From this guide, you’ll learn what Domain Rating (DR) is, the principles behind it, and why it isn’t always the best metric when deciding whether to purchase links.
What is DR?
Domain Rating is a metric developed by Ahrefs, designed to reflect a domain’s strength based on its backlink profile. It follows Google’s logic, which considers links as signals that transfer authority between websites. However, it’s essential to remember that the way DR is calculated and its value are not directly tied to Google’s algorithms. The same applies to other similar metrics, such as Domain Authority (DA by Moz), Trust Flow (TF by Majestic), and Authority Score (AS by Semrush).
How is Domain Rating Calculated?
In simple terms, DR is determined based on the following factors:
- The number of unique domains linking to the analyzed domain
- The „authority” of these linking domains (also expressed by their DR)
- The number of other websites these linking domains connect to
DR does not take into account factors such as traffic, visibility, or domain age—which is actually a good thing. The core idea behind DR makes sense. PageRank, Google’s original metric, was also calculated solely based on a website’s backlink profile. A backlink from a domain with high PageRank would increase the PR of the linked site.
Unfortunately, despite these sound principles, Ahrefs cannot keep up with real-time changes in Google’s algorithm. More importantly, it has no visibility into links that Google’s algorithm has devalued. This applies both to individual links and entire domains that might be penalized, meaning that their outbound links could be excluded from Google’s link graph and have no impact on rankings.
When is DR Misleading?
Domain Rating can be highly misleading in several situations. Below are two of the most common scenarios encountered in link-building.
Overestimated Domain Rating
One frequent issue is when the actual authority of a website is lower than what DR suggests. This often happens when a site has backlinks from other domains that also have artificially inflated DR or from flagged, penalized sites.
In practice, referring domains might have been penalized by Google, de-indexed, or have zero actual SEO value while still passing DR. You can still see links in their „referring domains” report, but they pass no value.
During the Festiwal SEO conference in 2021, Maciej Chmurkowski and I discussed link-building and showed examples of sites where backlinks had no impact, despite having high DR.
A few months later, we demonstrated this with a live case study. Maciej owned several domains with high DR but had stopped using them for SEO purposes because they had no real ranking power. We placed links from two of them (DR 46 and DR 72) to a friend’s website DR 1), making it difficult for them to establish partnerships. Overnight, their Domain Rating jumped to 42. According to Ahrefs, the site’s authority increased, even though its rankings and ability to transfer link equity in Google remained unchanged.
👉 A jump from DR 1 to 42 in Ahrefs does not necessarily mean improved SEO performance. And in this case – it didn’t. At all.
Underestimated Websites With Low Domain Rating
Another common issue is websites with very low DR that actually pass the link juice and provide significant SEO value.
Imagine a domain (X) that has backlinks from a few strong sites—government institutions, universities, major media outlets, or Wikipedia—but only a small number of them (e.g., 15–20 referring domains). Since each of these referring domains links to many other websites, the DR of domain X remains low.
Now, compare this with another domain (Y), which has 150 referring domains consisting mostly of:
- Directory submissions
- De-indexed forum threads
- Profile links and classified ads
- Automated link farms like /website-list/, seoranker, rankily, and other spam sources
- Hotlinking images and links from penalized PBNs
Most of these backlinks carry no real authority and are effectively ignored by Google. Yet, domain Y might still show a DR score in the dozens.
Seed Pages and Link Profile Strength
We see such cases constantly when analyzing hundreds of domains monthly. Years ago, this wouldn’t have been a big issue since link quantity used to be more important than quality. However, since Google’s updated PageRank algorithm, raw quantity metrics no longer make sense.
The key concept now is seed pages—the idea that a site should connect as closely as possible to authoritative websites that Google treats as „indisputable authorities” within a network. If a domain receives just one backlink from a highly trusted source in Google’s link graph, it might carry more weight than another domain with a much larger (but low-quality) backlink profile.
Additionally, the link graph is constantly evolving. Google is increasingly effective at removing low-value pages from its index, and backlinks from such de-indexed content disappear from reports in Google Search Console within three months.
DR vs. The Linking Site’s Information Architecture
Even a link from a high-DR domain does not always pass significant authority, especially if:
- The link comes from a subdomain that is not linked to the main site
- The linking page has no internal links (orphan page)
- The linking page has been de-indexed (due to outdated content or other reasons)
If you acquire a link from a deep section of a website’s structure, the authority transferred will be weaker. In some cases, a well-placed link from a small, local website, a micro-business, a foundation, a school, a business partner, or a well-structured PBN site may be much stronger than a link from a high-DR domain.
Our Solution
Our websites are built on domains that originally belonged to local businesses, small e-commerce stores, schools, public institutions, foundations, events, conferences, and blogs. Most of them have small but unique backlink profiles, often featuring links from major institutions, universities, municipal websites, and industry-specific portals.
- Tarantula domains typically have DR scores between 0 and 15.
- Every domain is tested to confirm its ability to pass link equity.
- There is no clear correlation between a DR 1 site being weaker than a DR 15 site.
Additionally, every website we use undergoes an indexation check, and new pages are indexed using additional tools. This process applies not only to our microservices but also to the sites linking to them, ensuring that you get a backlink from indexed content.
No Issues with Information Architecture
When linking from Tarantula microservices, there are no problems related to site structure:
- Links come from the homepage, site-wide, or permanently linked subpages.
- Googlebot cannot overlook these links.
- The referring page retains its authority within the website.
This guarantees that your backlinks are placed in highly visible, indexed, and authoritative locations within our domains.