Domain Rating vs Domain Authority: What Buyers Should Check

When you look at websites for sale, you will often see a number next to the domain: "DR 45" or "DA 38". These scores come from different SEO tools and measure different things. Sellers sometimes quote whichever one looks higher, or mix them up. This guide explains what each score means, why they disagree, and what you should check instead of trusting one number.

What Domain Rating (DR) is

Domain Rating is a score from Ahrefs, on a scale of 0 to 100. It estimates the strength of a website's backlink profile compared with other sites in Ahrefs' database. Roughly speaking, a site gets a higher DR when many sites with high DR link to it. The scale is logarithmic, so moving from 70 to 80 is much harder than moving from 10 to 20.

What Domain Authority (DA) is

Domain Authority is a score from Moz, also on a scale of 0 to 100. It predicts how likely a domain is to rank in search results compared with other domains, based on Moz's own link data and model. It is also relative and logarithmic.

Why DR and DA often disagree

• Different link databases. Each tool crawls the web separately and finds different links.
• Different formulas. DR focuses on link strength; DA uses a model trained to predict rankings.
• Different update timing. Each tool recalculates on its own schedule.

So a site can show DR 40 and DA 25, or the other way round, and both can be "correct" for their own tool. That is why a good listing shows them as two separate figures, labelled with the tool, never as one combined "authority" number.

What neither score is

• Not a Google metric. Google does not use DR or DA. They are third-party estimates.
• Not proof of traffic or income. A high score with no traffic is worth little to most buyers.
• Not proof of quality. Scores can be inflated with links that may harm the site later.

How sellers misuse the scores

• Quoting "DA" when they mean DR, or the reverse.
• Quoting only the higher of the two.
• Inflating a score shortly before sale by buying links from link farms or private blog networks.
• Showing an old screenshot from when the score was higher.

What buyers should check instead

1. Check both scores yourself

Look up the domain in Ahrefs and Moz, or ask the seller for a dated screenshot from each tool and confirm it.

2. Look at referring domains, not just the score

• How many different sites link to it?
• Are they relevant to the niche?
• Are they real sites with real traffic, or thin sites that exist only to link out?

3. Look at the link history

A sudden spike in new links shortly before the sale is a warning sign. Natural link profiles grow gradually.

4. Check anchor text

Many links with exact-match commercial anchor text (for example "best cheap plumber Dallas") can signal manipulation.

5. Check organic traffic and keywords

Use Search Console (shown live by the seller) and SEO tools to see real organic clicks and the keywords the site ranks for. Traffic and rankings matter more than any authority score.

6. Check the domain's history

Look at past versions of the site. A domain that used to host something unrelated or spammy may carry baggage.

How much should DR or DA affect the price?

For an income-producing site, price is driven mainly by profit, traffic stability and risk. Authority scores add context: a healthy link profile makes the traffic more likely to last. For a site with little income, such as a starter site or an expired domain, the link profile is a bigger part of the value, which is exactly when inflated scores are most common.

Other link metrics you will see

• URL Rating (UR, Ahrefs): the strength of links to a single page rather than the whole domain. Useful for checking whether the pages that earn money have links of their own.
• Page Authority (PA, Moz): Moz's page-level equivalent.
• Referring domains: the number of different websites linking to the site. Often more telling than total backlinks, because one site can send thousands of links.
• Dofollow backlinks: links that pass ranking value. A natural profile includes both dofollow and nofollow links.
• Organic keywords: how many search terms the tool sees the site ranking for. Compare with Search Console, which shows real queries.
• Trust Flow and Citation Flow (Majestic): another tool's view of link quality and quantity.

No single metric tells the whole story. Look for agreement between several of them and, above all, between the metrics and the real traffic.

A worked example

Two blogs in the same niche are for sale at the same price.

• Blog A shows DR 52. Its referring domains jumped from 80 to 900 in the three months before listing, mostly from unrelated sites with generic names. Organic traffic is flat.
• Blog B shows DR 31. It has 140 referring domains built over four years, mostly from other sites in the niche, and its organic traffic has grown steadily.

Blog B is very likely the safer buy, even though its score is lower. Blog A's score may have been inflated for the sale, and those links could become a liability.

Questions to ask the seller

1. Have you ever bought links, guest posts or link packages? From whom, and when?
2. Do you own other sites that link to this one, and will those links stay after the sale?
3. Have you ever disavowed links or received a manual action in Search Console?
4. Which pages have the strongest links, and do they bring income?

What a good listing shows

On iSaleGuru, sellers can add Domain Authority (Moz), Domain Rating (Ahrefs), URL Rating, referring domains, dofollow backlinks and organic keywords as separate fields, with a link to a screenshot as proof. Buyers can filter by minimum DA and minimum DR separately. Logged-in buyers see these in an "SEO and backlinks" section, apart from the income and traffic figures.

A quick checklist

• Both scores checked by you, from both tools.
• Referring domains reviewed for relevance and quality.
• No sudden link spikes before the sale.
• Natural anchor text.
• Organic traffic and rankings confirmed live.
• Domain history checked.

Browse sites with separate DA and DR figures: see listings, or list your site.

Frequently asked questions

Is DR better than DA?

Neither is better; they are different tools' estimates. Check both and focus on the links and traffic behind them.

Does Google use Domain Authority?

No. Domain Authority and Domain Rating are third-party metrics from Moz and Ahrefs. Google uses its own systems.

What is a good DR or DA for a website for sale?

It depends on the niche and the site's age. A healthy, relevant link profile and stable organic traffic matter more than reaching a particular number.

Can DR or DA be faked?

Scores can be pushed up with low-quality or paid links. That is why buyers should review the referring domains and link history, not just the number.

Why does my site have a higher DA than DR?

Because the two tools find different links and use different formulas. It is normal for them to differ.

Should I buy a website based on DR or DA alone?

No. These scores show the strength of a site's backlinks, not its traffic or income. A site can have a high score and little traffic, or a low score and strong earnings. Use DR and DA as one signal next to analytics, income proof and a check of the actual links.

How often do DR and DA change?

Both scores update as the tools crawl the web and find new or lost links. They can also move when the tools change how they calculate scores. Small changes are normal and do not mean much. Look at the trend over months rather than one number on one day.

Where can buyers see DR and DA on iSaleGuru listings?

Sellers can add DR and DA as separate fields in the SEO section of their listing, along with referring domains and other numbers. Buyers can filter listings by minimum DR or DA. Always confirm the numbers yourself with the tools, because the seller provides them.