring domains, and search traffic behind any website. With the Power My Analytics Ahrefs connector, you can bring Domain Rating, backlink and referring domain details, organic keyword counts, and organic and paid search traffic estimates into Data Studio, for your own sites and your competitors' sites. This guide covers what you need before you connect, how to add Ahrefs as a data source, how to build your first report, the fields available, and the limitations worth knowing up front.

Ahrefs is a Beta connector. It is available and supported now; while it is in Beta, some fields and behavior may still change as we continue to improve it.

Prerequisites

• A paid Ahrefs subscription that includes API access (Ahrefs API v3). Ahrefs plans without API access cannot connect.
• An Ahrefs API key. Only Ahrefs workspace owners and admins can create API keys, under Account settings > API keys (app.ahrefs.com/account/api-keys). See How to Connect to Ahrefs for the full walkthrough.

Adding Ahrefs as a Data Source

1. In Ahrefs, create an API key under Account settings > API keys and copy it. The full steps are in How to Connect to Ahrefs.
2. In your Power My Analytics Hub, select Sources from the menu.
3. Click + Add new source and choose Ahrefs from the gallery.
4. In the Connect Ahrefs window, paste your API key into the API Token field and enter an Account Name to help you identify the account (for example, "Agency Ahrefs").
5. Click Connect. If your Ahrefs plan does not include API access, the connection fails with an "Ahrefs API access denied" error.

Ahrefs is a live connector. Unlike most Power My Analytics connectors, Ahrefs data is not synced or stored in your Hub. Your reports request data directly from Ahrefs each time they load, so there is no backfill to wait for and no daily data sync to schedule. You can start building reports as soon as the source is connected.

Creating a Data Studio Report

1. In your Hub, go to Reports > Data Studio and click the orange + Create report button.
2. In the Templates window, select Single sources, find Ahrefs, and click Open in Data Studio.
3. In Data Studio, click Authorize if you are prompted to authorize the connector, then select your Power My Analytics Hub and the Ahrefs account you connected.
4. Configure your Ahrefs data source:
   • Target Domain: Enter the domain you want to analyze, such as example.com, without https://. You can enter any domain, including a competitor's; it does not need to be verified in your Ahrefs account.
   • Analysis Mode: Choose how much of the target Ahrefs analyzes: Domain, Subdomains, Exact URL, or URL prefix (see the table below).
   • Table: Choose Metrics, Metrics History, Domain Rating History, Backlinks, or Refdomains (see Key Reports and Fields for what each table includes).
5. Click Connect (top right), then click Create report.

Choosing an Analysis Mode

Comparing several domains? Each Data Studio data source analyzes one Target Domain. To compare your site with competitors, create a separate Ahrefs data source for each domain and add them to the same report.

Key Reports and Fields

• Metrics: A snapshot of the target's search profile: Domain Rating, Backlinks (Live and All Time), Referring Domains (Live and All Time), Organic Keywords, Organic Keywords (Top 3), Organic Traffic, Organic Traffic Value, Paid Keywords, Paid Pages, Paid Traffic, and Paid Traffic Cost.
• Metrics History: Organic Traffic, Organic Traffic Value, Paid Traffic, and Paid Traffic Cost over time, for trend lines by Date.
• Domain Rating History: The target's Domain Rating over time, by Date.
• Backlinks: The individual links pointing to the target, with Source URL, Target URL, Anchor Text, Page Title, Referring Domain, First Seen, and Last Visited; link attributes (Is Dofollow, Is Nofollow, Is Sponsored, Is UGC); Is New and Is Lost flags; and the linking page's Source Domain Rating, Source URL Rating, and Traffic.
• Refdomains (referring domains): The websites linking to the target, with Domain, Domain Rating, Links to Target, Dofollow Links, New Links, Lost Links, Positions, Traffic, First Seen, and Last Seen.

Reading the Metrics table. Metrics returns a single snapshot as of the last day of your report's date range. For example, a January 1 to January 31 date range shows values as of January 31. To see how numbers change over time, use the Metrics History or Domain Rating History table.

Limitations and Important Considerations

Every report load uses your Ahrefs API units. Because Ahrefs is a live connector, each query your report sends to Ahrefs consumes API units from your Ahrefs plan (at least 50 units per request). Dashboards with many charts, and reports that many people open, use more units, so keep an eye on your unit balance in Ahrefs.

• Live data only: Your reports request data from Ahrefs each time they query it. Nothing is synced or cached in Power My Analytics, so backfilling and daily data sync do not apply to Ahrefs.
• Rate limit: Ahrefs limits its API to 60 requests per minute. If many charts load at once, some may need a refresh.
• Row limit: The Backlinks and Refdomains tables return up to 1,000 rows per query.
• Metrics snapshot: The Metrics table returns a single snapshot as of the end date of your selected date range.
• Metrics History fields: Metrics History includes Organic Traffic, Organic Traffic Value, Paid Traffic, and Paid Traffic Cost only.
• Domain Rating: Always calculated for the domain, and not affected by the Analysis Mode setting.
• One target per data source: Each Data Studio data source analyzes one Target Domain.
• API key expiry: Ahrefs API keys expire after one year, or if the user who created the key is removed from your Ahrefs workspace. When that happens, create a new key in Ahrefs and reconnect your Ahrefs data source (see Disconnect and Reconnect a Source from Your Hub).

Unavailable Data

• Keyword-level organic rankings (individual keywords, positions, and search volume). The Organic Keywords fields in the Metrics table are counts of ranking keywords.
• Keywords Explorer data (Keyword Difficulty and search volume)
• Top Pages
• Rank Tracker
• Site Audit
• Ahrefs Rank

Troubleshooting

• "Ahrefs API access denied" when connecting: Your Ahrefs plan does not include API access. Upgrade to an Ahrefs plan that includes API access, then connect again.
• "Invalid Ahrefs API token": The API key is incorrect, revoked, or expired. Copy the full key again, or create a new key in Ahrefs (Account settings > API keys) and reconnect your Ahrefs data source with it.
• No data in your report: No Target Domain was entered in the data source configuration. Edit the data source in Data Studio and enter a Target Domain.
• Paid metrics show no data: The target domain has no paid search activity, so there is no paid data to report. This is expected.
• "Ahrefs API rate limit exceeded" or your API units have run out: Wait a minute and refresh the report; reducing the number of Ahrefs charts on a single report page also helps. If you have reached your Ahrefs plan's API unit limit, check your unit balance in Ahrefs.