Ahrefs Domain Rating DR4 Explained: What Changed and What Founders Should Do
DR4 is the fourth version of Ahrefs' Domain Rating, a 0 to 100 score for how strong a site's backlinks are. It goes live in the standard Ahrefs interface on 1 December 2026. The big changes are that subdomains get their own score instead of copying the main domain, links from sites with real search traffic count for more, and spam sites are filtered out more aggressively. It still measures links only, not content quality, so a lower score does not mean your site got worse.
If you build a product and care about backlinks, you have probably looked at Domain Rating (DR) at some point. It is the number Ahrefs gives every website to show how strong its link profile is. Founders use it to decide which directories are worth a submission, and agencies use it in reports.
Ahrefs has announced a new version called DR4. Many numbers will change, and a few will change a lot. This guide explains what is different, why Ahrefs made the change, who gains and who loses, and what a small team should actually do about it. It is based on the Ahrefs announcement and the public comparison page from Detailed, and we point out where each source says something different.
Quick summary
- DR4 is a new way of calculating Domain Rating. The preview is available now, and Ahrefs says the standard interface switches on 1 December 2026.
- It is still links only. It does not look at content quality, design, domain age or how many visitors you get.
- Subdomains now have their own score. They no longer inherit the score of the main domain.
- Fewer sites count as influential. Ahrefs says about half as many domains receive a meaningful score as before.
- Spam is judged harder. Spam detection moved from a hand-made list to a machine learning model.
- A lower score does not mean you did anything wrong. Check why it moved before you react.
What Domain Rating is, in one minute
Domain Rating is a score from 0 to 100 that compares the backlink profile of one site with the backlink profiles of all the others in the Ahrefs database. A site with many links from strong, trusted sites scores high. A new site with a handful of links scores low.
Two things are easy to forget. First, the scale is logarithmic, so going from 84 to 85 is much harder than going from 54 to 55. Second, DR is not a Google metric. Google does not use it, and no search engine publishes a score like it. It is a useful way to compare link profiles, and nothing more. If you want the basics first, read our guide on what Domain Rating is.
What changed in DR4
1. Subdomains get their own rating
Before, a subdomain such as help.example.com was usually shown with the same DR as example.com. That made sense when most subdomains belonged to the same company, but it created a problem. Anyone could open a free subdomain on a popular platform and look strong in a report, even with no links of their own.
In DR4, each subdomain is scored on the links that point to it. Detailed gives a simple example from its comparison page: microsoft.com sits at DR 94, while blogs.microsoft.com sits at 87. Ahrefs gives its own help centre as a case: it moved from 91 to 75 while the main ahrefs.com stayed at 92.
2. Links from sites with search traffic carry more weight
Ahrefs says that links from sites and subdomains it estimates to have organic search traffic now count for more. The idea is that a link from a site real people find through search is a better signal than a link from a page nobody visits. As a result, fewer domains receive a high score at all.
3. Spam sites score lower
Ahrefs moved spam detection from a manually kept list to a machine learning model. Domains with old DR3 scores of 30 to 70 that looked spammy saw median drops of roughly 15 to 20 points, according to Ahrefs. Sites that were not flagged stayed fairly stable.
Why Ahrefs made the change
The main reason is that DR3 was too easy to inflate for subdomains on large platforms. Ahrefs points to free hosting and website builders, where a subdomain with almost no links of its own could still show a high number because the parent domain was strong.
Ahrefs also reports that DR4 lines up better with Google rankings when you look at all hosts and subdomains together. It measured how closely each score matched ranking in the top three results: the correlation rose from 0.128 with DR3 to 0.332 with DR4. For the top ten results it rose from 0.140 to 0.359. Ahrefs adds that DR3 is still stronger when you look at root domains only. Treat these as the company's own measurements. The exact formula is not published, so nobody outside Ahrefs can reproduce them.
Who moved, and by how much
The examples below come from the two sources. They show the shape of the change more than any single number.
| Site | Old (DR3) | New (DR4) | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| help.ahrefs.com | 91 | 75 | A subdomain no longer copies its parent |
| play.google.com | 100 | 96 | A big subdomain falls a little |
| finance.yahoo.com | 94 | 92 | A strong subdomain stays strong |
| Hostinger site subdomains | 92 | 1.9 | Free-host subdomains lose almost everything |
| Notion site subdomains | 92 | 0 | The same pattern on a website builder |
| learn.g2.com | 91 | 86 | The largest drop in Detailed's sample list |
| woocommerce.com | 92 | 93 | A small rise |
Across the 1,000 domains with the most organic traffic in the Ahrefs index, Ahrefs reports that 64.3% went up, 15.8% stayed the same and 19.9% went down. The average fall was 7.3 points and the median fall was 4 points. One free-hosting domain, github.io, fell by 32 points.
