Domain Rating
Learn what domain rating means in Ahrefs, how this metric measures backlink profile strength on a 0-100 scale, and its role in SEO link evaluation
Domain Rating (DR) is a proprietary metric from Ahrefs that evaluates the overall strength of a website’s backlink profile on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100. DR considers the quantity and quality of external backlinks pointing to a domain. It’s one of the most widely used metrics in the SEO industry for quickly assessing a website’s link authority. During link building, DR helps prioritize outreach targets — sites with higher DR generally offer more valuable link equity. However, DR should be used alongside other quality indicators like traffic, topical relevance, and content quality rather than as a sole decision-making criterion for link acquisition.