Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA)
Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA) are third-party scores that estimate the strength of a website's backlink profile on a 0–100 scale. DR is Ahrefs' metric and DA is Moz's; neither is a Google metric and neither is used by Google to rank anything.
Also called: DR, DA, DA vs DR, DA rating, domain authority, domain rating, site authority
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This is the most consequential misunderstanding in the field. Both scores are proprietary models built from each vendor's own crawl of the web, and both are logarithmic - moving from 20 to 30 is far easier than moving from 70 to 80. Because the vendors crawl different portions of the web with different methods, the same site routinely scores differently in each tool, and neither number is wrong; they are simply different estimates.
The scores are still useful, in the specific way an estimate is useful: as a fast, comparative filter when you are looking at hundreds of candidate sites and need to triage. They are a poor basis for a hard threshold, because a site's score says nothing about whether its audience overlaps yours - and topical relevance is the thing that actually makes a link valuable.
Filtering purely on these scores also has a predictable failure mode: it selects for sites that have optimized their own score, which correlates uncomfortably well with sites that sell links. A high number with no real audience is a warning sign, not a qualification.
DA vs DR: how each score is built
Both scores answer roughly the same question - how strong is this site's backlink profile compared with everyone else's - from different data and with different math.
- Domain Rating (Ahrefs). Based on how many unique websites link to the site with at least one followed link, weighted by those websites' own DR and by how many other sites each of them links to. It is purely a link metric, shown on a logarithmic 0-100 scale relative to every other site in Ahrefs' index.
- Domain Authority (Moz). A machine-learning model that Moz describes as predicting how likely a site is to rank, built from link data in Moz's own index such as linking root domains. Because it is trained against search results rather than computed from links alone, it can move when the model is retrained even if a site's links have not changed.
Other authority scores you will see
Every major SEO suite publishes its own site-level score, and none of them is interchangeable with another. Semrush's Authority Score blends link data with organic traffic and spam signals; Majestic's Trust Flow and Citation Flow separate how trustworthy a site's linking neighborhood looks from how much link volume it has. Compare sites using one metric from one vendor, and never compare a DR with a DA.
How to check a site's DA or DR
Ahrefs and Moz both offer free lookup tools that return a site's score with a daily limit, and browser extensions from either vendor show it for the page you are on. Remember that the number reflects that vendor's crawl as of its last update, so a site that earned links last week may not show them yet.
How the scores go up
Both scores rise when more websites with strong link profiles of their own start linking to you, which means the only durable way to raise them is the same work that helps rankings: earning links from relevant sites people read. Because the scales are logarithmic, each point is harder to gain than the last.
Treat them as a progress indicator, never a target. Services that promise to raise your DA or DR quickly usually do it with links from networks built to inflate exactly those metrics, which raises the number while adding links Google ignores or, worse, counts against you.
Common questions
Is Domain Rating the same as Domain Authority?
No. Domain Rating is Ahrefs' score and Domain Authority is Moz's, each computed from that vendor's own web crawl with its own model. They measure a similar idea on a similar 0–100 scale, so they correlate loosely, but the same site will usually have two different numbers.
Does Google use Domain Authority or Domain Rating?
No. Both are third-party metrics created by SEO tool vendors, and Google representatives have repeatedly said Google has no equivalent single site-wide authority score that it uses for ranking. They are estimates of link strength, useful for comparison between sites and nothing more.
What is a good DR to look for in a link?
There is no correct threshold, and treating one as a rule tends to select for sites that optimize their own score. Relevance to your topic and evidence of a real audience matter more than the number; use the score to triage a large list, then judge the shortlist on substance.
What is a DA rating?
"DA rating" usually means Domain Authority, Moz's 0-100 score estimating how strong a website's backlink profile is and how likely it is to rank. It is a third-party metric, not a Google one, and it is most useful for comparing sites with each other rather than as an absolute grade.
What is a good Domain Authority or Domain Rating for my own site?
One that is competitive with the sites ranking for the queries you want. The scales are relative and logarithmic, so a score of 30 can be strong in a small niche and weak in a crowded one. Compare yourself with the pages you are competing against, using the same tool for every site.