Most site owners assume a proper SEO audit requires an expensive subscription. Ahrefs changed that with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, a free product that gives verified site owners access to Site Audit and a limited view of Site Explorer for their own websites. If you have never run a structured audit before, this is one of the best places to start, because the tool does the crawling, organising, and prioritising for you.
In this guide I will walk you through how to verify your site, run your first crawl, understand the Health Score, and work through the errors that actually matter. I will also be honest about what the free version cannot do, so you know when a paid plan genuinely becomes necessary.
What Ahrefs Webmaster Tools Gives You for Free
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, often shortened to AWT, is not a trial. It does not expire after seven days, and you do not need a credit card. Once you verify ownership, you can crawl your site with Site Audit and see backlink and organic keyword data for that verified property in Site Explorer.
Site Audit Features Included
The free Site Audit checks more than one hundred predefined issues across performance, HTML tags, content quality, and links. You get a Health Score out of 100, a list of errors, warnings, and notices, and charts showing how your score changes if you schedule regular crawls. For most small and medium sites, this is enough for a complete technical and on-page audit.
Limits Compared to Paid Ahrefs
You can only audit sites you own and verify. You cannot research competitors in Site Explorer, you cannot use Keywords Explorer freely, and monthly crawl credits are capped. Paid Ahrefs adds competitor analysis, deeper historical data, and much higher limits. For auditing your own site, though, the free tier is surprisingly complete.
Step 1: Create Your Account and Add a Project
Go to the official Ahrefs Webmaster Tools signup page and create a free account. Once inside, add your first project. Enter your domain exactly as it resolves, including whether your site uses www or the non-www version, and HTTPS. If you are unsure, open your homepage and copy the domain from the address bar. Pick the version your site actually serves, and make sure the other versions redirect to it.
Step 2: Verify Ownership of Your Website
Ahrefs needs proof the site belongs to you before it unlocks data. You only need one verification method to succeed.
Method One: DNS Record Verification
- Choose the DNS option in the setup wizard and copy the TXT record value.
- Log in to your domain registrar or DNS host and add a new TXT record for your root domain.
- Paste the value, save, and return to Ahrefs to click verify.
- Allow time for propagation, from a few minutes to a few hours.
DNS is my preferred method because it survives theme changes, plugin removals, and redesigns. Nothing is added to your site itself.
Method Two: HTML File or Meta Tag
If you cannot access DNS, upload the HTML file Ahrefs provides to your site’s root folder, or paste a meta tag into the head section of your homepage. WordPress users often add the tag through their SEO plugin. The downside is that a redesign or plugin cleanup can remove it and break verification.
Method Three: Google Analytics or Search Console Import
If your site is already verified in Google Search Console or connected to Google Analytics with the same Google account, Ahrefs can import that verification. This is often the fastest route. Google’s own guidance on search fundamentals from Google Search Central is worth reading alongside this process.
Step 3: Configure and Run Your First Site Audit
Once verified, accept the defaults for your first crawl. The crawler visits your pages much like a search engine bot, following internal links and recording the status, speed, and structure of each URL.
Settings Worth Checking
- Crawl scope: Confirm the audit covers your whole domain, not just the homepage.
- Crawl speed: Leave the default unless your hosting is very limited, in which case slow it down.
- JavaScript rendering: Enable it if your site relies heavily on JavaScript for menus or content.
- Excluded URLs: Exclude staging areas or admin folders that are publicly reachable.
A small site may finish in minutes. Larger sites take longer. Let the crawl complete fully before fixing anything, because a partial crawl gives a distorted Health Score.
Step 4: Read the Health Score Properly
When the crawl finishes, you will see a Health Score between 0 and 100. Treat it as a summary indicator, not a grade from Google. Scores in the 90s are healthy, the 70s and 80s usually mean fixable issues, and anything lower suggests structural problems.
Errors, Warnings, and Notices
Errors are most serious: broken pages, server errors, and redirect problems. Warnings may harm performance or indexing, such as missing meta descriptions on important pages. Notices are informational, like low word counts, and may be fine depending on the page. Work in that order. Do not polish notices while real errors sit untouched.
