If you intend your external link building to really work, you need to carefully examine the websites from which you receive links using various criteria.
One of the most important points to pay attention to is “Domain Rating.” This criterion shows how authoritative and strong a website’s link profile is and how high-quality its links are.
With the help of Domain Rating and a few other criteria, you can find good and reliable websites to get backlinks from. But what is Domain Rating (DR)? What impact does it have on SEO and how can you check it? Read the answers to these questions in this article.
What is Domain Rating?
Domain Rating (DR) is a number between 0 and 100, introduced by Ahrefs, that shows how many backlinks your website has and how strong and authoritative these links are. Of course, this number is not a Google ranking criterion, but the higher it is, the more authoritative websites have been linking to your website.
In essence, DR can be thought of as a score that determines the strength of your website’s link building. This criterion is similar to Google’s PageRank algorithm, except that it focuses on the entire domain instead of examining pages.
How does Domain Rating affect SEO?
The impact of Domain Rating on SEO, although not direct, can affect a website’s performance in search engines in various ways:
- Indirect impact on website ranking
Domain rate itself is not a Google ranking criterion, but websites with higher DR are seen in better rankings. The reason is that having a high domain rating means having high-quality backlinks, and Google attaches great importance to these links.
- Increased visibility in Google results
Websites with high Domain Rating are seen more often in Google results, because the number of authoritative links to them is high. This causes websites to receive more organic traffic because users are more likely to click on the first results of the SERP.
- Increased credibility and trust
A high Domain Rate shows that you have a reputable, old, and trustworthy website. When reputable websites link to your website, Google and users trust you more.
- Help with marketing and collaborations
If your website has a high Domain Rate, it is easier to collaborate with other websites, such as guest posting or link building.
- The role of DR in backlink health
Domain Rate shows how strong and healthy your website’s backlinks are. This helps with SEO, as websites with high DR are more likely to attract new, high-quality links, which improves your website’s ranking.
How is Domain Rate calculated?
Ahrefs uses a similar algorithm to PageRank to calculate Domain Rate, but instead of pages, the entire domain is examined. The steps for calculating DR are as follows:
- First, all domains that link to your website are identified.
- Then, from each linking domain, a portion of that domain’s authority (Link Juice) is transferred to your website. The amount of this authority is equal to the rank of the linking website divided by the number of different websites to which that website links.
- The authority transferred from all domains is added up and adjusted in the range of 0 to 100 to obtain the final DR number.
The important point is that only dofollow links and the first follow link from each domain have an impact on the Domain Rate Index, and nofollow links or too many outbound links from a domain reduce the authority of your website.
Factors that affect a website’s Domain Rate
When a website’s DR is high, it transfers more authority to other websites. For example, a website with a DR of 10 that links to only 3 websites may have a greater impact on your website’s ranking than a website with a DR of 80 that links to millions of other websites. Factors that affect Domain Rate include:
- Linking domain strength: Links from domains with high DR are more
- Number of linking domains: The more domains that link to your website, the higher your DR will be.
- Number of outbound links per domain: A domain with fewer links to other websites will transfer more authority to you.
Factors such as website traffic, domain age, content quality, social media, and spammy backlinks do not affect DR.
In general, Domain Rate is calculated between 0 and 100; This means that it is easier to move up from low scores (from 20 to 30) than high scores (from 70 to 80) because the competition is fiercer and you need stronger links. Only a small percentage of websites have a DR above 80.
What are the uses of the Domain Rate parameter?
Domain Rate is an important SEO metric that helps you analyze your competitors and better plan your website’s external link building.
- Competitor analysis and finding your position with DR
DR quickly compares the strength of your website’s backlink profile with your competitors. This allows you to identify your strengths and weaknesses and set realistic goals for improving link building.
- Finding the right websites for link building
When choosing websites to link to, Domain Rate shows you which websites have more value. Websites with a higher Domain Rate have a greater impact on the authority of your website.
However, having a high Domain Rate alone is not enough. When you review websites for link building, also pay attention to cases such as the quality of the links, the relevance of the content, the number of outbound links, and the stability of the website over time.
