Scores from SEO tool companies that estimate the strength of a whole website, mostly from its links: Domain Authority from Moz (1 to 100) and Domain Rating from Ahrefs (0 to 100). They are third-party metrics; Google does not use them.
Example
A tool shows Meera's site at DR 8 and a national fashion portal at DR 80. That tells her who has the stronger link profile, not who Google will rank for a given search.
How you'll hear it
“Do not sell the client on raising DA; it is a tool's estimate, not something Google measures.”
Don't confuse it with
- Keyword difficulty: estimates how hard one keyword is. DA/DR describe a whole site.
- PageRank: Google's own link-based signal, which is not the same thing and is not shown publicly.
Related terms
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Sources
- Domain Authority, Moz
- What is Domain Rating (DR)?, Ahrefs Help Center