Detailed's list of sample domains tells a similar story at a smaller scale. Many well-known sites rose by one to four points, and many fell by one to five points. Several of the falls were subdomains, which fits the change above.
If you want to see what this looks like for the sites founders actually submit to, we ran the numbers on launch platforms and directories in a separate piece: Launch directory Domain Rating before and after DR4.
What this means for founders
Do not panic about your own score
If your DR dropped, that does not mean your site is worse, your content is weak or you have been penalised. DR4 measures one thing: how strong your backlink profile looks compared with others. Ahrefs says this itself. A site with a great product and few links will always have a modest score.
Check subdomains separately
If your product lives on a subdomain such as app.yourproduct.com or a free platform address, it is now scored alone. Do not assume it shares the main domain's number. Look at each one you care about.
Be careful with directories that sell on DR
Directory owners often advertise a big number. After DR4, a number quoted from the old system may not be true any more, especially for directories that sit on a subdomain or rely on links from low-quality sites. Before you submit, check the current score and ask three more questions. Is the link dofollow or nofollow? Does the page get real visitors? Is the directory reviewed by a person? Our guide on dofollow versus nofollow backlinks explains why the link type matters as much as the number.
Keep building links that would survive any version
Every version of DR rewards the same thing in the long run: links from relevant, real sites that real people visit. A launch listing, a mention in a newsletter, a guest post on a site in your niche and a useful free tool all fit. Links from a throwaway subdomain or a network of copies do not. Our guide on how to increase Domain Rating walks through the steps in order.
How to check your DR4 score
- Use the free Domain Rating API preview. Ahrefs says the preview is available with the version set to
dr4. - Use the Detailed comparison page. It shows the old and new score side by side for any domain you enter.
- Wait for the standard interface. On 1 December, Ahrefs says the new score appears in its normal tools.
- Compare against competitors. A drop is easier to read when you can see that everyone in your space moved by a similar amount.
You can also run a quick look at your own site with our free Domain Rating checker.
A note on the sources
Both pages deserve a careful read. The Ahrefs post comes from the company that makes the score, so the figures that show DR4 matching rankings better are its own. The Detailed page is a public comparison tool, and its author says he now works at Ahrefs, so it is not fully independent either. Neither page publishes the exact calculation. That is why we recommend using the numbers to compare sites, not to judge your own work.
Frequently asked questions
What is DR4?
DR4 is the fourth version of Ahrefs' Domain Rating, a 0 to 100 score for the strength of a site's backlink profile. It gives subdomains their own score, gives more weight to links from sites with search traffic and treats spam sites more harshly than DR3 did.
When does DR4 go live?
Ahrefs says the new score appears in its standard interface on 1 December 2026. Until then you can look at a preview through the free Domain Rating API and on Detailed's comparison page.
Why did my Domain Rating drop?
The most common reasons are that your links came from sites that Ahrefs now treats as low value or spammy, or that you are looking at a subdomain that used to copy its parent's score. A drop is a statement about your link profile only. It does not say anything about your content or your product.
Does DR4 affect my Google rankings?
No. Domain Rating is an Ahrefs metric, and Google does not use it. Changing the way Ahrefs calculates it does not change how your pages rank. It only changes how that one tool describes your links.
Is DR4 better than DR3?
Ahrefs reports that DR4 tracks Google rankings more closely across all sites and subdomains, while DR3 is still stronger for root domains alone. Both measure links only. Which one is better depends on what you are comparing.
Are directory backlinks still worth it?
Yes, when the directory is reviewed, gets real visitors and gives a link that fits your product. A high number alone was never a good reason to submit, and DR4 makes that clearer. Look at the link type, the audience and the quality of the other listings before you decide.
What should I do first?
Check your current score in the preview, then check any subdomain you rely on. If the number moved, find out which links changed before you change anything. Keep working on links from relevant sites that real people visit.