If you’re trying to get your website to rank higher on Google, you’ve probably heard of “domain authority.” But what exactly is it, and does it really matter for SEO?
While domain authority isn’t a direct Google ranking factor, it’s a useful metric for understanding how your site stacks up against competitors. The strategies that improve your domain authority, like earning high-quality backlinks and creating valuable content, also happen to be the same ones that boost your rankings.
Think of domain authority like your website’s reputation score. A brand-new blog won’t have the same level of trust as an established news site, just like a small coffee shop doesn’t have the same recognition as Starbucks. ☕
But by consistently providing great content optimization and properly earning links, you can strengthen your site’s credibility and improve your chances of ranking well.
So, should you focus on domain authority? And how is it actually calculated? We’ll break down exactly what domain authority is, how it works, and how you can improve it.
What Is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority (DA) is a ranking metric created by Moz that estimates how likely a website is to rank in search results. It’s scored from 1 to 100, with higher numbers suggesting a stronger ability to rank. But DA isn’t a direct Google ranking factor—it’s more like a benchmark for comparing websites.
Think of it like a credit score for your website: The better your link profile and industry relevance, the higher your DA. For example, a big news site will have a much higher DA than a brand-new food blog because of its stronger link network and credibility.
DA is best used as a comparative tool rather than an absolute ranking signal. A higher score can indicate a site’s authority, but it’s just one piece of the SEO puzzle. 🧩
Why Is Domain Authority Important?
Domain Authority (DA) helps gauge a website’s ranking potential but isn’t a Google ranking factor, just a useful benchmark. Here’s how it can help your SEO strategy:
- Competitive Benchmarking: DA helps compare your site to competitors in your industry. If you run an online bookstore, checking DA scores of similar shops (not Amazon) can set realistic SEO goals.
- Backlink Prospecting: High-DA sites often make better backlink sources. A link from a respected industry blog carries more weight than one from a random forum.
How Is Domain Authority Calculated?
Domain Authority (DA) is calculated using a machine learning model that looks at various factors, such as the number of backlinks, the quality of those links, and other signals that suggest a site’s authority and trustworthiness.
According to Moz, “If domain A is more likely to appear in a Google SERP than domain B is, then we would expect domain A’s DA to be higher than domain B’s DA.”
Essentially, DA gauges a site’s overall “strength” based on how likely it is to perform well in search. The key factors that influence Domain Authority include:
- Link Profile: This includes both internal and external links to your site. If your content links to trusted sites and other reputable websites link to you, you’re building a strong link profile.
- Root Domains: Moz looks at the number of unique domains linking to your site. For example, if you have 100 links, but they’re all from the same site, it only counts as 1 root domain. Getting backlinks from multiple high-authority sources is key.
- Spam Score: Moz calculates a spam score to assess how “spammy” a site might be by comparing its backlinks to those of other sites.
Websites with more backlinks from reputable sources tend to have higher DA scores. But you should use Domain Authority Tools as a comparative metric, it’s not about an absolute score, it’s about how your site compares to others in your industry or niche.
Keep in mind, DA is not a ranking factor used by Google, so it doesn’t directly influence your search position.
Since DA is based on machine learning, it can fluctuate as new data is added. For example, if a major site like Facebook gains a ton of backlinks, other sites might see their DA drop relative to Facebook’s, since larger sites tend to dominate the higher end of the DA scale.
What Is a Good Domain Authority?
A “good” Domain Authority (DA) score varies depending on your industry and competition, but generally, a higher DA suggests a website has a better chance of ranking well in search results due to its perceived credibility and influence.
Here’s how to interpret DA scores:
- 70+: Sites with a dominant presence and strong authority in their field. Example: TechCrunch (DA 88), Forbes (DA 87).
- 50-70: Well-established sites with a reputable link profile and strong online presence. Example: SustainableLivingShop.com (DA 58), BrightCityPlumbers.com (DA 53)
- 30-50: Sites in growth mode, building backlinks and improving authority. Example: PetGroomersCentral.com (DA 42)
- Under 30: Newer or smaller sites still working on their backlink strategy. Example: BicycleRepairNow.com (DA 25)
How to Check Domain Authority
You can easily check a website’s Domain Authority (DA) and Domain Rating (DR) using tools like Site Explorer. This tool gives you a comprehensive view of a website’s SEO performance, including key metrics that show how strong the site is in search engine rankings.
