Semrush Authority Score vs DA vs DR: What Actually Matters

Semrush Authority Score, Moz Domain Authority (DA) and Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) are three different vendor estimates of the same idea: how strong a domain looks, mostly based on its backlinks. None of them comes from Google and none is a ranking factor. Google says it has no single sitewide authority metric, so these scores are planning aids, not levers. They are useful for comparing yourself against direct competitors inside one tool, and close to meaningless when compared across tools, because each vendor uses its own formula, its own data and its own scale. This guide covers what Authority Score measures, how it maps to DA and DR, and what a good score actually looks like.

What does Semrush Authority Score actually measure?

Authority Score is Semrush’s compound domain strength metric, scored from 0 to 100, and Semrush describes it as being built from three groups of inputs. The first is link power: the quality and quantity of the backlinks pointing at the domain, which does most of the work in the final number. The second is an estimate of the domain’s organic search traffic, which acts as a reality check, because a site with strong links but no visibility looks suspicious. The third is a set of spam factors: signals of a manipulated profile, such as an unnatural spread of anchor text or a link graph that does not look organically earned.

You will see the score in Domain Overview and Backlink Analytics for any domain you look up, not just your own, which is what makes it useful for sizing up competitors. We check it monthly for clients as one line in a wider report, never as a headline. Our full Semrush review covers where the metric sits inside the rest of the platform.

Authority Score vs Domain Authority vs Domain Rating

All three metrics run on a 0 to 100 scale, which is exactly why people assume they are interchangeable. They are not. Each is a different vendor’s answer to the same question, fed by different data.

Metric	Vendor	Scale	Mainly built from	Where to see it
Authority Score (AS)	Semrush	0 to 100	Link power, estimated organic traffic, spam factors	Domain Overview and Backlink Analytics
Domain Authority (DA)	Moz	0 to 100	Link data modelled against real ranking outcomes	Link Explorer and the free MozBar extension
Domain Rating (DR)	Ahrefs	0 to 100	Quantity and strength of dofollow referring domains	Site Explorer and Ahrefs’ free authority checker

The philosophical differences matter more than the branding. Ahrefs’ DR is a deliberately narrow metric: it looks at the backlink profile and nothing else. Moz’s DA is a prediction: it models how likely a domain is to rank, trained on real search results. Semrush’s Authority Score sits in between, blending links with traffic estimates and spam signals. If you are choosing between the two platforms behind the most-quoted scores, our Semrush vs Moz comparison goes through the differences properly.

Why the numbers disagree, and why comparing across tools is meaningless

The same domain will show three different numbers in these three tools, and none of them is wrong, because there is no correct answer to check against. Each vendor crawls the web with its own bots and holds its own link index: Semrush claims 43 trillion links and Ahrefs claims 35 trillion external backlink records, as of July 2026, and both figures are marketing shorthand rather than audited data. Each vendor then runs its own formula over its own index, and each scale compresses differently at the top, so a five point gain near 20 is a much smaller achievement than a five point gain near 70.

That is why our house rule is the same one we apply to keyword difficulty scores: pick one tool and read its numbers consistently. An Authority Score of 34 against a competitor’s DR of 46 tells you precisely nothing, because the two numbers were produced by different formulas over different data. An Authority Score of 34 against a competitor’s Authority Score of 46, in the same tool on the same day, tells you something real: their profile looks stronger to that vendor’s model, and it is worth finding out why.

What does Google actually use?

Not any of these. Google’s representatives have said repeatedly, over many years, that Google does not use Moz’s Domain Authority or any equivalent third party score, and that there is no single sitewide authority number inside its ranking systems. Google evaluates links and it clearly holds sitewide signals of quality and trust, but whatever form those take, they are not a number any vendor can read out.

The practical consequence is easy to state: raising your Authority Score does nothing for your rankings by itself. The confusion survives because the honest ways to raise the score (earning good links, publishing content people cite) are also things that genuinely help you rank, so the score and the rankings often rise together. That is correlation through a shared cause, not a lever. Treat every 0 to 100 authority metric as a thermometer, not a thermostat: it reflects the state of your link profile, and fiddling with the reading changes nothing underneath. Our SEO tools hub covers which readings are actually worth watching.

What is a good Authority Score?

A good Authority Score is one in the same range as, or above, the direct competitors who currently outrank you, and that is the only definition worth using. There is no universal pass mark, and we deliberately publish no benchmark table, because the scale means nothing outside a comparison set. A niche local trades site can dominate its market with a score that would look tiny next to a national publisher, and a huge score in the wrong niche wins nothing.

The working method is simple. Search the terms you actually want, note the five to ten domains that keep appearing above you, run each through the same tool, and read your gap. If you sit level with them or above, authority is probably not what is holding you back, and your time belongs in content and intent matching. If you sit far below the whole set, links deserve a place on the plan. Our guide to SEO competitor analysis walks through building that comparison set properly.

How to raise your Authority Score honestly

There are only three honest levers, and they are the same levers behind every vendor’s authority metric.

Earn links from relevant sites with real traffic. One editorial link from a site in your subject area, with its own audience, beats a folder of directory submissions. Prospecting, outreach and monitoring each have their own software, and we compared the field in our round-up of the best link building tools.

Publish something worth citing. Links follow assets: original data, genuinely useful guides, tools, and pages that answer a question better than anything else in the niche. No outreach sequence compensates for having nothing to point at.

Know your existing profile and protect it. Before chasing new links, see what you already have, keep your most-linked pages live, and 301 anything that must move. Our guide to who links to your website covers the free and paid ways to do this.

What we would avoid entirely is buying cheap links to chase the number. Semrush’s own methodology includes spam factors, so a manipulated profile can drag the score you were trying to inflate, and the Google side of that gamble is far worse than any vendor metric. The score is a byproduct of doing the work; the moment it becomes the target, it stops measuring anything useful.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a good Semrush Authority Score?

One in the same range as, or above, the direct competitors outranking you for your target keywords. There is no universal good number: scores run low across small local niches and high among national publishers, so an absolute figure means nothing outside a comparison set. Check five to ten ranking rivals in the same tool and read your gap against them.

Is Authority Score a Google ranking factor?

No. Authority Score is a Semrush metric, and the same is true of Moz’s Domain Authority and Ahrefs’ Domain Rating: they are vendor estimates, not Google data. Google has said it uses no single sitewide authority score. These metrics are useful for sizing up competitors and tracking your own link profile, but raising the number does nothing for rankings by itself.

Why is my Authority Score different from my Domain Authority?

Because Semrush and Moz use different formulas over different link indexes. Semrush blends link power with traffic estimates and spam factors, while Moz models the likelihood of ranking from link data. Neither is wrong and neither is Google’s view. The numbers are not convertible, so compare yourself against competitors inside one tool rather than comparing scores across tools.

Can I check Authority Score for free?

Yes. A free Semrush account allows 10 report requests per day across its tools, as of July 2026, and Domain Overview shows the Authority Score for any domain you enter. That allowance suits occasional checks on your own site and a few competitors. Daily tracking across a client list needs a paid plan, or a different tool entirely.

How do I increase my Semrush Authority Score?

Earn editorial links from relevant sites with real traffic, publish content worth citing, and protect the links you already have by keeping your most-linked pages live. Avoid bought links: spam signals are part of the methodology, so manipulation can lower the score it was meant to raise. Expect movement over months, not days, and judge progress against competitors rather than the raw number.