How I Built DomainRating.app (and What I Learned)

I'm the person behind DomainRating.app. This is how I built DomainRating.app: why I made it, how it works, and what I've learned so far. It's written for anyone building their own small product.

The problem

Checking your Domain Rating usually means a paid SEO tool, or a free checker that shows the number once and forgets it. I wanted three simple things:

1. Check any website's DR for free, instantly
2. Track my own DR every day without logging in somewhere
3. Get an email when it changes

Nothing did exactly that, for free, in a simple way. So I built it.

How it works

The data. DomainRating.app uses the official Ahrefs API, so every number is the real Ahrefs Domain Rating, not an estimate.

The checks. Tracked websites are checked automatically several times a day. When a DR changes, the owner gets an email, and the history goes into a chart on the site's page.

The badge. Site owners can add a small badge to their footer that shows their live DR. When we find it on their homepage, they're listed in the directory with 2 dofollow backlinks: their own page and the directory. That turns the product into a directory of real websites ranked by DR, and each badge brings new visitors.

The extra tools. People who check DR also ask "how old is this domain?", "when does it expire?" and "how fast is it?", so there are free tools for each: domain age, domain expiry and a speed test. Tracked domains also get expiry reminders 30 and 7 days before they lapse.

Site descriptions. Each listed website gets a short description, tagline and tags, written by AI from its own homepage, so directory pages are useful without owners writing everything themselves.

How I built DomainRating.app: the stack

It's a deliberately simple, boring stack:

• Node.js and Express for the server
• MySQL (MariaDB) for data
• Server-rendered pages, so they load fast and are easy for search engines to read
• One small VPS running everything

Simple tools meant I could spend my time on the product instead of the infrastructure.

Launch week

I launched on X with a simple post: check your Ahrefs DR for free, track it, get alerts. The first visitors came from people curious about their own DR.

The most fun number: DomainRating.app itself went from DR 0 to DR 8 in three days. It was a good reminder that a new site can get its first real links quickly.

What I've learned so far

1. Free tools are the best marketing. People share a tool that helps them far more than they share an ad.
2. One clear promise beats ten features. "Check and track your DR for free" is easy to understand and easy to share.
3. Give people a reason to come back. One-off checks are forgotten; daily tracking and email alerts bring people back.
4. Build in public. Sharing real numbers on X brought feedback, users and links.
5. Keep it simple. Every feature I removed made the product clearer.

What's next

More guides on this blog, more ways to understand DR changes, and making the directory more useful for finding great websites. If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them on X.

Mistakes I made along the way

• Building too much before launching. Early on I planned features nobody had asked for. Launching sooner would have shown me what people actually wanted.
• Underestimating emails. DR alerts and expiry reminders turned out to be some of the most valued features, and they needed more care than I expected.

Try it

Check your DR, add your site, and see your own history start building:

And if you're building something yourself, start where I did: From DR 0 to DR 20.