Authority scores have become one of the most common ways to evaluate website strength, compare competitors, and prioritize link-building opportunities. The challenge is that every SEO platform calculates authority differently. The same domain can receive dramatically different scores depending on the backlink index, scoring model, and ranking signals each provider uses.
Choosing an authority metric is less about finding the "correct" score and more about selecting a methodology that stays consistent across your reporting. Without understanding how each metric is calculated, comparing websites or measuring SEO progress over time becomes unreliable.
This guide reviews the 5 best SEO tools for tracking authority scores in 2026. We compare each platform's authority metric, pricing, methodology, and ideal use cases to help you choose the best solution for your workflow.
What are authority scores in SEO?
Authority scores are proprietary metrics that SEO platforms use to estimate the relative authority and ranking potential of a website based on their own data and scoring models. Search engines do not publish or use these scores as direct ranking factors. Instead, they provide a standardized way to compare websites, evaluate backlink opportunities, benchmark competitors, and measure SEO progress over time.
Every authority score is calculated using a proprietary methodology. Most scoring systems analyze factors such as backlink quantity, link quality, referring domains, spam indicators, and other authority signals, often using a scale from 0 to 100. Because each scoring model weighs these factors differently and relies on its own link index, the same website can receive different authority scores depending on the platform.
What should you look for in an authority score tracking tool?
An authority score tracking tool should provide transparent scoring methods, reliable backlink data, frequent updates, bulk domain analysis, and reporting capabilities that support ongoing SEO measurement.
When evaluating which authority score tool fits your agency's workflow, these are the criteria that determine whether the platform works at scale:
- Metric transparency: The tool should clearly document how its authority score is calculated, what signals it weighs, and how often it updates. Unexplained score shifts create unnecessary client conversations.
- Multi-domain tracking: Agencies managing 10 or more clients need to pull authority scores in bulk without opening each domain individually. Batch analysis and portfolio-level dashboards cut reporting time significantly.
- Update frequency: A score that refreshes once per month provides a different baseline than one that updates every two weeks. Match update cadence to your reporting cycle.
- Backlink index quality: Authority metrics are only as reliable as the backlink data behind them. Larger, more frequently crawled indexes produce scores that reflect current link profiles.
- Integration with ranking and traffic data: Correlating authority score changes with ranking movements and organic traffic makes reports more defensible to clients than score changes alone.
- Reporting and export: White-label dashboards, scheduled delivery, and branded PDF exports determine whether the tool fits a client-facing reporting workflow or stays internal.
Investing in the right authority tracking tool removes manual bottlenecks, keeps scores consistent across reporting periods, and gives teams reliable data to justify link-building spend.
5 best SEO tools for tracking authority scores
The tools below represent the leading options for tracking domain authority at the individual and agency scale, from dedicated authority metrics to full-platform solutions that connect authority data to traffic and AI search performance.
1. Search Atlas
Search Atlas is an SEO and AI visibility platform that tracks authority through Domain Power, a proprietary 100-point logarithmic metric that integrates organic traffic, keyword performance, and ranking distribution across the top 100 SERPs. Unlike Moz DA and Ahrefs DR, which rely primarily on link graph data, Domain Power incorporates whether a site's links translate into actual rankings and traffic, making it harder to inflate through volume-based link schemes.
Agencies can monitor every client from a centralized dashboard without switching between backlink checkers, analytics platforms, ranking trackers, and reporting software. Portfolio Summary highlights the biggest gains, stable accounts, and domains that need attention, while daily data from Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, and AI search visibility keeps reporting current across every campaign.
Search Atlas Coworker brings authority monitoring directly into Slack. It answers questions, runs scheduled jobs, delivers reports, and alerts your team when rankings, authority, backlinks, or site health require attention, so work keeps moving where your team already collaborates.
Search Atlas popular features
- Domain Power: A 100-point logarithmic authority metric that integrates organic traffic, keyword performance, and SERP ranking distribution rather than relying on link graph size alone.
