5 smart ways to use Ahrefs if you work in Digital PR

Yes, it is useful for backlink tracking. But if that is all you are using it for, you are missing a huge part of its value.

For me, Ahrefs is one of the most useful tools for building stronger campaign ideas, spotting competitor opportunities, shaping SEO-led PR strategies, and reporting on the wider impact of your work.

Used properly, it can help you think beyond link counts and start answering bigger questions. Where is a client losing authority? What themes are competitors winning on? What content already has proven link appeal? What are people actually searching for that could become a story?

Here are five ways to use Ahrefs more strategically if you work in Digital PR.

This is one of the most useful places to start.

The Link Intersect and backlink comparison features can quickly show you which sites are linking to competitors but not to your client. On the surface, that sounds like a simple outreach list. In practice, it tells you much more than that.

It helps reveal where your competitors are building authority, which publications or websites are already interested in the space, and what kind of content or campaigns are earning those links.

That matters because it helps you move beyond reporting “we got X links this month” and into a more strategic conversation.

You can start showing:

That makes your reporting stronger, but it also improves ideation. If you can see a rival repeatedly earning links around a theme your client has not touched yet, that is a gap worth exploring.

One of the fastest ways to improve Digital PR ideas is to stop guessing what works and start looking at what has already attracted links.

Ahrefs’ Top Pages and Best by Links reports are brilliant for this.

When you look at a competitor’s most linked-to pages, patterns tend to appear very quickly. You might notice they are earning links through data studies, practical guides, expert-led explainers, reactive opinion pieces, tools, or evergreen consumer content.

This is useful for two reasons.

First, it shows what kind of content has proven link appeal in your sector.

Second, it helps you separate what sounds like a good campaign idea internally from what actually gets picked up externally.

You might find that in one industry, journalists respond well to cost-of-living stories and original data. In another, they might prefer practical explainers or strong expert commentary. Ahrefs gives you evidence.

That evidence can sharpen your creative process and stop you wasting time on ideas with little real-world traction.

One of the best uses of Ahrefs in Digital PR is angle validation.

Content Explorer lets you search topics and see what has already been published, linked to, and shared. This can be incredibly useful before you commit to an idea.

For example, it can help answer questions like:

This matters because not every idea needs to be completely new, but it does need a reason to exist.

Sometimes Content Explorer will show you that an angle is saturated and not worth pursuing. Other times, it will help you spot a content gap, a stronger headline direction, or a more media-friendly spin on the same theme.

That can save a lot of time and make your outreach more grounded from the start.

Keyword data is not just for SEO teams and it definitely should not sit in a silo away from Digital PR.

Ahrefs can be incredibly useful for understanding what people are actually searching for, which gives you a much better starting point for ideation.

When you explore keyword trends, related terms, questions, and rising topics, you can spot:

This is where Digital PR and SEO should work together properly.

Instead of brainstorming in a vacuum, you can build ideas around themes that already have demand behind them. That might mean turning a rising search trend into a campaign, using question-based searches to shape expert commentary, or identifying niche topics with strong relevance but low competition.

Not every keyword becomes a headline, obviously. But keywords can be a brilliant starting point for finding stories people already care about.

This is the bit that often gets overlooked.

Ahrefs can help you report the SEO value of Digital PR in a much fuller way. Not just how many links were secured, but what those links are actually contributing to over time.

Depending on the campaign, that could include:

This is especially useful when clients want to understand the impact of your work beyond media coverage screenshots.

Digital PR is not just about getting a piece of coverage live. It is about building authority, relevance, and visibility over time. Ahrefs helps you show that in a clearer and more strategic way.

And honestly, it also helps position your work properly. You are not just sending out press releases and hoping for the best. You are using data to identify opportunities, shape ideas, and measure impact in a way that ties back to search performance.

Ahrefs is one of the most useful tools in Digital PR because it helps at every stage of the process.

It can help you spot competitor gaps, validate ideas, uncover media themes, shape search-led campaigns, and report on authority growth more meaningfully.

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