What Is the Fastest Way to Clean Up Ahrefs Backlink Analysis?

When managing SEO campaigns, one of the most time-consuming yet crucial tasks is cleaning up backlink profiles. Spam backlinks can severely inflate Ahrefs metrics, leading to skewed data and misguided decisions. Fortunately, with the right approach, you can significantly speed up the cleanup process, saving hours each month.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the fastest way to clean up your Ahrefs backlink analysis — focusing on a one minute setup using Ahrefs Site Explorer and leveraging the Best links quick setup feature alongside a smart spam domain exclusions list. Plus, I’ll explain why filtering and disavowing links are two very different strategies and why it matters for your SEO work.

Why Spam Backlinks Inflate Ahrefs Metrics

Spam backlinks come from low-quality, often manipulative sources — think link farms, PBNs, expired domains stuffed with irrelevant links, and general junk. These spammy links distort Ahrefs backlink profiles in https://dibz.me/blog/what-does-ahrefs-best-links-actually-do-a-deep-dive-into-spam-backlinks-and-smart-filtering-1224 multiple ways:

• Inflated Referring Domain Count: You may see thousands of "domains" referencing your site, but many are junk domains with zero authority or relevance.
• Misleading DR and UR Scores: Domain Rating (DR) and URL Rating (UR) can look better than reality when spam links are included, leading to wrong assumptions about link strength.
• False Traffic and Keyword Rankings: Spam backlinks don’t improve organic traffic, but can create phantom improvements in ranking signals inside Ahrefs, confusing your analysis.

For example, I recently dealt with a client who had over 3,192 spam domains total inside their backlink profile — all inflating their Ahrefs metrics, making it seem like the site had stronger authority than it actually did.

Step 1: Use Ahrefs Site Explorer and the "Best Links" Feature for a One Minute Setup

Ahrefs Site Explorer ahrefs site explorer is the backbone of backlink analysis, but digging through thousands of backlinks manually is a time sink. Instead, the magic starts with the Best links feature.

What is the “Best links” feature?

“Best links” filters your backlink profile to show only the strongest and most relevant links — basically a “cleaned up” view that excludes obvious Click here for more info spammy, low-quality links. It’s ideal for a quick, high-level check without getting lost in junk backlinks.

Here’s the fastest way to get started:

1. Open Ahrefs Site Explorer and enter your domain.
2. Go to the Backlinks report.
3. Select the Best links tab.
4. From here, you’re already filtering out a bulk of junk links — it’s your “one minute setup” for a cleaner backlink profile.

This approach cuts your cleanup workload immediately, as you no longer sift through thousands of spammy backlinks just to find the impactful ones.

Step 2: Customize Your Spam Domain Exclusion List to Sharpen Your View

“Best links” is not perfect — it’s a general filter designed by Ahrefs but doesn’t reflect your personal experience or blacklist of repeat offenders. This is where spam domain exclusions come in.

Maintain a custom exclusion list of domains you’ve identified as spammy or toxic — those link farms, PBNs, or expired domains you know to avoid. Adding this layer on top of the “Best links” filter takes your cleanup to the next level.

Here’s how to apply your custom spam domain blacklist:

1. In Site Explorer under Backlinks, create a filter excluding any domains on your spam domain blocklist (usually a domain-level “exclude” filter).
2. Save this as a default view or custom filter setup so it loads automatically whenever you open the Backlinks report.
3. Combine this with the “Best links” filter for a focused window on your healthiest backlinks.

By layering Best links with spam domain exclusions, you move past a “nice to have” filter and make cleanup a quick, repeatable process.

Step 3: Save Your Default View in Site Explorer for Rapid Reuse

One of Ahrefs’ handy but underrated features is the ability to save filtered views as defaults or bookmarks. Instead of rebuilding your custom filters every time you login, save your ideal, clean backlink view:

• Use your best links + spam exclusions filters.
• Apply any other filters you use frequently (e.g., link type, platform, language).
• Click the quick-save button to name your view for easy access.

Saving your default view is a game changer for efficiency — every backlink audit you do starts off already cleaned up, with junk hidden and focusing only on the links that matter.

Step 4: Understand Why Filtering Is Not The Same as Disavowing

This is one of the biggest misconceptions I encounter working with clients and junior SEOs. Ahrefs filters simply hide links from your reports. They do not communicate to Google to ignore or discount those links.

Filtering in Ahrefs is a visualization convenience. It helps you make sense of your backlink profile by removing noise. But it does not affect how Google treats your site’s backlink profile.

Disavowing

Why does it matter?

• Filtering helps your analysis only; it does not remove penalties.
• Disavow files can protect your site from link-based spam penalties but require caution and strategic use.
• Always do your cleanup analysis first (using Best links + spam domain exclusions) before crafting your disavow list.

Don’t confuse a beautiful, clean Ahrefs backlink report with an actual cleaned-up backlink profile in Google’s eyes.

Summary Table: Fastest Cleanup Workflow in Ahrefs

Step Action Purpose Time Saved 1 Use Ahrefs Site Explorer's "Best links" tab Quickly filter strongest backlinks from spammy ones Seconds to minutes per audit 2 Apply a custom spam domain exclusion filter Remove known junk domains beyond default filters Significantly reduces manual link checks 3 Save filter setup as default view Auto-apply cleanup filters every time Minutes saved on set up, hours over time 4 Distinguish filtering from disavowing Ensure correct cleanup steps for SEO impact Avoids false assumptions and wasted effort

Bonus Tips from 11 Years Cleaning Backlink Profiles

Having cleaned thousands of backlink profiles — including fresh and recently expired domains — here are quick-fire tips to speed cleanup further:

• Keep an internal blocklist: Maintain your own domain blacklist to catch repeat offender spam domains faster.
• Beware of “spam score” misconceptions: Don’t treat a simple filter or metric as an absolute spam score — Ahrefs doesn’t provide a perfect spam metric.
• Don’t over-filter: Over-zealous filtering hides potentially valuable links — balance is key.
• Use Link Intersect: Compare against competitors to spot suspicious links your site uniquely has.

Conclusion: The Real Quick Setup for Clean Ahrefs Backlink Analysis

Waste no time manually hunting spam links when Ahrefs makes it easy to get started in under a minute. Use their Best links quick setup as your first filter, then stack on your proven spam domain exclusions for personalized cleanup precision. Save those filters in Site Explorer so every audit launches with a neat slate.

Remember: Filtering in Ahrefs is your friend for fast, clean analysis, but disavowing is your weapon to fix SEO problems caused by spam backlinks. Get the balance right and you’ll save hours of cleanup, avoid misleading Ahrefs metrics, and make better SEO decisions every time.