DA vs. DR: Which Metric Should Guide Your Link Building Strategy?

So, you are a brand/business owner who has turned to link-building to curate and realize an effective SEO strategy to grow your business organically. 

You are now confused about choosing domain rating vs. domain authority as the preferred metric for evaluating the quality of these backlinks, which signal authority and trustworthiness to search engines. 

We at Mavlers have a cumulative experience of 12+ years in building 20 K+ quality links for 100+ global clients, with a 95%+ retention rate. 

In today’s blog, we aim to provide you with the knowledge from our experiences on the following factors:

• The basics of Domain Authority (DA)
• The basics of Domain Rating (DR)
• DA vs. DR ~ An honest comparison
• Practical considerations for choosing between DA and DR

By the end of this blog, you will be able to select your preferred metric for measuring the success of your link-building campaign. 

Let’s get linking! 😉

Source

Understanding the basics of Domain Authority (DA)

Domain Authority (DA) is a metric developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). Ranging from 1 to 100, a higher DA score indicates a greater ability to rank.

Moz introduced DA as a way to provide a comparative measure of the strength of a website’s overall backlink profile, allowing SEOs to gauge the potential performance of their domains against competitors.

Let’s now look into why tracking DA is important for link-building.

• Benchmarking: DA provides a way to gauge the relative strength of your website compared to others. Knowing their DA helps you understand where you stand if you aim to compete with certain websites.

• Evaluating potential links: When considering link-building opportunities, looking at the DA of potential linking sites can help you prioritize those that might provide the most SEO benefit. A backlink from a high-DA site is generally more valuable than one from a low-DA site.

• Tracking progress: By monitoring your site’s DA over time, you can understand how your link-building efforts are paying off. An increasing DA often indicates that your site’s authority is growing, which can help improve your search rankings.

Exploring the basics of Domain Rating (DR)

Domain Rating (DR) is a metric developed by Ahrefs that measures the strength of a website’s backlink profile compared to others in Ahrefs’ database. 

Like DA, DR ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating stronger backlink profiles. Ahrefs created DR to provide a more granular view of the quality and power of a website’s backlinks.

Let’s now look into why DR is Important for link-building.

• Evaluating link opportunities: DR helps you identify high-quality link opportunities. When looking for sites to get backlinks from, a higher DR indicates that the site is authoritative and can provide a more valuable link.

• Competitive analysis: DR allows you to compare your site’s backlink profile with that of your competitors. By understanding where your competitors stand, you can better strategize your link-building efforts to close any gaps.

• Tracking SEO progress: Monitoring changes in your DR over time can give you insights into the effectiveness of your link-building strategies. An increasing DR usually suggests that your efforts are improving the quality of your backlink profile.

• Prioritizing efforts: Since DR focuses on the quality and strength of links, it helps prioritize efforts toward building relationships with high-DR sites, which can significantly impact your SEO performance.

Now that we are clear on the basics of both metrics, let’s get down to decoding the actual differences between DA vs. DR in SEO.

DA vs. DR ~ An honest comparison

We will begin by exploring the strengths and weaknesses of each metric. 

1. Domain Authority (DA)

Strengths:

• Holistic view: DA offers a broad perspective on a site’s potential SEO performance, incorporating multiple factors beyond just backlinks.

• Predictive value: As an overall authority score, DA can provide a good estimate of how well a site might perform in search engine rankings.

• User-friendly: Moz provides a clear and accessible score that users can easily understand and apply to their link-building strategy.

Weaknesses:

• Less focused on backlinks: DA’s broad approach means it may not provide a as detailed analysis of backlink quality and strength.

• Variability: Because DA incorporates multiple factors, fluctuations in the score can occur due to changes in Moz’s algorithm or index, which may affect consistency. Moz algorithm doesn’t change itself to give score fluctuations, but “Moz’s backlink index or overall website’s SEO health” does.

2. Domain Rating (DR)

Strengths:

• Backlink focus: DR provides a concentrated view of a domain’s backlink profile, highlighting the strength and diversity of incoming links.

• Data freshness: Ahrefs’ regularly updated index ensures that DR reflects the most current backlink landscape, providing timely insights.

