Domain Rating: What is DR and how does it affect SEO?

If we talk about SEO metrics, the DR is certainly one of the most taken into account, because it is related to Ahrefs: the reference tool for SEO analysis and digital marketing.

However, to take advantage of it, it is necessary to go beyond just knowing it superficially. It is essentialto understand how it works, what role it plays and how to increase the metrics.

What is Domain Rating?

The Ahrefs Domain Rating, or just known as DR, is a popular metric that is used to measure the authority of a domain based on the quantity, but also the quality of the links it receives from other websites.

A high DR generally reflects a good online authority, which is important for attracting organic traffic and improving visibility in search results.

What is the role of DR in SEO and how to analyze it?

Although Google, Bing, and other search engines have their own criteria to rank a page, and the DR in theory does not directly influence it, in practice, it is useful to understand the quality and quantity of inbound links of a site.

So, the Domain Rating does play a fundamental role in SEO, because it is useful to estimate the authority of a domain. It can range from 0 to 100, which contributes to its ability to rank in search engines.

A website with a DR of 2 or 5 trying to rank in a competitive niche, attacking a keyword with high difficulty, is not the same as a page with 35 or more. The higher it is, the more likely a domain will be able to compete in its sector.

To analyze it, you can use the Ahrefs tool, which provides a detailed view of a website. This analysis will allow you to identify opportunities to improve the link profile and thus the DR of the site.

Ahrefs criteria for calculating a website’s Domain Rating

The number assigned by the tool is based on certain criteria, which of course we take into account (connected to the Ahrefs API) to assess the authority and strength of Linkatomic’s digital media, in order to work on our clients’ link building campaigns.

Some of these Ahrefs criteria to calculate the DR are:

• Number of referring domains. It relates to the number of unique websites linking to the web domain.
• Quality of referring domains. These are the links from websites with high DR that point to the analyzed domain. This is a strong point that balances the previous one, because quantity without quality is worth little.
• Relationship between dofollow and nofollow links. Dofollow links have a direct impact on the DR, while nofollow links have a limited impact. Even so, the presence of both, and not only one, is fundamental for its evaluation.
• Natural link profile. It is essential that this factor is varied, and at least looks natural, with backlinks coming from different types of platforms, such as forums, websites, etc.
• Relevance to the topic. A similar theme has more value in the calculation compared to themes of one website and another that are not linked.

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Techniques to increase the DR of a domain

Increasing the DR, knowing the influence it has on web positioning, is a smart move that will allow you to advance towards the goals you have with the project. In this sense, there are several techniques that you should take into account, to apply:

1. Create quality content. Generating quality content, mainly thinking about the value it can add to users, is the basis for success. If it is good, users who use it will give good signals to search engines, directly or indirectly, which Ahrefs will also value in the score assigned to the website.
2. Backlinks from authority sites. The fastest way to build a link profile from authority sites is to buy them. On platforms such as ours you will find a wide variety of authoritative options to choose from to boost this aspect, which influences the DR.
3. Use link building strategies. Alternatives such as guest blogging and outreach help to create valuable opportunities, which can also be complemented with the purchase of backlinks.
4. Monitor and remove toxic links. Maintaining a clean link profile is something that many people forget about. Taking the time to review and remove those that may be considered toxic contributes significantly to a better DR.

The most important SEO metrics

Although Ahrefs is a very important reference when it comes to SEO metrics, it is not the only one. There are others such as SemRush’s AS (Authority Score), Majestic’s CF (Citation Flow) and TF (Trust Flow), Moz’s DT (Domain Trust), DA (Domain Autority) or Sistrix’s Visibility Index.