Free Domain Rating Checker: Check website authority for any site

What Domain Rating measures, and what it doesn't

Domain Rating is a score from 0 to 100 for how strong a website's backlink profile is compared with every other site. Ahrefs created it. It looks at links only, so it says nothing about content, traffic or how old a site is. Use it to compare sites, not as a goal.

1. 1

   Ahrefs defines DR as showing "the relative strength of a website's backlink profile", on a logarithmic 0 to 100 scale. Going from 70 to 71 takes far more links than going from 20 to 21.

   Source: Ahrefs, Domain Rating

2. 2

   Google says it doesn't use these scores. Asked about Moz's metric, Google's John Mueller wrote in 2020: "We don't use domain authority at all in our algorithms." Ahrefs itself reminds readers that "Google ranks pages, not websites".

   Source: John Mueller on X, as collected by Search Engine Journal

3. 3

   Mueller has also said Google has site-wide signals of its own that may overlap with the same idea. Those are private and aren't these scores. No third-party number shows them.

   Source: Search Engine Journal

4. 4

   Each tool scores differently. Moz's Domain Authority predicts ranking ability, and Semrush's Authority Score runs 1 to 100 and mixes links with estimated traffic and spam signals. Numbers from different tools aren't comparable.

   Source: Semrush, Search Engine Journal on Moz

5. 5

   The web is very bottom-heavy. Ahrefs says its index holds 286 million domains, so a global rank of 2.66 million, where a DR 34 bookshop sat when we checked, is already near the top 1%.

   Source: Ahrefs big data and our own check below

Weighing DA against DR for a real decision? Our separate guide covers it: Moz DA vs Ahrefs DR, which one actually matters. This tool shows DR and doesn't show Moz DA or PA. The closest thing to PA here is UR, the link strength of the homepage alone.

What is a good Domain Rating?

A good DR is one close to, or above, the sites ranking for the keywords you want. There is no universal target: a local plumber can do well with a low score, while a software company chasing competitive terms usually needs a far higher one. These bands are our own way of reading the scale, not an industry standard.

DR 0 to 20New or few links

Few sites link here yet, or the links are weak. Most new sites and small local businesses start in this range.

DR 21 to 40Growing

The site has a real base of links. On the log scale, it already beats most domains on the web.

DR 41 to 60Established

A solid link profile, typical of a well-known local brand or a blog people cite. Each point now takes more links to earn.

DR 61 to 80Strong

A strong link profile, typical of popular blogs and well-known brands, like the food and travel blogs on this chart.

DR 81 to 100Top of the web

The strongest sites online: major media, big SaaS, platforms. Points here are very slow to move.

Real sites, real scores

We ran these sites through this checker on October 31, 2026. "Top share" divides each global rank by the 286 million domains Ahrefs says it indexes, so treat it as a guide, not a census.

How to raise your Domain Rating

DR rises when stronger sites start linking to you, and these steps follow from how Ahrefs says the score is worked out. Raising it is a side effect, not the goal: links help the pages they point to rank, and that's what brings visitors.

1. 1

   Earn links from new domains

   Only the first link from each site counts toward DR. Ten links from ten sites do far more than ten links from one.

2. 2

   Aim for stronger sites

   A linking site passes on its own DR, split across every site it links to. A focused DR 60 blog gives more than a directory that links to everyone.

3. 3

   Get followed links

   Ahrefs says nofollow links don't raise DR. They can still send visitors, but they won't move this number.

4. 4

   Publish things people cite

   Original data, free tools and clear guides collect links by themselves, and they keep collecting after the outreach stops.

5. 5

   Keep what you have

   A link that disappears stops counting. Fix broken pages that have links pointing to them, and check your key links now and then.

Want to look closer first? The backlink checker lists a site's links, and the domain age checker shows how long it has had to earn them.