What Are DA and DR Metrics and Why Are They Essential for Link Building?

Link building can significantly impact a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. This is because links are one of the most important criteria in how Google positions your site on the search engine results page (SERP). But the hard part is finding those quality sites to link to. 

That’s where metrics come into play. When you track the performance of specific metrics, you can determine the quality of a website and whether it would be a good idea to get a link to or from the site. You can also gauge the overall success of your link building campaign.  

This article will do a deep dive into link building metrics, why domain authority (DA) and domain rating (DR) are essential metrics for successful link building campaigns, and how to boost these scores for your website. 

Which Metrics Are Used in Link Building?

Domain strength is one metric used in link building. It measures how strong an entire site is versus just a specific page. As a site accumulates more backlinks, its domain strength increases. A site with a high domain strength score signifies an authoritative site.

Pro tip: Brands should also create a strategy for making their domain more authoritative by learning how to buy a domain name, and understanding the importance and impact that this has on the long run.

Page authority is another metric used by link builders. It assesses the quality and strength of a web page rather than the entire domain. A high page authority score helps a page appear higher in search engine results. Linking to a relevant page with a high authority score will also help boost your site's online visibility. 

DR, DA, and trust flow (TF) scores are among the most important metrics used in link building. 

What Do DR, DA, and TF Mean?

DR, DA, and TF metrics are based on the quality and quantity of backlinks to authoritative sites, created by different platforms: Moz came up with DA, Ahrefs developed the DR score, and Majestic the TF metric. 

The better a site’s backlink profile is, the better the DA, DR, and TF scores. And the better these scores are, the higher a site ranks on the results pages, leading to more organic traffic and conversions.  

It’s important to note that these scores range from 1 to 100 and are based on a logarithmic scale. So, it’s much easier to increase your DR or DA from 1 to 10 versus 60 to 70. 

A high DA, DR, or TF can also benefit your website and blog. Driving traffic to deserving pages on your site through quality backlinks can help you to:

• Increase authority 
• Build brand awareness
• Become a thought leader 
• Increase online visibility
• Gain traction with search engines 
• Boost organic traffic to your website and blog
• Get ahead of the competition in search engine rankings 

Ultimately, DR, DA, and TF are critical scores to consider when determining the quality and strength of your website and other sites.

How Can You Boost DA and DR Metrics?

With a precise definition of DA and DR metrics and their importance to your link building campaign, the next step is learning how to improve these scores. You can boost DA and DR metrics by doing the following: 

1. Understand the difference between good and bad links. 

Getting high-quality backlinks is critical in your efforts to boost DA and DR scores. However, you must first know the difference between a good and bad link to ensure you’re choosing one that will help, not hurt, your efforts to build authority. 

You can determine whether a site is worth linking to or not by answering the following questions when researching:

• What is the DR score? What about DA?
• Does the site rank well?
• Is it getting a lot of organic traffic?
• Have they put effort into design and content? 
• Are blog posts written by real people?
• What are the outgoing links? What about inbound?
• Is their about page or contact information visible?

If the answers to these questions are positive in nature, the site or page is a potentially good link. 

2. Focus on high-quality backlinks. 

Backlinks from high-quality sites are the key to a successful link building campaign. When you know a good link, you can focus on getting high-quality backlinks only. Linking to a lot of low-quality sites doesn’t increase your DA or DR. In fact, it might decrease it or, at the very least, hurt your reputation with visitors and customers. 

On the other hand, when strong sites link to yours, it shows Google that your site is trustworthy and authoritative. This helps you rank higher on results pages and makes your site more visible to Google users. 

In-depth research on the sites you’re hoping to get backlinks from is the first step. Check the DA or DR score, page authority, and other essential metrics. Assess the content quality and organic traffic, whether mobile-friendly or fast-loading. Really dig into the details of the site that reveal whether it’s high quality or not. 

The foundation technique is a great way to start any link building campaign: First, you look at what pages are ranking for the keywords you want. Google scraping can help you analyze the position of specific keywords to make this step easier. After that, you make a list of the pages linking to those pages. And finally, out of that list, you note the pages you think you can get a link from too.  

3. Develop an internal linking strategy.

Internal linking is integral for effective link building as well. It isn’t as crucial as getting authoritative sites to link back to your site. However, including internal links in your blog and throughout your website content can help Google better understand your site and give it a higher position on results pages. 

You can indicate which pages are most important and valuable on your site by linking to them repeatedly in your content. Make a list of blog posts that deserve more traffic and attention. Then, insert two or three of these internal links into future blog posts. But make sure they’re inserted naturally into the content. 

4. Create valuable content.

Creating valuable content is essential for SEO in general, but it can influence your DA and DR metrics specifically. The better your content is on your site, the longer people will stay on it. And when people stay on your site longer, search engines will be more likely to deem it trustworthy, increasing your DA and DR score.  

Create as much original content as possible for your blog and post consistently. Combine excellent writing with visuals like infographics, images, videos, and illustrations to capture the attention of your visitors and keep it. 

5. Pay attention to anchor text.

Anchor text is an underrated factor in increasing your DA and DR metrics. However, it’s significant for page authority. 

Google looks at how relevant the anchor text is to the information shared at the link. Anchor text that doesn’t match links may prompt an unfavorable page authority score, affecting your overall DA or DR score and lowering your chances of ranking high on results pages. 

Anchor text should be intentional and preview what to expect at the link. Use a range of relevant keywords as your anchor text and experiment with naked URLs, exact keywords, natural anchor text, and branded anchor text. 

6. Hire a team dedicated to SEO and link building.

Outsourcing to a link building team may be what you need to increase your DA or DR metrics. Not only are SEO and link building specialists adept in link metrics, but they also have experience with various link building strategies, building relationships, analyzing data, and crafting link building campaigns. 
Learn how to choose the best backlink provider among many on the market.  

Growing an internal team dedicated to SEO and link building is another option that can ensure that outreach is as effective as possible. So, start putting together an SEO team that includes a link building specialist, outreach coordinator, and research expert. 

What Other Link Building Metrics Should You Consider?

Aside from DA, DR, and TF, there are a few other metrics for link building you should consider tracking to enhance your strategy: 

Linking root domains 

Linking root domains are the domains your backlinks are coming from. You can see if your links come from various domains or the same few. This metric is important because it’ll help you determine if you need to do more to diversify your backlink profile or if what you’re doing is generating backlinks from various unique domains.

Number of links 

This metric determines the total number of links to your site. You can track this metric to see if you’re gaining or losing links. If your link count is increasing, it could be a sign your link building campaign is doing well. If they’re decreasing, it indicates that something isn’t right with your link insertion strategy.

Page ranking

You also want to keep an eye on page ranking for the pages you’re building links for. How do your target pages’ positions fluctuate in Google search results? Of course, you want to be in the top three on your respective pages, but aiming for a spot on page one is a good goal. 

Organic traffic 

A site with a lot of organic traffic communicates to visitors that the site is trustworthy, authoritative, and valuable. Check organic traffic to see if it’s going up or declining. If it’s the latter, it can indicate the site’s been penalized by Google or that your techniques aren’t working. 

Improve Link Building Strategies with Metrics

If you want your link building campaign to be successful, you must lean into metrics. DA and DR, in particular, are some of the essential link building metrics to measure. These scores can help you determine if a site is worth linking to, and you can also better your site’s visibility and authority with high scores. 

Keep learning about critical metrics for link building, and use the tips above to boost your DA and DR scores over time.