What is Domain Rating?
Domain Rating (DR) is a metric by Ahrefs that scores the strength of a website’s backlink profile on a 0-100 scale. It is based primarily on the number and quality of unique domains linking to the site — the more authoritative the linking domains, the higher the DR.
Why DR matters
DR is one of the most-used indicators of a site’s authority when evaluating link building opportunities and comparing competitors. While Google does not use DR directly, sites with higher DR tend to rank better and pass more value through their links.
How to improve DR
- Acquire backlinks from diverse, authoritative referring domains.
- Earn editorial links via content and digital PR.
- Prune low-quality or spammy backlinks.
- Avoid link velocity spikes from low-quality sources.
DR in practice
Use DR as a filter, not a rule: a DR-50 site on your exact topic can be worth more than a DR-80 site with no topical relevance. Relevance and traffic always matter more than a single score.
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How Social SEO Team can help
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