Ahrefs Python

Ahrefs Python SDK Skill

Overview

The Ahrefs API provides programmatic access to Ahrefs SEO data. The official Python SDK (ahrefs-python) provides typed request and response models for all endpoints, auto-generated from the OpenAPI spec.

Key capabilities:

• Site Explorer - Backlinks, organic keywords, domain rating, traffic, referring domains
• Keywords Explorer - Keyword research, volumes, difficulty, related terms
• Rank Tracker - SERP monitoring, competitor tracking
• Site Audit - Technical SEO issues, page content, page explorer
• Brand Radar - AI brand mentions, share of voice, impressions
• SERP Overview - Search result analysis
• Batch Analysis - Bulk domain/URL metrics via POST

Installation

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pip3 install git+https://github.com/ahrefs/ahrefs-python.git

Requires Python 3.11+. Dependencies: httpx, pydantic.

API Method Discovery

The SDK has 52 methods across 7 API sections. The built-in search tool is the fastest way to find the right method — it returns matching method signatures, parameters, and return types directly, so there's no need to scan through a large reference.

Python (preferred when already in a Python context):

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from ahrefs.search import search_api_methods

# Returns formatted text with method signatures, parameters, and return types
print(search_api_methods("domain rating"))

# Filter by API section and limit results
print(search_api_methods("backlinks", section="site-explorer", limit=3))

CLI (preferred when exploring from the terminal):

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# Ensure python3 points to the interpreter where ahrefs-python is installed:
#   which python3
#   python3 -c "import ahrefs"
python3 -m ahrefs.api_search "domain rating"
python3 -m ahrefs.api_search "backlinks" --section site-explorer --limit 3
python3 -m ahrefs.api_search "batch" --json
python3 -m ahrefs.api_search --sections  # list all API sections

IMPORTANT RULES

• ALWAYS use the ahrefs-python SDK. DO NOT make raw httpx/requests calls to the Ahrefs API.
• ALWAYS pass dates as strings in YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g. "2025-01-15").
• ALWAYS use select on list endpoints to request only the columns you need. List endpoints return all columns by default, which wastes API units and increases response size.
• USE context managers (with / async with) for client lifecycle management.
• NEVER hardcode API keys in source code. Use the AHREFS_API_KEY environment variable or your preferred secrets mechanism.
• The client handles retries (429, 5xx, connection errors) automatically. DO NOT implement your own retry logic on top of the SDK.

Quick Start

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import os
from ahrefs import AhrefsClient

with AhrefsClient(api_key=os.environ["AHREFS_API_KEY"]) as client:
    data = client.site_explorer_domain_rating(target="ahrefs.com", date="2025-01-15")
    print(data.domain_rating)  # 91.0
    print(data.ahrefs_rank)    # 3

SDK Patterns

Client Setup

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import os
import ahrefs

with ahrefs.AhrefsClient(
    api_key=os.environ["AHREFS_API_KEY"],  # or any secrets source
    base_url="...",          # override API base URL (default: https://api.ahrefs.com/v3)
    timeout=30.0,            # request timeout in seconds (default: 60)
    max_retries=3,           # retries on transient errors (default: 2)
) as client:
    ...

Async client:

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import os
from ahrefs import AsyncAhrefsClient

async with AsyncAhrefsClient(api_key=os.environ["AHREFS_API_KEY"]) as client:
    data = await client.site_explorer_domain_rating(target="ahrefs.com", date="2025-01-15")

For parallel calls, use asyncio.gather:

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import asyncio

async with AsyncAhrefsClient(api_key=os.environ["AHREFS_API_KEY"]) as client:
    dr_ahrefs, dr_moz = await asyncio.gather(
        client.site_explorer_domain_rating(target="ahrefs.com", date="2025-01-15"),
        client.site_explorer_domain_rating(target="moz.com", date="2025-01-15"),
    )

Calling Methods

Two calling styles -- both are equivalent:

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# Keyword arguments (recommended)
data = client.site_explorer_domain_rating(target="ahrefs.com", date="2025-01-15")

# Request objects (full type safety)
from ahrefs.types import SiteExplorerDomainRatingRequest
request = SiteExplorerDomainRatingRequest(target="ahrefs.com", date="2025-01-15")
data = client.site_explorer_domain_rating(request)

Method names follow {api_section}_{endpoint}, e.g. site_explorer_organic_keywords, keywords_explorer_overview.

Responses

Methods return typed Data objects directly.

Scalar endpoints return a single data object (or None):

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data = client.site_explorer_domain_rating(target="ahrefs.com", date="2025-01-15")
print(data.domain_rating)

List endpoints return a list of data objects. There is no pagination — set limit to the number of results you need. Use select to request only the columns you need:

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items = client.site_explorer_organic_keywords(
    target="ahrefs.com",
    date="2025-01-15",
    select="keyword,volume,best_position",
    order_by="volume:desc",
    limit=10,
)
for item in items:
    print(item.keyword, item.volume, item.best_position)

Error Handling

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import ahrefs

try:
    data = client.site_explorer_domain_rating(target="example.com", date="2025-01-15")
except ahrefs.AuthenticationError:    # 401
    ...
except ahrefs.RateLimitError as e:    # 429 -- e.retry_after has the delay
    ...
except ahrefs.NotFoundError:          # 404
    ...
except ahrefs.APIError as e:          # other 4xx/5xx -- e.status_code, e.response_body
    ...
except ahrefs.APIConnectionError:     # network / timeout
    ...

All exceptions inherit from ahrefs.AhrefsError.

Common Parameters

Most list endpoints share these parameters:

Parameters typed as enums in the API reference (CountryEnum, VolumeModeEnum, etc.) accept plain strings — pass country="us" not CountryEnum("us").

The where parameter takes a JSON string. Use json.dumps() to build it:

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import json
where = json.dumps({"field": "volume", "is": ["gte", 1000]})
items = client.site_explorer_organic_keywords(
    target="ahrefs.com", date="2025-01-15",
    select="keyword,volume", where=where,
)

For full filter syntax (boolean combinators, operators, nested fields), see references/filter-syntax.md.

API Methods

Use search_api_methods("query") or python3 -m ahrefs.api_search "query" to find methods by keyword. Search covers all 52 methods across 7 API sections and returns complete signatures, parameters, and response fields.