- Site Explorer: Enterprise-level domain analysis covering organic keywords, backlink quality, referring domains, paid traffic, and LLM visibility, organized across four Holistic SEO pillars: Experience, Authority, Content, and Technical.
- Portfolio Summary: Multi-account performance dashboard that generates a weighted 0 to 100 health score per connected account with daily refresh, week-over-week change tracking, and smart categorization across Biggest Wins, Stable, and At Risk groups.
- LLM Visibility: Tracks brand mentions, sentiment shifts, and visibility gaps across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity alongside authority data.
- Report Builder: AI-augmented reporting engine that consolidates authority, traffic, backlink, content, and AI visibility data into white-label, scheduled client reports.
- Bulk URL Analyzer: Batch DA and PA measurement across multiple domains in one operation, designed for evaluating link-building prospects and acquisition targets at scale.
Search Atlas limitations
- The learning curve can be steep for new users unfamiliar with the platform, but there are resources and tutorials available to assist with onboarding.
- There is no free plan, but a 7-day free trial with full platform access is available, no credit card required.
Search Atlas pricing
| Starter | Growth | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $99/month | $199/month | $399/month |
| OTTO SEO Projects | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| User Seats | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Tracked Keywords | 2,000 | 3,500 | 6,000 |
| Site Explorer | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| White-Label Dashboard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Enterprise plans with unlimited scale, API access, and dedicated support are available on request.
Search Atlas reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (129 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (81 reviews)
2. Majestic
Majestic is a backlink analysis platform that measures website authority through Trust Flow, Citation Flow, and Topical Trust Flow. Rather than estimating overall SEO strength, Majestic focuses on evaluating the quality, quantity, and topical relevance of backlinks, making it a popular choice for link-building research and backlink audits.
Trust Flow scores the quality of a site's backlinks based on the authority of the websites linking to it, while Citation Flow measures link quantity without weighting for trust. Topical Trust Flow extends this analysis by categorizing backlinks into industry-specific topics, helping SEO teams determine whether potential link opportunities align with a website's niche.
Majestic popular features
- Trust Flow: A 0 to 100 quality-weighted authority metric that measures how many trusted links point to a domain, based on proximity to a set of trusted seed sites in Majestic's index.
- Citation Flow: A 0 to 100 volume-based metric measuring the total number of links pointing to a domain, independent of link quality.
- Topical Trust Flow: Categorizes a domain's backlink profile by topic cluster, surfacing whether a site's authority comes from relevant or off-topic sources.
- Bulk Backlink Checker: Pull Trust Flow, Citation Flow, and referring domain data across multiple domains in one operation.
- Historic Index: Access archived backlink data to track how a domain's link profile has changed over time.
Majestic limitations
- Majestic focuses exclusively on backlink analysis. It does not provide organic keyword data, rank tracking, site auditing, or content tools. Teams using Majestic for authority tracking will need separate tools for other SEO functions.
- Trust Flow and Citation Flow are less recognized by non-technical clients than DA or AS, which creates additional explanation work in client reporting contexts.
Majestic pricing
- Lite: $49.99/month — 1 user, fresh index, ideal for beginners and individual users.
- Pro: $99.99/month — 1 user, keyword intelligence, campaign tracking, and historic index. Built for agencies, consultants, and domain traders.
- API: $399.99/month — 5 users, 100 million analysis units, OpenApps access, and API capabilities for large-scale data needs.
Majestic reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (73 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (30 reviews)
3. Semrush
Semrush is an SEO platform that measures website authority through Authority Score (AS), a proprietary metric that combines backlink quality, organic traffic, and spam signals into a single 0 to 100 score. Unlike metrics that rely primarily on link data, Authority Score incorporates search performance to provide a broader view of a domain's overall authority.
The platform supports authority tracking alongside backlink analysis, keyword rankings, organic traffic, and competitor research. Agencies can compare Authority Scores across multiple domains, monitor changes over time, and evaluate backlink opportunities from one workspace.
