Domain Authority vs Domain Rating: What They Measure, What They Don’t, and How to Improve Both

13 min read · On-Page SEO · Last updated July 2026

Quick answer: Domain Authority (Moz) and Domain Rating (Ahrefs) are third-party link metrics, not Google signals. They measure the strength of a site’s backlink profile on a 0–100 logarithmic scale. They correlate with rankings but don’t cause them. Improving them means earning quality backlinks — there’s no shortcut.

Introduction

Every SEO client asks the same question eventually: “What’s our domain authority, and is it good?”

It’s a reasonable question. It’s just directed at the wrong metric.

Domain Authority (DA) from Moz and Domain Rating (DR) from Ahrefs are useful benchmarks — but they are not Google metrics. Google does not use either number in its ranking algorithm. Google doesn’t have a “domain authority” score at all — at least not one it makes public.

What these metrics do measure is real and useful: the comparative strength of a website’s backlink profile against the rest of the web. A site with DR 70 has a stronger, more diverse backlink profile than a site with DR 30. And yes, stronger backlink profiles do correlate with better rankings.

But correlation is not causation, and this distinction matters when you’re setting strategy.

This guide covers exactly what you need to know:

• The precise mechanics of how DA and DR are calculated
• Why they’re different from each other (and from Google PageRank)
• The real correlation between these scores and actual rankings
• Why your DA/DR can drop even when your SEO is improving
• How to increase it — the legitimate way

Table of Contents

1. What is Domain Authority (DA)?
2. What is Domain Rating (DR)?
3. DA vs. DR — Key Differences
4. Why Neither Is a Google Metric
5. How They Actually Correlate with Rankings
6. Why Your Score Drops (Even When Nothing Went Wrong)
7. The 6 Ways to Legitimately Improve Your DR/DA
8. What Score Is “Good” in Your Niche?
9. DA/DR Score Benchmarker (Interactive Tool)
10. Link Quality Evaluator (Interactive Tool)
11. FAQ
12. Conclusion

1. What is Domain Authority (DA)?

Domain Authority is a metric created by Moz in 2010 to predict how well a website might rank on search engines. It’s scored on a 0–100 logarithmic scale, where higher is better.

How DA is calculated (the Moz model):
– Number of unique root domains linking to your site (referring domains)
– Quality and authority of those linking domains (weighted by their own DA)
– Total number of links pointing to your site
– Your site’s own linking patterns (outbound links, spam score)
– Comparison against every other site in Moz’s index

Because it’s logarithmic, moving from DA 10 to DA 20 is relatively easy. Moving from DA 60 to DA 70 is extremely difficult — it requires a substantial number of high-authority links.

Important: DA resets when Moz updates its algorithm. When Moz released DA 2.0 in 2019, most sites saw their scores change significantly — sometimes dropping even though their actual backlink profiles hadn’t deteriorated. This is a key reason to use DA as a relative benchmark, not an absolute KPI.

2. What is Domain Rating (DR)?

Domain Rating is Ahrefs’ equivalent metric, introduced as part of Ahrefs’ site explorer tools. Like DA, it runs 0–100 on a logarithmic scale.

How DR is calculated (the Ahrefs model):
– Number of unique referring domains linking to your site
– The DR of those referring domains
– Number of unique domains each referring domain also links to (link dilution factor)

The link dilution factor is interesting: a link from a DR 70 site that links to 1,000 other sites is worth less than a link from a DR 70 site that links to only 30 sites. This better approximates PageRank’s “link juice” distribution model.

DR vs. DA — which is more reliable?
Ahrefs tends to have the larger and more frequently updated link database among the two. As of 2025, Ahrefs crawls ~6 billion web pages per day. DR is therefore often considered a more current reflection of a site’s actual link strength than Moz’s DA. But both have blind spots — no third-party tool indexes the web as completely as Google.

3. DA vs. DR — Key Differences

Neither is definitively “correct” — they measure the same underlying concept through different lenses. Use DR if you’re an Ahrefs shop; use DA if you’re a Moz shop. The most important thing is consistency: pick one and compare it to competitors using the same tool.

Key takeaway: DA and DR are vendor metrics built to approximate link authority. They’re useful benchmarks, not absolute measures of SEO strength.

4. Why Neither Is a Google Metric

This is the most misunderstood point in all of SEO client conversations.

