Domain Rating explained, and where to check it

You probably came here for a domain rating checker. We don’t have one, on purpose: here is why, where the real number lives, and what it actually measures.

Where to check DR, DA and backlinks for real

SourceWhat you getCost
Ahrefs Website Authority CheckerDR and referring-domain count for any domainFree, limited
Ahrefs Webmaster ToolsDR, full backlink list and site audit for sites you verifyFree for owners
Moz Link ExplorerDomain Authority (DA) and linksFree, limited queries
Google Search ConsoleTop linking sites, linked pages, anchor text (no score)Free for owners
Bing Webmaster ToolsBacklinks report, including for competitor domainsFree

Every score above comes from a company that crawls billions of pages to build its own link graph. LinkAnalyzerPro fetches pages on demand and has no such index, so it will never print a DR, DA or “authority” number. What it can do honestly: check the links on any page, and verify the backlinks those sources list for you.

Why each point of DR is harder than the last

Ahrefs describes DR as logarithmic: the gap between DR 70 and 80 is far larger than between 20 and 30. The toy model below shows the shape of that curve. Drag the slider to see how many strong linking domains a log-shaped scale demands at each level.

referring domains (log scale) →score

39/100 illustrative

ScoreDomains needed (toy model)Extra to gain the next 10 points
103+14
2017+60
3077+253
40330+1,083
501,413+4,620
606,033+19,713
7025,746+84,109
80109,855+358,879
90468,734+1,531,265

A toy logarithmic curve, not Ahrefs’ formula. Real DR also depends on how strong each linking domain is and how many sites it links to, and it is recalculated as the whole web’s link graph changes.

What DR is good for, and what it isn’t

  • Good for a quick comparison of link strength between sites, prioritising outreach targets, and spotting a site that suddenly lost many links.
  • Not a Google metric. Google has said repeatedly it doesn’t use third-party authority scores. A higher DR correlates with rankings because both follow from good links, not because DR causes anything.
  • Domain-level, not page-level. A strong domain can host a weak page. For single pages, Ahrefs uses URL Rating (UR) instead.
  • Easy to game. Link farms can inflate DR without improving real visibility. Always look at the traffic and the linking sites, not the score alone.

Questions people ask

What is Domain Rating (DR)?

Domain Rating is Ahrefs’ 0–100 score for the strength of a website’s backlink profile, based on how many unique domains link to it with followed links and how strong those domains are. It is Ahrefs’ own metric; Google does not use it.

Can LinkAnalyzerPro check my Domain Rating?

No. DR can only be computed by the company that crawls the web and maintains the link graph behind it. Any site that shows you a DR without Ahrefs’ data is guessing. Use Ahrefs’ free Website Authority Checker or Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for your real DR.

What is a good Domain Rating?

It is relative. Compare your DR with the sites ranking for the queries you want, not with an absolute target. A local bakery with DR 15 may outrank a national chain on local searches; a new SaaS blog competing with DR 80 publishers has more work to do.

What is the difference between DR and DA?

Domain Authority (DA) is Moz’s comparable 0–100 metric, and Authority Score is Semrush’s. Each is computed from its own crawler’s link index with its own formula, so the numbers are not interchangeable, and a site can have very different scores in each.

Why did my DR drop without losing links?

DR is relative to the whole web. If other sites gain links faster, or a domain linking to you loses strength or starts linking to many more sites, your DR can fall even though nothing changed on your side.

How do I increase Domain Rating?

Earn followed links from many different, relevant, well-linked websites. Content people cite (original data, tools, clear guides) earns links steadily. Buying links to push the number up breaks Google’s spam policies and does nothing for real rankings.

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