You’ll also gain insights into other important aspects of the site’s SEO, such as:
- Organic Traffic: See how much traffic the site is getting from search engines and its trends over time.
- Paid Traffic: Learn how much paid traffic the site is generating and what keywords it’s targeting in ads.
- Backlinks: View the number and quality of backlinks pointing to the site, which is crucial for understanding its authority.
- Referring Domains: Check how many unique domains are linking to the site, a sign of a strong link profile.
- Main Competitors: Identify the site’s competitors, which helps you see how it compares in the market.
- Top Ranking Keywords: Discover which keywords the site is ranking for and how much traffic those keywords bring.
How Often Should I Check My Domain Authority?
You should check your Domain Authority (DA) at least once a month.
Since DA is a metric that changes gradually, checking it every 30 days gives enough time for any new backlinks to be recognized and have an impact on your site’s score. This frequency ensures you’re tracking meaningful changes and not just short-term fluctuations.
5 Ways to Increase Your Domain Authority
Boosting your domain authority (DA) is a long-term process and it should be included in your off-page SEO tools and strategy, but don’t expect overnight results. It takes weeks or even months of consistent effort to see meaningful improvements. Here’s how to start:
1. Earn High-Quality Backlinks
Backlinks from authority sites are key to improving DA. Reach out to sites in your niche or similar industries for links. Focus on acquiring backlinks from reputable sites that already send traffic your way. You can also check out competitors’ backlinks and try to get links from those sites.
There are many ways you can use Backlink Tools to find good websites to acquire links from:
- Backlink Analyzer: Analyze all backlinks pointing to your site, understand your profile, and compare with competitors.
- Link Gap Analysis: Identify the backlink gap with competitors and learn how to close it for improved ranking.
- Backlink Comparison: Compare your backlink strengths and weaknesses with your top competitors to improve your profile.
- Bulk URL Analyzer: Analyze multiple URLs at once to assess backlink signals across various web pages.
- Bulk DA Checker: Check the Domain Authority scores of several websites at once for a broader comparison.
2. Create Shareable and High-Value Content
Content is still king! By creating content that people want to link to—like detailed guides or research-based posts—you increase your chances of getting backlinks from trusted sources.
The more quality content you create, the more content syndication opportunities you’ll have for gaining backlinks and boosting your DA.
Use Content Genius to analyze top-ranking content and receive recommendations for subheadings, outlines, focus terms, internal links, and more. Integrated with your website, it automatically identifies opportunities to enhance readability, user experience, and rankings.
AI models like ChatGPT or Claude can assist in generating content.
Use Scholar to optimize content according to Google’s ranking standards. It scores content from 0 to 100, helping you identify areas for improvement.
Key metrics evaluated include:
- Content Clarity: Ensures content is concise, easy to read, and free of fluff.
- Factuality: Measures the accuracy and relevance of facts, focusing on the connection between content and queries.
- Human Effort: Assesses the degree of human input in content creation, beyond automated tools.
- Information Gain: Identifies unique insights not covered in existing search results to improve rankings.
- Content Freshness: Monitors updates and timestamps to signal current content to search engines.
- User Intent Alignment: Verifies content meets the format and expectations of user queries.
- Entities: Enhances content with relevant topics from Google’s Knowledge Graph.
- Contextual Flow: Ensures logical and cohesive progression of topics and headings.
3. Audit and Remove Harmful Links
Toxic backlinks can harm your DA. Regularly audit your site to identify any spammy or low-quality links. If you can’t remove them, use Google Search Console to disavow those links and prevent them from affecting your rankings.
Use OTTO to automatically find and fix redirects or broken links.
4. Optimize Your Site’s Structure and User Experience
A well-organized, SEO user-friendly site is easier for search engines to crawl, which can improve your DA. Ensure your site is mobile-friendly, loads quickly, and has an SSL certificate for security.
A clean structure, like a proper sitemap, helps search engines index your pages efficiently. It’s all about creating the best SEO user experience for your visitors.
5. Improve Internal Linking
Internal links help both users and search engines navigate your site. A good internal linking structure helps distribute “link juice” and boosts the DA of important pages, and these improvements can be done with link building tools.
By keeping visitors engaged and making your content easy to find, you improve both your user experience, performance, and SEO accessibility.
Use OTTO to automatically find missing internal linking opportunities and automatically deploy the fixes.
Why Domain Authority Alone Doesn’t Provide Accurate SEO Insights
While DR and DA offer a glimpse into a site’s SEO performance, they can be easily manipulated.