Google’s ranking algorithm has many signals — estimated at 200+ factors. Link authority is certainly one of them, channeled through Google’s own proprietary PageRank algorithm (and its successors). But PageRank is not public. Google does not publish any site-level domain authority score.

Moz and Ahrefs created DA and DR to approximate what Google might value in a backlink profile. They’re educated guesses — very good ones, built by teams who have studied SEO for decades — but they are not Google signals.

What this means in practice:

1. A site with DA 35 can outrank a site with DA 65 if its on-page content, technical SEO, and content relevance are significantly better
2. Buying links to artificially inflate your DA/DR is likely to get you penalized by Google, even if the vendor’s DA score goes up
3. Chasing a DA/DR target is a proxy strategy — the actual goal is to earn quality links that improve both Google’s ranking evaluation AND your DA/DR simultaneously

Google’s closest public equivalent: Google used to publish Toolbar PageRank (0–10 for individual pages). They discontinued it in 2016. Since then, there’s no public Google metric for domain or page authority.

5. How They Actually Correlate with Rankings

Despite not being Google metrics, DA and DR do correlate meaningfully with rankings. The correlation is well-documented:

• Ahrefs’ own research found that DR explains ~6% of ranking variance for competitive head terms
• Semrush data shows that pages on domains with DR 50+ hold top-5 positions for competitive keywords at 3x the rate of DR 20 domains
• For very low-competition long-tail keywords, DR has almost no correlation — a DR 15 site can outrank a DR 70 site easily

What this correlation actually reflects: Sites with high DR/DA have earned many quality links. Quality links indicate trust, authority, and topical expertise — all signals Google’s algorithm evaluates. So the correlation is real, but it’s because both metrics are tracking the same underlying reality (link authority), not because Google reads your Moz DA score.

The local/niche exception: In local SEO (plumber in Kathmandu) or niche verticals (cat food for Bengals), a local business with DR 22 can outrank national brands with DR 80 because geographic relevance and local signals override domain-wide authority for locally-scoped queries. Don’t let your client’s DR 20 score discourage them from targeting local keywords.

6. Why Your Score Drops (Even When Nothing Went Wrong)

This is the most common source of client panic — and most of the time, it’s a false alarm.

Reason 1: Ahrefs or Moz Updated Their Algorithm
Both companies periodically update their scoring models. When Ahrefs releases a new version of its link index, sites across the web see DR changes — up, down, or flat — with no change to their actual backlink profile.

Reason 2: You Gained Links Faster Than Competitors
Because DA/DR is a relative score (you’re ranked against all other sites in the index), if thousands of sites gain links faster than you in a month, your score can drop even though your link profile actually improved in absolute terms.

Reason 3: High-DA Referring Domains Lost Some of Their Own Authority
If a site linking to you drops in DR (because they lost links), the link they pass to you becomes worth less, which can reduce your DR.

Reason 4: Link Attrition
Links die. Pages get deleted, sites go offline, content gets updated and your link gets removed. A site with 1,000 links will lose some every month. If you’re not actively building new links, the loss shows.

How to explain this to clients: “DR/DA are relative scores in a constantly recalibrated system. A month-to-month drop of 1–3 points is statistically normal and means nothing. What matters is the 12-month trend, and the quality of new links we’re earning.”

7. The 6 Ways to Legitimately Improve Your DR/DA

There is no shortcut. No software. No one-click solution. Every offer of “guaranteed DA increase in 30 days” is either link spam (which risks a Google penalty) or inflated metrics from a vendor who has gamed Moz’s or Ahrefs’ crawler.

Here’s what actually works:

Method 1: Earn Editorial Links Through Content Worth Linking To

Create data studies, original research, free tools, or definitive guides that journalists, bloggers, and industry publications reference naturally. A single piece of original research can earn 20–100+ high-quality links if it’s genuinely novel and well-distributed.

Example: A real estate company published annual rental yield data for suburbs across Sydney. Local news outlets picked it up. That one report earned 47 referring domains in 8 weeks, moving their DR from 24 to 31.

Method 2: Guest Posting on Genuine Publications

Not link farms — real industry publications that have editorial standards, traffic, and an engaged audience. Look for sites with DR 40+ in your niche. Offer a topic that genuinely adds value to their audience.

The limit: 1–2 guest posts per month is sustainable. Scaling to 20/month with thin content is what gets sites penalized.

Method 3: Digital PR

Create news-worthy assets — company milestones, original studies, expert commentary on trending topics — and pitch them to journalists via HARO (now Connectively), Muck Rack, or direct outreach. Links from news sites (The Guardian, Forbes, industry trade publications) carry massive authority and DR impact.

