SEO

Domain Rating (DR / DA / AS)

Q: What is Domain Rating (DR)?

Domain Rating (DR) is a 0–100 metric from Ahrefs that measures the backlink authority of a domain. It is based on the quantity and quality of incoming backlinks. Competing metrics: Moz Domain Authority, SE Ranking Domain Trust, Sistrix visibility index.

Q: Is Domain Rating a Google ranking factor?

No — DR is a third-party metric. Google uses its own, secret authority signals (a PageRank successor). But DR correlates strongly with Google authority and is a good proxy for competitor comparisons and evaluating backlink targets.

Q: How do you increase Domain Rating?

Exclusively through backlinks from strong domains. A single link from a DR 80 site often achieves more than 20 links from DR 20 sites. Focus on: specialist publications, authoritative blogs, studies and data reports that get cited.

Q: What is a good DR value?

It depends on context. For new sites, DR 20–40 counts as solid. Established SME sites reach 40–60. Market leaders and large publications 70–90+. More important than the absolute value is the comparison with direct competitors in the same niche.

Also known as: DR, Domain Authority, DA, Authority Score, AS

Domain Rating (DR, Ahrefs), Domain Authority (DA, Moz) and Authority Score (AS, Semrush) are logarithmic 0–100 scores that express the backlink strength of a domain. They are not an official Google signal — Google uses its own, unpublished PageRank successor. But as a rough third-party measure of a domain's backlink authority, they are practically unbeatable for competitor comparisons, outreach prioritisation and backlink quality assessment.

How the scores are calculated

All three providers use variably weighted models drawing on: the number of unique referring domains, their own authority (recursively), anchor text diversity and spam score classification. The scale is logarithmic — getting from DR 0 to 30 is far easier than from 50 to 70, because exponentially more quality backlinks are required. DR/DA/AS are not directly comparable: a domain with an Ahrefs DR of 60 may have a Moz DA of 45 and a Semrush AS of 38.

What the scores are useful for

Outreach prioritisation — when building backlinks, target domains that sit considerably higher than your own first.
Competitor comparison — how does your own backlink profile stand up against direct competitors?
Backlink quality filter — a new backlink from a DR 50 domain is worth more than one from DR 10.
Link building ROI — target values for campaign success.

What the scores are unsuitable for

Three anti-patterns: (1) Using them as an SEO KPI — DR/DA correlate with rankings but do not cause them. A high DR without topical relevance does not rank. (2) Cross-tool comparison — comparing Moz DA directly against Ahrefs DR makes no sense. (3) Buying domains purely on DR — a domain with DR 50 built on toxic backlinks is worthless or dangerous. Always check the backlink profile manually.

Example from practice

Example: An agency assesses two possible outreach targets: specialist blog A (DR 28, topically relevant, organic traffic growth of +40 % YoY) and marketing blog B (DR 62, no topical relevance, no organic traffic — all rankings are commercial categories from 2020). Despite the higher score, blog A is the better target: a backlink there brings topically relevant trust and potential referral traffic. Blog B is a backlink farm; the link achieves little and can backfire.

Frequently asked questions

What is Domain Rating (DR)?

Domain Rating (DR) is a 0–100 metric from Ahrefs that measures the backlink authority of a domain. It is based on the quantity and quality of incoming backlinks. Competing metrics: Moz Domain Authority, SE Ranking Domain Trust, Sistrix visibility index.

Is Domain Rating a Google ranking factor?

No — DR is a third-party metric. Google uses its own, secret authority signals (a PageRank successor). But DR correlates strongly with Google authority and is a good proxy for competitor comparisons and evaluating backlink targets.

How do you increase Domain Rating?

Exclusively through backlinks from strong domains. A single link from a DR 80 site often achieves more than 20 links from DR 20 sites. Focus on: specialist publications, authoritative blogs, studies and data reports that get cited.

What is a good DR value?

It depends on context. For new sites, DR 20–40 counts as solid. Established SME sites reach 40–60. Market leaders and large publications 70–90+. More important than the absolute value is the comparison with direct competitors in the same niche.

Used in Rankmio for

Domain rating comparison against competitors

Go to the feature →

Last updated: 2026-06-17 · Browse all glossary entries