Domain authority

A few years back, Moz came out with a search engine optimization success measure called domain authority. Nowadays, a lot of marketers and companies use some kind of DA checking tool to study and evaluate the results of their digital strategies. What does this authority metric mean? Does a domain authority really make a difference in Google ranking? How to achieve a high DA?

TRACK YOUR DOMAIN AUTHORITY!

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Templates using this KPI
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Integrations using this KPI

What is domain authority?

Moz Domain Authority (also called DA score - domain score - Moztrust) is a metric developed to help predict how likely a domain, subdomain, or page is to rank in search engine result pages (SERPS). This website ranking measure is determined on a logarithmic scale and the score ranges from 1 to 100, 1 being where all new websites start and move on up from there.

Although we don't know the exact algorithm, Domain Authority is calculated by looking at multiple important factors, including referring domain, linking root domains, and the total number of links, into a single DA score. Moz has announced that overall SEO website health (on-page optimizations, metadata optimizations, technical SEO improvements) and high authority backlinks have a positive impact on Domain Authority.

Whereas a website's da measures the strength of an entire domain, there is also a DA score attributed to each web page, called page authority.

How to calculate your domain authority

It's not possible to calculate your domain authority yourself, you're going to need some SEO tools. Moz, SEMrush, Ahrefs all have their own version of a domain authority checker tool so pick one and use that same one consistently. These tools usually provide a full backlink profile.

What is a good domain authority score?

As previously stated, Domain Authority scores range from 1 to 100. Every single website starts at 1 and climbs as it gains backlinks, authority, and popularity. It's hard to determine what is a higher domain authority vs a lower domain authority because it depends mostly on your competitors. To determine if your domain authority score is good or not, compare it to your competitors' scores. If it's higher, you're doing well.

Track yours with an automated report

What is a bad domain authority score?

If your domain rating is lower than your competitors, you have some work to do it and it can be improved.

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Domain authority KPI examples & templates

Your domain authority can be (and should be) added to a few different reports.

Here's an example :

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See this KPI in action here!

SEO report template

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Domain authority best practices

Here are some of the best practices you should keep in mind to increase your website's domain authority.

Build a high-quality backlink strategy

When looking at authority sites, they all have a content-marketing and link-building strategy. But in this case, always think quality over quantity. You want to have high-quality links (no shady or bad links!) on quality linking domains. In order to achieve that, you need to conduct keyword research, create high-quality content, promote your content well, find a link-building strategy and try adding some guest posts to awesome websites that are relevant.

Optimize SEO basics

SEO basics can be a differential ranking factor in your site's ranking because the better your user experience is, the more popular it becomes and the more inbound links it gets. That's why you should optimize your on-page content, make sure it's mobile-friendly, and add internal links as they help your search engine ranking (google search).

Keep an eye on your competitors

Audit your competitor's backlinks via your favorite SEO tool's link explorer. This can help you identify websites that have linked back to similar great content or opportunity for you. But remember, stay away from the low-quality backlinks and focus on those that can help you optimize your page rank.

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Domain Authority Synonyms

Although domain authority is widely used, there are multiple synonyms that can be used. Here are a few :

Domain authority score, Moz domain authority, Domain Rating score, Domain Rating (DR), Ahrefs Domain Rating, Authority score, SEMrush Authority Score, PageRank, Website Authority, Domain score, DA score, DR score