What is Domain Rating?

 Domain rating (DR) is a metric developed by Ahrefs that shows the strength of a website's backlink profile. It is measured on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, with 100 being the strongest. The higher a website's DR, the more likely it is to rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Ahrefs calculates domain rating based on three factors:

• The number of websites that link to your website
• The domain rating of those websites
• The number of websites that those websites link to
• Domain Rating vs. Domain Authority

You may have also heard of domain authority (DA) when learning about SEO. DA is a metric developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to appear in Google search results.

To measure DA, Moz uses a number of factors, including:

• The age of the website
• The number of unique domains that link to the website
• The number and quality of backlinks the website gives and receives

The higher a website's DA, the higher its potential to rank high in SERPs. If a website has a higher DA than its competitors, its ranking in Google is likely to be better. Therefore, learning how to increase domain authority is essential for website owners.

So, the difference between domain authority and domain rating is their function. DA simulates the ranking strength of a website, while DR tells you the strength of a website's backlinks.

You can use domain authority as a benchmark to improve your website's ranking in SERPs. Meanwhile, you need DR in your link building strategy to identify websites that are good for exchanging backlinks with.

Why is Domain Rating Important?

Ahrefs' domain rating is not a direct ranking factor for websites in Google search results. However, having a high DR score can help improve your website's ranking.

Remember, domain rating is calculated by the number of websites that link to your website. The more backlinks your website receives, the higher its DR.

Google uses the number of backlinks as one of its ranking factors in search results. So, increasing your DR score by getting more backlinks can also improve your website's ranking.

However, don't just focus on the number of backlinks. While the number of backlinks affects your domain rating, you should also consider their relevance. You need to get high-quality backlinks to make Google consider the information on your website to be trustworthy.

How to Check Domain Rating

Several SEO tools offer features to check a website's rating score. However, the results can vary from tool to tool. If you want to know your website's DR, Ahrefs is the most recommended place.

Here are the steps on how to check domain rating on Ahrefs:

• Go to the Ahrefs website and log in with your account.
• Click on Site Explorer in the menu bar above the Ahrefs dashboard.
• Type your website's domain into the provided field and press enter on your keyboard.
• You can check your website's domain rating in the Site Explorer analysis results in the DR column.

Tips for Increasing Domain Rating

Here are some ways to increase your website's domain rating:

Create High-Quality Content

For your domain rating to improve, your website must contain high-quality content. This content should provide complete and easy-to-understand information for people who are looking for it.

No less importantly, your content should provide solutions for website visitors. To do this, you can start by doing keyword research before creating content.

Don't forget to also pay attention to the search queries in "people also ask" so that you know what information to include in your content.

If the information in your content is useful, website visitors will not hesitate to share it by embedding a link to it on their website. This will increase your website's credibility and you will get backlinks naturally.

Exchange Backlinks with Credible Websites

Armed with high-quality content, you can do good link building. This way, you can attract many backlinks by exchanging links. The trick is to prioritize websites with high domain ratings.

But remember, the websites you invite to do link building should have a topic that is relevant to your website. This way, you are not just getting backlinks, but also maintaining the quality of the links.

Optimize Internal Links

Internal links, as links between pages on your website that are topically relevant, can also improve your DR. This is because a good internal linking strategy will show that the information on your website is complete and useful.