Domain Rating is Ahrefs' estimate of backlink strength. A brand new domain starts at 0 and Product Hunt sits at 91. You raise it by getting other sites to link to you, and the links work like votes: one link from a strong domain is worth more than many from weak ones.
The scale is logarithmic, which is the part most people miss. Moving from 0 to 20 is a few weeks of work. Moving from 40 to 60 is months. The same twenty points cost wildly different amounts depending on where you start, so the cheapest points you will ever earn are the ones available in your first month.
DR is not a Google ranking factor and Google does not read it. It is a proxy: it measures backlink strength, and backlink strength is something Google does care about. Track it as a thermometer rather than as the temperature.
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Frequently asked
What is a good Domain Rating?
For a domain under a year old, above 20 puts you ahead of most peers and 30 to 40 is strong. Below 10 means almost nobody links to you yet, which is normal at the start. The number only matters relative to whoever else is competing for your keywords, so check two or three competitors before deciding yours is a problem.
Does Domain Rating affect Google rankings?
Not directly. DR is Ahrefs' metric and Google does not use it. It correlates with rankings because it measures backlink strength, which Google does weigh, so a rising DR usually means the underlying thing is improving.
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