Ahrefs DR: Definition, Formula, and How to Improve it (2025 Guide)

If you’ve been in the SEO space for more than five minutes, you’ve probably heard of Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR). But let me clarify something right away: having a high DR doesn’t automatically mean you’ll rank #1 on Google and while everyone talks about DR, few truly understand how it works and what affects it.

Don’t get me wrong—Ahrefs DR is a useful indicator. It’s a numerical reflection of a website’s backlink profile strength, and in many ways, it’s one of the most reliable metrics we have. But when it starts driving every single link-building decision, we risk missing the forest for the trees.

In this guide, I’m going beyond the basics. I’ll break down what Ahrefs DR actually means, simplify the formula behind it (yes, there’s math involved, but don’t worry, I’ll keep it human-friendly), and, most importantly, I’ll share practical strategies to improve your DR—without relying on questionable backlink schemes or quick fixes that fail.

Whether you’re an SEO rookie trying to understand DR for the first time or a seasoned strategist looking for advanced insights, this guide will equip you with actionable knowledge and a clear roadmap.

Let’s dive in and uncover what DR truly represents—and how you can make it work for your SEO objectives in 2025.

What is Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR)?

Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) is a metric developed by Ahrefs that measures the overall strength of a website’s backlink profile on a scale from 0 to 100. It evaluates the quality and quantity of external backlinks pointing to a domain, with a higher score indicating a more authoritative and trustworthy website in terms of backlinks.

DR is domain-wide, not page-specific. So, your homepage might have killer authority, but your product or service pages could still be starving for backlinks. Oh, and another thing—DR is logarithmic. Climbing from DR 10 to 20? Doable. But moving from DR 70 to 80? That’s a mountain climb with no sherpa.

Is DR important? Yeah. Is it everything? Absolutely not. Google doesn’t see a DR score—it sees relevance, context, and intent.

Table Summary of Ahrefs DR Formula

As I already said, Ahrefs developed DR to estimate the backlink strength of a website’s overall profile. The logic? Websites with high-quality backlinks from authoritative domains are more likely to have strong SEO potential.

The key takeaway is that quality always trumps quantity when it comes to backlinks. Building links from high-authority, relevant websites with a focus on dofollow attributes and unique referring domains will have the most significant impact on your DR score.

How to Check Your Ahrefs DR

If you have an Ahrefs pro plan, you can log in to your Ahrefs dashboard or use the site explorer tool. Simply enter your website’s URL, and you’ll see your Domain Rating (DR) displayed in the overview section.

Ahrefs also offers a free browser extension called the Ahrefs SEO Toolbar for Chrome and Firefox. Once installed, it allows you to view a website’s DR directly from your browser while browsing any webpage. This is a quick and convenient way to check DR without logging into your Ahrefs account.

Finally, even if you don’t have an Ahrefs account, you can still check your website’s DR using Ahrefs Free DR Checker available on their official website. All you need to do is enter your domain, and the tool will display your current Domain Rating along with basic backlink insights.

DR vs Other Metrics

You know as well as I do—when people throw around metrics like DR (Domain Rating) from Ahrefs, DA (Domain Authority) from Moz, AS (Authority Score) from Semrush, and even the TF (Trust Flow) and CF (Citation Flow) from Majestic, it’s easy to get caught up in acronyms and forget one essential truth:

No single metric tells the whole story.

However, they’re not useless either. They give us a picture of a domain’s strength, authority, and potential to rank but as I said, Google doesn’t care about DR, DA, AS, or TF. They have their internal systems that none of us have access to.

So why do we use these metrics? Because they’re proxies—best guesses by smart SEO tools with huge datasets.

When I’m auditing a site or analyzing competitor backlinks, I don’t just rely on one metric. I look at DR for backlink strength, DA for historical trust signals, AS for overall authority and spam risk, and Majestic TF/CF to double-check the balance of trust and volume.

That’s how you build a full picture.

Now let’s break it down in a comparison table:

If you want a quick picture, Ahrefs DR and MOZ DA usually give the most actionable insights for day-to-day SEO strategy. But if you’re deep-diving into backlink audits or something feels suspicious, you can also try SEMrush AS or other metrics.

Practical Tips to Improve Ahrefs DR

First things first—if you’re prioritizing Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) as your primary goal, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Understand that DR is just a metric. It’s not the endgame, nor will it suddenly drive traffic, improve rankings, or boost your bottom line on its own.

Your real focus should be on building exceptional content, earning relevant, high-quality links, and creating value that naturally attracts attention. These are the foundations of SEO growth. When executed well, they’ll not only improve your DR over time but also deliver measurable results—more organic traffic, better rankings, and increased ROI.

Let’s dive into a few proven link-building strategies that can drive real results—both in terms of DR and, more importantly, meaningful growth for your website.

Optimize Internal Linking

I wish more people realized this earlier in their SEO journey. Your internal structure—how your pages link to one another—is like the plumbing of your website. If it’s messed up, water (or in our case, link juice) isn’t flowing where it needs to go.

Imagine you have a blog post that’s been doing really well—let’s say it has a UR (URL Rating) of 60 and generates over 5,000 organic visitors a month. That’s a powerful page.

What can you do?

You can link from that high-performing blog post to your money pages (like your homepage, product pages, or service pages) creating contextual links within the content.

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What happens next? The authority from that high-performing blog flows into those linked pages, improving their potential to rank better and increase the DR. So next time you’re mapping out your SEO plan, don’t just think backlinks, backlinks, backlinks. Think about what you can do internally to double the value of every link you already have.

