Domain authority
Senior SEO-specialist
Domain authority (DA) is a ranking score. This score was developed by the American company Moz. The score indicates how the Web site will rank in Google’s search results (SERP). The score is between 0 and 100. We do not recommend trying to reach 100 or trying your best to do so. Only websites like Facebook and Google achieve scores of 100. Also, it is a logarithmic scale, which means it is easier to go from 0 to 10 than from 10 to 20. (1)
Pro tip: Here you can view the DA of websites for free (a few a day).
Domain authority is calculated based on a number of factors. Basically, you get a higher score if you optimize your entire site. These factors can help:
- the number of inbound links;
- The number of referring domains;
- Provide a strong internal link structure;
- on-site optimization;
- The domain authority of the websites that link to you;
- Make sure your website is SEO-ready;
- informative and meaningful content.
How to use the DA.
Domain authority is not a ranking factor used by Google. It’s better to use it as a comparison score for other websites (e.g., your competitors).
This allows you to peer at your competitors and see what you can optimize about your site to in all likelihood rank higher in search results than your competitor.
How do I check my DA in MOZ?
| Step | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 1. Go to the MOZ website | Open your web browser and go to the MOZ website. MOZ is the company that developed the Domain Authority (DA) score and they offer a free tool to check your DA. |
| 2. Go to the Link Explorer tool | Look for the “Link Explorer” tool on the MOZ website. This is the tool you will use to check your DA. |
| 3. Enter your domain name | In the Link Explorer tool, enter the domain name you want to check. Make sure you enter the full URL, including the ‘www’ part if your site uses that. |
| 4. Press enter | Press enter or click the Analyze button to run the tool. It may take a few seconds before the results are displayed. |
| 5. Review your DA score | Your DA score is displayed in the results. It is a number between 1 and 100, with a higher number indicating higher authority. Note that this is just one of many factors that affect search engine ranking. |
| 6. Analyze the results | In addition to your DA score, the Link Explorer tool provides other useful information, such as the number of inbound links to your site, the quality of those links and more. Take the time to analyze these results and understand what they mean for your SEO strategy. |
So tracking your domain authority is important to monitor your position relative to your competitors. That way, you’ll know what tweaks you still need to make and can move up in Google (or other search engines) search results. Some tools to monitor your domain authority are:
- Moz. The creator of the domain authority metric.
- WebsiteSeoChecker is another simple tool that lets you check up to three websites at once.
- Robingupta is a suitable tool for checking the domain authority of multiple competitors on a larger scale. It lets you compare up to ten URLs at once;
- Ahrefs. A similar tool to Moz.
I personally use Ahrefs.
- Wikipedia contributors. (2024c, March 11). Domain authority. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_authority
Frequently Asked Questions
Domain authority says something about how much link-building effort has been done by a company. This is the total sum of the quantity and quality of backlinks for a website.
What is the impact of Domain Authority on SEO?
A high score in this area ensures a higher ranking in search results. So make sure you have enough relevant and quality backlinks and content. Google will reward you for this.
