If you've ever checked a website's "authority" score and gotten two completely different numbers from two different tools, you're not imagining a bug. Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA) are separate metrics built by separate companies, using separate data and separate math. Comparing domain rating vs domain authority side by side is one of the most common sources of confusion in SEO, and it trips up beginners and experienced marketers alike.
This article breaks down what each metric actually measures, where they overlap, where they diverge, and how to use them without misreading your site's real competitive position. You'll also see practical examples of situations where DR and DA disagree, and how to use RankBuddy's free Domain Rating Checker to get a fast, practical read on where your site — or a competitor's — actually stands.
What Is Domain Rating (Ahrefs DR)?
Domain Rating is a metric developed by Ahrefs. It scores a website's backlink profile on a scale from 0 to 100, based primarily on the quantity and quality of unique referring domains linking to it. The core idea behind Ahrefs domain rating is straightforward: sites that earn links from many different, well-linked domains tend to rank better than sites with a thin or spammy backlink profile.
A few things matter for DR:
- Referring domains matter more than referring pages. Getting 50 links from one site helps far less than getting one link each from 50 different sites.
- The authority of the linking domain matters. A link from a site that itself has a strong backlink profile passes more weight than a link from a brand-new or poorly linked site.
- DR is link-based only. It doesn't factor in content quality, traffic, technical SEO, or keyword rankings. It's purely a reflection of your backlink graph relative to other sites in Ahrefs' index.
Because DR is calculated using a consistent formula tied to Ahrefs' own crawl of the web, it tends to be fairly stable and comparable across sites — as long as you're using the same tool to check both.
What Is Domain Authority (Moz DA)?
Domain Authority is Moz's competing metric, also scored 0 to 100, also designed to predict how well a domain is likely to rank in search results. If you're asking what is domain authority in plain terms: it's Moz's attempt to compress a website's overall link-based ranking potential into a single number.
Moz calculates DA using a machine learning model trained on how well domains actually rank across a large set of search results. Inputs include:
- Total number of linking root domains
- Total number of links
- Various link-based factors including spam signals
- Moz's own crawl data, which is a different index than Ahrefs' or Google's
Because DA is a trained, relative model, Moz periodically updates and recalibrates it. This means a domain's DA score can shift over time even if nothing about its backlink profile has changed — simply because Moz adjusted the model or the comparison set of domains.
Understanding domain authority importance for SEO starts with recognizing what it's not: it is not a Google ranking factor. Google has stated plainly that it does not use DA, DR, or any third-party authority score in its algorithm. Both metrics are third-party approximations built to help marketers and SEOs benchmark competitive strength, not literal inputs into search rankings.
Domain Rating vs Domain Authority: Key Differences
Both metrics try to answer the same underlying question — "how strong is this domain's backlink profile relative to others?" — but they get there differently, and that's why domain authority vs domain rating scores rarely match for the same site.
| Factor | Domain Rating (Ahrefs) | Domain Authority (Moz) |
|---|---|---|
| Developed by | Ahrefs | Moz |
| Scale | 0–100 | 0–100 |
| Primary input | Referring domains and their link strength | Linking root domains, total links, spam signals |
| Calculation method | Proprietary algorithm based on Ahrefs' link graph | Machine learning model trained on ranking correlation |
| Index used | Ahrefs' own web crawl and link index | Moz's own web crawl and link index |
| Update frequency | Continuously updated as Ahrefs recrawls the web | Periodically recalibrated, sometimes causing score-wide shifts |
| Google ranking factor? | No | No |
| Best used for | Comparing link profile strength between sites, prospecting for link building | Comparing overall competitive strength, quick benchmarking |
| Known limitation | Doesn't reflect content quality or traffic | Historically easier to inflate with low-quality link volume; scores can shift after recalibrations |
Want to check your own domain? Use our free Domain Rating Checker → to see your Ahrefs DR instantly.
The practical takeaway: DR and DA are cousins, not twins. They're built to measure a similar concept but pull from different data sets and different formulas, so treating them as interchangeable numbers is where most misreadings happen.
Why the Same Site Can Have Different DR and DA Scores
Because DR and DA use different crawlers, different indexes, and different math, a site's scores will almost never match exactly — and sometimes they diverge by a wide margin. Here are four real-world scenarios that illustrate why.
Example 1: The new SaaS site with a few high-quality links. A new SaaS company earns backlinks from five well-established industry publications and a couple of respected review sites. Ahrefs' DR model, which weighs the strength of individual referring domains heavily, might score this site relatively high — say, DR 25 — despite having very few total links. Moz's DA, depending on how its model weighs total root domain count, might land lower, closer to DA 15, because the sheer volume of linking domains is still small.
Example 2: The older site with lots of low-quality directory links. An e-commerce site built years ago accumulated hundreds of links from web directories and low-effort guest posts, many of which are borderline spam. DR might discount these more aggressively since Ahrefs weighs domain quality and can down-rank suspicious link patterns. DA has historically been more susceptible to link volume alone, so this site might show a higher DA than its actual authority warrants.
