Global keyword research, types of backlink pages, and more (January 2026)

We have 17 updates this month – from opening global keyword research to deep link analysis and comprehensive site monitoring.

Let’s dive in.

Cited pages and indexed domains are API endpoints

You can now systematically pull cited pages and domains from the AI ​​results, including how often each source appears and the estimated monthly search demand after that is specified. This makes it easy to automate AI visibility reporting, track competitors, or connect Brand Radar data directly to your workflow.

AI sharing of voice distribution and historical conclusions

Brand Radar’s remaining View-based results are now live, including AI sharing of voice distribution and historical trends. This allows you to monitor how the visibility of the product changes over time without relying on manual deployments from the UI.

Custom information packages as a stand-alone product

Custom information on Brand Radar is now available without a full Brand Radar subscription. Teams can sign up for the express package directly, reducing costs and friction for focused AI monitoring or research workflows.

Updated Search Demand Tab

The Search Demand tab now includes total search volume and search queries in one view, adds a new search volume chart by location, and introduces a “product name only” mode to separate real product demand from category noise.

Metric filters + Page domain filter

Now you can filter Web Analytics reports by metrics such as page views, visitors, bounce rate, and duration of visit. Metric filters apply to reports across the board, even if the metric isn’t visible in the table, making it easy to isolate high-value or underperforming traffic segments.

Also, Page’s new domain filter lets you filter by domain only, without protocols or full URLs. This avoids empty results and speeds up analysis on large or complex sites.

New ways to match text

Filters now support “Not beginning with criteria” and “Not limited to”, giving you more precise control when cleaning or segmenting text-based data.

Page types and categories in backlink reports

Backlink reports now include page type and page category columns and filters. Page types define the format of the page it refers to, such as articles, listicles, or tools, while categories indicate the business area or topic. This makes it easier to judge link quality based on context, not just volume.

For example, you can separate editorial links on industry topics from links from unrelated or low-quality niches.

New page type and category fields are now available for export, via API, and MCP. This makes them useful for automated reporting, integration, and custom workflows without a UI.

Organic keyword support

Organic keyword reports now include keyword language data. The language filter also supports Present and Absent conditions, making it easy to analyze international visibility while excluding unclassified keywords.

Clear page chart update

The Clear Pages chart in the Overview now only shows the actual, known 200 OK pages instead of all URLs found. This enables trends over time to reflect real content growth or loss, rather than redirects or errors.

AI reviews history in all reviews

AI overview history is now displayed directly in the General Site Explorer Overview view. This allows you to track AI visibility in conjunction with other key performance metrics in one place.

The latest server for the Always Open Test task

Always-on testing now includes a real-time activity feed that shows errors, fixes, and significant changes as they happen. Each event comes with an AI brief explaining why it’s important, helping critical issues surface quickly.

Alert sensitivity settings

Alert sensitivity is now configurable per release. You can control when alerts fire based on story severity and site size, reducing noise while handling large spikes.

Bulk actions for AOA notifications

You can now enable or disable multiple Always-On Test issues and change their sensitivity in bulk. This makes configuration alerts across large projects more manageable.

Bulk AI detection in Pro

Bulk AI detection is now available for Pro projects, which are limited to 1,000 pages per resolution. Pages with high AI content are marked directly in Site Audit, making large-scale revisions easy without upgrading to Max.

Global goals

Now you can search for keywords worldwide instead of being limited to one country or language. Global terms help uncover global demand and identify multilingual opportunities that local datasets often miss.

Search export volume trend data

Keyword export now includes forecasted search volume trend data. This makes it easy to analyze changes in demand at scale or share trend information without manually rebuilding the charts.

Import history from Site Explorer to Rank Tracker

You can now import historical keyword data from Site Explorer into Rank Tracker, whether you’re adding keywords to a project or a batch action in reports. This quickly populates historical data, so you don’t have to wait months to see trends.

For example, newly added keywords can show several years of performance history if the data is available.

Bulk edit target URLs in Rank Tracker

Redirect URLs can now be assigned or removed in bulk. This makes managing large keyword setups faster and reduces manual errors in complex projects.

Social Media Manager updates

You can now upload custom icons for LinkedIn video posts, publish original comments along with your posts, view timed engagement charts for published posts, and attach multiple photos or videos to a single post across multiple channels.

Monitoring the status of GBP verification

GBP Monitor now reports the verification status of each entity, helping you catch critical verification requests in time before the listing expires or is suspended.

MCP access controls

Business plan administrators can now control which users are allowed to use the Ahrefs MCP, helping teams manage access securely. More granular controls are coming next.

–

That’s it for January! If you have feedback or feature requests, you can leave them in our Canny. See you in the next update.