Ahrefs DR4: what changes for directory links (we checked 103 directories)

On November 5, 2026, Ahrefs announced DR4, the fourth version of its Domain Rating. It replaces the current score, DR3, in the Ahrefs interface on December 1, 2026. Ahrefs' free Domain Rating API already returns both versions, so anyone can see the new numbers now.

On November 8, 2026, Submitium sold submissions to 103 directories that list a product for free when their badge is on the product's site. That day, we read the DR3 and the DR4 of each of them and of 300 websites launched on Hacker News, then of every other directory we know: 979 directories in all, in a second study. This is what we found:

• The median Domain Rating of the 103 directories goes from 55 to 19. None of them went up. 87 lost 20 points or more, and 32 lost 40 points or more.
• High DR3 scores don't survive. 67 directories had a DR3 of 50 or more; 10 still have it in DR4. 22 had 70 or more; 3 still do.
• Across 979 directories, launch platforms fell the most. Their median goes from 52 to 15.5, while review sites go from 67.5 to 71.5 and communities from 56 to 62. The full before and after ranks who lost and who gained.
• Most new launches have a DR4 of 0. 234 of the 300 Hacker News launches we checked, against 30 with a DR3 of 0.
• Google is not part of this change. Domain Rating is Ahrefs' score. Google says it doesn't use scores from SEO tools, and the links themselves are the same on December 1 as on November 30.

What Ahrefs changed in DR4#

Domain Rating is a score from 0 to 100 that Ahrefs gives a website for the strength of its backlinks, compared with the other sites in its database. Ahrefs' announcement (opens in a new tab), by Glen Allsopp, lists what changes:

• Fewer sites can pass on Domain Rating. DR4 counts links from "a smaller, higher-quality pool of domains that can impact DR". Ahrefs now gives more weight to links from sites, and subdomains, it estimates have organic search traffic. As a result, about half as many sites have a DR4 score as had a DR3 score.
• Subdomains get their own score. help.ahrefs.com goes from 91 to 75 in Ahrefs' examples, and a site hosted on notion.site from 92 to 0, because a subdomain no longer borrows the score of its root domain.
• Sites marked as spam fall. Ahrefs labels spam domains with a machine learning model since January 2026. In its data, spam domains with a DR3 between 30 and 70 lost a median of about 15 to 20 points, while the median change of other domains was close to zero.
• The largest sites mostly went up. Of the 1,000 sites with the most estimated search traffic, 64.3% went up, 15.8% stayed the same and 19.9% went down.

Ahrefs also says DR4 follows Google's results more closely than DR3. Across all sites and subdomains it measured, the correlation between Domain Rating and a top 3 position on Google goes from 0.128 to 0.332, and for the top 10 from 0.140 to 0.359.

The dates:

• Until November 30: the Ahrefs interface shows DR3.
• From December 1: it shows DR4. Ahrefs says DR3 stays available in its API "for a short period" afterwards, without an end date.
• Now: the free Domain Rating API (opens in a new tab) returns DR3 by default and DR4 with the parameter version=dr4. Ahrefs' announcement also links a page where you can compare both scores for one domain: detailed.com/dr-v4 (opens in a new tab).

How we checked#

• The directories. The 103 directories Submitium sold on November 8, 2026: startup, SaaS, AI and launch directories that list a product for free when their badge is on its site, all with a dofollow link.
• Every other directory we know. For a second study, we read 1,190 sites the same way: 979 directories from our database and 11 public lists on GitHub, plus review sites, communities and media.
• 300 websites launched on Hacker News. Hacker News lists 8,000 Show HN posts from September and October 2026. They link to 3,367 different root domains once GitHub, app stores, hosting platforms and subdomains are left out. We took 300 of them at random.
• The scores. For each domain, we called Ahrefs' free Domain Rating API twice on November 8, 2026, with version=dr3 and version=dr4. Every call answered. Domain Rating by Ahrefs.

103 directories: from a median of 55 to 19#

Every one of the 103 directories has a lower Domain Rating in DR4. The smallest drop was 4 points, the median 35 points, and 4 directories went from a DR3 between 24 and 57 to a DR4 of 0.

The drop is about the same in every kind of directory. Launch platforms lost a median of 40 points, the other kinds 32 to 35:

A high DR3 kept more points, but not many:

We can't see which links Ahrefs stopped counting for each directory: the API gives the score, not the reason. Ahrefs' explanation is the one above: links count more when they come from sites people find through search.

A larger study points the same way. SaaSCity, a directory that sells listings, ran 2,405 directories and review sites (opens in a new tab) through the same API on November 5. Launch platforms lost a median of 30 points and software discovery sites 34.6, while software review sites gained 1.5 and communities stayed level. The author links the sites that held to the visitors who find them through search. It is their own list, not a random sample of the web, and they say so.

All the directories we know#

The 103 directories we sold are all badge directories, 30 of them launch platforms. To see whether other kinds of sites fell as much, we read the DR3 and DR4 of every directory we know: 979 on their own domain, from our database and 11 public lists. The full before and after has the method, the rankings and the tables. In short:

• The median of the 979 directories goes from 40 to 23. 56% lost more than 5 points, 31% stayed within 5 points and 13% gained more than 5.
• Launch platforms fell the most: from a median of 52 to 15.5. 138 of the 146 lost more than 5 points.
• Sites people find through search held: review and comparison sites went from 67.5 to 71.5, communities from 56 to 62.
• Directories with a DR of 50 or more go from 360 to 203.

