If you have ever evaluated a website for backlinks, domain acquisition, competitor research, or SEO performance, you have probably come across two numbers: DA and DR.
They look similar. They are not the same metric, and neither should be treated as Google's score for your website.
A Moz score designed to estimate how likely a domain is to rank relative to other domains.
An Ahrefs score used to describe the strength of a website's backlink profile.
What Is DA?
Domain Authority (DA) is a metric created by Moz to estimate the ranking strength of a domain compared with other domains.
DA uses a 1–100 scale. In general, a higher score means Moz's model considers the domain to have a stronger ability to rank based on the signals included in its calculation.
DA can be useful for:
- Competitor research: comparing domains within the same market.
- Link prospecting: finding potential websites for outreach.
- Domain research: investigating domains before acquisition.
- SEO reporting: tracking changes in a third-party authority metric.
What Is DR?
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' metric for evaluating the strength of a website's backlink profile.
DR also uses a 1–100 scale, but its calculation and underlying data are different from Moz's DA system.
DR can be useful for:
- Backlink analysis: examining the strength of a site's link profile.
- Competitor research: comparing backlink profiles.
- Link prospecting: identifying potential referring domains.
- Link-building analysis: investigating where competitors earn links.
DA vs DR at a Glance
| Metric | DA | DR |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Moz | Ahrefs |
| Full name | Domain Authority | Domain Rating |
| Scale | 1–100 | 1–100 |
| Primary use | Estimate relative ranking strength | Evaluate backlink profile strength |
| Google ranking factor? | No | No |
| Backlink research? | Useful | Useful |
| Directly interchangeable? | No. They are calculated by different systems. | |
Why DA and DR Can Be Very Different
You may find a website with a DA of 60 and a DR of 35, while another website could have a DA of 40 and a DR of 60.
That does not automatically mean that one tool is wrong. The platforms use different datasets, calculations, and methodologies.
More Backlinks Does Not Automatically Mean More Authority
One of the easiest mistakes in SEO is looking at the total number of backlinks and assuming that the largest number represents the strongest backlink profile.
Link quantity
A large backlink count can look impressive but does not tell you where those links come from.
Link quality
The quality and relevance of linking websites can provide much more useful context.
Referring domains
The number and quality of unique linking websites can reveal more about a backlink profile.
Consider These Three Backlink Profiles
| Website | Backlinks | Referring Domains | DR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site A | 12,000 | 85 | 48 |
| Site B | 2,000 | 420 | 63 |
| Site C | 800 | 210 | 55 |
This illustrative example shows why backlink counts should not be interpreted in isolation. Site A has the most backlinks, while Site B has considerably more referring domains.
What Actually Matters?
Instead of treating DA or DR as the final answer, evaluate the underlying SEO signals.
- Relevance: Does the linking website cover a related topic?
- Link context: Does the link make sense within the page?
- Referring domains: Which unique websites are linking?
- Organic visibility: Does the website actually appear in search?
- Content quality: Does the site provide useful, original information?
- Search performance: Are important pages gaining or losing visibility?
5 Things to Check Before Judging a Domain
-
Check relevance first.
A relevant website can provide more meaningful context than an unrelated website selected only because it has a high metric. -
Inspect referring domains.
Find out which websites are actually contributing to the backlink profile. -
Look at the linking page.
Review the page containing the backlink, its topic, surrounding content, and placement of the link. -
Check organic visibility.
A third-party authority score does not tell you whether a website is currently performing well in organic search. -
Look beyond one metric.
Combine backlink data with technical SEO, content, search visibility, and actual website performance.
What About Google?
Google does not publish a DA or DR score for websites. DA and DR are proprietary third-party metrics created by Moz and Ahrefs respectively.
Don't Build Links Just to Increase DA or DR
A link-building strategy focused entirely on increasing a third-party score can miss the bigger picture.
Before pursuing a backlink, ask:
- Is the website relevant? The subject matter should make sense for your site.
- Is the page useful? Look at the actual page rather than only the domain metric.
- Is the link contextually appropriate? The link should make sense within the surrounding content.
- Would real users benefit from the link? Referral value is worth considering independently of the metric.
DA vs DR for Different SEO Tasks
| SEO Task | DA | DR | Also Investigate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor research | Useful | Useful | Backlink profile |
| Link prospecting | Useful | Useful | Relevance + quality |
| Backlink analysis | Useful | Useful | Referring domains |
| Google ranking performance | Not sufficient | Not sufficient | Actual rankings |
| Organic traffic | Not sufficient | Not sufficient | Search analytics |
| Technical SEO | Not sufficient | Not sufficient | Crawl + indexability data |
What Should You Track Instead?
Search performance
Organic clicks, impressions, rankings, and search visibility.
Website health
Broken links, redirects, crawlability, titles, descriptions, headings, and other technical issues.
Backlink profile
Referring domains, new links, lost links, relevance, and linking page quality.
A Better Way to Use DA and DR
Use DA and DR as starting points for investigation rather than final judgments.
DA vs DR: The Bottom Line
DA is Moz's Domain Authority metric.
DR is Ahrefs' Domain Rating metric.
Both are useful for SEO research, but they are different systems. Neither should be treated as a Google ranking score.
The most useful approach is to use these metrics as signals that tell you where to investigate next.
When evaluating a domain or backlink, look at the complete picture: relevance, referring domains, backlink quality, link context, organic visibility, content quality, and actual search performance.