Ahrefs

This is best used for deep backlink analysis, competitive intelligence, and entity-based brand monitoring across AI platforms. Ahrefs excels at granular data—35 trillion links, 500 million referring domains—and provides more accurate keyword difficulty scores based on backlink analysis than competitors.

Key tactical use cases: Comprehensive backlink analysis with broken link identification for reclamation campaigns, Brand Radar for tracking AI mentions across ChatGPT/Perplexity/Google AI Overviews (150M+ prompts indexed), competitor keyword gap analysis, and site audit with automated IndexNow submission.

AEO/AI Search capability: Brand Radar add-on at $199/month tracks brand visibility across 6 AI indexes including entity grouping, topics report, and share of voice metrics. Focuses on brand/entity-level trends.

Pricing: Starter at $29/month (100 credits). Lite at $129/month. Standard at $249/month. Advanced at $449/month. Enterprise at $1,499/month. Credit-based system limits heavy usage—watch carefully.

Ahrefs vs SEMrush: Choose Ahrefs for pure SEO focus, superior backlink data, cleaner UI. Choose SEMrush for full-stack marketing including PPC and social.