Domain Rating (DR)

Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' metric for measuring the authority of a website's backlink profile. Scored on a logarithmic 0-100 scale, it reflects how many websites link to you and how strong those linking domains are. The logarithmic scale means going from DR 70 to DR 80 is far harder than going from DR 10 to DR 20. DR is frequently used as a proxy for how well a site will rank in Google, though it's not a direct ranking factor. A high DR means Google is more likely to trust your content, which translates into ranking faster and for more competitive keywords. Improving DR requires building backlinks from other high-DR domains—editorial links from major publications, guest posts on authoritative sites, and getting cited as a source in your industry. Buying links or mass link schemes can temporarily inflate DR but risk Google penalties. Where DR matters most: in competitive niches, a site with DR 60 will almost always outrank a DR 20 site on the same keyword, even with slightly worse content. Building DR is a long game—most new sites take 12-24 months to reach DR 40+.

• 1A DR 75 site linking to you passes significantly more authority than a DR 20 blog
• 2New SaaS site grew from DR 12 to DR 48 in 18 months through consistent link-building