From DR 0 to 30+ in 10 Days — Here’s Exactly How I Did It

When I launched NewTool.site, the Domain Rating (DR) was literally zero—no traffic, no backlinks. Everything felt ready except the one thing that actually moves the needle 😅

I checked a bunch of well-known directories and asked a few indie builders what the fastest way to grow DR was. The answer was consistent: Build backlinks.

But that immediately raises a better question:

If everyone is building backlinks… how do you grow DR faster and more efficiently?

And no—this isn’t about buying links. If buying links was the answer, there’d be nothing to write about.

I now got 40 DR in 12 days without buying any backlinks. Here is the proof.

What actually works (and why)

From what I’ve seen across fast-growing indie sites, the pattern is simple:

1. Polish the site first
   Clean tagline, solid visuals, clear product info, fast loading, no broken pages. Backlinks help, but they help more when the site looks credible.
2. Quality over quantity
   A handful of links from strong domains can outperform dozens of weak ones.
3. Submit steadily
   A few good submissions per week beats doing everything once and disappearing.

There’s also a common “starter pack” of high-leverage directories people use—like Product Hunt, Fazier, Dang, Twelve.Tools, Turbo0, Findly.Tools, Uneed, Wired Business, Tiny Launch, and more.

Some of these can be surprisingly effective—especially when they:

• publish quickly (instant approval or short review),
• provide dofollow links,
• and sit on high-DR domains.

The catch with “classic” tool directories

Once you look closer, you’ll notice two problems:

• Some listings are nofollow (fine for branding/traffic, weaker for DR transfer).
• Some platforms take weeks or months to go live.

Sure, “good things take time”… but by the time your listing finally appears, you might not even care anymore.

So I started looking for a faster, cheaper path.

The underrated shortcut: business directories / online yellow pages

After digging through backlink leaderboards and reverse-checking where fast-growing sites were getting links, I found an underrated category:

Business directories / online yellow pages.

These sites were originally meant to help people find companies and services. But here’s the trick:

You can list your website as a “business” and get a legitimate backlink—often dofollow 👀

Compared to niche tool directories:

• They can be more annoying to fill out (more fields).
• But many don’t require manual review.
• And a lot of them are old, established domains with high DR (often ~70–80).

That usually means stronger “link juice” per listing.

Another overlooked category: small discovery engines / “sites like this” platforms

There’s also a second underrated bucket:

Discovery engines that help users find similar sites.

Their DR is often a bit lower than big directories, but the workflow is usually:

• instant submit,
• instant approval,
• link goes live immediately.

Honestly… what more do you want when you’re trying to ramp DR quickly?

A simple 3-tier model for backlinks

Here’s the framework that finally made this feel systematic:

Tier 1: Instant, high leverage

Think: strong directories that approve fast and tend to pass DR well.
Best for: early momentum + sometimes real exposure.

Tier 2: Yellow pages + discovery engines

Business directories, online yellow pages, “similar sites” engines.
Best for: fast volume with decent quality, often higher DR because domains are old.

Tier 3: Slow-launch platforms

Directories that take weeks/months to publish.
Best for: long-term compounding—valuable, just slow.

The “fast and efficient” DR playbook

If speed is the priority, this is the order I’d use:

1. Start with Tier 1
   Quick wins. DR boost + visibility.
2. Move immediately into Tier 2
   More form-filling, but faster publishing and often stronger domains.
3. Batch-submit Tier 3 and forget them
   The slow burners. Let them compound in the background 😂

If speed isn’t your main goal, you can flip it:

• submit Tier 3 early,
• then layer Tier 1 and Tier 2 as you go.

If you want a step-by-step list

If people are interested, I can put together a curated list for all three tiers—organized in the exact order you’d submit, so you can follow it like a checklist.

Hope this helps—and may your DR go to the moon 🚀