What is URL Rating (UR)?

URL Rating (UR) is a page-level metric provided by Ahrefs that evaluates the quality of a specific page's link profile. It rates the strength of the page's inbound links on a scale of 0-100, with higher numbers indicating a higher quality link profile according to Ahrefs' algorithm.

UR considers factors like the number of linking domains, how many unique domains link to particular pages, and the quality of those linking domains.

It examines the page's linking domains' Domain Rating (DR) values, number of backlinks, and anchor text to calculate the URL Rating. This gives SEO professionals metrics for analyzing individual pages' link profiles.

How to Interpret the URL Rating?

As a general guideline, a page with a UR between 0-8 likely has a very weak link profile, 8-22 is considered weak, 22-50 is average, 50-75 is strong, and 75-100 is very strong.

However, these can vary depending on the competitiveness of a niche. A site may rank well with an average UR of 35 in a smaller niche but needs a rating closer to 65 or higher in competitive industries.

The goal is to improve pages' UR over time through strategic link building. Internal linking from high-value pages and external linking from authoritative sources in the industry help boost UR. Of course, great content remains important, too - UR alone won't cause high rankings in search results.

Strategies for Improving the URL Rating

Some effective tactics for improving a page's URL Rating include:

• Optimize page content and internal linking to attract relevant internal links. The more internal links with exact or partial anchor text point to the page, the better.
• Build high-quality links from authoritative sites in your niche. Contact industry blogs and directories for a dofollow link opportunity.
• Create valuable long-form content that's worthy of being linked to organically. Well-researched guides, reports, and stories tend to get shared more.
• Consistently publish fresh content to keep your site in search engines' results and in the minds of webmasters to get more links over time potentially.
• Check your backlinks profile regularly using Ahrefs' Site Explorer to identify and disavow poor quality or "spammy" links dragging down the rating.

What’s the Difference Between URL Rating and Domain Rating?

Domain Rating (DR) is another metric provided by Ahrefs that evaluates the entire link profile of a website's domain. It uses a similar 0-100 scale but rates the entire backlink profile of the domain rather than a specific page.

DR considers factors like the number of external links and linking domains, the DR of those domains, and how those links are distributed across the entire site. It's meant to represent the strength and authority of a site as a whole.

A higher DR indicates a more established domain that search engines will trust more. However, it doesn't necessarily mean individual pages will rank - for accurate SEO metrics of a particular page, use URL Rating instead of relying solely on DR. Both metrics provide valuable insights into a site's backlink profile.

In summary, URL Rating evaluates a page's linking profile, while Domain Rating analyzes the backlinks for an entire domain. DR gives a broader picture of authority, but UR is more reliable for tracking the optimization of individual pages within that domain. Using both together gives the best view of a site's SEO strengths.

Conclusion

As an important page-level metric, URL Rating provides insights into the link profile quality of specific web pages. By understanding how to interpret UR scores and implementing strategies to boost incoming links, webmasters can effectively measure and improve individual pages' SEO performance over time. Combined with Domain Rating, URLs and UR give a full picture of a website's backlink strengths to succeed online.