Ahrefs is an SEO tool providers. Ahrefs Site Explorer provides a suite of tools including a component for backlink & on-page SEO analysis, online brand mentions tracking, and domain comparison tool for competitor analysis, etc. They refer to themselves as “the largest index of live backlinks.”
$99
per month
Google Ads
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.
$500
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Pricing
Ahrefs
Google Ads
Editions & Modules
Lite
$99.00
per month
Standard
$179.00
per month
Advanced
$399.00
per month
Agency
$999.00
per month
Offer A
$500
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Offer B
$1500
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Offer C
$3000
in Ads credit in the first 60 days
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Ahrefs
Google Ads
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
—
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Ahrefs
Google Ads
TrustRadius Insights
Ahrefs
Google Ads
Highlights
Research Team Insight
Published
Ahrefs predominantly attracts marketing professionals and SEO specialists who utilize the tool to enhance their website’s organic reach through detailed SEO audits, backlink analysis, and competitive benchmarking. Users have appreciated Ahrefs’ capability to uncover competitor backlinks, optimize content, and gain comprehensive insights into website health, which aids in planning and executing result-driven marketing strategies. It particularly stands out for its depth in offering insights on backlinks and domain ratings, which are crucial for improving a website’s ranking and visibility.
Google Ads, on the other hand, is equally favored by marketing teams but caters to a broader marketing approach where immediate visibility and conversion are the focus, typically through pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Users value Google Ads for its effectiveness in driving targeted advertising campaigns that result in quick returns in terms of lead generation and sales conversions. The platform enables precise customer targeting based on the desired marketing funnel stages from brand awareness through the conversion which is enhanced by its advanced targeting and bidding options.
While both platforms serve critical roles in digital marketing, their primary uses and the outcomes they drive show distinct orientations: Ahrefs excels in in-depth SEO management and organic growth strategies, while Google Ads is pivotal for immediate market presence and direct response campaigns.
Features
Ahrefs
Google Ads
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
7.8
Ratings
1% above category average
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Keyword analysis
9.50 Ratings
00 Ratings
Backlink management
8.50 Ratings
00 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking
9.40 Ratings
00 Ratings
Page grader
5.20 Ratings
00 Ratings
Competitive analysis
9.40 Ratings
00 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics
7.80 Ratings
00 Ratings
Site recommendations
5.50 Ratings
00 Ratings
Task management
7.00 Ratings
00 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
7.5
Ratings
1% below category average
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Local SEO
8.30 Ratings
00 Ratings
Social SEO
6.10 Ratings
00 Ratings
Mobile SEO
6.10 Ratings
00 Ratings
Global SEO
9.60 Ratings
00 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
8.9
Ratings
5% above category average
Google Ads
-
Ratings
Multi-domain support
9.30 Ratings
00 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools
8.40 Ratings
00 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
-
Ratings
Google Ads
3.9
Ratings
3% below category average
Ad campaign creation
00 Ratings
2.50 Ratings
Ad deployment
00 Ratings
2.50 Ratings
Display advertising
00 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation
00 Ratings
8.80 Ratings
Sequence targeting
00 Ratings
1.00 Ratings
Contextual advertising
00 Ratings
2.30 Ratings
Social advertising
00 Ratings
1.00 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
-
Ratings
Google Ads
6.4
Ratings
20% above category average
Ad dashboards
00 Ratings
2.50 Ratings
Ad performance reports
00 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking
00 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting
00 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization
00 Ratings
2.50 Ratings
Ad Auctions
Comparison of Ad Auctions features of Product A and Product B
It gives the best report to us which helps us to find the opportunity to build backlinks. Another main feature that makes Ahrefs a safe and sound approach to SEO is that it provides information about duplicate content, URLs, redirects along with other errors that can be dangerous to the website.
Clients who are selling products such as dresses, clothes, jewelry, beauty products, etc., generally work well. Also, in some cases, it doesn't fetch a good ROAS for very small business owners. If a client is already doing well in SEO, the probability for it to perform well over Google Ads is always enhanced, and if it doesn't have a good organic reach, Google Ads also suffers.
Keyword Research - Google Ads has a handy built in tool that helps determine important keywords to target both for Ads & SEO
Intuitive Analytics Dashboad - Google Ads makes it fairly simple to see and analyze important metrics on how your ads are running week after week
Intuitive Setup - Google Ads makes it easy to figure out how to run ads with little to no training (although training is highly recommended to run effective ads), as their interface is clean and easy to figure out (unlike competing products).
Ahrefs Site Explorer provides an overview of domain health and the issues that can be fixed, and sometimes the suggested "critical issues" can be an astronomical number and not accurate.
For certain features on Ahrefs Site Explorer, there can a more elaborate description/guide on how to utilize the feature.
Their index is too vast to ignore when looking at a complete backlink profile. We find links in Ahrefs that do not appear in any other link detection tool. For this reason, it's a must for our agency to use for the foreseeable future. Plus, it's very affordable considering the data you get
As of today Google AdWords leads approximately 90% of paid searches globally. There is practically is no other network that can offer such a relevant and engaging audience at the price. The PPC model is also unique in that no media dollars are wasted, since PPC models ensure brand interaction versus traditional media which has heavy ad avoidance and clutter but still charges a hefty amount for ads.
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.
This is more of a subjective rating, because I think it can be increased with how much our ad spend is. The more of an ad spend, the more visibility we can get, and therefore all features can climb. With an overall larger presence the usability is that where we can get messages out quick, and that's the main thing we try to do with our campaigns.
Ahrefs has always been responsive when there's been a technical issue with the site. There are usually very little problems, but if there are, they announce it on their social media accounts which keeps its customers informed. Email support is prompt and the customer service people are very helpful, knowledgable and friendly.
We have not yet had an account rep who hasn't tried to bully me or other employees to raise our budgets. At the same time, several years ago, one attempted to help refine our ads and ended up changing the ads to be something we were not affiliated with
It's competitive with Semrush, Moz and other tools of that same ilk. It's great for serious SEO work - not at the Enterprise level - but at the small business, small agency level. I would not consider it competitive with BrightEdge, Conductor, SEOClarity, etc. - but it IS competitive and on par with the tools that are one level below those big enterprise tools.
Google Ads remains at the top advertising channel within our business for both lead volume and revenue generation, whilst maintaining a reasonable cost per lead (CPL). Both Meta Ads and Microsoft Ads have a much lower CPL, those channels don't contribute as much revenue and lead generation.
Ahrefs has helped save hours of work because it functions as an all-in-one SEO tool. Before Ahrefs, I would have to switch toolsets multiple times, compile the reports, then organize data. Ahrefs as an all in one helped managed the chaos that having too many tools create.
Backlink data is crucial to predicting content success. Ahrefs has provided us with better backlink data, allowing our predictions to be more accurate.
Ahrefs has helped us cut away from having another rank tracker subscription. Their rank tracking tool is good enough to not warrant a dedicated rank tracker, helping us save on costs.
Once we got the hang of it and had everything setup, it was a great monthly expense that we could count on ROI from. Either by obtaining new customers or literally staying above our competition in search rankings.
We also started consulting on ads for customers and helping them set things up, which created a new revenue stream for us.