Domain Rating
Domain Rating, or DR, is Ahrefs' 100-point score for how strong a website's backlinks are next to the other sites in Ahrefs' database. A link counts for more when it comes from a site with a high rating that links out to few other sites. Ahrefs works it out from its own data, so it's Ahrefs' number, not Google's.
Source: Ahrefs Help Center, What is Domain Rating (DR)? (September 3, 2026), checked October 29, 2026
What Domain Rating means for your business
Your DR can fall without losing a single link, because Ahrefs scores you against everyone else, and other sites keep gaining links. Ahrefs also says its page-level score, URL Rating, lines up with Google rankings better than DR does.
DR often gets mixed up with Moz's Domain Authority. DR is built only from links. Moz describes Domain Authority as a prediction of how likely a site is to rank, and our Domain Authority entry covers it.
Ahrefs' help page says not to judge a site on DR alone, and suggests asking whether it gets real search traffic and covers topics close to yours. It also suggests using DR to pick sites to get links from. We'd ask a plainer question first: do your buyers read that site? To us, your trade association's member list or a well-read local blog can be worth more than a higher-rated site that has nothing to do with your trade. If someone's selling you on raising your DR and you can't see what it does for calls or bookings, we'll look at which of your links buyers actually see.
Last reviewed October 29, 2026. All terms
How AI answers it today
On October 29, 2026, Google's AI Overview credited DR to Ahrefs, cited Ahrefs' own pages and SEO blogs, and said Google doesn't use it. ChatGPT agreed without citing anything and offered its own rough scale, which it flagged as unofficial.
Our run through ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview, October 29, 2026. A sample, not what every buyer sees.
Related terms in links and authority
Find out where your brand stands.
Tell us what you're trying to figure out. We'll get back to you within one business day with a time to talk.