Domain Rating vs Domain Authority: What's the Difference?

Josuwa Jun 10 / 3 days ago

Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA) are the two most quoted authority scores in SEO — and they're constantly confused for one another. They measure a similar idea, but they come from different companies, use different data, and produce different numbers for the same website. Here's exactly how they differ and which one you should actually pay attention to.

The quick answer

DR and DA both estimate a website's authority on a 0–100 scale, based largely on its backlink profile. The difference is the source: Domain Rating is Ahrefs' metric; Domain Authority is Moz's metric. Because each uses its own link index and its own formula, a single site will usually have a different DR than DA — and you can't convert one to the other.

What Domain Rating (DR) measures

DR, from Ahrefs, scores the strength of a site's backlink profile. It's driven mainly by how many unique domains link to the site, weighted by the strength of those linking domains. Links from high-DR sites move your score far more than links from weak ones. The scale is logarithmic, so each point gets harder to earn as you climb. DR is essentially a measure of raw link power. Check any site's DR with our free DR Checker.

What Domain Authority (DA) measures

DA, from Moz, also predicts authority on a 0–100 scale, but it's modeled specifically to predict ranking potential. Moz trains it against real search results using its own link index, so it folds in a range of link-based factors and outputs a single comparative number. It's the most widely cited metric in the industry. Check it with our Domain Authority Checker.

DR vs DA side by side

Why the numbers differ for the same site

Three reasons. First, different link indexes — Ahrefs and Moz crawl the web separately, so they simply know about different sets of links. Second, different formulas — even with the same links, their math would produce different scores. Third, different goals — DR measures link strength, DA predicts ranking. So a site heavy on raw links but thin on ranking signals might show a higher DR than DA, or vice versa. None of that means either tool is broken; they're just answering slightly different questions.

A worked example: one site, two different scores

Imagine a mid-sized blog we'll call ExampleSite. It has earned links from 400 different domains, but most of those links come from small, niche sites, with only a couple from big-name publications. Here's how the two tools might read it:

• Ahrefs DR ≈ 58. DR rewards the breadth of unique referring domains, so 400 linking domains pushes the score up nicely, even though most are modest.
• Moz DA ≈ 44. DA is modeled to predict ranking, and Moz's link index may not have crawled every one of those 400 domains — plus its formula weighs the profile differently — so it lands lower.

Same website, same day, two believable numbers fourteen points apart. Neither is "right." If you only saw the DA and a competitor quoted their DR, you'd wrongly conclude they were far ahead. This is exactly why the next section matters.

Are DR and DA interchangeable?

No — and this is the single most common mistake. A "DR 60" and a "DA 60" are not equivalent, and there's no reliable formula to convert between them. If you're comparing two websites, compare them on the same metric: DR to DR, or DA to DA. Mixing scales gives you meaningless conclusions. (The same applies to MozRank — see DR vs DA vs MozRank.)

Which one should you track?

Honestly, either works — what matters is consistency. Pick the metric you can monitor regularly and that matches the tools your team already uses, then benchmark it against your direct competitors over time. A few practical pointers:

• If your team lives in the Ahrefs ecosystem, track DR.
• If you reference Moz data or DA is the number your clients/partners quote, track DA.
• Whichever you choose, judge it relatively — your score versus the sites ranking for your target keywords — not as an absolute target. See what is a good DA/DR score?

Common situations and what they mean

A few patterns come up constantly once you start checking both numbers:

• DR much higher than DA. Usually a site with lots of referring domains that Ahrefs has indexed more fully, or a link profile heavy on breadth. Don't panic about the "low" DA — look at what's ranking.
• DA much higher than DR. Often an older, well-regarded domain whose ranking signals Moz reads favourably, even without a huge raw link count.
• Both low, but the site ranks well. A reminder that neither score is a ranking factor — strong, relevant content can outrank higher-authority pages. See is domain authority a ranking factor?
• Both high, but traffic is poor. Authority without relevance or good content. The scores measure link strength, not whether you're answering what searchers want.

The lesson in every case: read the score alongside the actual search results, never on its own.

A simple workflow for using both

If you want a practical routine rather than a one-off check:

• Pick your primary metric (DR or DA) and track it monthly so you have a consistent trend line.
• Benchmark against the page-one results for your target keywords on that same metric — that gap is your real target.
• Use the other metric as a sanity check when a number looks surprising, since a second index can reveal links the first missed.
• Ignore small month-to-month wobbles. Both providers periodically refresh their indexes and models, which nudges scores up or down a point or two without anything changing on your site.

Do either of them affect Google rankings?

Neither DR nor DA is used by Google. They're third-party estimates. High-authority sites tend to rank well because a strong backlink profile genuinely helps — but the score itself is a proxy, not a ranking input. Treat both as comparison tools, not goals. More on this in is domain authority a ranking factor?

How to check both, free

You don't have to pick blind. Check a site's Domain Rating with the DR Checker and its Domain Authority with the Domain Authority Checker — both free, no signup — and compare each against your competitors on the same scale. For the bigger picture of how all these metrics fit together, see our guide to website authority.

Frequently asked questions

Is DR or DA more accurate?

Neither is "more accurate" — they measure slightly different things using different data. Accuracy depends on how complete each provider's link index is for the sites you care about.

Can I convert DR to DA?

No. There's no reliable conversion. Always compare sites on the same metric rather than translating between them.

Why is my DR higher than my DA (or vice versa)?

Because the two use different link indexes and formulas. A gap between them is completely normal and doesn't indicate a problem.

Which should a small business track?

Either — just be consistent and compare against competitors. Pick the metric your tools already report and watch the trend over time.

Check your DR and DA now

See how your site stacks up: run it through the DR Checker and the Domain Authority Checker, then compare both against your top competitors.