Want to check your website’s Domain Rating in Ahrefs? The quickest option is Ahrefs’ free Website Authority Checker. Enter your domain, run the check, and Ahrefs will show your current Domain Rating (DR) on a scale from 0 to 100.
Domain Rating is Ahrefs’ metric for measuring the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile. A higher DR generally means the domain has a stronger backlink profile, but DR is not a Google ranking factor and should not be judged in isolation.
The most useful way to interpret DR is to compare your website with direct SEO competitors and the sites ranking for the keywords you want to target. In this guide, we’ll show you how to check Domain Rating in Ahrefs, explain what the score means, compare DR with URL Rating, cover its limitations, and show how to use it for practical SEO decisions.
How to Check Domain Rating in Ahrefs
There are two straightforward ways to check Domain Rating in Ahrefs: use the free Website Authority Checker for a quick lookup, or use Site Explorer if you have Ahrefs access and want more backlink context.
Method 1: Use the Free Ahrefs Website Authority Checker
- Go to the Ahrefs Website Authority Checker.
- Enter the domain you want to analyse.
- Click Check Authority.
- Review the Domain Rating shown for the website.
This is the best option when you simply want to check the DR of your own website, a competitor, or a potential backlink source without opening a full backlink report.
Method 2: Check Domain Rating in Ahrefs Site Explorer
- Log in to your Ahrefs account.
- Open Site Explorer.
- Enter the domain or website you want to analyse.
- Open the Overview report.
- Find the Domain Rating (DR) metric.
Site Explorer is more useful when you want to understand what sits behind the DR score. Alongside Domain Rating, review referring domains, backlinks, organic traffic and the strength of individual URLs.
Can You Check Domain Rating for Free?
Yes. Ahrefs provides a free Website Authority Checker that lets you check the Domain Rating of a website without a paid Ahrefs subscription. For deeper backlink reports, historical changes and competitor analysis, you may need access to additional Ahrefs features.
What Is Ahrefs Domain Rating?
Ahrefs Domain Rating, or DR, is a 0 to 100 metric that measures the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile. Ahrefs calculates it primarily from followed links pointing to a domain, the strength of the referring domains, and how many other websites those referring domains link to.
Because DR uses a logarithmic scale, moving from DR 20 to DR 30 is generally easier than moving from DR 70 to DR 80.
DR is not a Google ranking factor. It is an Ahrefs metric designed to help SEOs compare backlink profiles. A high DR can correlate with stronger organic performance because strong websites often earn more high-quality backlinks, but increasing DR itself does not guarantee higher rankings.
If you want to go beyond the headline score, our guide on how to find competitor backlinks using Ahrefs shows how to identify the referring domains contributing to a competitor’s backlink advantage.
How Is Ahrefs Domain Rating Calculated?
Ahrefs does not calculate DR from traffic, content quality, domain age or how relevant a website is to your niche. The score is primarily link-based.
- The number of unique followed referring domains linking to the site.
- The Domain Rating of those referring domains.
- How many other unique domains those referring websites link to.
- The relative strength of the backlink profile compared with other domains in Ahrefs’ index.
This is why a competitor can sometimes have fewer total backlinks but a higher DR. Links from stronger referring domains can have more impact than a large number of links from weak websites.
Domain Rating vs URL Rating: What’s the Difference?
Domain Rating measures the backlink strength of the entire domain, while URL Rating measures the backlink strength of an individual page.
| Metric | Measures | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Rating (DR) | Overall domain backlink strength | Comparing websites and overall authority |
| URL Rating (UR) | Backlink strength of one page | Comparing individual ranking pages |
For example, Website A may have DR 75, but the page competing with you could have very few backlinks. Website B may have DR 45, but its competing page could have dozens of strong page-level links. If you look only at DR, Website A appears harder to beat. UR and page-level backlink data may tell a different story.
Use DR for domain-level benchmarking. Use UR and page-specific backlinks when evaluating the strength of a page ranking for a particular keyword.
What Is a Good Domain Rating in Ahrefs?
There is no universal Domain Rating score that counts as good. A useful DR is one that is competitive for your industry, your closest search competitors and the websites currently ranking for the keywords that matter to your business.
| What to compare | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Your direct SEO competitors | Shows whether your backlink profile is competitive in your market |
| Sites ranking for target keywords | Shows the level of domain authority present in the SERP |
| Your own historical DR | Shows whether your backlink profile is strengthening over time |
A DR of 35 could be strong in a niche where most established competitors sit between DR 20 and 40. The same score could be relatively weak in a market dominated by DR 70+ websites.
For SaaS specifically, Ahrefs’ 2026 analysis of 600 SaaS companies found a median DR of 62, with the top quartile at 77 and the top 10% at 86. These are useful context points, not universal targets. Your own benchmark should still be based on the competitors and search results relevant to your category.
Limitations of Ahrefs Domain Rating
Domain Rating is useful, but it is easy to misuse if you treat it as a complete measure of SEO quality.
- DR is not a Google metric. Google does not use Ahrefs Domain Rating as a ranking factor.
- DR does not measure content quality. A high-DR domain can still publish weak or irrelevant content.
- DR does not measure search intent. It tells you nothing about whether a page satisfies the query.
- DR does not measure topical relevance. A high-DR backlink can still be unrelated to your industry.
- DR does not guarantee rankings. Individual page strength, content, technical SEO and internal links also matter.
