I’m building Inkfluence AI, a SaaS that helps people create ebooks and PDFs with AI.
According to most SEO tools, my site’s Domain Rating is 2. Which, if you believe SEO Twitter/X, means I shouldn’t expect Google to rank anything I publish.
But when I open Google Search Console, I see something very different. Impressions are growing daily. Dozens of keywords are indexed. Pages are already climbing into the top 50–100 results.
That gap is what surprised me!
If you only look at Domain Rating, you’d assume nothing is happening. But Google clearly doesn’t wait for “authority” before testing new sites.
I didn’t do anything clever. No expired domains. No parasite pages. No link schemes. Most of my backlinks so far are just basic SaaS directories.
What did matter was intent.
Inkfluence pages are narrowly focused around what users actually search for: creating ebooks, lead magnets, and publish ready PDFs. Each page answers one thing clearly, and users actually stay and use the product.
My working theory is that Google treats early sites like a probation period. If your pages match intent and users don’t immediately bounce, you get tested - even with very low authority. Backlinks still matter, but they seem to matter more once Google already trusts that your site isn’t garbage.
What’s interesting is how far behind third-party tools are. My DR hasn’t moved, but impressions and clicks keep going up. Authority scores feel more like a trailing indicator than a gate you have to pass first.
I’m still going to write content. I’m still going to build links. That stuff compounds, for sure.
But this experience changed how I think about early SEO.
You need a real product, pages that match real searches, and users who don’t instantly leave.
If you’re building a SaaS and putting off SEO because your DR is “too low”, don’t. I almost did the same, and I’m glad I didn’t.
I’m building Inkfluence AI, a tool for creating ebooks and publish ready PDFs with AI: Inkfluence AI
- Sam
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