Domain Rating vs Domain Authority: what they measure
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' 0–100 score of the strength of a site's backlink profile; Domain Authority (DA) is Moz's 1–100 prediction of how well a domain will rank. Both are logarithmic, both come from the vendor's own link index, and Google uses neither. They are useful for comparing sites, for example the outlets a press release runs on, not as goals in themselves.
Updated · Citable
Side by side
| Domain Rating (DR) | Domain Authority (DA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Ahrefs | Moz |
| Scale | 0–100, logarithmic | 1–100, logarithmic |
| Based on | Unique referring domains with dofollow links, weighted by their own DR | Link data fed into a model that predicts ranking |
| Similar metrics | Semrush Authority Score, Majestic Trust Flow | |
| Used by Google | No | No |
What is a good score?
| Range | Typical sites |
|---|---|
| 0–20 | New or small sites |
| 20–40 | Established small businesses and blogs |
| 40–60 | Strong niche sites, growing SaaS |
| 60–80 | Major brands, large publications |
| 80–100 | The biggest sites on the web: major news outlets, platforms |
For example, the top outlets in Citable's press release network reach DR 92 (USA Today and AP News, in the wire's sample report).
How to use them
- Compare a link opportunity with others: a relevant DR 50 site usually beats an irrelevant DR 80 one.
- Track your own trend in one tool.
- Compare yourself with competitors who rank for your terms.
- Do not buy links for DR; Google does not use it, and paid links break its policies.
To grow it naturally: how to increase Domain Rating.
Questions people ask
Why is my DR different from my DA?
They use different crawlers, link indexes and formulas. A gap between them is normal.
Does Google have a domain authority score?
Google has said it does not use a single "domain authority" metric like DA. It uses many signals, including links, at the page and site level.