Two of those directories are run by the team behind Submitium. Findly.tools goes from 82 to 56, and is still one of the 10 directories in our catalog with a DR4 of 50 or more. DailyPings goes from 66 to 33.

Most Hacker News launches have a DR4 of 0#

The 300 websites launched on Hacker News in September and October 2026 had a median DR3 of 2.75. Their median DR4 is 0.

• 234 of the 300 have a DR4 of 0, against 30 with a DR3 of 0.
• Of the 91 with a DR3 of 10 or more, 46 have a DR4 under 1. We didn't list their links for this article. In our study of the backlinks of 200 new websites, most early links came from automatic SEO sites, copies of the Hacker News post and launch lists.
• 19 went up, among them a site that went from 36 to 62. The 26 sites with a DR3 of 30 or more kept a median DR4 of 26.
• Points didn't help. The 12 posts with 50 points or more on Hacker News have a median DR4 of 0, like the others.

If your site launched recently and its DR4 is 0, you are in the same place as most of the sites launched on Hacker News this autumn.

What doesn't change#

Google doesn't use Domain Rating#

Domain Rating is a score Ahrefs computes from its own crawl of the web. Google doesn't read it. John Mueller, of Google, said it in an Ask Googlebot video (opens in a new tab) in 2023: "Google does not use scores from third-party SEO tools for search." He added that such scores can still help you estimate where your site stands.

So nothing happens to your Google rankings on December 1 because of DR4. If your rankings move that week, the cause is elsewhere.

The links are the same links#

A directory listing that links to your site on November 30 links to it on December 1, with the same dofollow or nofollow attribute. Ahrefs changed how it scores links, not the links. How Google weighs each link is not public; DR3 and DR4 are both Ahrefs' own model.

Listings still put your product in front of people#

• A directory's visitors still see your listing, whatever the directory's Domain Rating.
• Directory pages are read by search engines and AI assistants. In our study of 200 AI answers, directories and review sites were 5% of the sources cited, G2 first, and tool directories wrote 9 of the 60 comparison pages we checked.
• Links help Google find a new site. Google finds new pages by following links, as we saw when we checked 1,000 new websites on Google. A listing is one of those links, whatever its Domain Rating.

The forms take the same time#

A directory submission is an account to create, a form to fill, an email to confirm, often a badge to add and a listing to check. DR4 doesn't change any of it.

What to do if you submit to directories#

1. Stop choosing directories by their DR3. A directory sold as "DR 70" this month may show 25 in December. Check its DR4 with the free API or Ahrefs' comparison page before you pay for anything because of its score.
2. Don't expect launch directories to raise your DR4. If Domain Rating is the goal, the links that count in DR4 come from sites with search traffic, such as review sites, communities and articles that rank on Google.
3. Choose directories that have visitors. Search Google for your category, "best AI writing tools" for example, and note which directories show up. Look at whether a directory's own pages rank, and whether its listings show visits or votes.
4. Check your own score once, then move on. Read your DR3 and DR4 now, so the change on December 1 doesn't surprise you. Then measure what matters to your business: visits, sign-ups, and where your buyers find you.
5. Be careful with anyone who sells a Domain Rating. A score that one tool computes can change when the tool changes, as it does on December 1.

Where Submitium stands#

We sell submissions, not a Domain Rating. Our terms say we don't guarantee any effect of a listing on your search rankings, Domain Rating, traffic or sales. DR4 shows why: the score is Ahrefs', and Ahrefs just changed it.

Since this study, Submitium sells only directories with a DR4 of 10 or more: 68 of the 103 we sold on November 8. The others left the catalog, and our directory list shows each directory's DR4, read from Ahrefs. The full before and after explains the choice.

What we do doesn't change: we submit your product to directories and launch platforms that list it for free, keep their badges in one badge wall on your site, and check the link on each live listing six times over 90 days. You get the listings, the links and the visitors those directories have, without spending the hours on forms.

A directory costs $0.99, less from the 51st, and a first order starts at 30 directories. See the pricing and the full list of directories.

Questions#

What is Ahrefs DR4?#

DR4 is the fourth version of Ahrefs' Domain Rating, the 0 to 100 score Ahrefs gives a website for the strength of its backlinks. It counts links from fewer sites than DR3, gives more weight to sites with search traffic, and gives subdomains their own score.

When does DR4 replace DR3?#

On December 1, 2026, in the Ahrefs interface. Ahrefs says DR3 stays available in its API for a short period after that, without giving an end date. The free Domain Rating API returns DR4 now with version=dr4.

Why did my Domain Rating drop?#

In DR4, links from sites without search traffic count little or nothing. If most of your links come from launch directories, automatic SEO sites or copies of your launch posts, your DR4 can be close to 0.

Does DR4 change my Google rankings?#

No. Domain Rating is Ahrefs' score, and Google says it doesn't use scores from third-party SEO tools. DR4 changes the number Ahrefs shows, not the links Google sees.

How do I check my DR4?#

Call Ahrefs' free Domain Rating API with your domain and version=dr4 (it needs a free API key), or enter your domain on the comparison page Ahrefs links in its announcement, detailed.com/dr-v4.

Are directory backlinks still worth it?#

For a Domain Rating, launch directories now add little: in our check, 103 of them went from a median of 55 to 19. For being listed where people look for tools, for links that help Google find your site, and for pages AI assistants read, directories do what they did before December 1.

What is a good Domain Rating in DR4?#

Domain Rating compares sites with each other, so a good score depends on your competitors. Read theirs with the same API: if they had 40 in DR3 and have 15 in DR4, your 10 is not as far behind as it looked.