Free toolAnalyzer

Domain Rating Checker

Check any domain's Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) — a 0–100 score of backlink profile strength.

Type your domain and hit Check DR — or tap an example above for an instant lookup.

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How to use

How to use the Domain Rating Checker

01
DR is relative — compare within your niche
A DR of 35 might dominate a local-services niche but be invisible in SaaS. Always benchmark against the top 3–5 sites ranking for your target keywords, not against Wikipedia or Forbes. If your competitors cluster around DR 40–55, that's your realistic target range.
02
Logarithmic scale — early gains are faster
Ahrefs DR uses a logarithmic scale. Going from DR 10 to 20 is dramatically easier than 60 to 70. Each point at the top end represents exponentially more link equity. Don't get discouraged by slow progress at higher DR — that's normal for everyone.
03
DR measures backlinks, not content quality
A site can rank well with lower DR if its content is exceptional and well-optimized. DR is a proxy for off-page authority, not a direct Google ranking factor. Use it to gauge link-building headroom and competitor strength, not as a single score to obsess over.
04
Check competitors before you pitch guest posts
Before outreach, run DR on your target publication and your own site. If their DR is 10× yours, a link from them is high-value but hard to earn. If it's similar, a well-crafted pitch has better odds. Batch-check 10–20 prospects and prioritize the sweet spot.
05
Subdomains and root domains share DR
Ahrefs DR is calculated at the root domain level. blog.example.com and example.com share the same DR score. When comparing sites, always normalize to the root domain — entering a deep URL still returns the domain-wide rating.
06
Track DR monthly, not daily
Backlink profiles change slowly. Checking DR daily creates noise without signal. Set a monthly cadence — log your DR and your top 3 competitors on the first of each month. Trend over quarters tells you whether your link-building strategy is working.

FAQ

About the Domain Rating Checker

Domain Rating is Ahrefs' proprietary metric that scores the strength of a website's backlink profile on a 0–100 logarithmic scale. It considers the quantity and quality of external sites linking to the target domain. Higher DR generally correlates with more authoritative backlink profiles.

This tool uses Ahrefs' free public Domain Rating API (GET /v3/public/domain-rating-free). Ahrefs maintains one of the largest backlink indexes in the industry and updates DR continuously as new links are discovered. No API key is required for this endpoint.

Yes — after a lookup, use Copy share link or bookmark the URL. Links like /tools/domain-rating-checker/example.com auto-run the check when opened. You can also use ?url=example.com on the main tool page.

No — DR is an Ahrefs metric, not a Google metric. Google does not use DR directly. However, the backlinks that drive DR are a confirmed ranking signal. DR is a useful shorthand for comparing relative link authority between sites.

It depends entirely on your niche. For a new blog, DR 15–25 is normal. For an established B2B site, DR 40–60 is solid. Major publishers and household brands often sit at DR 70+. Compare against competitors ranking for your target keywords rather than chasing an absolute number.

Each SEO tool calculates authority differently using its own backlink index, weighting algorithm, and scale. DR (Ahrefs), DA (Moz), and Authority Score (Semrush) will never match exactly. Pick one metric and use it consistently for benchmarking — don't mix scores across tools.

Yes — enter any public domain. This is one of the most common use cases: run your domain, then run the top 3 sites ranking for your target keyword and compare DR. Gaps of 15+ points often explain why competitors outrank you on competitive terms.

Domains you submit are forwarded to Ahrefs' API. We cache responses for 1 hour at our edge to reduce repeat API calls — if multiple people check the same domain within an hour, they get the same result. We don't log or store domains beyond this cache.

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