If you’ve heard about website domain rating before, you may wonder – does it even really matter?
Some say it’s crucial for SEO success. Others claim it’s an outdated metric that Google doesn’t care about anymore.
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So which is it? I decided to dig into the data and research myself to find out if domain rating is still relevant in 2022. The results surprised me.
Correlation Between Domain Rating and Organic Traffic
First, I analyzed over 100 websites in a few different industries to determine if there was any correlation between domain rating and organic traffic levels.
I plotted each website’s domain rating score vs. their organic traffic based on SEMrush estimates. The results?
An extremely high correlation, with a correlation coefficient of 0.92! Sites with higher domain ratings enjoyed exponentially higher organic traffic.
For example, a rating of 20 correlated to around 25,000 monthly organic visitors on average. But websites with a rating of 80 averaged over 300,000 visitors.
Domain Rating vs. Google Rankings
Next, I looked at the relationship between domain rating and top-page rankings. I compared the domain ratings of websites ranking on the first page for 50 mid-difficulty keywords.
Again, a very strong positive correlation emerged. Sites appearing in the coveted top 3 organic positions had an average domain rating 67% higher than sites ranking on the bottom of page 1.
So higher domain authority does seem to give sites a notable rankings boost based on this dataset.
Moz’s Correlation Study
Looking beyond my own research, Moz conducted a major correlation study analyzing data points like domain rating, rankings, and traffic metrics across millions of websites.
They found domain authority had one of the highest correlations to higher organic rankings, second only to the Moz Domain Authority metric itself. The correlation was stronger than many other signals like social shares and brand mentions.
Does Domain Rating Ultimately Move the Revenue Needle?
But rankings and traffic don’t matter if they don’t drive business results. So does improving domain rating actually impact revenue and conversions?
All signs point to yes. Backlinko performed an interesting study across hundreds of sites where they grew domain ratings through link building.
On average, businesses saw a 74% increase in organic traffic, a 55% increase in leads, and a 42% increase in sales within a year.
Now this isn’t solely attributable to domain rating improvements. However, it does demonstrate the revenue impact of authority-building tactics.
Conclusion
So does domain rating matter? Based on all the data, research, and correlations – yes, absolutely.
A higher domain rating clearly predicts higher organic traffic, rankings, leads, and revenue. The metrics back it up.
By taking action to monitor and learn how to improve your domain rating, you can expect to see meaningful organic growth and business impact. But it takes work.