Some may resort to quick fixes like low-quality link farms, spammy backlink networks, or shallow link-building strategies to artificially boost these scores.
Although these tactics may give DR and DA a temporary lift, they don’t drive real SEO success or long-term authority.
That’s where Domain Power comes in. At Search Atlas, we’ve created this advanced metric to provide a true measure of your website’s strength.
Unlike DR and DA, Domain Power is built to withstand manipulation, offering a more trustworthy insight into your site’s real authority and sustainable ranking potential.
What Is Domain Power?
Domain Power (DP) is a unique metric from Search Atlas that goes beyond backlinks to assess your website’s real authority. Unlike traditional metrics that focus primarily on link quantity, DP uses data directly from Google Search Console (GSC) to evaluate your site’s organic traffic and ranking keywords.
Why is this important? Conventional backlink metrics can easily be manipulated through tactics like link farms or spammy networks.
With Domain Power, you get a more reliable and accurate measure of your site’s true search performance—without the risk of artificial inflation. It’s a metric that truly reflects your site’s authority in the eyes of search engines.
Why Domain Power Offers a More Accurate Measure of Domain Strength
Traditional metrics like DA and DR focus heavily on backlinks, but Google’s algorithm has evolved significantly. Today, authority is determined by much more than just links.
Key factors like:
- Page Quality: Well-optimized, valuable content is essential for ranking.
- Topical Authority: Google values your expertise within a specific niche.
These elements now hold more weight than ever, and Domain Power incorporates them to give you a clearer and more accurate picture of your website’s true SEO strength.
While backlinks are still important, content quality and niche authority are now the driving forces behind rankings.
We didn’t just claim that Domain Power is the better metric—we tested it. We analyzed thousands of websites, comparing organic traffic, ranking keywords, backlinks, and even traditional metrics like DA and DR to see what truly correlates with top-ranking pages.
So, what did the data show?
Domain Power consistently outperformed DA and DR, offering a much clearer reflection of what Google actually values for rankings.
The takeaway? Domain Power is a smarter, more reliable way to measure your site’s SEO strength.
What Is a Good Domain Power Score?
Domain Power gives you an honest snapshot of a website’s authority that can’t be manipulated. Here’s how different ranges look:
- The Giants (65-100): Major players with vast traffic and top keyword rankings. Think Google (100), Forbes (83), or SpaceX (65).
- Industry Leaders (35-65): Trusted brands in their field, solid traffic, and impressive keyword visibility. Examples: HTC (60), Saucelabs (51), Power (44).
- The Up-and-Comers (0-35): Smaller sites making strides with growing influence and traffic. E.g., Supply Land (34), Winter (28), Labels (14).
While the big names shine, don’t overlook smaller sites. Google rewards great content, and sites in niche markets with a Domain Power of 34 can still provide valuable backlinks for your SEO.
Domain Power vs. Domain Authority
Take a look at this site with a DA of 48, it ranks for just two keywords, gets zero traffic, and its score is inflated by 723 backlinks. Even if these links are “relevant,” Google doesn’t see the site as valuable or authoritative.
Why chase backlinks from a site that search engines don’t trust? Domain Power flags this with a low score of 4—because relevance is what truly matters, not just the quantity of links.
Now, consider a second site. With a DA of only 20, it drives solid traffic and ranks for 4.4K keywords.
Clearly, both Google and users find this site much more valuable. Domain Power captures this with a score of 40, reflecting its true authority.
Google Has Moved On. Why Are You Still Relying on DA?
For years, Domain Authority (DA) has been the go-to metric for measuring website authority. But while it’s widely used, it’s far from reliable. ❌
DA hasn’t evolved with Google’s algorithm updates, and it ignores critical ranking factors like organic traffic and keyword visibility.
Even worse, it can be easily manipulated. Spammy link-building tactics can inflate DA scores, making weak sites look authoritative when in reality, they hold little value in search rankings. Relying on DA for link-building decisions could mean investing in backlinks that don’t boost your SEO.
Google has moved beyond simple backlink metrics, focusing instead on real-world signals like traffic and keyword performance. That’s where Domain Power comes in.
Unlike DA, Domain Power gives a true measure of a site’s authority by analyzing how well it performs in search. 🔍
This means you can prioritize links from sites that both Google and real users trust, leading to better rankings, not just inflated scores.
Ditch outdated metrics and get the real picture with Domain Power. Try Search Atlas for free today!