Example 3: The recently recalibrated niche blog. A niche blog holds steady at DR 35 for months because its backlink profile hasn't changed much. Then Moz runs one of its periodic model updates, and the same blog's DA drops from 32 to 24 overnight — not because it lost links, but because Moz recalibrated how domains are scored across the board. This is a common source of panic for site owners who don't realize DA shifts aren't always tied to their own actions.
Example 4: The site with strong internal linking but few external ones. A content-heavy site invests heavily in internal linking and on-page SEO but hasn't done outreach for backlinks. Both DR and DA will likely be modest, since neither metric rewards internal link structure — they're both external, off-site metrics. This is a useful reminder that neither score reflects on-page SEO quality, so a low DR or DA doesn't necessarily mean your content or technical SEO is weak.
When to Use Domain Rating vs Domain Authority
Neither metric is objectively "better" — they're suited to slightly different jobs.
Use Domain Rating when:
- You're prospecting link building opportunities and want a fast filter for referring domain strength
- You're comparing your site against competitors who are also tracked heavily in Ahrefs' index
- You want a score that updates continuously rather than in periodic batches
- You're evaluating guest post or link placement opportunities and want a consistent, comparable number across many sites
Use Domain Authority when:
- You're communicating with clients or stakeholders who are already familiar with Moz's scoring
- You're using Moz's broader toolset (Link Explorer, keyword tools) and want scores from the same ecosystem
- You want a second opinion to sanity-check a DR score, especially for sites with unusual link patterns
Use both when:
- You're doing competitive analysis and want to avoid over-relying on one vendor's index, since no single crawler sees the entire web
- You're vetting a domain for acquisition or a partnership and want convergent evidence rather than a single data point
- You're building a link building target list and want to filter out sites that look strong in one system but suspicious in another
In practice, most SEO specialists lean on DR more heavily today simply because Ahrefs' index tends to be larger and more frequently refreshed, and DR's continuous updates make it easier to track progress month over month. But DA still shows up constantly in guest posting pitches, link marketplaces, and PR outreach, so understanding both is a practical necessity, not an academic exercise.
How to Use RankBuddy's Domain Rating Checker
If you want a fast, no-friction way to check where a domain stands without juggling multiple subscriptions, RankBuddy's free Domain Rating Checker gives you a practical starting point. Check this domain's rating →Here's how to get useful results from it:
- Check your own domain first. Enter your site's URL to get a baseline DR score. This becomes your reference point for tracking progress as you build links and grow content over time.
- Check your direct competitors. Run the same tool against two or three competitors who consistently outrank you for your target keywords. If their DR is significantly higher, that's a signal you may need a stronger link building push before expecting to outrank them on competitive terms.
- Check prospective link sources. Before agreeing to a guest post, sponsorship, or link placement, run the target domain through the checker. A very low DR combined with an unusually high volume of outbound links is often a sign of a low-quality link farm rather than a legitimate publication.
- Track changes over time. Because DR updates continuously as Ahrefs recrawls the web, rechecking your domain every month or so gives you a realistic view of whether your link building efforts are actually moving the needle.
- Pair the score with context. A DR number alone doesn't tell you which links are driving it or whether they're relevant to your niche. Use the checker as a first filter, then dig into the specific referring domains before making strategic decisions.
The goal isn't to chase a higher number for its own sake — DR and DA are diagnostic tools, not vanity metrics. The real value comes from using the score to make better decisions: which link opportunities to pursue, which competitors are genuinely out of reach right now, and where your site currently sits in the competitive landscape.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 20 Domain Authority good?
It depends entirely on context. For a brand-new website, DA 20 can be a reasonable early milestone reached within the first year of consistent content and outreach. For an established competitor in a competitive niche like finance or SaaS, DA 20 would be considered low. There's no universal "good" score — what matters is how your DA compares to the specific competitors you're trying to outrank in search results.
Is a higher or lower Domain Authority better?
Higher is better. Domain Authority is scored on a 0–100 scale, and a higher number indicates a stronger backlink profile relative to other domains in Moz's index. That said, the scale isn't linear — moving from DA 15 to DA 25 is typically much easier than moving from DA 60 to DA 70, since authority becomes harder to build as a domain grows stronger.
What does Domain Authority mean?
Domain Authority is a score, developed by Moz, that estimates how likely a website is to rank in search engine results based largely on its backlink profile. It's not a Google ranking factor — Google doesn't use DA in its algorithm — but it serves as a third-party benchmark that SEOs use to compare the relative competitive strength of different domains.
What is an example of a Domain Authority?
A small local business website with a modest backlink profile might have a DA in the 10–20 range. A well-established industry blog with links from many respected publications might sit in the 40–60 range. Major global brands and widely cited reference sites, like large news outlets or long-standing platforms, often score in the 80–100 range due to the sheer volume and quality of domains linking to them.
Neither Domain Rating nor Domain Authority will make or break your search rankings on their own, since Google doesn't use either score directly. But used correctly, they give you a fast, practical way to benchmark your site's link-building progress and size up the competition before you invest time in outreach or content campaigns. Check your own domain, check the sites you're trying to outrank, and let the numbers guide where you focus next — not as a scoreboard, but as a diagnostic tool for smarter SEO decisions.