Ahrefs vs Google Search Console

Ahrefs

Ahrefs has great prices for the data they provide. As a freelancer, I know there are cheaper options, but they do not provide the backlink data that Ahrefs provides. As an in-house SEO, I believe that Ahrefs is a must for research. If I had one SEO tool, it would be Ahrefs because it has most SEO tools all in its suite.

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Mitch Lee

SEO Manager

ConnectWiseComputer Software, 501-1000 employees

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Google Search Console

Anyone working in SEO should be looking at Google Search Console data, ideally connecting it to Google Analytics in order to enjoy the flow of data from one tool to another. But the tool was originally named Google Webmaster Tools and to be honest there are several tools available that any webmaster/front-end web developer would find useful for monitoring the health of their site.

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Verified User

Manager in Marketing

Computer Software Company, 10,001+ employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Ahrefs

8.4

Google Search Console

7.1

Keyword analysis

9.4

7.6

Backlink management

9.5

7.0

SERP ranking tracking

9.1

7.7

Page grader

8.0

6.1

Competitive analysis

9.2

6.1

Site audit / diagnostics

8.7

8.8

Site recommendations

7.7

8.1

Task management

5.6

5.4

Ahrefs

8.0

Google Search Console

7.5

Local SEO

8.2

8.3

Social SEO

6.5

5.8

Mobile SEO

8.3

8.0

Global SEO

9.2

8.1

Ahrefs

8.6

Google Search Console

8.4

Multi-domain support

9.1

8.3

Integration with web analytics tools

8.1

8.5

Pros

Link data. How many links you have and where they point to
Overall their data seems the most complete on keywords and rankings compared to other tools
Broken link identifier is valuable for broken link building

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Jordan Comstock

Digital Marketing Specialist

busybusyMarketing and Advertising, 51-200 employees

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Clearly flags areas where there are technical errors or "low-hanging fruit" we can address, such as duplicate title tags, security issues, or crawl errors.
Provides an easy way to keep Google up to date on our content/site organization - for example, the ability to upload/update sitemaps.
Offers sortable search analytics that allows us to determine if we're ranking for terms we think we should be, find unexpected search terms, or identify areas of underperformance. This helps us strategize around what content to create/optimize and potentially feeds into our paid search strategy.

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Ben Rubenstein

Marketing Manager, HMX

Harvard Medical SchoolHigher Education, 501-1000 employees

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Cons

Price. A little too pricey for small start ups.
Download row keyword limits with different plans. Other services I have used allow unlimited keyword downloads.
Felt like there were so many features and tools, that I never took advantage of the whole platform. More training may help.

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Jordan Comstock

Digital Marketing Specialist

busybusyMarketing and Advertising, 51-200 employees

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I'd like more instructions about how to respond to certain errors I see - it can be difficult to understand when you see a red error message what it really means and how to fix it.
I'd appreciate warnings being 'ranked' somehow to understand what's really a big deal, and what might be a minor issue.
Search analytics is helpful but not comprehensive - you can only go back so far in the data, and can't see all the search terms that are sending traffic to your site.

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Ben Rubenstein

Marketing Manager, HMX

Harvard Medical SchoolHigher Education, 501-1000 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Ahrefs8.0

Based on 4 answers

We use it daily, no need to change a good thing

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Clinton Dugan

Content Marketing Manager

Response Mine InteractiveMarketing and Advertising, 51-200 employees

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No score

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Usability

Ahrefs7.0

Based on 1 answer

Ahrefs is very easy to use - you can jump right in and understand most of the assets. Overall, the dashboard snapshots give a very good picture of inbound link activity. For deeper analysis of historical trends, the system can become cumbersome, making it hard to do full work without exporting and reformatting the data.

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Verified User

Strategist in Marketing

Marketing and Advertising Company, 51-200 employees

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Alternatives Considered

Ahrefs offers what each of these products have and more along with an easy to understand layout. If you had to choose one of the above due to pricing I would say go with SEMRush, however, if you don't have an issue with pricing then your best option will be Ahrefs

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JC Matthews

Co-Founder

Simply InsuranceInsurance, 1-10 employees

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To be honest, I have not spent much time in Bing Webmaster Tools as Bing is a much less significant search engine compared to Google. It's something we only really use for major changes to a website, and it is fine for those types of task. Google Search Console is my 'go-to' tool of this type as it does pretty much everything I expect from such a tool.

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Verified User

Manager in Marketing

Computer Software Company, 10,001+ employees

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Return on Investment

Ahrefs has literally been the most powerful tool in my pocket for converting potential clients. They can't deny what I show them using AHREFS. It's a winner!

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Caleb Kingston

CEO

BRAINSPINMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees

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Since the tool is free to use, there is only positive impact to report - no negative!
Our business objectives include organic traffic growth, and since we rely on SEO tools like GSC to achieve that growth, it's a great tool to have.
Broken link reporting is also useful as a broken link might sometimes be to a page that is intended to generate revenue.

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Verified User

Manager in Marketing

Computer Software Company, 10,001+ employees

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