Use your own Ahrefs key for your sites' SEO metrics

What connecting it does for you

Connecting your own Ahrefs key means the SEO data we fetch for your sites is fetched with your Ahrefs account instead of ours. You see the same metrics in your dashboard, drawn from your own subscription.

Before you start

An Ahrefs plan that includes API access, and owner or admin rights on the Ahrefs workspace — only they can create API keys.

1. Create the key at Ahrefs

In Ahrefs open Account settings → API keys and create a key. Each key lasts one year and then stops working; the page shows each key's expiry date. You can also cap how many API units a key may use each month on the same page.

2. Connect it here

Open Integrations in your dashboard and choose Connect an account. Pick Your own SEO data as the group and Ahrefs as the account, fill in API key, and press Connect account.

We test what you paste before anything is saved. A key that does not work is never stored, and the answer says what was wrong with it. A key that works is kept encrypted in our secrets vault — never in our database — and is never shown again, not even to you.

What happens next

• The authority and backlink checks we run for your sites use your key, on your

plan's quota, and stop using ours. We do not charge you for checks that run on your key.

• If your key is revoked or its quota runs out, we stop and show you — on the screens where

the metrics appear — rather than quietly switching back to our account. Fix the key at the vendor, or disconnect it to go back to what your plan includes.

• Checks run on their normal schedule; connecting a key does not trigger a burst of calls

against your quota.

If it does not connect

It stopped working after a year. Ahrefs keys expire after twelve months. Create a new one and connect it.

Checks stop with a limit message. The key's monthly API-unit cap, or your plan's allowance, is used up. Raise the cap in Account settings → API keys, or wait for it to renew.

It says the key was rejected. Almost always one of three things: a space or a line break copied with it, a key that has expired, or a key that was revoked or regenerated after you copied it. Create a fresh one and paste it again.

It connects, but something later fails. The key authenticates but lacks a permission the action needs. Create a new key with the permissions listed above, then disconnect the old connection and connect the new key.

Disconnecting

Open Integrations, find the account and press Disconnect. That deletes the stored key at once. Anything that was using it stops at its next action, and the screens that depended on it say so rather than failing quietly.

Disconnecting does not undo what was already done — records, deployments or settings we changed on your account stay as they are. If you think the key itself may have leaked, also revoke it at the vendor; disconnecting removes our copy, not theirs.