Domain Authority (DA) and Domain Rating (DR) are the two most quoted authority metrics in link building. Both put a number from 0 to 100 on a website to estimate how strong it is, and both are produced by SEO tool companies, DA by Moz and DR by Ahrefs, from their own crawl of the web's links. The key thing to hold onto from the start: neither is a Google score, and neither tells you, on its own, whether a link is actually worth having.
They are popular because they make comparison easy. A single number lets a buyer rank suppliers and publishers in seconds. That convenience is also the trap, because the number flattens out the things that genuinely decide a link's value: relevance, real readership and editorial context. This page is the fuller explainer; for a shorter side-by-side, see DR vs DA.
What each metric actually measures
| Domain Authority (DA) | Domain Rating (DR) | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Moz | Ahrefs |
| What it estimates | How likely the whole domain is to rank in search | The strength of the domain's backlink profile |
| Scale | 0 to 100, logarithmic | 0 to 100, logarithmic |
| Built from | A machine-learning model weighing 40+ factors | The quantity and strength of referring domains |
| Google uses it? | No | No |
The cleanest way to remember the split: Moz's DA tries to predict ranking potential across the whole site, drawing on a model that, by Moz's own account, weighs over 40 signals; Ahrefs' DR is narrower and focuses on the strength of the backlink profile. Because they are calculated differently, the same site can carry a high DR and a middling DA, or the reverse. That is normal, not a contradiction, and it is why looking at both gives a fuller picture than arguing which one is "right".
Why they are filters, not quality scores
Three facts about how these scores are built explain why you should never decide on the number alone. First, both are logarithmic, so the jump from DR 30 to 40 is far smaller than 70 to 80, and a tidy-looking number can hide a thin site. Second, both can be inflated by pointing links at a domain, so a high score does not prove a real audience exists. Third, and most important, neither score knows anything about relevance: a DR 85 site about something unrelated to you is a worse link than a DR 50 site in your exact niche. Treat the score as a gate that removes the obviously weak sites, then do the real evaluation by hand.
Common misconceptions
- Believing DA or DR is a direct Google ranking factor; it is not, and Moz itself says so.
- Assuming a high score means real readers, when the score can be link-inflated without traffic.
- Comparing a DA number against a DR number as if they sat on the same scale.
- Treating DA as the same thing as Google's PageRank; they are different systems built by different companies.
What to judge alongside the score
Once a site clears your authority floor, look at the things the number cannot see: organic traffic (do real people visit?), topical relevance (is this near your subject?), the quality of the page itself, how many unrelated commercial links it already carries, and whether the link would sit inside genuine content. These are the checks that actually separate a valuable placement from a flattering number, and they make up most of the backlink quality checklist.
How SEO Backlinks approaches this
We use authority metrics the way they are meant to be used: as one filter near the top of the process, not the decision. Our digital PR backlinks land on DR 70+ publications, but we never approve a placement on the score alone. The deciding factors are whether the publication is relevant, has a real readership and will carry the link inside genuine editorial coverage. Every placement, with its publication and target page, is reported in your dashboard so you can judge the link, not just the number. Book a call to see how we assess targets against your niche.
Keep reading
- DR vs DA, the shorter side-by-side
- What makes a good backlink?, what the metrics miss
- Backlink quality checklist, where the score fits
- High authority backlinks, authority done properly
- How to check backlinks, the tools behind the scores
FAQs
What is the difference between Domain Authority and Domain Rating?
Domain Authority (DA) is Moz's score that predicts how likely a whole domain is to rank in search. Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' score that measures the strength of a domain's backlink profile. Both run 0 to 100 and both are logarithmic, but they are built differently, so a site's DA and DR rarely match exactly.
Is DA or DR a Google ranking factor?
Neither. Both are estimates built by SEO tool companies from their own crawl of the web's links. Google does not use them and has never published a public authority score. They are useful proxies, not signals Google reads when ranking your pages.
How is Domain Authority calculated?
Moz builds DA from a machine-learning model that weighs more than 40 factors, including the number and quality of backlinks and the linking root domains, to estimate ranking potential. Because it is a model trained against real search results, DA can shift even when your own backlinks have not changed.
What DA or DR should I look for in a backlink?
There is no magic threshold. A relevant DR 50 site in your niche usually beats an unrelated DR 85 one. Use a sensible floor to filter out the weakest sites, then judge relevance, traffic and editorial context to decide what is actually worth pursuing.
Why are DA and DR logarithmic?
Because the difference between top sites and average ones is enormous. On a logarithmic 0 to 100 scale, moving from 70 to 80 is far harder than moving from 20 to 30, which is why a small change at the top of the scale represents a large change in real authority.