Website Authority Explained: DR, DA & MozRank
If you've spent any time in SEO, you've seen websites described by a number: "DR 60," "DA 45," and so on. These authority scores are everywhere — in outreach emails, link-selling pitches, and competitor analyses. But what do they actually measure, where do they come from, and does Google care about them at all? This guide explains the three metrics you'll meet most often — Domain Rating (DR), Domain Authority (DA), and MozRank — honestly and in plain English, so you know what each one tells you and, just as importantly, what it doesn't.
What "website authority" really means
"Authority" in SEO is shorthand for how trusted and influential a website appears to be, based largely on its backlink profile — the other sites that link to it. The intuition is simple: if many reputable websites link to a page, that page is probably worth trusting. Search engines have used variations of this idea since Google's original PageRank.
The key thing to understand up front is that "website authority" is not an official Google score. There is no single authority number inside Google that you can look up. Instead, third-party SEO companies built their own metrics to estimate authority, so marketers would have a comparable number to work with. DR, DA, and MozRank are all examples of these third-party estimates.
Why these are third-party metrics — and why that matters
Domain Rating comes from Ahrefs. Domain Authority and MozRank come from Moz. Each company crawls the web, builds its own index of links, and runs its own formula to produce a score. Because they use different data and different math, their scores are not interchangeable — a site can be DR 70 and DA 50 at the same time, and neither number is "wrong." They're just two different estimates of the same fuzzy idea.
This is why you should never compare across providers (DR to DA) or treat any of these as a goal Google rewards directly. They're useful as relative comparison tools — measuring your site against competitors, or screening one link prospect against another — not as targets in themselves. We dig into that distinction in is domain authority a Google ranking factor?
Domain Rating (DR)
Domain Rating, popularized by Ahrefs, scores the strength of a website's backlink profile on a 0–100 scale. It's driven mainly by the number of unique domains linking to a site, weighted by how strong those linking domains are themselves — a link from a DR 80 site counts for far more than one from a DR 10 site. The scale is logarithmic, so climbing from 70 to 80 is dramatically harder than going from 20 to 30.
DR is a good quick read on raw link strength. To check any site's score, use our free DR Checker, and if you want to move your own number, see how to increase your Domain Rating.
Domain Authority (DA)
Domain Authority, from Moz, is also a 0–100 score predicting how likely a domain is to rank — built from Moz's link index using a model trained against actual search results. Like DR, it's largely backlink-based and logarithmic, so the higher you climb, the harder each point gets.
DA is the most widely cited authority metric in the industry, which is exactly why it's so often misused as a target. Check any domain with our Domain Authority Checker, and for the right way to grow it, read how to increase domain authority.
MozRank — link popularity
MozRank is Moz's score of link popularity, modeled on the original PageRank idea. Where DA tries to predict ranking potential for a whole domain, MozRank focuses more narrowly on the quantity and quality of links pointing to a specific page or domain. It's a more focused, classic "link juice" measure. You can check it with our MozRank Checker.
DR vs DA vs MozRank at a glance
| Metric | Provider | Scale | Mainly measures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain Rating (DR) | Ahrefs | 0–100 | Backlink profile strength (weighted linking domains) |
| Domain Authority (DA) | Moz | 0–100 | Predicted ranking potential of a domain |
| MozRank | Moz | 0–10 | Link popularity (PageRank-style) |
The big takeaways: different providers, different formulas, never directly comparable. For the full breakdown see Domain Rating vs Domain Authority and the three-way comparison in DR vs DA vs MozRank: which should you use?
What's a "good" score?
There's no universal answer, because every metric here is relative and logarithmic. As a rough guide, new sites often sit under 20, 20–40 is moderate, 40–60 is strong, and 60+ is high authority. But the only number that matters is how you compare to the sites you actually compete with in search. Chasing a round number like "DA 50" for its own sake misses the point. We unpack this fully in what is a good domain authority score?
Does any of this affect Google rankings?
Directly, no. Google does not use DR, DA, or MozRank — they're external estimates, not inputs to Google's algorithm. Google's own ranking depends on hundreds of signals, including its own link-based assessments, relevance, content quality, and user experience.
So why do high-authority sites tend to rank well? Because the same thing these metrics measure — a strong, trustworthy backlink profile — genuinely correlates with ranking ability. The metric isn't the cause; it's a proxy for the underlying strength Google rewards. Use authority scores to compare and prioritize, never as the thing you "optimize for." More on the myth in is domain authority a ranking factor?
Does domain age matter?
An old domain often has high authority, but that's usually because it has had years to accumulate links — not because age itself is a ranking factor. Google has repeatedly said the registration date of a domain is not a meaningful ranking signal. What matters is the authority and history built up over that time. You can check any site's age with our Domain Age Checker, and we separate the myth from the reality in does domain age affect SEO?
How to check a site's authority for free
You can look up any of these metrics for your own site or a competitor in seconds:
- DR Checker — Domain Rating, single or up to 10 domains at once.
- Domain Authority Checker — Moz-style DA score.
- MozRank Checker — link popularity score.
- Domain Age Checker — how long a domain has existed.
How to actually build authority
If the goal is real authority rather than a vanity number, the work is the same regardless of which metric you watch: earn quality, relevant backlinks; publish content worth linking to; keep your site technically healthy; and avoid spammy shortcuts that can backfire. For step-by-step guidance, see how to increase domain authority and how to increase Domain Rating. And before you pursue a link from any site, learn to evaluate a website before building a backlink.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Google authority score?
No. Google does not publish a single authority number. DR, DA, and MozRank are all third-party estimates built by Ahrefs and Moz to approximate authority.
Can I compare DR and DA directly?
No. They come from different providers using different data and formulas, so a DR of 60 and a DA of 60 don't mean the same thing. Always compare like-for-like — DR to DR, DA to DA.
Which metric should I track?
Pick the one you and your team can monitor consistently and benchmark against competitors. See DR vs DA vs MozRank for help choosing.
Do these scores guarantee rankings?
No. They estimate authority, which correlates with ranking ability but doesn't cause it. Google ranks pages on relevance, quality, and many signals beyond any single authority score.
Check your authority now
Want to see where your site stands? Start with the DR Checker or the Domain Authority Checker — both free, no signup — then benchmark against your competitors.