Domain Rating / Domain Authority
SEOAlso: DR · DA · Domain Rating · Domain Authority
Quick definition
Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA) are third-party scores that estimate how strong a website's backlink profile is, and how likely it is to rank in search results because of it. Ahrefs calculates DR and Moz calculates DA. Both run on a scale of 0 to 100. Google does not use either score.
How it varies across Australia
Domain Rating and Domain Authority vary widely across Australian industries, mostly because the size of each industry's local link ecosystem differs so much. A well-linked Australian finance or media site typically sits well above a niche local trade business, regardless of which one actually converts better. Compare against direct competitors, not international averages.
See organic performance benchmarks across Australian industries →Two versions of the same idea
Ahrefs' backlink authority score, built from its own crawl and index of referring domains.
Scale: 0 to 100Moz's backlink authority score, built from a different crawl and a different algorithm.
Scale: 0 to 100What it actually means
Think of Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA) like a credit score for a website, except two different agencies each run their own version and neither number appears anywhere on your Google Search Console dashboard.
Ahrefs built DR. Moz built DA. Both crawl the web, count backlinks pointing at a domain, weigh the quality of the referring domains, and compress the result into a single number between 0 and 100. A high score generally means the site has earned links from other authoritative sites over time. It does not mean the site ranks well for any specific keyword, and it says nothing about content quality, conversion rate or user experience.
The confusion starts because both metrics correlate loosely with organic traffic, so people treat them as a proxy for search engine optimisation (SEO) health overall. They're a proxy for one input into SEO, off-page authority, not the whole picture. A site can carry a strong DR or DA and terrible organic traffic if the content, on-page SEO or technical foundation is broken.
Agencies lean on DR and DA in reporting because the number reliably rises with enough link building, and a rising number looks like progress even when nothing else has moved.
Domain Rating and Domain Authority measure how many sites vouch for you. They say nothing about whether your site actually converts anyone.
How it shows up
Domain Rating and Domain Authority show up wherever an SEO tool plugs into a domain. Ahrefs Site Explorer surfaces DR next to any URL. Moz's Link Explorer and browser toolbar surface DA the same way. Agencies pull both into pitch decks and monthly reports because they update automatically and look impressively precise, even though the underlying algorithm changes without notice from either vendor. A domain's DR or DA can shift several points overnight purely because Ahrefs or Moz recalculated their index, not because anything on the site changed.
The Australian context
Australian websites often carry naturally lower Domain Rating and Domain Authority scores than global competitors targeting the same keywords, simply because Australia has a smaller pool of local sites available to link to each other. A well-established Australian retailer might sit well below an equivalent United States business on DR despite outranking it locally on the searches that matter. Comparing your DR or DA against an international benchmark without adjusting for market size and industry is a common way Australian marketing teams talk themselves into a problem that doesn't exist. Judge the score against comparable Australian competitors in your category, not against whichever site an SEO tool salesperson showed you first.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
What's a good Domain Rating or Domain Authority score?
There's no universal good score. Compare your DR or DA against direct competitors in your industry and market rather than against an arbitrary number. A small Australian business with a lower DR that outranks its local competitors is doing better than one with a higher DR that doesn't.
Why did my DR or DA drop overnight?
Ahrefs and Moz both periodically recalculate their indexes and algorithms. A drop with no change to your backlink profile usually means the tool changed its methodology, not that your site lost authority.
Does Google use Domain Rating or Domain Authority to rank websites?
No. Both are third-party metrics built by Ahrefs and Moz. Google has never confirmed using either, and has stated publicly it does not use third-party domain authority scores in ranking.
Should I pay for backlinks to raise my DR or DA?
No. Paid or low-quality backlinks that only exist to inflate a score violate Google's guidelines and put the whole site at risk of a penalty. Build links that earn real referral traffic and relevance, and the score follows on its own.
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About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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