---
title: "Domain Authority vs Domain Rating: DA, DR and AS"
description: "Compare Domain Authority, Domain Rating, and Authority Score. Learn how to check and improve each metric without confusing it with Google rankings."
canonical: "https://nikoalho.fi/writing/domain-authority-vs-domain-rating/"
language: "en"
---

> Canonical source: [https://nikoalho.fi/writing/domain-authority-vs-domain-rating/](https://nikoalho.fi/writing/domain-authority-vs-domain-rating/)

[← writing](https://nikoalho.fi/writing/)

Topical Authority Published 2026 · 07 · 18 Updated 2026 · 07 · 18

# Domain Authority vs Domain Rating: what the scores mean

DA, DR, and Authority Score are different vendor metrics. Learn how to check, compare, and improve them without mistaking them for Google scores.

![Niko Alho](https://nikoalho.fi/assets/niko-alho-avatar-96.webp)

**Niko Alho**Operator in Turku · firsthand systems

ON THIS PAGE

[01 Domain Authority, Domain Rating, and Authority Score are different metrics](#domain-authority-domain-rating-and-authority-score-are-different-metrics) [02 Domain Authority vs Domain Rating](#domain-authority-vs-domain-rating) [03 How Moz Domain Authority works](#how-moz-domain-authority-works) [04 How Ahrefs Domain Rating works](#how-ahrefs-domain-rating-works) [05 How Semrush Authority Score works](#how-semrush-authority-score-works) [06 How do I find out my Domain Authority?](#how-do-i-find-out-my-domain-authority) [07 What is a good Domain Authority or Domain Rating?](#what-is-a-good-domain-authority-or-domain-rating) [08 How to increase Domain Authority without gaming the metric](#how-to-increase-domain-authority-without-gaming-the-metric) [09 Why Domain Authority can rise without rankings improving](#why-domain-authority-can-rise-without-rankings-improving) [10 Domain authority vs topical authority](#domain-authority-vs-topical-authority) [11 What should you measure instead of one authority score?](#what-should-you-measure-instead-of-one-authority-score) [12 The operating rule](#the-operating-rule)

PROGRESS

0%

ON THIS PAGE 12 sections

[01 Domain Authority, Domain Rating, and Authority Score are different metrics](#domain-authority-domain-rating-and-authority-score-are-different-metrics) [02 Domain Authority vs Domain Rating](#domain-authority-vs-domain-rating) [03 How Moz Domain Authority works](#how-moz-domain-authority-works) [04 How Ahrefs Domain Rating works](#how-ahrefs-domain-rating-works) [05 How Semrush Authority Score works](#how-semrush-authority-score-works) [06 How do I find out my Domain Authority?](#how-do-i-find-out-my-domain-authority) [07 What is a good Domain Authority or Domain Rating?](#what-is-a-good-domain-authority-or-domain-rating) [08 How to increase Domain Authority without gaming the metric](#how-to-increase-domain-authority-without-gaming-the-metric) [09 Why Domain Authority can rise without rankings improving](#why-domain-authority-can-rise-without-rankings-improving) [10 Domain authority vs topical authority](#domain-authority-vs-topical-authority) [11 What should you measure instead of one authority score?](#what-should-you-measure-instead-of-one-authority-score) [12 The operating rule](#the-operating-rule)

**TL;DR** The useful bits

-   12-min read
-   5 metrics decoded

1.  01 Moz Domain Authority predicts relative ranking potential; Ahrefs Domain Rating measures relative backlink-profile strength. They are not the same score.
2.  02 Semrush Authority Score also uses estimated organic traffic and spam indicators, so an AS 30 cannot be translated into DA 30 or DR 30.
3.  03 Google says third-party authority scores do not correspond to its own signals and do not come from Google.
4.  04 Use one vendor consistently against a relevant competitor set, then diagnose links, content, technical eligibility, and evidence separately.

A/01 Direct answer

What is the difference between Domain Authority and Domain Rating?

