Free Website Authority Checker

What Is Website Authority?

Website authority is a 0-100 score that estimates how strong a site's backlink profile is, and therefore how well it can compete in search results. It is not a single official metric: every SEO platform maintains its own version of the same idea.

This checker reports Ahrefs Domain Rating, the metric most link builders and directories reference. If you want the deep dive into how DR differs from Moz's DA, read our Domain Rating vs Domain Authority comparison.

Why Check a Website's Authority?

Three practical reasons founders check authority scores. First, to benchmark: comparing your score against competitors tells you whether you can realistically outrank them or should target easier keywords. Second, to vet link opportunities: before paying for a directory listing or writing a guest post, the authority score tells you roughly how much SEO value that backlink will pass. Third, to track progress: if you are actively building links, your authority score is the simplest single number to watch month over month.

For vetting directories specifically, we publish live authority data for every directory in our database - see the top 10 directories by domain rating or browse free startup directories ranked by DR.

DA, PA, DR: What Authority Checkers Actually Measure

Searching for a "DA PA checker" returns tools measuring two different Moz metrics. Domain Authority (DA) scores the ranking strength of an entire domain, while Page Authority (PA) scores a single page. The distinction matters when evaluating link opportunities: a directory might have DA 70, but if your listing will live on a page with PA 15 and no internal links, the backlink passes less value than the domain-level number suggests. Ahrefs makes the same split with Domain Rating (DR) for domains and URL Rating (UR) for pages.

In practice the domain-level metrics (DA and DR) correlate closely with each other, so checking either one gives you a reliable read on overall authority. This tool reports DR; if you need the Moz view of the same directories, our directories ranked by Moz DA list has it side by side.

How to Increase Your Website Authority

Authority scores respond to one thing: backlinks from unique, established domains. Content quality, site speed, and social media do not move the number directly. For a startup at authority 0-10, the highest-leverage sequence is: get listed on high-authority directories first (fast, cheap, compounding), then create linkable assets like free tools and original research, then layer in guest posts and digital PR. Our full guide on how to increase domain rating covers the exact playbook with timelines.