How ahrefs Captures $16.37M in Traffic Value Monthly - A Marketing Strategy Breakdown

By Team Inblog ⋅ March 19, 2025

Ahrefs, one of the leading all-in-one SEO platforms powered by big data, delivers real-time backlink tracking and actionable insights that empower digital marketers around the globe. ahrefs has successfully generated $16.37M in traffic cost value through its SEO strategies as of February, 2025. This growth is driven by a combination of keyword targeting, content optimization, and on-page SEO improvements.

In this article, we’ll dive into the key marketing strategies that contributed to their success.

Keyword Strategies

A well-planned keyword strategy helps connect your content with the right audience by aligning it with their searches.

Boost SERP Rankings by Understanding Search Intent

The key to this strategy’s success is ahrefs's deep understanding of search intent. Search intent isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the reason people type queries into search engines and a major driver of search traffic.

There are four main types of search intent:

• Informational: When someone is looking to learn more (e.g., “What is ahrefs?”)
• Navigational: When someone is trying to find a specific page or site (e.g., “Personal CRM Template”).
• Commercial: When someone is comparing options (e.g., “ahrefs vs. Competitors”).
• Transactional: When someone is ready to buy, use, or download something (e.g., “ahrefs Pricing”).

As search intent moves from Informational to Navigational, Commercial, and Transactional, users become more specific and action-driven. Initially, users seek general information, but as they move down the funnel, they get closer to making a decision or purchase.

Considering various keyword variations that users might search for in areas like UX or template solutions, ahrefs's top 1,000 organic keywords have been categorized into these intent types.

Notably, navigational keywords are displayed using examples such as "ahrefs", "humanizer", "ai rewriter", "website traffic checker", "paraphrase", "paraphrase tool", "rewrite", "paraphrasing tool", "ai rephraser", "google keyword planner". These keywords account for the largest share, contributing $5.03M in traffic cost.

Optimizing Content for Search Intent

To rank well on Google, it's important to create content that aligns with what users are actually searching for. Google aims to provide answers by using advanced algorithms to understand the intent behind each query. Understanding search intent helps ensure your content meets users’ needs.

Below are the top five pages on ahrefs that generate the most organic traffic through content optimized for keyword intent:

ahrefs’ SEO success is rooted in a traditional content marketing strategy, where long-form guides rank for a wide range of keywords. "Humanize ai" leads the pack by addressing the demand for AI tools that transform machine-generated copy into naturally flowing human language – a need that resonates with modern content creators. Similarly, "caption generator" and "paragraph writer" target users looking for specialized assistance in crafting social media captions and well-structured written content. "Keyword difficulty checker" attracts SEO professionals needing precise insights into competitive keyword landscapes, while "top websites in the world" appeals to those seeking authoritative rankings and data-driven benchmarks. This structured approach to content not only boosts rankings but also ensures that searchers find exactly what they're looking for.

Choosing the Right Keywords to Attract Quality Traffic

The more organic keywords you rank for—that is, words and phrases that draw people to your site from a search engine results page (SERP)—the better. ahrefs ranks for 165564 organic keywords. One of the biggest contributors to ahrefs’ organic success is their ability to rank for high-value keywords with strong search intent.

On-Page SEO: Keeping a Consistent URL Structure

On-page SEO (also known as on-site SEO) refers to the careful optimization of elements within individual webpages. This includes title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and crucially, URLs. A well-structured URL not only reflects the hierarchy of a website but also supports targeted keyword placement, making it easier for search engines to index and rank pages effectively.

Ahrefs follows a clear and organized URL format that leverages both simple and nested structures to delineate the purpose of each page. The website’s structure is evident in sections such as writing-tools, blog, and websites—each acting as a designated subfolder. This consistent approach helps clarify the context and relevance of higher-traffic pages, ensuring that users and search engines can quickly understand the content focus of each URL.

This uniform URL architecture improves both user experience and technical SEO. It enables streamlined navigation while enhancing crawl efficiency by clearly signaling the relationship between broader sections and specific topics or tools.

Examples of URL Structure:

ahrefs/[subfolder]

• https://ahrefs.com/writing-tools
• https://ahrefs.com/blog
• https://ahrefs.com/websites

ahrefs/[subfolder]/[keyword]

• https://ahrefs.com/writing-tools/ai-humanizer
• https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-keyword-planner
• https://ahrefs.com/websites/fmovies.co

Conclusion

This report details how ahrefs captures a monthly traffic cost value of $16.37M through a multifaceted SEO strategy. The strategy includes a deep understanding of search intent, effective keyword targeting, and content optimization. ahrefs leverages search intent to dominate SERPs with a focus on informational, navigational, commercial investigational, and transactional queries—with navigational keywords contributing the largest share. Top-performing pages and long-tail keyword clusters support high-quality organic traffic. Additionally, a uniform URL structure enhances on-page SEO by improving site navigation and ensuring effective keyword placement.