Domain Authority (DA) is Moz’s 1–100 predictive score for how likely a domain is to rank relative to competitors. Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs’ 0–100 logarithmic score for the relative strength of a domain’s backlink profile. They use different indexes and formulas, are not numerically interchangeable, and neither is a Google ranking score.

Evidence Moz defines DA as a comparative prediction rather than a Google ranking factor. Ahrefs defines DR as backlink-profile strength relative to domains in its database. Google states that third-party authority scores do not correspond to Google signals.

**Domain Authority, Domain Rating, and Authority Score are not three names for the same number.** Moz DA predicts relative ranking potential, Ahrefs DR measures relative backlink-profile strength, and Semrush AS combines link power with estimated traffic and spam indicators.

Google does not use any of those vendor values as its own score. Google’s Search Central documentation says third-party “reputation” and “authority” scores do not correspond to Google signals and do not come from Google.

That does not make the metrics useless. It makes the job narrower: use each score as a diagnostic inside the tool that created it, against an appropriate competitor set, then validate the diagnosis with rankings, pages, links, technical evidence, and business outcomes.

* * *

## Domain Authority, Domain Rating, and Authority Score are different metrics

The labels sound interchangeable because all three compress a large domain into a number near 0–100. The similarity stops there.

-   **Moz Domain Authority (DA)** predicts how likely a domain is to rank relative to competitors. Moz calculates it with backlink data from Link Explorer and a machine-learning model.
-   **Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR)** shows the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile in the Ahrefs database. It is explicitly a link-based, logarithmic metric.
-   **Semrush Authority Score (AS)** is a compound quality metric that uses link power, estimated organic traffic, and spam indicators.

Each vendor crawls a different portion of the web, resolves links differently, and applies a different model. If one report shows DA 31, another DR 22, and another AS 27, you do not have three measurements of one underlying quantity. You have three diagnostic lenses.

The fourth label, **topical authority**, is different again. It is not a standardized number from Google, Moz, Ahrefs, or Semrush. I use it as an operating model for how completely and coherently a site serves one subject.

The fifth concept, **Google PageRank**, belongs to Google’s own ranking systems. Its current values are not exposed through a public Google checker. No public DA-to-PageRank or DR-to-PageRank conversion exists.

* * *

AUTHORITY METRIC DECODER

### Five labels. Five different questions.

A score is useful only after you know whose database produced it and which part of the system it can observe.

METRIC WHAT IT MEASURES USE IT FOR WHAT IT MISSES

**Moz DA** Moz · 1–100 Predicted ranking potential relative to other domains, using Moz link data and a machine-learning model. Compare similar competitors inside Moz. It is not a Google score and does not diagnose topic coverage, page quality, or technical delivery.

**Ahrefs DR** Ahrefs · 0–100, logarithmic Relative strength of a domain’s backlink profile in the Ahrefs database. Compare link-profile strength and prospect difficulty inside Ahrefs. It does not include content quality, topic depth, traffic, domain age, or Google’s private signals.

**Semrush AS** Semrush · 1–100 A compound score using link power, estimated organic traffic, and spam indicators. Compare domains and screen suspicious link profiles inside Semrush. Its inputs and scale differ from DA and DR. It is not a Google score.

**Topical authority** No standard owner · No official score A working model for intent coverage, information quality, internal routes, evidence, and topic-relevant validation. Diagnose whether a subject library is complete, coherent, useful, and independently validated. It cannot be proved by one vendor number, page count, or keyword density score.

**Google PageRank and ranking systems** Google · Internal, not public Google uses PageRank as one link-based signal alongside many other ranking systems and signals. You cannot check the private score. Measure observable search outcomes instead. Public DA, DR, and AS values do not correspond to Google’s own signals.

**Operator rule**

Compare like with like: the same tool, the same market, and the same competitor set. A DA 30 is not an Ahrefs DR 30, and neither is a target set by Google.

## Domain Authority vs Domain Rating

The cleanest distinction is the question each metric tries to answer.

