Ahrefs UR vs DR Explained: What They Mean and Which to Use

Here is the short answer. Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' 0-100 score for the strength of a whole website's backlink profile. URL Rating (UR) is Ahrefs' 0-100 score for the link strength of one specific page. DR only looks at other sites linking to the domain. UR counts links pointing at that page, and internal links from the same site are included. Use DR to decide which sites are worth getting a link from. Use UR to judge the exact page your link will sit on, and to find your own pages that need more internal links.

Google uses neither. Both are Ahrefs estimates. They are useful as stand-ins for the link strength that search engines do care about.

This is the deep dive on how the two scores relate. For the broader DR topic, see our Domain Rating guide and the Domain Rating explained how-to.

Disclosure: LaunchIt gives every listing a dofollow link, and we run a free DR checker. We have an interest in you caring about both numbers, so weigh what follows accordingly.

Ahrefs UR and DR explained: the two definitions

Domain Rating: the whole site

DR answers one narrow question: compared with every other site Ahrefs knows about, how much link authority does this domain hold? It is driven by how many unique domains link to the site with a dofollow link. Each of those domains is weighted by how strong it is and by how many sites it links out to. Fifty links from one site count as one referring domain, and nofollow links don't count toward DR.

What is UR in Ahrefs?

UR asks the same question about one URL. The critical difference is that UR counts internal links as well as external ones. Say dozens of pages on a site link to one page. That page will have a higher UR than an orphaned page on the same domain, even if no outside site links to either one.

Both scores run from 0 to 100 on a logarithmic scale, so each point is harder to earn than the one before.

The difference between UR and DR in Ahrefs, side by side

Internal links are the difference that matters day to day. UR counts them, so it is the score you can move without any outreach. DR ignores them completely.

High DR low UR, high UR low DR: reading the combinations

The two scores are calculated separately, so any combination can happen.

Why new pages start with low UR, and how internal links raise it

Every URL starts with nothing pointing at it. Publish a page on a DR 80 site and on day one its UR is close to zero, because Ahrefs hasn't found any links to it yet. The page gets the domain's DR as soon as it exists. UR has to be earned one page at a time.

UR goes up when the site links to the page (from categories, related posts or a homepage feature) and when other sites link to it. The number only moves after Ahrefs recrawls, so there is always a delay.

On your own site, this is the cheapest ranking work available. Here is a hypothetical. You publish a comparison page on your DR 20 site. The only link to it is from the blog index, and its UR is near zero. You add links to it from inside six related articles, each with natural, slightly different anchor text. Nothing changed outside your site, but the authority your domain already has can now reach that page. The how-to has a longer worked example of fixing UR with internal links.

If a page you care about has fewer than five internal links pointing at it, fix that before you chase backlinks for it. Put the links in the body text rather than relying on navigation and footers, and vary the anchor text.

Five worked scenarios

All the scores below are made-up examples to show the reasoning. They are not measurements of real sites.

1. A directory listing page: DR 70, UR 0

You submit to a DR 70 directory. Your listing goes live on a new page, and a few weeks later Ahrefs shows it at UR 0. Did you waste the submission?

Probably not. For your own DR, what counts is that a DR 70 domain now links to you, as long as the link is dofollow. What matters next is whether the page stays at zero. Look at a listing on the same directory from a few months ago. Is it indexed? Can you reach it from a category page? Is its UR above 0? That older listing is the best forecast you will get for yours.

Then open the page source and check the rel attribute on your link. Our guide to dofollow backlinks that show up in Ahrefs walks through the ninety-second check.

2. A guest post: DR 55 blog, posts that never gain UR

A DR 55 blog offers you a guest post. Like any new URL, it will start near UR 0. Look at their posts from six months to a year ago. If those are still near zero, the blog doesn't link to its own archive and no other sites do either, so your post will end up just as ignored. If older posts have reached double digits, the blog links to its own content and your post has a real chance to gain strength.

A pitch that quotes the domain's DR (or Moz DA) is selling you the metric, not the page your link will be on.

3. A homepage link: DR 40, homepage UR 38

A partner offers you a link from their homepage: DR 40, homepage UR 38. Outside links usually land on the homepage, and every other page on the site links back to it, so the homepage often has the site's highest UR. That makes this a strong placement.

The catch is how long it lasts. Featured slots and "launching today" lists rotate, so ask where your link goes when it comes off the homepage. If they offer a sitewide footer link instead, it still counts as only one referring domain for your DR, no matter how many pages it appears on.

4. An expired domain: DR 45, homepage UR 10

You are looking at an expired or for-sale domain at DR 45. That tells you the domain has a history of links. It doesn't tell you where those links point or whether they are clean.

Check the homepage UR and which pages the links actually point at. If the homepage is UR 10 and the domain is DR 45, most of the links point at deep pages from the old site. Find out what those pages were. If you won't rebuild anything like them, you are paying for a number tied to URLs you don't plan to keep.

