Ahrefs SEO Data Extractor v1.1

Chrome extension + HTTP bridge that extracts structured SEO data from Ahrefs dashboard pages via DOM scraping. Replaces expensive Ahrefs API calls when you have Ahrefs open in the browser.

What It Extracts

Ahrefs Tool	Data
Site Explorer	Organic keywords, backlinks, traffic, referring domains, top pages
Keywords Explorer	Search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, keyword suggestions
Site Audit	Health score, issues, crawl stats
Rank Tracker	Position tracking data

All data is extracted as structured JSON with normalized values (e.g. 12.5K → 12500) and metadata.

Setup

1. Install the Chrome Extension

1. Open chrome://extensions/
2. Enable Developer mode (top right)
3. Click Load unpacked → select this folder
4. The extension icon appears in your toolbar

2. Start the HTTP Bridge

The bridge exposes extracted data on localhost:18800 for AI agents.

# Chrome must be launched with remote debugging enabled:
/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222

# Then start the bridge:
cd ahrefs-extractor
npm install
node bridge.js

3. Use It

1. Open Ahrefs in Chrome (app.ahrefs.com) and navigate to any tool
2. Via popup: Click the extension icon → "Extract All", "Metrics Only", or "Tables Only"
3. Via HTTP (for AI agents):

# Extract everything from active Ahrefs tab
curl http://127.0.0.1:18800/extract

# Target specific tab by URL substring
curl "http://127.0.0.1:18800/extract?urlContains=site-explorer"

# Target specific tab by ID
curl "http://127.0.0.1:18800/extract?tabId=ABC123"

# Just tables
curl http://127.0.0.1:18800/tables

# Just metrics
curl http://127.0.0.1:18800/metrics

# List open Ahrefs tabs
curl http://127.0.0.1:18800/tabs

# Runtime diagnostics
curl http://127.0.0.1:18800/healthz

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Query Params	Description
GET /extract	tabId, urlContains	Full extraction (metrics + tables + page info + meta)
GET /tables	tabId, urlContains	Table data only
GET /metrics	tabId, urlContains	Metric panels only
GET /tabs	—	List open Ahrefs tabs
GET /status	—	Service info
GET /healthz	—	Runtime diagnostics (uptime, last error, debug port)

Query Parameters

• tabId — Target a specific Chrome tab by its CDP target ID (from /tabs)
• urlContains — Match the first Ahrefs tab whose URL contains this substring (e.g. site-explorer, backlinks)

Response Format

{
  "ok": true,
  "data": {
    "page": "site-explorer:organic-keywords",
    "url": "https://app.ahrefs.com/site-explorer/...",
    "title": "Organic keywords - Ahrefs",
    "target": "example.com",
    "metrics": {
      "organic-traffic": { "raw": "12.5K", "normalized": 12500 }
    },
    "tables": [
      {
        "headers": ["Keyword", "Volume", "KD", "Position", "Traffic"],
        "rows": [
          {
            "Keyword": { "value": "example", "normalized": "example", "url": "https://..." },
            "Volume": { "value": "5,400", "normalized": 5400 }
          }
        ],
        "rowCount": 50
      }
    ],
    "meta": {
      "extractedAt": "2026-02-08T09:00:00.000Z",
      "pageType": "site-explorer:organic-keywords",
      "tableCount": 1,
      "metricCount": 5,
      "totalRows": 50
    }
  },
  "tab": { "url": "...", "title": "..." }
}

Error Response

When extraction fails, /tables and /metrics correctly propagate the error (no false ok: true):

{
  "ok": false,
  "error": "No Ahrefs tab found in Chrome..."
}

Architecture

Chrome (Ahrefs tab)
  └── content.js (DOM scraping, normalization, de-duplication)
        ↕ chrome.runtime messaging
  └── background.js (service worker, tab tracking)

Node bridge (port 18800) — CDP only
  └── bridge.js → Chrome DevTools Protocol → Runtime.evaluate in Ahrefs tab
        ↕ HTTP
  └── AI agents / curl

The bridge communicates directly via CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol). It does not use extension messaging or native host. Chrome must be launched with --remote-debugging-port.

Popup Features

• Extract All — Full page extraction
• Metrics Only — Just metric panels
• Tables Only — Just table data
• Copy — Copy last result to clipboard
• Download JSON — Save as timestamped JSON file
• Refresh — Re-check Ahrefs tab status

Validation

# Syntax check all JS files
bash scripts/check-js.sh

# Smoke test endpoints (bridge must be running)
bash scripts/smoke.sh

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
"No Ahrefs tab found"	Open app.ahrefs.com in Chrome
Bridge can't connect to Chrome	Launch Chrome with --remote-debugging-port=9222
Empty metrics/tables	Ahrefs pages are dynamic; wait for page to fully load before extracting
Wrong tab extracted	Use ?urlContains= or ?tabId= to target specific tab
Stale data	Extension re-extracts on each request; ensure the page is current

Notes

• Login required: You must be logged into Ahrefs. The extension reads what's visible on screen.
• No API key needed: This scrapes the rendered DOM, not the Ahrefs API.
• Normalized values: Numbers like 12.5K, 1.2M, 45% are parsed into numeric form alongside raw strings.
• De-duplicated rows: Duplicate table rows are automatically removed.
• Chrome debug port: Required for the HTTP bridge; the popup works without it.