Although it is not an official ranking factor used by Google, which keeps its internal authority metrics private, Domain Rating (DR) is a highly valued rating within the SEO community.
This is because it can help to offer insight into a site’s authority.
So what is DR, how is it calculated, and what does your score say about your website?
Let’s dive deeper into how it works and, ultimately, what you can do to help improve your website’s rating.
Firstly, what is Domain Rating?
Domain Rating is a metric developed by the SEO tool Ahrefs to measure the strength of a website’s backlink profile on a scale of 1-100, based on the quantity and quality of the referring domains linking to it.
Backlinks can be thought of as a ‘vote of confidence’ from another website.
Generally, the more high-quality, unique referring domains in your backlink profile, the more authority is passed to your site, which can, in turn, increase your DR.
It’s also important to note that DR is a relative metric that compares a site’s backlink profile to other websites using Ahrefs’ data.
Because Ahrefs regularly updates its index and recalculates scores, DR can drop even if no backlinks have been lost.
Alongside DR, Ahrefs also provides a page-specific metric called URL Rating (UR).
In contrast to DR, UR assesses the strength of an individual page’s link profile rather than the domain’s overall link signals, providing insights into the page’s link authority.
Similar insights are also available from other SEO tools, such as Moz’s Domain Authority (DA).
However, unlike DR, which focuses solely on the backlink profile, DA measures a website’s potential to rank in search results by analysing link signals alongside other factors.
Listen along with Tilly Hayes as she explains more about link juice.
How does Ahrefs calculate DR?
Ahrefs calculates a site’s DR by analysing its link profile, based on the number and quality of backlinks from unique referring domains and the authority of those websites themselves.
Not all backlinks are equal. In this way, links from authoritative domains, especially when placed naturally within a relevant and topical piece of content, are often more valuable than a large number of low-quality, non-relevant backlinks.
Ahrefs (and Google) value links from reputable, relevant sites and articles, so trying to increase DR with dozens of low-quality links tends to be less effective than with a few high-quality ones.
Google is also good at spotting spammy link building, and these links can do more harm than good, so low-quality backlinks are best avoided.
A backlink from a high-DR site, however, doesn’t automatically hold more value if it links out to a huge number of websites.
In general, the more a site links out, the more its authority is ‘diluted’ across those links, so a link from a highly authoritative site that links out selectively can be more valuable than one from a site that links out heavily.
Ahrefs also looks for unique domains as the first ‘dofollow’ link from a website is generally the one that moves the needle, with any others from the same site offering little benefit thereafter.
As a result, it is better to gather high-quality backlinks from different sites, as these then compound and help increase your website’s DR score.
Finally, DR uses a logarithmic scale, meaning it is more challenging to move from 70 to 80 than from 20 to 30.
Why does Domain Rating matter?
DR can provide insight into a website’s backlink authority and can indicate the strength of competitors’ backlink profiles, offering valuable guidance for future improvements to your own site’s backlink efforts.
Although DR is not a direct ranking factor for Google, it can correlate with organic visibility.
A site with a high DR usually indicates a strong, authoritative online presence, which Google and other search engines look for.
Monitoring your website’s DR, along with your competitors’, is useful to help you gauge the effectiveness of backlink campaigns, understand your site’s authority, and benchmark your website against others in the industry.
How can you improve your DR?
When looking to improve your website’s DR, there are various strategies to consider that an experienced SEO agency can help you implement.
You can work to build your score through:
- Earn high-quality, relevant backlinks via content marketing and digital PR
- Build guest posts and relevant partnerships
- Reclaim link value by fixing broken backlinks (and updating redirects)
- Create link-worthy content (original research, stats, tools, guides)
Ready to improve your site’s authority?
Here at Marketing Labs, we can help you optimise your website’s backlink profile, placing it in the best position to boost organic traffic and ranking potential.
Book an SEO discovery call to get started.