Semrush popular features
- Authority Score: A 0 to 100 score calculated from backlink signals, organic traffic estimates, and spam factor analysis.
- Backlink Analytics: Analyze any domain's full backlink profile, filter by authority score range, and identify link quality patterns across referring domains.
- Domain Overview: Single-view summary of Authority Score, organic traffic estimates, keyword rankings, and paid search activity for any domain.
- Bulk Backlink Analysis: Pull Authority Score data across multiple domains in one operation for link prospecting and portfolio reporting.
- Position Tracking: Monitor keyword rankings alongside authority data to correlate score changes with ranking movements.
Semrush limitations
- Authority Score often appears lower than DP, DA, or DR because it includes organic traffic and spam signals.
- Authority Score updates approximately every two weeks, so recent link-building efforts may take time to appear.
Semrush pricing
- Pro: $139.95/month — 500 tracked keywords, 5 projects, and 100,000 site audit pages/month. Best for beginners and freelancers.
- Guru: $249.95/month — 1,500 tracked keywords, 15 projects, historical data, and Looker Studio integration. Best for growing agencies.
- Business: $499.95/month — 5,000 tracked keywords, 40 projects, and API access. Built for enterprises and large agencies.
Semrush reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (3,982 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (2,322 reviews)
4. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is an SEO platform that measures website authority through Domain Rating (DR), a proprietary 0 to 100 metric based on the strength of a website's backlink profile. DR estimates link authority using a PageRank-style model.
Ahrefs combines Domain Rating with backlink analysis, referring domains, organic keywords, and traffic estimates in Site Explorer. SEO teams use these metrics to evaluate competitors, qualify link-building opportunities, and monitor authority growth over time.
Ahrefs popular features
- Domain Rating: A 0 to 100 scale measuring backlink profile strength relative to all other sites in the Ahrefs database, calculated using a PageRank-style link juice distribution model.
- Site Explorer: Domain-level analysis covering DR, referring domains, organic keywords, organic traffic estimates, paid keywords, and backlink breakdown by type and anchor text.
- Batch Analysis: Pull DR, UR (URL Rating), organic traffic, and referring domain data for up to 200 domains in one operation.
- Backlink Profile Comparison: Compare authority and backlink data across up to five domains simultaneously.
- Alerts: Receive notifications for new and lost backlinks and changes in DR for monitored domains.
Ahrefs limitations
- DR measures pure backlink graph strength and does not incorporate organic traffic or spam signals.
- Batch Analysis is capped at 200 domains per operation, which limits bulk authority checking for agencies managing large prospect lists.
Ahrefs pricing
- Lite: $129/month — 5 projects, 750 tracked keywords, 100,000 crawl credits, and 1 user. Best for small businesses and personal projects.
- Standard: $249/month — 20 projects, 2,000 tracked keywords, 500,000 crawl credits, and 2 years of historical data. Best for freelancers and consultants.
- Advanced: $449/month — 50 projects, 5,000 tracked keywords, 1.5 million crawl credits, and 5 years of historical data. Built for growing in-house marketing teams.
Ahrefs reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (706 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (584 reviews)
5. Moz Pro
Moz Pro is the SEO platform behind Domain Authority (DA). DA was introduced as one of the first standardized ways to estimate a domain's ranking potential using link data. Moz calculates DA from data in its Link Explorer index, incorporating the number of unique linking root domains, link quality signals, and Moz's own link scoring system.
Moz Pro's Link Explorer provides referring domain analysis, anchor text breakdown, and link quality filtering. The Bulk DA Checker allows teams to look up DA across multiple domains in one operation, which supports link prospecting at scale.
Moz Pro popular features
- Domain Authority: A 0 to 100 logarithmic score that predicts ranking likelihood based on link profile strength, calculated from unique linking root domains and link quality signals.
- Link Explorer: Full backlink profile analysis for any domain, including DA, Page Authority (PA), referring domains, anchor text distribution, and spam score.
