What is URL Rating?
URL Rating (UR) is a proprietary metric developed by Ahrefs that measures the strength of a page’s backlink profile on a scale from 0 to 100. This metric evaluates both the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing to a specific URL, helping SEO professionals assess a page’s link authority and competitive positioning in search results.
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What You Need to Know about URL Rating
Logarithmic Scale Makes Growth Harder
UR uses a logarithmic scale, meaning it becomes progressively harder to increase scores at higher levels. Moving from 70 to 80 requires significantly more high-quality backlinks than moving from 20 to 30.
Quality Over Quantity in Link Building
High UR scores require links from authoritative pages, not just volume. A few links from pages with strong backlink profiles typically impact UR more than many links from weak sources.
Competitive Benchmarking Tool
Comparing your page’s UR against competing pages ranking for target keywords reveals the link authority gap you need to close. This helps prioritize link building efforts and set realistic ranking goals.
Not a Direct Ranking Factor
While UR correlates with rankings, Google doesn’t use this metric directly. It serves as a proxy for understanding link authority, which Google evaluates through its own algorithms and ranking factors.
Page-Level vs. Domain-Level Metrics
UR measures individual page strength, while Domain Rating (DR) measures entire site authority. Strong pages can exist on weaker domains, and vice versa, making both metrics valuable for different analyses.
Ecommerce Category Page Strategy
For ecommerce sites, building UR for category pages through strategic link acquisition improves rankings for competitive commercial terms. Focus link building efforts on revenue-driving category pages rather than dispersing links across all product pages.
Frequently Asked Questions about URL Rating
1. What’s a good URL Rating score?
Context matters more than absolute scores. If competing pages for your target keywords average UR 40-50, that’s your benchmark. A UR of 30 might be strong in less competitive niches.
2. How quickly can I increase my page’s UR?
UR increases as you acquire quality backlinks, but the logarithmic scale means progress slows at higher levels. Expect months of consistent link building to see meaningful increases, especially above UR 50.
3. Should I focus on URL Rating or Domain Rating?
Both matter for different purposes. DR indicates overall site authority, while UR shows individual page strength. For ranking specific pages, focus on building that page’s UR while maintaining strong site-wide DR.
4. Can I have high UR without high DR?
Yes, individual pages can achieve strong UR scores through targeted link building even on sites with modest DR. However, strong DR typically makes it easier to rank pages across your entire site.
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