Step 5: Work Through Errors in Priority Order
Broken Pages and 4xx Errors
Start with pages returning 404 errors that have internal links pointing to them. See which pages link to the broken URL, then update the internal link, restore the content, or redirect to the closest relevant page. A 404 with no links and no traffic is usually harmless. A 404 linked from your navigation is a genuine problem.
Redirect Chains and Loops
Chains happen when URL A points to B, which points to C. Each hop wastes crawl effort and slows users down. Update internal links and redirect rules to point directly at the final destination. Loops, where pages point back to each other, need immediate fixing because the page never loads.
Missing or Duplicate Meta Tags
Look for missing titles, duplicate titles, overly long titles, and missing meta descriptions. Fix templates first if the problem repeats across many pages, then handle important individual pages by hand with unique, honest titles.
Slow Pages
Common causes are uncompressed images, heavy scripts, and overloaded hosting. Compress images, remove unused plugins, and consider caching. Focus on the slowest templates and your most important pages, not a perfect score.
Internal Linking and Orphan Pages
Check for orphan pages with no internal links. If a page matters, link to it from related content. Also review important pages with only one incoming link. This is where audits connect with content work, and you will find more practical guides over at Network Ustad covering internal linking in detail.
Step 6: Schedule Recurring Crawls
A single audit is a snapshot. Problems creep back as you publish and redesign. In project settings, schedule automatic crawls weekly or monthly depending on how often your site changes. Each crawl updates your Health Score trend, so you can confirm fixes worked and catch new errors early.
- Review the scheduled crawl on the same day each week or month.
- Note new errors first, then older unresolved warnings.
- Fix in priority order: errors, then warnings on important pages.
- Re-crawl after major fixes to confirm they registered.
- Record what you changed and when in a simple spreadsheet.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Fixing notices before errors: A low word count on a contact page does not matter. Broken linked pages do.
- Redirecting everything to the homepage: This confuses users and search engines. Redirect to the closest relevant page or serve an honest 404.
- Obsessing over a 100 score: Some warnings will never apply to your site. A score of 92 with no real errors is excellent.
- Verifying the wrong version: Auditing the non-HTTPS version when your real site is HTTPS produces misleading results.
- Running one audit and never returning: Without recurring crawls, new problems build up silently.
Honest Limits: When Free Stops Being Enough
Free AWT goes a long way for your own site. Its limits appear when you need competitor research, audits of sites you do not own, very large crawls, or many client projects. Agencies usually outgrow it quickly. A solo site owner can often run their entire audit routine on the free tier for a long time. Pay when a specific missing feature blocks real work, not because marketing made you feel behind.
Conclusion
A full SEO audit with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is genuinely achievable for free. Verify ownership using DNS, an HTML tag, or your Google accounts, run a complete crawl, read the Health Score in context, and fix errors in impact order: broken pages, redirect chains, meta problems, slow templates, and weak internal linking. Schedule recurring crawls so the audit becomes a habit. Used this way, AWT gives you most of what a paid audit delivers for your own site, and a clear view of when you actually need more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Ahrefs Webmaster Tools really free, or is it a trial?
It is genuinely free for verified site owners and does not require a credit card. It is not a time-limited trial. The trade-off is scope: you only get full audit access for sites you own and verify, not for competitor research.
How long does a Site Audit crawl take?
A small site with a few hundred pages often finishes in minutes. Larger sites with thousands of URLs can take considerably longer, depending on crawl speed and your server. Let the crawl finish completely before analysing results.
What Health Score should I aim for?
Above 90 is a good practical target, provided remaining items are warnings or notices that do not apply to your pages. Chasing a perfect 100 can waste time, so judge individual issues, not just the number.
Can I audit a client’s website with the free version?
Only if the client verifies ownership and adds the project, or grants you access to their verified account. You cannot audit arbitrary third-party sites with AWT, because ownership verification is the basis of the free offer.
How often should I re-run the audit?
Monthly is enough for stable sites. Sites publishing weekly benefit from weekly scheduled crawls. Also run a manual crawl after any redesign, migration, or major plugin change, regardless of your normal schedule.
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