What is Domain Rating (DR) and why does it matter?

Domain Rating (DR) is a score from 0 to 100 that tells you how strong your website's backlink profile is. It was developed by one of the best-known SEO tools. The higher the score, the more authority you have in Google's eyes.

Put simply: when other strong sites link to you, your DR goes up. Google trusts you more as a result, and your pages get a better shot at ranking at the top of the search results.

What are good DR scores?

• 0 to 10: a new or very small site. Little authority.
• 10 to 30: average small business level. The basics are there, with plenty of room to grow.
• 30 to 50: strong for a small business. This is usually where your competitor sits.
• 50 to 70: authority level. Large regional or national players.
• 70+: top tier. Big brands, news websites, established names.

Good to know

DR is a score from an SEO tool, not directly from Google. Google uses its own internal system (formerly PageRank), but DR is a good approximation. Other tools have similar scores (Moz calls it Domain Authority, SEMrush calls it Authority Score).

How do you raise your DR?

Almost only through link building. More specifically: by getting strong, relevant sites to link to you. Other factors that count:

1. The number of unique domains linking to you (more important than the total number of links)
2. The authority of those linking sites: one link from a DR 60 site is worth more than ten links from DR 10 sites
3. The relevance of the linking site: a link from a site in your industry counts for more than a random one
4. Anchor text: the text that's linked should be natural and varied

How long does it take to raise your DR?

DR is a marathon, not a sprint. Going from DR 15 to DR 30 in a year is realistic with consistent link building. From DR 30 to DR 50 often takes 2-3 years. From DR 50 to 70 takes 5+ years. Every step gets exponentially harder.

An important caveat

DR isn't everything. A small site with DR 20 can easily rank at the top of Google for local or niche keywords. DR mainly matters when you want to rank for competitive, national keywords. For 'hairdresser Arnhem' you don't need DR 60; for 'cheap car insurance' you do.

For a more in-depth look at domain authority and how to build it, read our blog about domain authority and SEO.