# Grab 'ahrefs' API data x ### What is ahref? Ahrefs is an [All-in-one SEO toolset](https://ahrefs.com/#seo-toolset) that allows to * Optimize your website Site Audit * Analyze your competitors * Study what your customers are searching * Learn from your industry’s top performing content * Track your ranking progress We will be using a package called [RAhrefs](https://github.com/Leszek-Sieminski/RAhrefs) by [Leszek Siemiński](https://twitter.com/leszek_sieminsk) use ahref with R ### Installation ```r # main version on CRAN: install.packages("RAhrefs") # development version: # install.packages("devtools") # devtools::install_github("Leszek-Sieminski/RAhrefs") ``` ### Authentication ```r library("RAhrefs") api_key <- "012345" RAhrefs::rah_auth(api_key) # will return "API authorized" if success ``` ### Checking available reports To check what Ahrefs data are available in R through API, you need to check provided help dataset: ```r library("RAhrefs") View(ahrefs_reports) # view dataset in a new tab (RStudio) print(head(ahrefs_reports, 5)) # see first 5 reports in the console # > report_name function_name short_description url_address # > 1 ahrefs_rank rah_ahrefs_rank Contains the URLs and the rankings. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/ahrefs-rank # > 2 anchors rah_anchors Contains the anchor text and the num of backlinks, referring pages and referring domains that has it. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/anchors # > 3 anchors_refdomains rah_anchors_refdomains Contains the num of anchors and backlinks with that anchor, per domain. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/anchors-refdomains # > 4 backlinks rah_backlinks Contains the backlinks and details of the referring pages, such as anchor and page title. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/backlinks # > 5 backlinks_new_lost rah_backlinks_new_lost Contains the new or lost backlinks and details of the referring pages. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/backlinks-new-lost ``` ### Checking available reports To check what Ahrefs data are available in R through API, you need to check provided help dataset: ```r library("RAhrefs") View(ahrefs_reports) # view dataset in a new tab (RStudio) print(head(ahrefs_reports, 5)) # see first 5 reports in the console # > report_name function_name short_description url_address # > 1 ahrefs_rank rah_ahrefs_rank Contains the URLs and the rankings. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/ahrefs-rank # > 2 anchors rah_anchors Contains the anchor text and the num of backlinks, referring pages and referring domains that has it. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/anchors # > 3 anchors_refdomains rah_anchors_refdomains Contains the num of anchors and backlinks with that anchor, per domain. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/anchors-refdomains # > 4 backlinks rah_backlinks Contains the backlinks and details of the referring pages, such as anchor and page title. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/backlinks # > 5 backlinks_new_lost rah_backlinks_new_lost Contains the new or lost backlinks and details of the referring pages. https://ahrefs.com/api/documentation/backlinks-new-lost ``` ### Checking available metrics To check what metrics can be choosen, you need to check provided help dataset: ```r library("RAhrefs") View(ahrefs_metrics) # view dataset in a new tab (RStudio) print(head(ahrefs_metrics, 5)) # see first 5 metrics in the console # > metric type use_where? use_having? description # > 1 url_from string TRUE TRUE URL of the page where the backlink is found. # > 2 url_to string TRUE TRUE URL of the page the backlink is pointing to. # > 3 ahrefs_rank int TRUE TRUE URL Rating of the referring page. # > 4 domain_rating int FALSE TRUE Domain Rating of the referring domain. # > 5 ahrefs_top int FALSE TRUE Ahrefs Rank of the target domain. ``` However, different functions can accept different metrics for experimental `where` & `having` conditions. To find out which ones are available for a particular function, check that function's documentation. ### Creating conditions Ahrefs API can use `where`, `having` and `order_by` parameters. However, behaviour of `where` and `having` may change in further updates. ```r # first, create all needed conditions in single form: cond_1 <- RAhrefs::rah_condition( column_name = "first_seen", operator = "GREATER_THAN", value = "2018-01-01", is_date = TRUE) cond_2 <- RAhrefs::rah_condition( column_name = "backlinks", operator = "GREATER_THAN", value = "10") # next, create a set of conditions from them: final_condition_set <- RAhrefs::rah_condition_set(cond_1, cond_2) # finally, use the set of conditions to download choosen results: result <- RAhrefs::rah_anchors( target = "ahrefs.com", limit = 1000, where = final_condition_set) ``` ### Usage ```r # library ---------------------------- library("RAhrefs") # authentication --------------------- api_key <- "012345" RAhrefs::rah_auth(api_key) # downloading data ------------------- ahrefs_data <- RAhrefs::rah_anchors( target = "ahrefs.com", mode = "domain", limit = 2, where = RAhrefs::rah_condition_set( RAhrefs::rah_condition( column_name = "backlinks", operator = "GREATER_THAN", value = "10"), RAhrefs::rah_condition( column_name = "refpages", operator = "GREATER_THAN", value = "20")), order_by = "refpages:asc") print(ahrefs_data) # > anchor backlinks refpages refdomains first_seen last_visited # > 1.21 driver 42 21 1 2018-06-06 07:16:28 2019-01-05 10:37:13 # > a href's 21 21 1 2015-11-22 14:30:18 2015-11-22 14:30:18 str(ahrefs_data) # > 'data.frame': 2 obs. of 6 variables: # > $ anchor : chr "1.21 driver" "a href's" # > $ backlinks : int 42 21 # > $ refpages : int 21 21 # > $ refdomains : int 1 1 # > $ first_seen : POSIXct, format: "2018-06-06 07:16:28" "2015-11-22 14:30:18" # > $ last_visited: POSIXct, format: "2019-01-05 10:37:13" "2015-11-22 14:30:18" ```