What is a Domain Rating badge?

It is a small image you place on your website that shows your live Domain Rating, the 0 to 100 score Ahrefs uses to measure how strong a site backlink profile is. The badge reads the current figure, so visitors always see an up to date number.

Is the DR badge really free?

Yes. It uses the free public Ahrefs Domain Rating API. There is no signup, no account, and no cost. You generate the badge once and paste a single line of HTML.

Does the number update on its own?

Yes. The badge image is served from our cache and refreshes on a 7-day cache, so the score on your site stays current without you regenerating anything.

Will the badge load on any website?

It is a standard image tag, so it works on most platforms including Webflow, Framer, WordPress, and plain HTML. A small number of sites with a very strict image policy may block external images.

How do I raise my Domain Rating?

Earn dofollow backlinks from higher authority domains. High DR directories are one of the fastest starting points, and a single link from a strong domain does more than many weak ones.

Free Domain Rating Badge: Embed Your DR, Powered by Ahrefs

Why put a Domain Rating badge on your site

Domain Rating is Ahrefs' 0 to 100 score for how strong a website's backlink profile is, on a logarithmic scale where moving from 20 to 30 is far easier than 60 to 70. A visible DR badge is a quick trust signal for partners, advertisers, link buyers, and anyone weighing whether your site has real authority. Founders use it on pricing and about pages, agencies put it in case studies, and newsletter operators add it to media kits. The number does the talking, and it stays honest because it pulls from live data rather than a figure you typed in once and forgot.

How the badge works

When you generate a badge, we fetch your current DR from the free Ahrefs API and store it. The badge itself is a lightweight image served from our cache, which refreshes on a 7-day cycle. That means the score on your site keeps pace with your real authority with no manual updates. You choose a dark or light version to match your design, then paste a single line of HTML wherever you want it, usually a footer, an about page, or a media kit.

How to add it in under a minute

Type your domain into the tool above and run it. Pick the dark or light theme, copy the snippet, and paste it into your page. The snippet is plain HTML, so it works on Webflow, Framer, WordPress, Ghost, and hand written sites alike. If you prefer to see the raw number first, the free Domain Rating checkershows any site's DR without the badge wrapper.

How to raise the number on your badge

There is one real lever for Domain Rating: earn more dofollow links from higher authority domains. The cheapest place to start is high quality directories, because a single dofollow link from a strong domain outweighs dozens of weak ones. We keep a live, filterable list of the best SaaS directories ranked by DR, a shortlist of high DR directories, and a set of dofollow directories worth your time. Listing on SaaSCity gives you a free dofollow link from a DR 45 domain in about two minutes, which is a fast way to nudge a young site upward.

Where founders actually use the badge

The badge earns its place anywhere a visitor is sizing you up. Founders drop it in the site footer so it shows on every page, on the about or company page next to the team, and on pricing pages where buyers are already deciding whether to trust you. Agencies and freelancers put it in case studies and proposals to prove the sites they work on carry real authority. Newsletter and media operators add it to a media kit or sponsor page, where a concrete score does more than a vague claim about reach. Because the image reads your live DR, none of these placements ever go stale, and you never have to remember to swap a screenshot when the number moves. In 2026, with buyers quicker to check a site before they commit, a visible, verifiable score is a small thing that quietly removes doubt.