Then compare the score with the list of referring domains and any traffic history, because junk links can inflate DR. Run your candidates through the bulk domain rating checker first, so you only dig into the ones worth a closer look.

5. A page with higher UR than its domain's DR: UR 80 on DR 70

Domain and link sellers sometimes advertise exactly this combination. It isn't an error. Neither score comes from the other. DR rates the domain based on unique referring domains. UR rates one page based on the links pointing at it, internal ones included. So a page's UR can be higher than its domain's DR.

The page is usually a homepage, or a page that earned a lot of links by itself. For a link, that is about as strong a spot as the site has. If you are buying the domain, most of its authority sits on that one URL, so make sure the URL will keep existing and check who links to it.

Domain rating vs URL rating: which should you prioritise?

It depends on the decision in front of you.

• Shortlisting link sources: relevance first, then DR. Our startup directories list ranks 216 directories by Ahrefs DR, 105 of them at DR 50 or higher.
• A link on an existing page (a resource page, a homepage, an old article): UR, because you can already measure that page's strength.
• A link on a new page (a listing, a guest post): DR for the domain, plus the UR of similar older pages on that site as a forecast.
• Buying a domain: DR for the link history, UR to see which pages hold it, and the referring domains to see whether it's real.
• Your own site: UR, because you control your internal links and you don't control DR.

A workflow for evaluating a link opportunity with both scores

1. Relevance. Would your customers read this site? A niche directory at DR 25 often beats a general one at DR 75 where your listing ends up on page nine of a category. If the site fails this test, stop here.
2. Check the domain's DR. Use the free Domain Rating checker for one site, or the bulk checker for a list. Compare your options with each other rather than with a fixed target.
3. Find the exact page, then check or forecast its UR. If the page already exists, look up its UR in Ahrefs. If it will be new, look at two or three similar pages that are a few months old. If you can't see UR, check what feeds it: is the page linked from the site's categories or articles, and is it indexed? To check indexing, search Google for site: followed by the URL.
4. Check the link itself. View source, find your URL and read the rel attribute. A nofollow, ugc or sponsored link passes nothing to your DR, however high the domain scores. When we submitted one product to 106 AI directories, the strongest domain, Medium at DR 94, gave us a nofollow link.
5. Measure referring domains. Give a live link two to four weeks. Then track referring domains rather than refreshing DR. Referring domains change first and DR follows slowly.

Common misreadings of UR and DR

• "High DR means a strong link." DR describes the domain. Your link sits on a page that may be new, buried or nofollow.
• "UR 0 means the page is worthless." It only means Ahrefs hasn't found any links to the page yet. Check that it is indexed and reachable before you write it off.
• "High UR means other sites vouch for the page." Not necessarily. A site can raise a page's UR just by linking to it from its own pages.
• "UR 40 and DR 40 are the same strength." They share a 0-100 scale but measure different things, so you can't compare them point for point.
• "A one-point change means something." Both scores move as Ahrefs recrawls. Checking once a month is enough.

Frequently asked questions

What do UR and DR mean in Ahrefs?

UR is URL Rating, Ahrefs' 0-100 score for the link strength of one page. DR is Domain Rating, its 0-100 score for a whole domain's backlink profile. Both are Ahrefs metrics. Google uses neither.

What is the difference between UR and DR in Ahrefs?

DR scores a domain from the unique domains that link to it with dofollow links, weighted by how strong they are. UR scores one page and counts internal links as well as external ones, so it is different for every page.

Ahrefs UR vs DR: which matters more?

Neither one on its own. Use DR to shortlist sites and compare link sources. Use UR to judge the specific page a link is on, and to improve your own pages.

Can a page have UR 80 on a DR 70 domain?

Yes. The two scores are calculated separately and UR counts internal links, so a homepage or a heavily linked page can score higher than its domain. Check who links to it before you assume the links are clean.

What does high DR low UR mean?

It means a strong site with a page that few links point to, usually because the page is new or buried. That is normal for listings and guest posts when they first go live.

What does high UR low DR mean?

It means a modest domain with a page that earned links on its own, or a homepage the site links to heavily. Check whether the UR comes from outside sites or mostly from internal links.

Does Google use UR or DR?

No. Both are Ahrefs estimates. They are useful stand-ins for link strength, but raising either number doesn't directly raise your rankings.

Launch on LaunchIt: a permanent page on a DR 61 domain

LaunchIt gives every product a permanent listing page on a DR 61 domain, with a standard dofollow link to your site in the page HTML. Launching is free, but free launches wait in a review queue and need a link back to LaunchIt from your site. Premium is a one-time $14.99 at early pricing. It lets you launch as soon as tomorrow and puts you on the homepage on launch day.

To be honest about UR: your listing is a new page, so like any new page it starts with low UR and only gains it as links point to it. What you get on day one is a dofollow link from a DR 61 domain, which counts as a new referring domain, on a page that doesn't expire. Check the link in view source once your listing is live.

Launch your startup on LaunchIt, then run your domain through the Domain Rating checker so you have a starting number to measure against.