Method 4: Broken Link Building

Find broken links on high-DR sites in your niche, create replacement content, and reach out to the site owner to suggest your page as a replacement. Ahrefs Site Explorer → Broken Backlinks report on competitor sites gives you the target list.

Method 5: Resource Page Link Building

Many sites maintain “resources” or “useful links” pages in your industry. Search: inurl:resources "your niche" or intitle:"useful links" "your industry". Pitch your best tool or guide for inclusion.

Method 6: Link Reclamation

Find unlinked brand mentions (Google Alerts or Ahrefs Content Explorer for your brand name) and politely ask the author to add a link since they already referenced you. Conversion rate on these outreach emails is typically 20–40% — much higher than cold guest post pitches.

8. What Score Is “Good” in Your Niche?

“Good” is always relative to your competitors. A DR 25 might dominate a local niche; DR 25 means you’re invisible in a national finance category.

General benchmarks:
– DR 0–20: New sites, local businesses, niche blogs
– DR 20–35: Established small businesses, active blogs with some coverage
– DR 35–50: Industry-recognized companies, publications with regular press coverage
– DR 50–65: National brands, major publications, high-investment content sites
– DR 65–80: Top-tier brands, major news outlets, heavily linked platforms
– DR 80+: Wikipedia, Amazon, major government sites, top-tier media

The right benchmark: Export the DR of your top 3–5 competitors for your core target keywords using Ahrefs. Your goal is to reach their level or higher — not to hit an arbitrary round number.

9. DA/DR Score Benchmarker (Interactive Tool)

Compare your domain authority against competitors and understand where you stand.

10. Link Quality Evaluator (Interactive Tool)

Not all links are equal. Use this tool to evaluate whether a link opportunity is worth pursuing.

FAQ

Q: Should I target a specific DA/DR number as an SEO goal?
A: No. Set link-building activity goals instead: “earn X new referring domains from DR 30+ sites per month.” The DA/DR score will follow as a lagging indicator. Targeting the score directly leads to gaming behavior that doesn’t improve rankings.

Q: My DA dropped 5 points but my traffic went up. What happened?
A: This is common and shows exactly why DA/DR isn’t a ranking signal. You likely improved your on-page SEO, content quality, or earned relevant links that didn’t yet register in Moz’s index. The DA drop was probably Moz recalibrating its index. Trust your traffic over your DA.

Q: How often should I check my DR/DA?
A: Monthly at most. Some agencies check weekly and then panic at normal fluctuation. Monthly trend monitoring is sufficient — look at the 3-month and 12-month directions.

Q: Are paid link placements ever worth it?
A: Paid links that are disclosed (rel=”sponsored”) comply with Google’s guidelines and don’t risk penalties, but they also pass no PageRank value because Google devalues sponsored links. For DR/DA impact, only links that aren’t nofollowed or tagged sponsored count in full. The risk-reward of undisclosed paid links is almost never worth it.

Q: Can I improve DR/DA by linking out to high-authority sites?
A: No. Outbound links don’t directly affect your own DR/DA — these metrics measure inbound links. However, linking to high-quality sources does correlate with better content quality scores from Google, which can help rankings indirectly.

Q: What’s a realistic timeline to increase DR from 20 to 40?
A: With consistent link building (8–12 quality links per month from DR 30+ sites), this typically takes 12–18 months. Because the scale is logarithmic, moving from 40 to 60 takes significantly more effort and time.

Conclusion

Domain Authority and Domain Rating are useful tools in your SEO toolkit — but only when you use them correctly: as relative benchmarks for link-building progress, not as ranking predictors or client KPIs.

The three things to take away from this guide:

1. DA and DR measure backlink profile strength, not ranking ability
2. They correlate with rankings because both reflect real link authority — but correlation isn’t causation
3. The only legitimate way to improve them is to earn high-quality links through content, guest posting, digital PR, and proactive outreach

Use the benchmarker above to understand your competitive position, then use the link quality evaluator to ensure every link you pursue is actually worth your time.

The Ignited Nepal team runs link acquisition campaigns for businesses across Australia, Nepal, UAE, and beyond — building the kind of link profiles that move both DR/DA and actual Google rankings.

Get a link building strategy session → ignitednepal.com

Written by the Ignited Nepal team. ignitednepal.com