DA vs DR Explained
Domain Authority and Domain Rating are the two numbers you’ll see on almost every guest post listing. Here’s what each actually measures, why they disagree, and how to use them without being misled.
DA (Domain Authority) is a Moz metric; DR (Domain Rating) is an Ahrefs metric. Both estimate a site’s backlink strength on a 0–100 scale, but they’re calculated from different link indexes with different methods, so the same site often gets different scores. Treat them as rough proxies, not truth — and never as a price tag.
What they have in common
Both DA and DR are third-party scores that try to summarise how strong a website’s backlink profile is, on a logarithmic 0–100 scale. Higher is stronger, and because the scale is logarithmic, moving from 20 to 30 is far easier than moving from 70 to 80. Neither is a Google metric. Google has repeatedly said it doesn’t use any “domain authority” score of this kind. These are SEO-industry estimates, useful for comparison, not official signals.
Domain Rating (DR) — Ahrefs
DR measures the strength of a domain’s backlink profile based on the quantity and quality of the domains linking to it, drawn from Ahrefs’ own link index. In broad terms, a site’s DR rises when more high-DR sites link to it. DR looks only at backlinks — it doesn’t factor in traffic or content.
Domain Authority (DA) — Moz
DA is Moz’s machine-learning estimate of how likely a domain is to rank in search results, trained against actual SERPs and built from Moz’s link index (the Link Explorer / DoFollow data). Because it’s modelled against ranking, DA blends several link-based factors into one predictive number.
Why the same site gets different scores
- Different link indexes. Ahrefs and Moz each crawl the web independently and know about different sets of backlinks.
- Different methods. DR is a backlink-strength calculation; DA is a ranking-prediction model. They’re answering slightly different questions.
- Different update schedules. Each recalculates on its own cadence, so a site can shift on one before the other.
A site with DR 55 and DA 40 isn’t a contradiction — it just scores differently on two different rulers.
How to use them well
- Compare like with like. Only compare DA to DA, or DR to DR — never DA on one site to DR on another.
- Treat them as ranges, not precision. DR 48 vs DR 52 is noise. DR 20 vs DR 60 is a real difference.
- Look past the number. Relevance to your audience, real traffic, editorial quality, and topical fit matter more than a couple of authority points.
- Watch for manipulation. Both scores can be inflated with spammy links. A high DR with thin content and no real traffic is a red flag, not a green light.
How GPSitesList shows these numbers
On our listings, DR is labelled as an Ahrefs metric and DA as a Moz metric, each with its source and — where we’ve confirmed it — a verification date. We never blend them into a single invented “authority” figure, and a “Verified” badge means a human checked the number against the real tool. See our verification policy for exactly what that involves.
The bottom line
DA and DR are useful shorthand for shortlisting publishers, but they’re proxies. Use them to filter, then judge a publication on relevance, audience, and editorial quality before you pitch. And never let anyone sell you a link priced purely on its DR — that’s the link-scheme pattern our compliance framework exists to keep you out of.