URL Rating (UR)
What is URL Rating?
URL Rating (UR) is a metric created by Ahrefs that scores the strength of a single page’s backlink profile on a 0 to 100 logarithmic scale. Unlike Domain Rating, it looks at one URL, and it counts both external backlinks and internal links. It is a third-party estimate, not a Google score.
UR is closer in spirit to the original PageRank, which also scored individual pages rather than whole sites. Two pages on the same domain can have very different UR: a heavily linked study might be far stronger than a product page buried in the site.
Why URL Rating matters for SEO
Rankings are earned by pages, not domains. A page with strong links on a modest site can outrank a weak page on a famous one. UR helps you see that, both when you size up the current top ten for a keyword and when you choose which of your pages to link from internally.
For link building, UR shows which specific page will pass the most value. A link from a strong page on a medium site can be worth more than a link from a fresh, unlinked page on a big one.
How to use URL Rating
- Check the UR of the pages ranking for your target keyword to see how much page-level link strength you are up against.
- Find your own highest-UR pages and add internal links from them to pages you want to boost.
- When comparing link prospects, look at the UR of the exact page that would link to you.
URL Rating FAQ
What is the difference between DR and UR?
DR scores a whole domain’s backlink profile. UR scores one page and includes internal links. Both are Ahrefs metrics.
Is URL Rating a Google ranking factor?
No. Google does not use UR. It is a tool estimate of link strength that tends to correlate with how well a page’s links support it.
Related SEO terms
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs’ 0–100 score of the strength of a website’s backlink profile. It is a third-party metric, not used by Google.
PageRank is Google’s original algorithm for scoring pages by the number and quality of links pointing to them. Google still uses a version of it.
Link equity, or link juice, is the ranking value a link passes from one page to another, based on the linking page’s authority and relevance.
A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Search engines treat backlinks as votes of trust and use them to rank and discover pages.
Internal links are links from one page on your site to another. They help visitors navigate, help crawlers find pages and spread link authority.