Manages Ahrefs API usage in Python using `ahrefs-python` library. Use when working with SEO / marketing related tasks or with data including backlinks, keywords, domain ratings, organic traffic, site audits, rank tracking, and brand monitoring. Covers `ahrefs-python` usage including AhrefsClient / AsyncAhrefsClient, typed request/response models, error handling, and all API sections.
Manages Ahrefs API usage in Python using `ahrefs-python` library. Use when working with SEO / marketing related tasks or with data including backlinks, keywords, domain ratings, organic traffic, site audits, rank tracking, and brand monitoring. Covers `ahrefs-python` usage including AhrefsClient / AsyncAhrefsClient, typed request/response models, error handling, and all API sections.
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
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):
from ahrefs.search import search_api_methods
# Returns formatted text with method signatures, parameters, and return typesprint(search_api_methods("domain rating"))
# Filter by API section and limit resultsprint(search_api_methods("backlinks", section="site-explorer", limit=3))
CLI (preferred when exploring from the terminal):
# 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
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) # 91.0print(data.ahrefs_rank) # 3
SDK Patterns
Client Setup
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:
import os
from ahrefs import AsyncAhrefsClient
asyncwith AsyncAhrefsClient(api_key=os.environ["AHREFS_API_KEY"]) as client:
data = await client.site_explorer_domain_rating(target="ahrefs.com", date="2025-01-15")
# 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):
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:
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
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:
Parameter
Type
Description
target
str
Domain, URL, or path to analyze
date
str
Date in YYYY-MM-DD format
date_from / date_to
str
Date range for history endpoints
country
str
Two-letter country code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2)
select
str
Comma-separated columns to return
where
str
Filter expression
order_by
str
Column and direction, e.g. "volume:desc"
limit
int
Max results to return
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:
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.