- Bulk DA Checker: Look up DA and PA across multiple domains simultaneously for link prospecting, competitor analysis, or portfolio monitoring.
- Moz Keyword Explorer: Keyword research integrated with domain authority data to identify gaps between a domain's authority and the competitive threshold for target keywords.
- On-Page Grader: On-page optimization scoring with competitive benchmarking at the page level.
Moz Pro limitations
- DA does not factor in organic traffic or spam signals. A domain with a large backlink count from low-traffic sites can show a higher DA than its actual search presence warrants.
- Moz's backlink index is smaller than its competitors, which affects DA accuracy for domains with link profiles concentrated in data sources Moz crawls less frequently.
Moz Pro pricing
- Standard: $99/month — 3 tracked sites, 300 tracked keywords, 400K crawl pages, AI Overviews tracking, and 2 AI content briefs/month. Best for small businesses.
- Medium: $179/month — 10 tracked sites, 1,500 tracked keywords, 2M crawl pages, AI Visibility dashboards, AI prompt tracking, and 10 AI content briefs/month. Built for growing businesses.
- Large: $299/month — 25 tracked sites, 3,000 tracked keywords, 5M crawl pages, 4 AI Visibility dashboards, 200 tracked AI prompts, and 50 AI content briefs/month. Designed for larger teams scaling SEO and AI search.
Moz Pro reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (608 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (350 reviews)
What is the difference between Domain Power, Domain Authority, Domain Rating, and Authority Score?
Domain Power, Domain Authority, Domain Rating, and Authority Score all estimate a website's authority, but they rely on different signals and scoring models. The table below compares how each authority metric is calculated and what it measures.
| Category | Domain Power | Domain Authority | Domain Rating | Authority Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider | Search Atlas | Moz | Ahrefs | Semrush |
| Primary focus | Overall search authority | Link authority | Backlink strength | Authority and trust |
| Core signals | Backlinks, organic traffic, keyword performance, SERP rankings | Backlinks and referring domains | Backlinks and referring domains | Backlinks, organic traffic, spam signals |
| Organic traffic | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Keyword performance | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | Limited |
| Ranking distribution | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Backlink quality | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Best for | Measuring overall SEO authority | Link-building benchmarks | Backlink analysis | Competitive authority analysis |
How do you track authority scores across multiple domains?
Tracking authority scores across multiple domains requires a platform that monitors every website from one dashboard instead of checking each domain individually. Agencies managing dozens of clients need bulk analysis and centralized reporting to keep authoritative data accurate and easy to review.
Search Atlas simplifies portfolio-wide authority tracking through Site Explorer and Portfolio Summary. Together, they monitor Domain Power alongside backlinks, keyword performance, organic traffic, and LLM Visibility from a single workspace.
Key capabilities include:
- Portfolio-wide monitoring: Track Domain Power and SEO performance across every connected website from one dashboard.
- Performance insights: Surface the biggest wins, stable performers, and at-risk accounts without reviewing every client individually.
- Unified reporting: Combine Domain Power with Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, and LLM Visibility data in one view.
- Flexible filtering: Organize reports by client, brand, region, or performance to quickly identify accounts that need attention.
This workflow replaces repetitive domain-by-domain reporting and gives agencies a centralized view of authority and overall search performance across their entire client portfolio.
Track authority scores across all your clients in one place
Authority scores become more valuable when viewed alongside rankings, traffic, backlinks, and AI search visibility. Search Atlas brings every authority signal into one platform, eliminating the need to switch between multiple SEO tools for every client.
Monitor Domain Power, backlink quality, keyword rankings, organic traffic, and LLM Visibility from a centralized workspace. Search Atlas combines authority tracking, SEO, AI search visibility, reporting, and automated optimization in one platform that scales with every client you manage.
See how Search Atlas helps agencies track authority, uncover opportunities, and deliver stronger SEO results from one platform. Start your free trial today!