- DR can be manipulated. Sites built primarily to accumulate or exchange links may show strong-looking authority metrics without being valuable backlink opportunities.
This is why you should evaluate backlinks using more than DR alone. Relevance, editorial quality, organic visibility, page-level strength and whether the site has a genuine audience all matter. Our link-building guide covers how to evaluate and earn stronger links without treating authority scores as the only goal.
Ahrefs DR vs Moz DA vs Semrush Authority Score
Ahrefs Domain Rating is not the only authority metric. Moz and Semrush use their own systems, and the scores should not be treated as interchangeable.
| Metric | Tool | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Rating | Ahrefs | Relative strength of the domain’s backlink profile |
| Domain Authority | Moz | Proprietary domain-level authority score |
| Authority Score | Semrush | Website quality using backlink, traffic and spam-related signals |
The important thing is consistency. Do not compare an Ahrefs DR of 40 directly with a Semrush Authority Score of 40 and assume the domains have equal authority.
Why Did My Domain Rating Drop?
A drop in Domain Rating does not always mean something is wrong with your SEO. DR is a relative backlink metric, so the score can change as Ahrefs discovers new links across the web and recalculates the relative strength of domains.
- You lost valuable followed backlinks or referring domains.
- A strong website linking to you lost authority.
- A followed backlink changed to nofollow.
- Other websites gained stronger backlink profiles, changing the relative scale.
If your DR drops, check lost backlinks and referring domains first. A backlink audit can also help you review broader changes in backlink health.
How to Improve Domain Rating in Ahrefs
If you want to improve DR, the main lever is earning more high-quality followed backlinks from strong referring domains. The goal, however, should not be to manipulate a metric. A higher DR should be the result of a stronger backlink profile.
1. Earn Links From New Referring Domains
Links from new strong referring domains can strengthen DR more than repeatedly earning links from the same website.
2. Analyse Competitor Backlinks
Find websites that already link to your competitors but not to you. These often reveal realistic industry publications, resource pages, directories and partner opportunities.
Use our Ahrefs competitor backlink tutorial for the step-by-step process.
3. Create Content Worth Linking To
Original research, benchmarks, tools, templates, detailed tutorials and first-party data give other websites a stronger reason to cite you than generic content.
4. Reclaim Lost Links
Check for backlinks pointing to deleted pages, changed URLs or outdated destinations. Restoring a page or implementing the correct redirect can sometimes recover link value you already earned.
5. Prioritise Quality and Relevance
A high-DR website is not automatically a good backlink opportunity. Look at topical relevance, editorial standards, organic visibility, the linking page and whether the website has a real audience.
How to Use Domain Rating for Competitor Analysis
DR is most useful when you compare your domain against three to five websites competing for the same audience and keywords.
- Compare overall DR.
- Compare the number and quality of referring domains.
- Check links pointing to the pages ranking for your target keywords.
- Identify domains linking to several competitors but not to you.
- Prioritise opportunities based on relevance and editorial quality, not DR alone.
If you are tracking this alongside broader SEO performance, your SEO reporting should include backlink and authority trends alongside rankings, traffic and conversions.
How Often Should You Check Domain Rating?
For most websites, checking DR once a month is enough. Monitor it weekly if you are running an active link-building campaign or investigating a sudden backlink change, and quarterly if you only need long-term competitor benchmarking.
Do not track DR alone. Monitor it alongside relevant referring domains, organic rankings, search traffic, conversions and the backlink strength of your most important pages.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good Domain Rating in Ahrefs?
There is no universal good DR. Compare your score with direct SEO competitors and the websites ranking for the keywords you want to target. A DR that is competitive in one industry may be weak in another.
Is Domain Rating a Google ranking factor?
No. Domain Rating is an Ahrefs metric, not a Google ranking factor. It measures backlink strength and can be useful for benchmarking, but a higher DR does not guarantee higher rankings.
How is Ahrefs Domain Rating calculated?
Ahrefs calculates DR primarily from followed referring domains, the strength of those domains, and how many other websites those referring domains link to. DR is a relative metric on a 0 to 100 logarithmic scale.
What is the difference between DR and UR in Ahrefs?
DR measures the backlink strength of an entire domain, while UR measures the backlink strength of an individual URL. Use DR for website-level comparisons and UR when comparing specific pages.
Can Domain Rating decrease?
Yes. DR can decrease if you lose strong followed backlinks, if referring domains become weaker, or because Ahrefs recalculates the relative strength of websites in its index.
How can I increase my Domain Rating?
The main way to strengthen DR is to earn high-quality followed backlinks from strong referring domains. Focus on relevant editorial links, original research, linkable resources, competitor backlink gaps and reclaiming lost links.
Can I check Ahrefs Domain Rating for free?
Yes. Ahrefs offers a free Website Authority Checker that lets you check a website’s Domain Rating without a paid subscription.
Why does my competitor have a higher DR with fewer backlinks?
Total backlink count is not the only factor. A competitor can have fewer backlinks but a higher DR if those links come from stronger referring domains. Unique referring domains are generally more useful to compare than raw backlink totals.
Final Takeaway
Checking Domain Rating in Ahrefs is useful, but the number itself should never become the goal. Use DR to benchmark your backlink profile, understand competitor strength and identify where stronger referring domains may be helping other websites outperform you.
Then look beyond the score. Review page-level backlinks, topical relevance, rankings, organic traffic and the quality of the websites linking to you. If you want to strengthen the wider SEO system around authority, content and technical performance, see our AI-powered SEO resources.