Why Your Website Shows 0 Traffic in Ahrefs Despite Having Domain Authority and Backlinks

Last Updated on April 21, 2025 by Admin

If you’re a website owner or SEO enthusiast, you’ve likely used tools like Ahrefs to monitor your domain’s health. You might be surprised—or even frustrated—when Ahrefs shows that your website has a decent Domain Rating (DR) and several dofollow backlinks, on its Website Authority Checker but zero estimated traffic on its Website Traffic Checker. So what gives?

Let’s break down why this happens and what you can do about it.

Understanding the Metrics: DR vs. Traffic

1. Domain Rating (DR):
This reflects the strength of your backlink profile. Ahrefs calculates it based on:

• The number of referring domains (especially dofollow links)
• The authority and trust of those referring sites
• Link velocity and structure

2. Organic Traffic Estimate:
This is Ahrefs’ guess of how many visitors your site gets from Google search results. It depends on:

• The keywords your pages rank for
• The search volume of those keywords
• Your position in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)
• Estimated click-through rates

🚨 Important: DR and traffic are independent metrics. You can have backlinks without ranking for any keywords.

Why Your Site Shows 0 Traffic (Even with Backlinks)

• New Website? It takes time to gain Google’s trust and start ranking.
• Content Gaps: You might not have content that targets specific, rank-worthy keywords.
• Indexing Issues: Your site might not be indexed by Google yet.
• Low Keyword Rankings: You might rank for keywords beyond page 3—where almost no one clicks.
• Non-SEO Traffic Doesn’t Count: Ahrefs only estimates organic traffic—not traffic from social media, direct visits, or emails.

How to Turn That Traffic from 0 to Flowing

1. Check Indexing:
   Use site:yourdomain.com in Google. If nothing shows, your site isn’t indexed.
2. Use Google Search Console:
   It’s free and shows actual impressions and clicks from Google search.
3. Create Keyword-Targeted Content:
   Use long-tail keywords with low competition. Write blog posts, landing pages, and FAQs that answer specific search intents.
4. Audit Your SEO Setup:

• Is your robots.txt blocking bots?
• Do you have proper <title> and <meta> tags?
• Are internal links optimized?

5. Keep Building Smart Backlinks:
Focus on backlinks from related niches, not just any high-DR domains.

Final Thoughts

Don’t panic if Ahrefs shows 0 traffic. It’s a common scenario for starter websites. Backlinks are a strong signal—but without optimized content and keyword targeting, Google won’t know how to serve your pages in search results.

Build content strategically. Be patient. Combine DR with solid SEO practices, and the traffic will come.