• Quality over quantity: By focusing on backlinks, DR helps identify high-value link opportunities that can significantly impact SEO.

Weaknesses:

• Narrow scope: DR’s focus on backlinks means it may overlook other important factors contributing to overall site authority and ranking potential.

• Dependency on Ahrefs’ index: The accuracy of DR is tied to Ahrefs’ index, which, while extensive, may differ from other tools’ data, potentially leading to discrepancies.

Now that we are acquainted with the pros and cons of both metrics, let’s delve into the differences between them, including calculation methods, data sources, and algorithm complexity.

1. Domain Authority (DA)

• Calculation method: DA is computed using a machine learning model that factors in various elements of a site’s SEO profile. This includes the number and quality of backlinks, the strength of linking domains, and other SEO signals. Moz’s proprietary algorithm incorporates a large number of data points to generate a single score on a scale of 1 to 100.

• Data sources: DA relies on Moz’s own link index, which is updated periodically. The index includes a vast range of links, but it may not be as comprehensive or frequently updated as those from other tools.

As observed, Moz DA scores increase once or twice a month for websites depending upon how good or bad they are doing in terms of their SEO efforts (primarily link building).

• Algorithm complexity: The DA score is influenced by multiple factors, including link metrics, site structure, and possibly some on-page SEO elements. This makes it a composite score that aims to predict overall search engine ranking potential.

Also, it has been observed that your DA score improves faster when you are closer to the left side of the DA Scale (1-100) and vice versa. Of course, the last statement stands true when we are running a link-building campaign. The Moz DA Score seems settled (or slightly declines) when no emphasis is being put on a website’s SEO. 

2. Domain Rating (DR)

• Calculation method: DR is based on Ahrefs’ extensive index of backlinks. It is calculated by evaluating the number and quality of backlinks pointing to a domain. The DR score, also on a scale from 0 to 100, reflects the strength of a domain’s backlink profile relative to others in Ahrefs’ database.

New websites begin with a 0 DR Rating, and as they accumulate links, they climb up the DR scale. You may find many good-looking websites and established businesses with low DR since this metric is mostly dependent on backlinks.

Both Moz DA & Ahrefs DR rate globally renowned organisations like Facebook, Google in the vicinity of 80-100 on their scales.

• Data sources: Ahrefs maintains a large and frequently updated index of backlinks, which is known for its depth and regular refreshes. This index forms the core of DR’s calculation, focusing on the strength and diversity of incoming links.

• Algorithm complexity: DR is more narrowly focused on backlink data. It assesses the quality of backlinks and their distribution across domains but does not directly consider other SEO factors, such as on-page optimization or overall site authority.

Similar to Moz’s DA, Ahrefs DR also ignores no-follow links while calculating the DR score.

Practical considerations for choosing between DA and DR

When deciding between Domain Authority (DA) and Domain Rating (DR) for your link-building strategy, several practical considerations can help you make an informed choice:

1. Understand your goals

• Broad visibility vs. high quality: If your goal is to increase the number of backlinks and improve broad visibility quickly, DA might be more useful. Focusing on DR could be more beneficial if you aim for long-term SEO stability with high-quality links.

2. Evaluate your resources

• Tools and budget: If you can access Moz tools, DA might be easier to use and integrate into your current strategy. DR might provide more detailed insights if you are already using Ahrefs or can invest in it.

3. Consider the type of links you need

• Link quantity vs. link quality: DA can be a useful measure for strategies that involve acquiring a large number of links, such as guest posting or content marketing. However, DR is often better for strategies focused on getting fewer but higher-quality links, like securing links from authoritative industry sites.

4. Analyze your competition

• Competitive benchmarking: Check which metrics your competitors are using. If they emphasize DA, you might want to consider it to stay competitive. If they focus on DR, it might make sense to follow suit.

5. Industry practices

• Industry norms: Different industries might prioritize different metrics. In tech and SEO-heavy industries, DR might be more respected due to its detailed analysis. In more general or traditional industries, DA might be more widely recognized.

The road ahead

You might now want to explore the tools and tech stack we have at Mavlers to run and analyze SEO campaigns.