How Do I Troubleshoot When Best Links Hides Too Many Backlinks?

Ahrefs’ Best links feature is a powerful way to surface your highest quality backlinks quickly. But what happens when it feels like best links is too strict and hides too many backlinks that you actually want to see? This is a common pain point, especially for sites dealing with spam backlinks inflating Ahrefs metrics. The good news is, with the right approach to review exclusion list settings and toggling filters, you can reclaim lost data and still keep spam under control.
Understanding the Problem: Why Does Best Links Hide So Many Backlinks?
Ahrefs’ Best links feature automatically filters backlinks using an internal quality model that includes metrics like Domain Rating, link type, and link context. Its goal is to show only the backlinks that matter most — the “best” ones.

However, "best" can be subjective. Ahrefs also detects spammy backlinks, which can artificially inflate your backlink profile if included. It’s estimated on average clients might have 3,192 spam domains total hidden away by this filter, domains often automatically excluded from the Best links view.

When spam backlinks are present, the tool gets aggressive, sometimes excluding not just clear spammy links but borderline or newly identified ones — hence hiding backlinks you may want to analyze.
Why Spam Backlinks Inflate Ahrefs Metrics and Why You Should Care
Spam backlinks, such as those from link farms, PBNs, or irrelevant websites, tend to inflate some Ahrefs metrics like backlinks count, referring domains, and DR. This can lead you to believe your website has a stronger backlink profile than reality, affecting decisions on SEO strategy, link-building campaigns, or even sales pitches.

Ignoring spam in backlink analysis risks organic traffic threshold links https://smoothdecorator.com/why-do-i-see-casino-and-credit-cards-anchors-on-random-sites/ including toxic links in your profile, which might eventually harm your rankings or cause wasted effort chasing low-quality opportunities.
How to Use Best Links With a Custom Exclusion List
The key to troubleshooting when Best links feels too restrictive is to review https://dibz.me/blog/what-does-ahrefs-best-links-actually-do-a-deep-dive-into-spam-backlinks-and-smart-filtering-1224 https://dibz.me/blog/what-does-ahrefs-best-links-actually-do-a-deep-dive-into-spam-backlinks-and-smart-filtering-1224 your exclusion list. Ahrefs lets you customize which domains to exclude from Best links filtering, allowing you to fine-tune what counts as “spam” vs. “okay” backlinks.
Step-by-Step to Reviewing and Adjusting Your Exclusion List Open Ahrefs Site Explorer: Enter your target domain and navigate to the Backlinks report. Access the Best Links filter: Click the Best links toggle to apply default Ahrefs quality filters. Review domains in your exclusion list: You can find this in your project’s settings or backlink management tab, where excluded spam domains are listed. Audit excluded domains: Manually review some of these domains to decide if they’re truly spam or potentially useful. Add or remove domains: Remove domains from the exclusion list if you believe they have legitimate backlinks or add suspicious domains that escaped detection. Revisit Backlink reports: Refresh the Best links view to see the effect of your adjusted exclusion list. More good links should appear.
This process is crucial because a generic “spam score” or filter might be too blunt — it can discard links that are borderline but not harmful. Reviewing the exclusion list gives you control over filtering strictness.
Saving a Default View in Site Explorer for Consistent Analysis
After setting your desired filters (including customized exclusion list adjustments), save this as your default view in Ahrefs Site Explorer. This prevents frustration from resetting filters every session and ensures consistent backlink monitoring.
How to Save a Default View Apply your preferred filters in the Backlinks report (e.g., Best links with custom exclusion adjustments). Click the “View settings” or settings cog (varies by Ahrefs interface version). Select “Save view as default” or “Save filters as default.”
Now when you or your team open this report in the future, the same filtering logic will be applied immediately, saving time and clicks — exactly the kind of small but valuable efficiency improvements I track daily in my work.
Filtering Vs Disavow: What’s the Difference and Why It Matters
Two approaches to handling spammy backlinks are:
Filtering: Hiding spam domains in your tools’ backlink reports (like Best links filters or domain exclusions). Disavow: Uploading a disavow file to Google Search Console to tell Google to ignore certain links for ranking purposes.
Why Filtering Alone is Not Enough: Filtering in Ahrefs or any tool only changes how you see your data. It does not affect how Google interprets backlinks. Those spam backlinks still exist and may still impact your SEO unless disavowed or removed.

Why Disavow Matters: Disavowing removes the risk from toxic backlinks by telling Google to ignore them. This is especially important if you have tons of spam backlinks (remember the 3,192 domains example). Even if Best links hides them, they can still influence your site’s standing.

Bottom Line: Use filtering (customizing Best links and exclusion lists) for cleaner analysis and internal decision-making. Use the disavow file to permanently protect your site from spammy link impact.
Additional Tips to Troubleshoot and Optimize Best Links Usage Toggle filter off temporarily: If Best links feels too strict, toggle the filter off to see all backlinks and identify useful ones that were hidden. Use other metrics to confirm link quality: Combine Best links filter with manual checks on URL rating, anchor text, and traffic estimates. Maintain a personal blocklist: Over time, build your own list of repeat-offender spam domains to add to your exclusion list for faster cleanup. Avoid over-filtering: Don’t get carried away excluding too many domains — it risks hiding legitimate referrals and valuable context. Stay updated: Ahrefs periodically updates its spam detection algorithms, so review your exclusion list and settings quarterly. Summary Problem Cause Solution Best links hides too many backlinks Default spam filters and broad exclusion list Review and customize exclusion list; toggle filter off to verify Spam backlinks inflate backlink metrics Link farms, PBNs, spammy domains (ex. 3,192 domains) Use exclusion list filters and disavow toxic links in Google Need for consistent analysis Manual filter resets and changes in tool Save default view in Site Explorer with preferred filters
Troubleshooting best links too strict situations boils down to understanding how Ahrefs filters work, customizing your view through the exclusion list, saving your preferred filters as default, and complementing filtering with a solid disavow strategy. This approach helps maintain accurate link analysis while protecting your site from spammy backlink noise.

If you want to save both clicks and headache time, always keep a close eye on your exclusion list, toggle filters off to inspect, and treat filtering as part of a bigger backlink management workflow — not just a magic “spam score” button.