**Moz DA asks:** based on Moz’s model and link data, how likely is this domain to rank compared with other domains?

**Ahrefs DR asks:** how strong is this domain’s backlink profile relative to the other domains in the Ahrefs database?

That difference changes how you use the outputs. A DA trend can be a broad competitive benchmark inside Moz. A DR gap can help identify that competing domains have materially stronger referring-domain profiles inside Ahrefs. Neither explains whether your page satisfies a query, whether Google chose the correct canonical, or whether the article contains evidence worth citing.

### Why the same site gets different DA and DR values

The tools do not share one index. Moz can discover or classify a link that Ahrefs has not, and the reverse can happen. Their models also weigh the observed graph differently.

DR is logarithmic. Moving from 20 to 30 is not designed to represent the same amount of link-profile growth as moving from 70 to 80. DA is also relative and model-based; it can move when Moz updates its index or model even if you changed nothing on the site.

This is why cross-vendor score matching is noise. Choose one tool for a trend line. Keep the unit stable.

* * *

LENS

Ranking-potential model

Moz DA

Backlink-strength model

Ahrefs DR WIN

Scale

1–100

0–100, logarithmic

Primary job

Predict relative ranking potential

Compare relative backlink-profile strength

Core data

Moz Link Explorer and ML model

Ahrefs referring-domain graph

Best use

Benchmark similar sites in Moz

Compare link profiles in Ahrefs

Google score?

No

No

## How Moz Domain Authority works

Moz defines Domain Authority as a search engine ranking score that predicts how likely a website is to rank on search engine results pages compared with competitors. The scale runs from 1 to 100.

The two important words are **predicts** and **compared**.

DA does not cause a page to rank. Moz says directly that DA is not a Google ranking factor and has no effect on the search results. It is the output of Moz’s own model, built from Moz link data and trained to predict relative ranking potential.

Use DA for:

-   comparing domains that compete in a similar search market;
-   tracking a domain inside the Moz ecosystem over time;
-   adding context to link prospecting or competitor research;
-   spotting a change that deserves a deeper link and ranking audit.

Do not use DA for:

-   setting a universal “good website” threshold;
-   pricing a backlink without reviewing the linking page, relevance, traffic, placement, and editorial standards;
-   claiming Google trusts one domain more than another;
-   diagnosing why a specific URL does not rank.

Moz’s own guidance says to use DA comparatively and in context, not in isolation. That is the right operating rule for every third-party authority metric.

* * *

## How Ahrefs Domain Rating works

Ahrefs defines Domain Rating as the strength of a website’s backlink profile compared with others in its database on a 0–100 logarithmic scale.

The simplified DR logic considers:

1.  how many unique domains link to the target;
2.  the DR of those linking domains;
3.  how many unique domains each referring site links to.

A relevant editorial domain that links selectively can therefore be more meaningful to the model than a domain that links out to an enormous number of sites. Ahrefs then places the result on its relative 0–100 scale.

DR is useful for comparing link profiles, but it deliberately leaves many things out. Ahrefs’ own authority checker explains that DR does not consider variables such as traffic, domain age, or link spam. It does not read your product positioning, test intent fit, or inspect whether the page is indexable.

### What people mean by “Ahrefs domain authority”

Usually they mean Domain Rating. Ahrefs does not call DR “Domain Authority”; that name belongs to Moz’s separate metric.

Use the precise label in reports:

-   **DA 28 (Moz)**
-   **DR 21 (Ahrefs)**
-   **AS 24 (Semrush)**

That small discipline prevents clients and teams from comparing numbers that were never designed to match.

* * *

## How Semrush Authority Score works

Semrush Authority Score is broader than Ahrefs DR. Semrush describes it as a compound metric for the overall quality of a website or webpage.

Its three main facets are:

-   **link power:** the quality and quantity of backlinks;
-   **organic traffic:** Semrush’s estimate of average monthly organic search traffic;
-   **spam factors:** signals intended to identify an unnatural or manipulated profile.

This changes the interpretation. A site can have many backlinks but a weaker Authority Score if the profile looks unnatural or the link strength is not supported by estimated search visibility. Conversely, an AS movement may reflect Semrush traffic estimates rather than a newly gained or lost link.

