Domain Rating Checker
Check the Domain Rating of up to 200 URLs at once. Free, no login, with a DR filter and CSV export built for vetting link prospects in bulk.
Domain Rating by Ahrefs. License. Paste full URLs or bare domains, one per line or comma separated.
Up to 200 at once
Most free bulk checkers stop at 10 or 30 domains. Paste a whole prospect list and rate it in one run.
No login, no paywall
No account, no Ahrefs subscription, no credit card. Paste, check, done.
Export to CSV
Take the ratings straight into a spreadsheet or your outreach sheet.
A DR floor for prospecting
Set a minimum Domain Rating and instantly see which domains clear the bar.
What is Domain Rating?
Domain Rating, or DR, is Ahrefs' score for the strength of a website's backlink profile. It runs on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, where a higher number means more, and stronger, sites link to you. It is one of the most widely quoted authority metrics in SEO, alongside Moz's Domain Authority.
The key thing to understand is what DR does and does not measure. It looks at your link profile and nothing else. It does not read your content, your organic traffic, your keyword rankings, or your on-page SEO. A site can have a high DR and rank poorly, or a modest DR and rank well, because Domain Rating is a measure of link authority, not of search performance.
How is Domain Rating calculated?
DR is driven by the number of unique referring domains that link to you and the authority of each one. Two details matter more than people expect:
- Unique domains count, not raw links. A hundred links from one website move DR about as much as one link from that website. It is the count of distinct linking domains that carries the score.
- Dofollow links pass authority. A linking domain's own strength flows through its dofollow links, so one link from a DR 80 site is worth far more than many links from DR 10 sites.
Because the scale is logarithmic, each step up is harder than the last. Moving a new site from DR 5 to DR 25 can happen in a few months of steady link building. Moving from DR 65 to DR 75 can take years, because the sites at that level have thousands of referring domains behind them.
How to check Domain Rating in bulk
- 1
Paste your list into the box above. Full URLs, bare domains, one per line or comma separated all work. The tool cleans up protocols, www, paths and tracking parameters for you.
- 2
Watch the counter. It tells you how many domains it will check, merges duplicates, and flags any line it cannot read with the reason, so a stray typo never silently disappears.
- 3
Hit Check Domain Rating. Results come back with a coloured DR badge each, sorted strongest first.
- 4
Set the DR floor and export. Drag the slider to your minimum acceptable Domain Rating to see which prospects pass, then download the whole set as CSV.
What is a good Domain Rating score?
There is no single good number. A good DR is one that holds up against the sites you compete with in the search results. These bands are a practical way to read a score at a glance.
| DR range | Band | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| DR 12 | New | Young sites or thin backlink profiles. Normal for a domain under a year old. |
| DR 32 | Developing | Some editorial links landing. A realistic first target for a new content site. |
| DR 52 | Established | A solid backlink profile. Competitive in most niches. |
| DR 72 | Strong | Widely referenced sites. Hard to reach without sustained link building. |
| DR 92 | Elite | Major publishers and platforms. The New York Times and Wikipedia sit up here. |
Why Domain Rating matters for link building
If you build links, DR is your fastest read on whether a prospect is worth pursuing. When you have a list of guest-post targets, resource pages or outreach contacts, checking their Domain Rating in bulk tells you where to spend your time. A link from a DR 60 site does more for you than ten links from DR 10 sites, so the ratings help you rank the list before you send a single email.
DR is just as useful pointed at your competitors. Pull the domains ranking for your target keyword, check their ratings together, and you get an honest picture of how much link authority you are up against. That number sets a realistic bar for the campaign ahead.
How to increase your Domain Rating
Earn links from new referring domains
Domain Rating moves on the number of unique websites linking to you, not the number of links. Ten links from one blog count once. Ten links from ten blogs move the needle.
Prioritise dofollow, editorial links
Nofollow links and low-quality directories do little for DR. A single dofollow mention from an established site outweighs dozens of forum signatures.
Pitch where your audience already reads
Guest posts, expert roundups, digital PR and unlinked-mention reclamation are the durable ways to add referring domains. This is the work LinkForce is built around.
Give it time
DR is logarithmic, so climbing from 20 to 30 is quick and 60 to 70 is slow. Track the trend across months, not days.
Domain Rating vs Domain Authority
DR and DA measure the same idea, the strength of your backlinks, but they are built by different companies on different link data, so their numbers rarely line up.
| Domain Rating (DR) | Domain Authority (DA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Ahrefs | Moz |
| Scale | 0 to 100, logarithmic | 0 to 100, logarithmic |
| Based on | Backlink profile strength | Backlink profile strength |
| Link index | Ahrefs' crawler | Moz's crawler |
| Best used for | Sizing up link authority in the Ahrefs ecosystem | The same, in the Moz ecosystem |
The takeaway: pick one metric and track it consistently. Comparing a DR to a DA tells you very little, because you are reading two different maps of the same territory.
Is Domain Rating a Google ranking factor?
No, and it is worth being clear about this. Google has repeatedly said it does not use a single domain authority score in its ranking systems. DR is a third-party metric from Ahrefs, not something Google reads.
So treat Domain Rating as a compass, not a target. It is an excellent, fast way to compare link strength between sites and to prioritise outreach. It is a poor thing to optimise for its own sake. Chase relevant, editorial links because they earn traffic and trust, and let a rising DR be the side effect rather than the goal.
Frequently asked questions
Is this Domain Rating checker really free?+
Yes. You can check up to 200 domains per run with no account and no Ahrefs subscription. There is no paid tier hiding the results.
Where does the Domain Rating data come from?+
The scores come from Ahrefs' free public Domain Rating endpoint. We query it for you and show the number back, so you see the same 0 to 100 DR that Ahrefs reports.
How is Domain Rating calculated?+
DR rates the strength of a site's backlink profile on a logarithmic 0 to 100 scale. It counts the unique dofollow domains linking to you and weighs each by its own authority. Repeat links from the same site add nothing after the first.
What is a good Domain Rating?+
It depends on your niche and the age of the site. As a rough guide, under 20 is new, 20 to 40 is developing, 40 to 60 is established, and above 60 is strong. Judge yourself against the sites you actually compete with in the search results, not against Wikipedia.
What's the difference between Domain Rating and Domain Authority?+
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' metric and Domain Authority (DA) is Moz's. Both score backlink strength from 0 to 100, but they run on different link indexes and formulas, so the numbers rarely match. Pick one and track it consistently rather than comparing across tools.
Does Domain Rating affect my Google rankings?+
Not directly. Google has said it does not use a single domain authority score. DR is a third-party gauge of link strength, useful for sizing up competitors and vetting link prospects, but it is not a ranking factor Google reads.
How many domains can I check at once?+
Up to 200 per run. If you have a longer list, split it into batches of 200 and run them one after another.
Why does a domain show "DR ?"+
That domain is not in the Ahrefs index yet, usually because it is very new or does not resolve as a public site. It is not an error on your end.
Do subdomains have their own Domain Rating?+
No. DR is a domain-level metric, so blog.example.com and example.com report the rating of example.com. The tool resolves each URL to its root domain, and handles country domains like bbc.co.uk correctly.
Can I check the DR of a full URL, not just a domain?+
Yes. Paste full URLs with paths and tracking parameters and the tool strips them down to the root domain before checking. Domain Rating is measured per domain, so the path does not change the score.
You rated the prospects. Now win the links.
Checking Domain Rating is step one. LinkForce is where link-building teams find prospects, run outreach and track every link they earn, in one place.
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