Domain Authority: what you really need to know.
Consequently, what information is essential for website owners and digital marketers to know about Domain Authority?
You don’t need to know the ins and outs of this calculation if acquiring new customers via search is your primary focus. On the other hand, Domain Authority can be directly applied to many aspects of developing an effective SEO strategy. Take a look at this summary to learn the fundamentals of this site authority indicator.
1. DA is not used in search engine rankings.
Although DA can be used as a proxy for ranking potential, it does not play a role in Google’s actual algorithm.
Because of this, websites that are newer or smaller in size but still produce high-quality, informative, fresh, and relevant content for users can still rank higher than their competitors despite having lower Domain Authority scores.
However, the number of linking root domains and the number of linking pages are both Google ranking factors that Moz uses in its Domain Authority calculation. Search engine optimization metrics like keyword rankings, average position, and organic traffic tend to improve in tandem with increasing DA.
2. There are alternative metrics for measuring a site’s credibility that can be just as useful as Domain Authority.
Although it is widely used, SEOs are not limited to using only Moz’s Domain Authority to gauge a site’s authority. Competing authority metrics have been developed by other large SEO companies and keyword research tools that feature extensive link indices. A few names you might recognise are: • Majestic’s Citation Flow
Authority Score by Semrush
• Domain Authority from Ahrefs (DR)
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs’ equivalent of Moz’s PageRank.
Your website’s rankings could be all over the place depending on the metric in question because different brands use different calculation and link indexing methods.
For instance, the scatter plot of Domain Rating versus Domain Authority below compares roughly 9,700 domains using Ahrefs DR and Moz DA. Since both have been on the rise recently, it’s clear that there’s a causal link between the two measures of a site’s authority.
Still, the data also reveals instances where DA and DR scores for the same domain can vary greatly. It’s possible that Ahrefs’ consideration of link quality and the authoritativeness of referring domains in its DR calculations accounts for the subset of domains where DA scores are significantly lower than DR scores.
Thus, while DA is arguably the most widely used authority metric in the SEO industry, it is by no means the final word on ranking potential. DA isn’t the only metric you can use to assess your website’s strength and potential in the search engine rankings.
If you want to know if your website is searching engine optimized, use LOCAL iQ’s free Website Grader.
3. Google’s PageRank was the first authority signaling algorithm.
Google’s PageRank was the first authority metric before Domain Authority was even a thing for search engine optimization.
After unethical SEOs found a way to use the PageRank displayed in the Google toolbar to boost their own sites’ rankings, Google decided to hide the results.
In essence, a page’s PageRank is shared with every page it links to (or link equity). That’s why it makes sense that pages with more links will share more PageRank. What we have here is roughly equivalent to:
Google uses PageRank, not Domain Authority, as a ranking factor when promoting websites. Site owners should be aware that even though Google no longer reveals PageRank, it is still being passed around the web via every link.
4. off-site SEO and upping your domain’s authority go hand in hand.
The only way to increase site authority metrics like DA is through off-page SEO strategies like link building and digital PR due to the central role that backlinks play in the Domain Authority calculation.
Improving your on-page SEO is always a good idea because it increases your site’s relevance and quality in Google’s eyes, but it won’t have as much of an impact on your DA as building backlinks will.
Earning backlinks through off-site strategies, however, is likely to become much easier with higher-quality content on your website. Rather than relying on a single strategy, it is recommended that SEO be approached from a multifaceted perspective.
DA PA Checker Tools
MOZ
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