Semrush advises using Authority Score for domain comparison, not for declaring an absolute good or bad threshold. That also means AS should not be translated into DA or DR. The shared 100-point appearance is interface design, not a shared formula.

* * *

## How do I find out my Domain Authority?

Use the official checker for the metric you actually want:

| You want | Official place to check | What the result is called |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Moz ranking-potential estimate | Moz Link Explorer or MozBar | Domain Authority (DA) |
| Ahrefs backlink-profile strength | Ahrefs Website Authority Checker or Site Explorer | Domain Rating (DR) |
| Semrush compound domain score | Semrush Domain Overview or Backlink Analytics | Authority Score (AS) |
| Google’s internal authority score | No public checker exists | Do not substitute DA, DR, or AS |
| Subject coverage and coherence | A reviewed map, crawl, GSC, evidence, and links | No official universal score |

Record four fields beside every value: vendor, date, scope, and competitor set. “Authority 32” is ambiguous. “Ahrefs DR 32 on 18 July 2026, compared with five Finnish B2B SEO competitors” is an auditable observation.

If your goal is subject coverage rather than link strength, use the [browser-only Topical Authority Audit](https://nikoalho.fi/tools/topical-authority-audit/). It inspects observable page and link signals; it does not pretend to reveal a Google score.

* * *

## What is a good Domain Authority or Domain Rating?

There is no universal good authority score.

A local specialist with DR 18 may have the strongest relevant link profile in its commercial result set. A software review publisher with DR 70 may still be weaker than the domains it competes with. The useful benchmark is the set of sites that rank for the queries and markets you need to win.

Use this comparison process:

1.  Choose one vendor metric.
2.  Export the domains ranking for 20–50 commercially relevant queries.
3.  Separate true competitors from marketplaces, publishers, forums, and giant platforms.
4.  Compare the median and range, not only the strongest outlier.
5.  Inspect the actual referring pages behind the scores.
6.  Compare page-level intent, content, and links before turning the domain gap into a forecast.

The score tells you about the tool’s model of the domain. The search result tells you which pages currently win. Your plan needs both views.

### Why arbitrary thresholds create bad decisions

A target such as “get DA above 50” has no business meaning by itself. It can redirect budget toward links that move a vendor model without improving qualified visibility, citations, or revenue.

A better target is concrete: earn ten editorial referring domains from publications that influence the subject, move three commercial clusters into the top ten, and document which links or evidence accompanied the change. DA or DR can sit beside that target as context.

* * *

## How to increase Domain Authority without gaming the metric

You cannot safely guarantee a rapid DA increase because Moz controls the index and model. You can improve the underlying site and link profile in ways that may move third-party metrics and also create independent value.

### 1\. Reclaim links you already earned

Find strong links pointing to 404s, redirected chains, retired campaign URLs, or the wrong protocol and host. Restore the useful destination or redirect to the closest equivalent. Do not funnel every broken URL to the homepage.

### 2\. Consolidate competing assets

If two weak articles answer the same intent, merge the useful material into one owner URL and redirect the duplicate. This can concentrate internal and external signals while making the site easier to understand.

### 3\. Publish evidence with a stable citation target

Original datasets, calculators, checklists, benchmarks, experiments, and decision frameworks give other writers a reason to cite you. Put the methodology, date, limitations, downloadable data, and preferred citation on a stable URL.

My [AI Recommendation Index](https://nikoalho.fi/writing/ai-recommendation-index/) follows that pattern: a public dataset, methodology, downloadable JSON and CSV, versioned release, license, and DOI. The distribution footprint matters because the asset is inspectable outside my own claims.

### 4\. Earn links from the subject, not just high-score domains

Review the linking page itself. Ask whether it is indexed, editorially maintained, contextually relevant, likely to be read, and selective about outbound links. A generic UGC profile on a DR 90 platform is not automatically stronger evidence than a cited method in a smaller industry publication.

### 5\. Build internal routes to the pages that matter

Internal links do not change the number of referring domains, but they help discovery, clarify relationships, and distribute attention through the site. Fix contextual orphans and link from relevant pages using descriptive anchors.