- Monitoring the health and growth of backlinks
Changes in Domain Rate indicate the impact of SEO efforts. An increase in this indicator demonstrates an improvement in the website’s credibility and success in link building, and a sudden decrease requires immediate investigation and action.
- Evaluate content and advertising partnerships
Domain Rate is a good criterion for measurement of the credibility and accessibility of advertising websites; a website with a high DR can help increase brand visibility.
- Evaluate content and advertising partnerships
Domain Rate is a good criterion for measurement of the credibility and accessibility of advertising websites; a website with a high DR can help increase brand visibility.
How to increase your Domain Rate?
Increasing your Domain Rate is not an easy task and requires time and careful planning. Your focus should be on getting quality links. Links with high DR assist to strengthen your website’s authority.
Finally, you should know that your main goal should not be just to increase your Domain Rate; as Ahrefs says, increasing DR is a natural result of building useful links. To increase ranking of your website domain, focus on the following:
- Quality over quantity: Focus on getting authoritative and relevant links instead of getting low-quality links.
- High DR websites: Links from authoritative websites with a low number of outbound links have a greater impact.
- Topical relevance: Links from websites related to your field are more beneficial for your Domain Rate.
Practical link building strategies
Also, you should follow these tips that can help improve your website’s Domain Rating Index:
- Write guest posts on reputable websites to get quality links.
- You can find new link building opportunities by reviewing your competitors’ links.
- High-quality content can naturally get links and is the foundation of a successful link building strategy.
- Connecting with people and brands active in your field can bring link building opportunities.
Also, low-quality or spammy links can harm your website and even cause Google penalties. To prevent this problem, you should review your website and remove harmful links. If it is not possible to remove them, use the Disavow tool in Search Console to disavow these links.
Is Domain Rating a Google ranking factor?
No, the domain rating provided by Ahrefs is not one of Google’s main factors. Google has repeatedly stated that it does not use criteria such as DR from Ahrefs or DA and PA from Moz in its algorithms. John Mueller, a senior analyst at Google, also confirmed this and said that Google does not have such a thing as “Domain Rate.”
Domain Rating only evaluates the strength of a website’s backlinks in comparison to the other websites. This indicator mostly helps SEO experts to check the quality of their own and their competitors’ link building.
The Impact of Domain Rate and Backlinks on SEO; Focus on Quality Over Score
Although Domain Rate does not directly affect a website’s ranking in Google, because backlinks play a crucial role in SEO, websites with higher Domain Rate scores have stronger backlinks. In fact, it is the backlinks themselves that affect a website’s ranking, not the Domain Rating score.
Also, link juice can be transferred to other pages on the website through internal link building, assisting them to be better visible in Google.
As a result, while Domain Rate is a useful tool for analysis, it should not be your only criterion. The main focus ought to be on creating quality and relevant backlinks, as these links will both increase the website’s ranking and help improve Domain Rate.
How to measure Domain Rating?
Measuring Domain Rate is very simple and is done using the Ahrefs tool, as DR is one of the company’s proprietary criteria.
To check the Domain Rate of your website or any other website, simply follow the steps below:
- First, enter the Website Explorer section on the Ahrefs website.
- Type the address of the desired website in the search bar and search.
- After searching, you will enter a page called “Overview”.
- On this page, information such as Domain Rating, number of backlinks, number of referring domains, and estimated website traffic are displayed.
As we said, Domain Rate is a logarithmic score between 0 and 100 and shows how authoritative the domain is based on the backlinks it has.
Note that Ahrefs does not have an indicator called “Domain Rate”; rather, DR and UR (URL Rating) are used to measure credibility. The higher the DR or UR, the higher the credibility of the website.
Ahrefs updates backlink data every 12 hours. Because of this, DR changes are also updated regularly. This helps you better track the impact of your link building activities.
What is a good score for the Domain Rating factor?
It is not possible to definitively determine a “good score” for Domain Rating, because Domain Rating is a relative criterion. Ahrefs also says that you cannot say that a Domain Rating of 30 is good, or 50, 60, or 70. It depends on your niche, your competitors, and your business goals.
