Has Your Domain Rating Suddenly Dropped?
If you’ve logged into Ahrefs recently and spotted a sharp drop in your Domain Rating (DR), you’re not alone. Many websites across industries have seen their DR scores fall, sometimes by 20 to 50 points in just one night.
The reason? Ahrefs has confirmed a major algorithm update rolled out on September 26th, designed to make Domain and URL Ratings more accurate and reflective of real backlink quality.
So, if your score has dipped, don’t panic, it’s not a penalty. It’s a recalibration.
What Actually Changed in Ahrefs’ DR Algorithm?
Ahrefs’ engineers have refined how they calculate domain authority by reassessing link quality and distribution. Their new model measures trust, relevance, and link strength more precisely using fresh backlink data.
In their own update, Ahrefs stated that this change ‘reflects websites’ current rankings more accurately based on the latest backlink data.’
In simple terms:
- Websites that previously appeared stronger than their backlink profiles justified may have dropped.
- Sites with cleaner, higher-quality backlinks could have seen their DR rise.
- It’s not about punishing anyone, it’s about creating a fairer picture of online authority.
Why Did Your DR Drop So Much?
Even beyond the algorithm update, there are natural reasons for a DR dip:
- Competitors improved their backlinks. Even without losing any links, your DR can fall if others gain stronger ones.
- Loss of quality dofollow links. When trusted sites remove or nofollow your links, your score takes a hit.
- Referring domains lost authority. If those linking to you dropped in DR, they now pass on less equity.
- Re-evaluated link weight. Some backlinks once considered valuable may now count for less.
- Your DR is a relative metric — so when the landscape shifts, your score shifts too.
Should You Be Concerned About a Lower DR?
Not necessarily. DR isn’t a Google ranking factor; it’s a guide that helps you measure your backlink strength compared with competitors.
However, a sudden fall can signal that your link profile needs attention. This is a great time to audit your backlinks and ensure your authority is built on quality, not volume.
How Can You Recover or Improve Your Domain Rating?
Here’s how to take control and rebuild your DR the right way:
- Audit your backlinks. Use Ahrefs’ Lost Backlinks or Referring Domains reports to identify what changed.
- Rebuild strategically. Focus on gaining dofollow links from high-DR, niche-relevant sites.
- Strengthen your content. Create valuable, shareable content that attracts natural backlinks.
- Monitor your referring domains. Their authority affects yours, stay proactive.
- Keep it consistent. Link building is an ongoing effort, not a one-time fix.
- The key takeaway? Sustainable SEO always beats quick wins.
What This Means for Your SEO Strategy
This update reminds every marketer of one thing, real authority can’t be faked.
Metrics like DR or DA are helpful benchmarks, but they’re only meaningful when supported by genuine, contextually relevant backlinks and great content. Ahrefs’ recalibration pushes the industry closer to that reality.
It also aligns with Google’s focus on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust (E-E-A-T). Building credibility through valuable, trustworthy content has never been more important.
Outrank’s Perspective
At Outrank, we view this as a positive move. Algorithmic updates like this keep the SEO landscape transparent, ensuring that authentic link-building efforts pay off.
Our team continuously monitors performance data across tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush. When updates roll out, we don’t just analyse the change, we help clients adapt and rebuild stronger.
So, if your DR dropped, it’s not a setback, it’s an opportunity to refine your SEO and strengthen your site’s foundations.
Has Your DR Dropped Overnight? Let’s Fix It
If your Domain Rating has fallen and you’re not sure why, we’ll help you analyse what happened and rebuild your authority with data-driven SEO strategies that actually work.
From link-building campaigns to content strategies that attract genuine backlinks, our experts will get your site performing and ranking stronger than ever.
Let’s boost your authority and drive better organic results, get in touch with our SEO team today.