What is URL Rating (UR)?
URL rating is a metric for measuring the strength of a webpage’s link profile. It is calculated using the quality and quantity of internal ja external links pointing to the webpage.
Ahrefs uses the URL rating metric similar to how Google uses Sivujärjestys. However, the metric is not a ranking factor and is not used by Google or any other search engine.
How the URL Rating is Measured
The URL rating is based on the quality and quantity of internal links and dofollow backlinks pointing to a URL. The value of the rating is calculated based on multiple metrics and signals and then scored on a scale that goes from 0 to 100. The closer a URL’s score is to 100, the better.
The URL rating scale is logarithmic, that is, the gap between two sets of numbers in the scale is not equal. So, the number of links needed to move higher up the scale increases as you get closer to 100. In other words, it is easier to go from 10 to 20 than it is to go from 20 to 30, and it is easier to go from 20 to 30 than it is to go from 30 to 40.
Similarities Between URL Rating and PageRank
The URL rating metric is Ahrefs’ attempt to replicate Google PageRank, an algorithm Google uses to analyze the quality and quantity of the backlinks pointing to a webpage.
However, Google keeps its method of calculating PageRank a secret and has stopped showing bloggers their PageRank score since 2016. So, Ahrefs created the URL rating metric to give bloggers an idea of their PageRank.
Ahrefs says it calculates the URL rating using similar signals and metrics Google uses to calculate PageRank. It also mentioned that pages with a high URL rating usually rank highly on Google search results pages.
Factors That Affect the URL Rating Metric
Ahrefs does not explicitly reveal how it measures the URL rating or specify the exact logarithmic scale it uses. However, it has revealed some factors and signals that could affect it. We will now address them below.
1 URL Rating of the Linking URL
Ahrefs assigns a URL rating to the URLs it visits. These URLs then pass URL ratings to the URLs they link to. This is similar to how webpages pass PageRank link equity, also called link juice, to the pages that they link to. So, as expected, a page with a high URL rating will pass more URL ratings, while those with a lower URL rating will pass fewer URL ratings.
2 Whether the Link is Set to Follow
Follow links are links that do not contain nofollow, sponsored, or user-generated content attributes. They pass link equity to the webpages they link to, while nofollow, sponsored, and user-generated links do not pass link equity.
Only follow links are considered when measuring the URL rating. Nofollow, sponsored, and user-generated content links are ignored and do not have any effect on the URL rating.
3 Whether the Link is Internal or External
The URL rating metric takes both internal and external backlinks into consideration. However, they are weighted differently. While the exact weighting system is unspecified, external links typically carry more weight in PageRank.
4 Whether the Link is Considered Spammy
Ahrefs ignores links that can artificially increase a page’s URL rating. These links are the results of link schemes and are also ignored by PageRank. They may even cause Google to demote a site’s rankings or remove it entirely from search results pages.
5 The Damping Factor of the Webpage
The damping factor is a value that represents the probability of a visitor clicking on a link on a webpage. Both PageRank and the URL rating metric consider the damping factor in their calculations.
6 Whether the Link Has a Trailing Slash
Ahrefs considers a URL ending with a trailing slash and one ending without one to be two different webpages. The one with the trailing slash is considered a folder, while the one without a slash is considered a file. So, both URLs will typically have different URL ratings.