Create Link-Worthy Content

You know, there’s this recurring myth I hear in SEO communities: “If I just buy a bunch of links, my DR will shoot through the roof!” Sure, you might see a bump, but it’s a flimsy tactic. The real secret to increasing DR — the right way — isn’t in gaming the system. It’s in becoming link-worthy.

And the most efficient way to earn them? Create content people want to link to. But what makes content link-worthy? Of course, original research, surveys, or statistics—something people can point to in order to back up their arguments or you can say something bold, backed by experience, and others will reference your perspective.

Let me give you an example. A client of mine (in the SaaS space) created a free industry benchmark report. It wasn’t a hard-sell piece, nor was it overly branded. It was just packed with insights no one else was sharing. The result? Over 20 organic backlinks — including from some heavy hitters in their industry.

Of course, when those high-quality links roll in, DR naturally rises.

Acquire High-Quality Backlinks

Once you’ve got your foundation set, you’ve got three big players to focus on: guest posting, PR link-building, and niche edits. But, if you’re serious about this, you need to understand link-building, not just copy what others are doing. Your goal should not be securing hundreds of backlinks. Instead, try to find quality backlinks from sites that matter in your industry.

For example, one of the best ways to earn high-authority backlinks is through HARO link-building. One well-placed HARO link can do more for your DR than a dozen average ones from irrelevant websites. Remember, Google doesn’t care how many links you’ve stacked up in a spreadsheet. It cares about who is linking to you and why. So, if your goal is to increase DR, stop thinking like a collector and start thinking like a strategist.

Can DR Impact My Website’s Ranking?

No, Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) does not directly impact your website’s ranking on search engines like Google. DR is a third-party metric developed by Ahrefs to estimate the strength of a website’s backlink profile. However, Google does not use Ahrefs’ DR score or any similar third-party metric in its ranking factors. Instead, Google evaluates backlinks individually based on their relevance, quality, and authority.

That said, a high DR score typically correlates with strong backlinks and can be a useful indicator of a healthy and authoritative backlink profile. However, in some cases, high-DR websites are low-quality sites.

What Is a Good Dr Score?

A good DR score depends on your industry, competition, and SEO objectives. However, general benchmarks are:

• 0–30: Low authority (new websites or weak backlink profiles).
• 31–50: Moderate authority (average backlink profile with some quality links).
• 51–70: Strong authority (good backlink profile from authoritative websites).
• 71–90: Very strong authority (well-established, highly trusted websites).
• 91–100: Exceptional authority (top-tier domains like Google, Facebook, or Wikipedia).

Can Spammy Links Increase DR?

Yes, spammy links can artificially increase your DR—at least temporarily. It is calculated based on the quantity and quality of referring domains pointing to your website. However, the calculation primarily focuses on the number of dofollow backlinks and the DR of the referring domains, rather than a deep analysis of link context or content relevance.

Websites can manipulate their DR score. Some tactics can artificially inflate the score without actually improving a site’s real authority or value. For example, websites can purchase backlinks from Private Blog Networks (PBNs) or low-quality marketplaces or let’s say purchase expired domains with high DR and 301 redirect them to their site.

Also, tools like GSA SER or other spammy backlink tools generate massive volumes of low-quality backlinks to inflate DR artificially. In some cases, websites engage in reciprocal linking or join link-exchange schemes, where multiple domains link to each other in a circular pattern.

How Often Does Ahrefs Update DR Score?

Typically, DR scores are updated every few days to a week, but the frequency can vary depending on how often Ahrefs crawls and processes new data for your website’s backlink profile. Ahrefs operates its web crawler, AhrefsBot, which scans billions of web pages daily to collect and refresh backlink data. However, the process is resource-intensive, and not every page or backlink is crawled simultaneously.

For websites with frequent updates, new backlinks, or significant changes (like gaining high-authority links or losing key backlinks), the DR score may reflect those changes sooner.

On the other hand, smaller or less active websites may see updates less frequently as they are crawled less often. It’s important to note that DR changes are not always immediate, especially if the backlinks gained or lost haven’t been crawled or indexed yet. If a significant number of backlinks are detected or removed in a short period, the DR score might experience a sudden spike or drop after the next data refresh.

What’s the Difference Between DR and UR?

The DR and URL Rating (UR) are two distinct metrics developed by Ahrefs to measure the authority and backlink strength of a website or a specific page. DR measures the overall strength of a website’s backlink profile. On the other hand, URL Rating (UR) focuses on the strength of an individual web page’s backlink profile, also on a scale from 0 to 100. UR evaluates the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing specifically to a single URL, rather than the domain as a whole.

Can DR Fluctuate Over Time?

Yes, DR can fluctuate over time, and these changes are completely normal. This means your DR score can go up, down, or even plateau depending on various factors, some within your control and others outside of it. One of the primary reasons for DR fluctuations is the gain or loss of referring domains. It’s also worth noting that algorithm updates and crawling cycles by Ahrefs can cause temporary spikes or dips in DR. Sometimes, Ahrefs might re-evaluate domains, discount spammy links, or recalibrate their scoring methodology.

Does the Number of Backlinks or Referring Domains Influence DR?

Both the number of backlinks and the number of referring domains influence DR, but their impact is not equal. Ahrefs DR is primarily determined by the number of unique referring domains rather than the number of backlinks. For example, if your website receives 100 backlinks from a single domain, it will have far less impact on your DR compared to 10 backlinks from 10 different domains.