Why compare against one competitor
An absolute DR number says little on its own. What matters is how you stack up against the sites competing for the same searches. If every page ranking for your main keyword sits at DR 60+, a DR 15 site will struggle there no matter how good the page is, and a narrower long-tail keyword is the better target for now.
Reading the gap
- Within 5 points. You are in the same league. Content quality and relevance decide who ranks.
- 10–20 points. A real but closable gap. Steady link building over a few months moves it.
- 30+ points. Pick different battles. Target long-tail keywords the stronger site ignores, and build links before taking on head terms.
Because the scale is logarithmic, a 10-point gap at DR 70 is much wider than a 10-point gap at DR 20.
Where to go from here
Run the competitor's outreach targets through the bulk DR checker, and use the on-page SEO audit to make sure the page itself is not what is holding you back.
Scores come from Ahrefs' public Domain Rating API and are shown with the credit their licence requires.