Google doesn’t care about DR.

milhan SEO

Newbie

Sep 12, 2023

30

10

• Apr 27, 2026

• #1

It cares about:

Relevance
Context
Link placement
Site quality
Trust signals

I’ve seen this many times:

20 “DR 50+” links → no movement
2 strong niche-relevant links → rankings jump

Harsh Truth
Most people aren’t doing SEO.
They’re just decorating reports.

 

AZ Ranking1

BANNED

Apr 14, 2026

218

34

• Apr 27, 2026

• #2

Dr is just a third party metric by Ahrefs not a ranking signal I've seen DR 10 sites outranking DR 70 giants because of topical authority and better user intent after 8 years in the game i focus on actual traffic and relevance rather than chasing numbers that Google doesn't even see.

 

proxygo

Elite Member

Executive VIP

Jr. VIP

Nov 2, 2008

59,130

26,639

• Apr 29, 2026

• #3

Google care only about catching people gaming the system

 

jelenaitmui9

Junior Member

Dec 16, 2025

105

7

• Apr 29, 2026

• #4

did you notice any difference in results when the 2 strong niche-relevant links were from newer sites versus established ones

 

Wisdomjane

Newbie

Jun 29, 2026

19

14

• Sunday at 6:05 PM

• #5

DR can be a useful metric, but relevant placement, trust and actual quality site matter far more for rankings.

 

Proxy_Soxy

Newbie

Mar 7, 2026

23

8

• Yesterday at 11:01 AM

• #6

jelenaitmui9 said:

did you notice any difference in results when the 2 strong niche-relevant links were from newer sites versus established ones

Click to expand...

I wouldn’t judge it by the age of the site alone. I’d rather take a newer site that’s actually active and relevant than an old domain that barely gets updated anymore

The page the link comes from probably matters more than just “new vs established”