### 6\. Keep technical failures from wasting earned links

Canonical mistakes, accidental noindex directives, broken migrations, client-rendering failures, and redirect chains can separate the page from the signals it earned. Use the [Technical SEO Field Kit](https://nikoalho.fi/resources/technical-seo-checklist/) before and after releases.

### What not to do

Avoid bulk guest-post packages, private link networks, sitewide footer trades, expired-domain chains, and irrelevant directory blasts. Even when a tactic moves a third-party score, it can create no audience value and expose the site to spam risk. The goal is not to make a dashboard greener. It is to earn useful, defensible visibility.

* * *

## Why Domain Authority can rise without rankings improving

DA can increase while organic performance stays flat. Several systems can diverge:

-   Moz discovers new links or updates its model.
-   The links point mostly to pages unrelated to your target cluster.
-   Competitors improve at the same time.
-   Your ranking page mismatches the query intent.
-   Several URLs compete for the same query.
-   The important URL is canonicalized, noindexed, or poorly linked.
-   The page summarizes existing results without adding useful evidence.
-   The domain earns links in one topic while trying to rank in another.

The reverse also happens. Rankings can improve while DA stays flat because you fixed intent ownership, consolidated pages, improved technical eligibility, or published a materially better answer without adding many new referring domains.

That is why authority metrics belong in a diagnostic dashboard, not at the top of the business scorecard.

* * *

## Domain authority vs topical authority

Domain-level link metrics and topical authority answer different operational questions.

**DA, DR, and AS ask about the domain through a vendor model.** The model may emphasize ranking potential, backlink strength, traffic, or spam risk.

**Topical authority asks whether one subject is complete and coherent enough to serve.** The observable layers include:

-   mapped buyer intents with distinct owner URLs;
-   useful page-level answers and original evidence;
-   contextual internal routes;
-   query distribution across the intended pages;
-   relevant referring domains and independent mentions;
-   freshness of decision-critical facts;
-   crawl, index, render, and canonical eligibility.

A high-DR generalist can have shallow coverage of your niche. A low-DR specialist can cover it deeply but still lack external validation. The durable target is not one or the other: build a useful subject system and earn relevant recognition for it.

Read the full [topical authority pillar](https://nikoalho.fi/writing/topical-authority/) for the mapping, measurement framework, failure atlas, and live DR 6 case.

* * *

## What should you measure instead of one authority score?

Keep the authority metric, but place it in a layered scorecard:

| Layer | Question | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Search outcome | Are the right pages gaining visibility? | GSC queries, clicks, impressions, ranking URLs |
| Business outcome | Is visibility creating qualified demand? | Assisted pipeline, leads, revenue, conversion paths |
| Link validation | Do relevant independent pages cite the work? | Referring pages, link context, lost and gained links |
| Topic coverage | Does every material intent have one useful owner? | Reviewed topical map, gap and cannibalization audit |
| Evidence | Is there something original and reproducible to cite? | Methods, data, screenshots, cases, limitations |
| Technical eligibility | Can systems discover, render, index, and select the URL? | Crawl, canonical, index status, logs, rendered HTML |
| Vendor context | How does the domain compare in one tool? | DA, DR, or AS with vendor, date, and competitor set |

This prevents a score change from dictating the wrong fix. If DR is flat but commercial pages are gaining qualified traffic and citations, the program may be working. If DR rises while owner URLs lose visibility, the link number is not the bottleneck you should celebrate.

Use the decision tree below to route the observed symptom to the correct system.

* * *

DIAGNOSE THE RIGHT SYSTEM

### Which authority are you trying to improve?

Choose the observable problem. The output tells you which metric to inspect and what to fix first.

[Open the recommended next step →](https://nikoalho.fi/tools/topical-authority-audit/)

## The operating rule

Do not ask, “How do I get authority to 50?” Ask, “Which outcome is blocked, which layer could explain it, and what evidence would prove the fix worked?”

