What Is a Good Domain Rating? DR Benchmarks by Site Age and Niche

Domain Rating (DR) is a 0–100 score that estimates the strength of a website’s backlink profile. The scale is logarithmic: moving from DR 10 to DR 20 takes a fraction of the links that moving from DR 70 to DR 80 does. That’s why the question “is my DR good?” has no single answer — it depends on where you are.

• 0–6 months: DR 0–15 is normal. A brand-new domain with DR 10 from a handful of quality mentions is on track.
• 6–24 months: DR 15–35 is a healthy range for a project that publishes consistently and earns links.
• 2–5 years: DR 35–55 puts you ahead of most small businesses and solo projects.
• 5+ years / funded brands: DR 55–75. Above that live aggregators, big media and infrastructure companies.

Niche matters as much as age. Developer-tool domains routinely sit at DR 70+ because engineers link naturally (see the dev-tools leaderboard). Local services rarely cross DR 30 — and don’t need to: they compete against other DR-20 sites, not against GitHub.

A useful DR is a relative DR: compare yourself to the three sites that outrank you, not to the whole internet.

A static DR snapshot tells you little — the trend tells you everything. DR 28 and climbing 2 points a month beats DR 40 that’s been flat for a year. Check any domain’s current DR and 90-day trend with a free public DR report (no signup), or put your competitors side by side on the DR comparison.

• Under 1 year old: DR 10–15 is fine, DR 20+ is great.
• DR 30+ beats the majority of small-business sites.
• DR 50+ is top-tier for independent projects.
• Trend > snapshot: track the delta, not the digit.