Page type and category classifications

Site Explorer predicts the type and subject category of referring pages. The All backlinks and Broken backlinks endpoints expose these classifications through page_type_source and page_category_source.

Both fields are nullable strings. A page can have classifications from more than one top-level group, so each field may contain a comma-separated list of paths:

/Article/Tutorial_or_Guide,/Video/How_to

Treat the taxonomies as open sets. Ahrefs may add values as the classification models change.

Page types

The page type taxonomy is specific to Ahrefs. Each root path is also a valid value on its own.

Root path	Nested paths
/Listing	/Listing/Product /Listing/Property /Listing/Job /Listing/Service /Listing/Event /Listing/Location /Listing/Business
/Listing_Collection	/Listing_Collection/Article /Listing_Collection/Product /Listing_Collection/Property /Listing_Collection/Job /Listing_Collection/Service /Listing_Collection/Event /Listing_Collection/Location /Listing_Collection/Business
/Article	/Article/How_to /Article/Tutorial_or_Guide /Article/Listicle /Article/Comparisons /Article/Roundup /Article/Product_or_Brand_Review /Article/Opinion_Piece /Article/News_Update /Article/Thought_Leadership /Article/Story /Article/Recipe /Article/FAQ /Article/Checklists /Article/Study_or_Research_Findings /Article/Definitions /Article/Wiki
/Landing_Page	/Landing_Page/Service_Page /Landing_Page/Location_Page /Landing_Page/Product_Page /Landing_Page/Course_Sales_Page /Landing_Page/Product_Feature_Page /Landing_Page/Pricing_Page
/Interactive_Tools	/Interactive_Tools/Calculator /Interactive_Tools/SaaS_Software /Interactive_Tools/Map /Interactive_Tools/Quiz /Interactive_Tools/Poll /Interactive_Tools/Simulator /Interactive_Tools/Generator /Interactive_Tools/Configurator
/Image	/Image/Infographic /Image/Mapographic /Image/Photography /Image/Vector_Illustration /Image/Meme /Image/Diagram /Image/Flowchart
/Video	/Video/How_to /Video/Tutorial_or_Guide /Video/Listicle /Video/Comparisons /Video/Compilation /Video/Roundup /Video/Product_or_Brand_Review /Video/Opinion_Piece /Video/News_Update /Video/Thought_Leadership /Video/Story /Video/Recipe /Video/Interview /Video/Webinar /Video/Vlog
/Audio	/Audio/Podcast /Audio/Webinar /Audio/Interview /Audio/Sound_Byte /Audio/Music /Audio/Audiobook /Audio/Commentary
/Document	/Document/Case_Study /Document/Ebook /Document/White_Paper /Document/Slide_Deck /Document/Research_Paper /Document/Template /Document/Report /Document/Manual /Document/Worksheet
/User_Generated_Content	/User_Generated_Content/Forum_Thread /User_Generated_Content/Discussions /User_Generated_Content/Social_Media_Post /User_Generated_Content/Reviews /User_Generated_Content/Testimonials /User_Generated_Content/Comments /User_Generated_Content/Q&A
/Core_Page	/Core_Page/Homepage /Core_Page/About_Page /Core_Page/Contact_Page /Core_Page/FAQ_Page /Core_Page/Blog_Index /Core_Page/Services_Page /Core_Page/Portfolio_Page /Core_Page/Careers_Page /Core_Page/Privacy_Policy_Page /Core_Page/T&C_Page

Page categories

Page categories use the Google Cloud Natural Language content category taxonomy, including all levels listed there.

Ahrefs represents each category as a slash-prefixed path. Spaces become underscores and & is written as and. For example, Google's category:

/Business & Industrial/Advertising & Marketing/Marketing

appears in the API as:

/Business_and_Industrial/Advertising_and_Marketing/Marketing

Copy exact API paths when possible. Do not assume that replacing spaces and ampersands covers every punctuation mark in the taxonomy.

Why only the most nested paths are returned

The classifier can assign a parent and a more specific child from the same top-level group. The API removes the less-specific paths from the selected value.

For example, this classification:

/Article
/Article/Tutorial_or_Guide
/Video
/Video/Interview

is returned as:

/Article/Tutorial_or_Guide,/Video/Interview

The API groups paths by their first component, such as /Article or /Video, and keeps the paths with the greatest depth in each group. If two paths in a group have the same greatest depth, it returns both.

This rule removes redundant ancestors from the response. It does not prevent you from filtering by a parent path.

Filter by a parent and its children

Use substring with the complete parent path enclosed in literal double quotes. This filter matches /Article and its children:

{
  "field": "page_type_source",
  "is": ["substring", "\"/Article\""]
}

The quotes are part of the substring. They match the exact parent key in the underlying classification data. Without them, /Article would also match unrelated paths such as /Listing_Collection/Article.

Use the same form for a category parent:

{
  "field": "page_category_source",
  "is": ["substring", "\"/Business_and_Industrial\""]
}

Do not use prefix for this. The filter runs against the underlying serialized classification data, not each path in the selected comma-separated value.

Here is a complete request for article backlinks:

curl --get 'https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/all-backlinks' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN' \
  --data-urlencode 'target=example.com' \
  --data-urlencode 'mode=subdomains' \
  --data-urlencode 'select=url_from,url_to,page_type_source' \
  --data-urlencode 'where={"field":"page_type_source","is":["substring","\"/Article\""]}' \
  --data-urlencode 'limit=100'

See Filter syntax for compound filters and the full operator reference.