Checking for a good score for the Domain Rate index
A good Domain Rate is when your Domain Rate is higher or at least similar to your main competitors and similar websites in your niche.
For example, if your competitors have a Domain Rating of around 40, having a score of 35 or more is good. But if your DR is 20, it needs to be improved. This comparison will help you compare your position in the market.
For a better understanding, you can divide websites into different categories based on Domain Rate, although these categories are approximate and may differ depending on the field of activity:
- Very powerful websites: Domain Rate around 90 to 100 (such as Google, Facebook, Amazon). It is almost impossible to compete with these websites.
- Reputable websites: Domain Rate around 50 to 80. These websites have high authority and have received strong backlinks from reputable websites.
- Growing websites: Domain Rate around 20 to 40. These websites may be just starting out and are still building their backlinks.
- New websites: Domain Rate less than 15. These websites have few backlinks.
Finally, instead of focusing on a specific number, it is always better to work on improving your backlink profile and getting quality links from reputable websites. This will naturally improve your DR compared to your competitors and increase your chances to gain better ranking.
If a website has a high DR score, is it good for getting backlinks?
Websites with a high Domain Rate score are good for getting backlinks because they are more authoritative and their links have a greater impact on your website’s ranking. But DR is not the only important factor and you should also pay attention to the following:
- Quality of backlinks: The website should have high-quality links. If a website with a high Domain Rate has low-quality links, its link value will be lower.
- Number of pages on the website: Websites with fewer pages have more influence on their links.
- Number of external links: If the website links to many other websites, the influence of your link will be lower. In this case, a link from a website with a lower DR but fewer links may be more useful.
- Quality of content: The website should have useful and up-to-date content. Links from websites with authoritative content are more valuable.
- Website stability: Make sure the website will remain active for a long time. Links from stable websites are better.
- Organic traffic: Websites with real traffic are more credible.
- Topical relevance: The most important factor is the relevance of the linking website to your website. If the linking website is relevant to your Field of activity, even with a low Domain Rate score, the link is worth more.
Ultimately, a high Domain Rating is good, but you should consider all of these factors to make a better decision.
Why your DR score drops without losing backlinks
Dropping your Domain Rating without losing backlinks may seem a bit complicated, but the main reason for it comes down to how Ahrefs calculates Domain Rate.
Domain Rate is a relative ranking criterion, not a fixed score, that shows the strength of your website’s backlink profile compared to other websites in the Ahrefs database.
The major reasons for DR drops without losing backlinks are:
- Other websites’ link building progress: While your website will not lose its backlinks, other websites may gain new, stronger backlinks. This will cause your website to rank lower in comparison to them.
- Loss of quality backlinks: If strong backlinks are lost and fewer quality backlinks remain, your Domain Rate may drop, even if the number of backlinks remains the same.
- Changing links from dofollow to nofollow: If some follow links change to nofollow, your website’s Domain Rating will drop because nofollow links are not included in the DR calculation.
- Decline in the Domain Rating of referring domains: If the websites that link to you lose their Domain Rate, the authority of the incoming links to your website will also diminish.
To check the cause of the decrease in Domain Rating, you can check the “Referring Domains” report in Ahrefs and see which domains you have lost or DR of which domains have decreased.
Comparing Domain Rating to other SEO criteria
Domain Rating is one of the most crucial criteria in SEO analysis, but it is not the only one. Here, we compare it to a few other commonly used criteria:
Domain Authority (DA) from Moz
- It works similarly to DR and assesses the overall authority of a domain.
- It uses different algorithms and data.
- Its results are close to Domain Rate, but the scores are not necessarily the same.
Trust Flow (TF) from Majestic
- It focuses on the quality and trustworthiness of backlinks.
- It provides deeper insight into the value of inbound links.
- It is a good complement to DR.
Citation Flow (CF) from Majestic
- focuses more on the number of inbound links, not their quality.
- In addition to DR, it can provide a more complete picture of a website’s link building status.
Nonetheless, always consider Domain Rate alongside other criteria and factors to have a strong SEO strategy.