Use Moz DA to compare Moz’s ranking-potential prediction. Use Ahrefs DR to compare link-profile strength. Use Semrush AS for Semrush’s compound view of links, traffic, and spam. Use Google Search Console and your commercial analytics to measure the outcome.

Then build the part no vendor score can build for you: a focused body of work that people can use, verify, and cite.

WRONG SCORE, WRONG FIX

Map the content, links, and evidence before you buy another authority report.

[Run the free authority audit →](https://nikoalho.fi/tools/topical-authority-audit/)

Questions people actually ask

FAQ · 7

Q01 How do I find out my Domain Authority? +

Enter the domain in Moz Link Explorer or use MozBar to see Moz Domain Authority. If you use Ahrefs Website Authority Checker, the result is Domain Rating, not Moz DA. Semrush reports Authority Score. Label the metric and vendor whenever you report it.

Q02 What is Ahrefs domain authority? +

Ahrefs does not call its metric Domain Authority. Its domain-level metric is Domain Rating (DR), a 0–100 logarithmic measure of backlink-profile strength relative to other domains in the Ahrefs database. Domain Authority is Moz’s separate trademarked metric.

Q03 What is a good SEO authority score? +

There is no universal good score. Compare the same vendor metric against domains competing in the same market and search results. A niche DR 20 site can be strong in its set, while DR 50 may be weak in another. Rankings, qualified traffic, conversions, and relevant citations are the real outcomes.

Q04 How can I increase Domain Authority quickly? +

There is no reliable safe shortcut. DA changes when Moz’s model and link data change relative to the web. Earn relevant editorial links, reclaim legitimate lost links, consolidate duplicate or broken URLs, and publish evidence worth citing. Do not buy bulk links or optimize only for the number.

Q05 What is the difference between domain authority and topical authority? +

Domain Authority is Moz’s proprietary domain-level prediction. Topical authority is an SEO operating model for useful coverage, page ownership, internal relationships, evidence, and relevant external validation within a subject. Topical authority has no standard Google or vendor score.

Q06 Can Domain Authority increase without rankings improving? +

Yes. DA is a comparative third-party prediction, not a measurement of your rankings. It can move because Moz discovers links, changes its model, or the reference web changes. Rankings may still be limited by intent mismatch, weak pages, technical problems, competition, or poor topical fit.

Q07 Are DA, DR, and Authority Score comparable? +

They are comparable only as different diagnostic views of domain-level strength. Their numeric values are not interchangeable because Moz, Ahrefs, and Semrush use different indexes, models, and inputs. Keep the vendor fixed when tracking a trend or competitor gap.

Sources & further reading

1.  \[01\]
    
    [Domain Authority: what it is and what it is not](https://moz.com/learn/seo/domain-authority)
    
    Moz
    
    DOC
2.  \[02\]
    
    [How to use Domain Authority 2.0](https://moz.com/blog/domain-authority-seo)
    
    Moz
    
    GUIDE
3.  \[03\]
    
    [What is Domain Rating?](https://help.ahrefs.com/en/articles/1409408-what-is-domain-rating-dr)
    
    Ahrefs
    
    DOC
4.  \[04\]
    
    [Website Authority Checker](https://ahrefs.com/website-authority-checker)
    
    Ahrefs
    
    TOOL
5.  \[05\]
    
    [Authority Score](https://www.semrush.com/kb/747-authority-score-backlink-scores)
    
    Semrush
    
    DOC
6.  \[06\]
    
    [March 2024 core update and new spam policies](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies)
    
    Google Search Central · 2024
    
    DOC

INBOX · TWICE A MONTH

Notes from the lab, in your inbox.

The same pipelines I run for paying clients — written up first for subscribers.

Written for operators, not marketers

![Niko Alho](https://nikoalho.fi/assets/niko-alho-avatar-192.webp)

Niko Alho

I run agentic SEO and build custom AI for B2B companies. Based in Turku.

[About →](https://nikoalho.fi/about/)

KEEP READING

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[More writing →](https://nikoalho.fi/writing/)

Direct with Niko · 20-min intro, no pitch [Book a slot →](https://nikoalho.fi/book/)

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