Check any site's
Domain Rating.

What Domain Rating actually measures

Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' 0–100 score for the strength of a website's backlink profile: how many other sites link to it, and how authoritative those linking sites are. A brand-new site sits near 0; the web's biggest publishers sit in the 90s.

It's a third-party metric, not something Google publishes or ranks by directly. Treat it as a useful proxy for authority and a way to size up competitors, not as a score Google is grading you on.

How Ahrefs calculates Domain Rating

DR is built almost entirely from links. Ahrefs describes the calculation in roughly four steps:

1. 1Count the unique domains that link to the site with at least one dofollow link
2. 2Weigh each of those domains by its own Domain Rating
3. 3Split each linking domain's strength across every site it links to, so a link from a site that links out to few domains passes more
4. 4Place the result on a 0–100 logarithmic scale against every other site in Ahrefs' index

What Domain Rating ignores

Knowing what DR leaves out stops you reading too much into it. It looks at the link graph and little else, so these don't move it directly:

Extra links from the same site

Ten links from one domain count as one referring domain. Only the number of distinct sites matters.

Nofollow links

A domain needs at least one dofollow link to you to count. Nofollow, sponsored and UGC links on their own don't add to DR.

Traffic and rankings

A site can have a high DR and almost no search traffic. DR says nothing about whether Google actually ranks it.

Content quality and relevance

DR doesn't read your pages or check whether the sites linking to you cover your topic.

Whether the links look manipulated

Bought or swapped links can lift DR like any other link, which is why a high score alone doesn't prove a site is trustworthy.

How to read your number

DR is logarithmic, so the jump from 20 to 30 is far easier than 70 to 80. As a rough guide, under 20 is a new or low-authority site, 20 to 39 is building, 40 to 59 is established, 60 and up is strong, and 80 and up is elite. What matters most is your DR relative to the sites you're competing with, not the raw number.

If your competitors sit at 50 and you're at 25, that gap tells you to win on easier, long-tail keywords first while you close it.

What is a good Domain Rating?

There's no universal good score. A local plumber doesn't need the DR of a national newspaper, and a DR of 40 can lead a small niche while sitting mid-table in finance or software. The useful benchmark is the sites already ranking for the keywords you want. Here's how to find yours:

1. 1Search Google for the main keyword you want to rank for
2. 2Note the domains in the top five organic results, skipping giants like Wikipedia or Amazon that rank for everything
3. 3Check each one's Domain Rating with the checker above
4. 4Compare their range with your own DR
5. 5If you're within reach, compete on that keyword; if you're far below, target longer, less competitive variations first

Domain Rating vs Domain Authority vs Authority Score

Several SEO tools publish their own 0–100 authority score. They answer a similar question with different link data and different maths, so the same site can score 10 or 20 points apart across them. Don't convert one into another, and compare like with like.

Domain Rating (DR)

Ahrefs' score, built from the number and strength of unique domains linking to a site. Links only.

Domain Authority (DA)

Moz's score, a machine-learning estimate of how well a domain is likely to rank, based mainly on its link data.

Authority Score (AS)

Semrush's score, which combines backlinks with organic traffic and spam signals.

Page-level scores (UR and PA)

URL Rating (Ahrefs) and Page Authority (Moz) rate a single page rather than a whole domain. A strong page on a modest domain can outrank a weak page on a big one.

Five ways to use a DR check

A single number is most useful when it informs a decision. These are the common ones:

Size up a keyword

Check the DR of the sites ranking on page one before you commit to a topic. A results page full of DR 80+ sites is a long climb for a new site.

Benchmark a competitor

Compare your DR with a rival that outranks you. A big gap points to authority; a small gap points to content, intent or technical issues.

Vet a link or guest-post prospect

A link from a stronger, relevant site is usually worth more. Check that the site also gets real traffic, since a high DR with no visitors can mean an inflated link profile.

Track your own growth

Check your DR every month or two. A slow, steady climb means your link building is working; week-to-week wobbles aren't worth reacting to.

Sanity-check a site before you buy or partner

DR is a quick first look at how much authority a domain has built up. Follow it with a look at its backlinks and traffic before you rely on it.

Why Domain Rating goes down

Because DR is relative, it can fall even when you do nothing wrong. The usual causes:

Lost links

Sites that linked to you removed the link, changed it to nofollow or went offline.

Weaker linking sites

The domains linking to you lost authority themselves, so their links now pass less.

Others grew faster

When other sites earn links faster than you, your place on the scale slips even if your own profile stayed the same.

Index changes

Ahrefs recalculates DR as its crawler finds and drops links across the web, which can move scores up or down by a point or two.

How to actually raise it

There's only one honest way to move DR: earn links from real, relevant, trustworthy sites. Publish content worth citing, get mentioned where your audience already is, and skip the shortcuts. Bought links and spammy directories can stall or hurt you.

1. 1Publish genuinely link-worthy content: original data, in-depth guides, free tools
2. 2Earn mentions on relevant, trusted sites in your niche
3. 3Turn unlinked brand mentions into real links
4. 4Avoid bought links and spammy directories
5. 5Give it time: DR moves slowly, especially at the top of the scale

Does Domain Rating matter for AI search?

Indirectly, at most. AI tools that search the web before answering, like ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews, tend to cite pages that already rank, and links help pages rank. No AI company publishes how it picks sources, and there's no evidence any of them read DR itself.

Being mentioned on sites that cover your topic is widely believed to help AI tools link your brand with that topic, link or no link. Treat that as a likely benefit rather than a rule, and check whether AI tools mention you with the free AI visibility checker.