AnalyticsPublished02.05.2026

DR (Domain Rating)

A domain authority metric from Ahrefs, measured on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100. Industry standard for donor evaluation.

In brief

Domain Rating (DR) is a metric of a domain's link profile strength relative to other sites in Ahrefs' database. A higher DR means more unique domains link to the site, and those domains have higher DR themselves.

What is DR

A domain authority metric from Ahrefs. Industry standard for donor evaluation. DR shows the strength of a site's link profile compared to other sites in Ahrefs' database. Scale 0–100.

Logarithmic scale

Getting to DR 10 is easy. Raising DR from 70 to 80 is very hard. This reflects the real nature of link equity: high values require many quality inbound links.

How to use DR

  • For initial screening of potential donors
  • To track progress in building link mass
  • To compare with competitors in the same niche

Limitations

Remember: DR can be inflated with spammy links, so always look at organic traffic of the donor, not just the metric. DR does not account for topical relevance or the quality of each individual link.

DR is a third‑party metric. Google does not use it for ranking. High DR does not guarantee good rankings, and low DR does not mean a site is bad.
FAQ

Common questions

Ahrefs updates DR roughly every 24–48 hours, but full database updates happen less frequently. New links may appear with a delay.
DR evaluates the whole domain, UR evaluates a specific page. A page on a low‑DR domain can have high UR if it attracts many inbound links.
Buying links from high‑DR sites will increase DR, but it's risky and against Google's guidelines. Natural link building is safer long‑term.
DR may be inflated (PBN, bought links), or the site lost traffic due to penalties while keeping its links.
Depends on the niche. In highly competitive industries (finance, health), donors with DR 50+ are needed. In local niches, DR 10–30 may be enough.
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