What Is Domain Authority? How to Check & Improve Your DA Score

Domain Authority (DA) is one of the most talked-about metrics in SEO. But what exactly does it mean, how is it calculated, and — most importantly — how can you improve it? This guide covers everything you need to know about domain authority and its impact on your search rankings.

What Is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search engine results. The score ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating a greater ability to rank. New websites typically start with a DA of 1, while established sites like Google.com and Wikipedia.org have scores near 100.

It is important to understand that Domain Authority is not a metric used by Google. It is a third-party metric created by Moz to help SEO professionals gauge the relative strength of a website compared to competitors. Google uses its own proprietary signals to determine rankings.

How Is Domain Authority Calculated?

Moz calculates DA using a machine learning model that considers over 40 factors, but the most influential ones are:

• Linking root domains: The number of unique websites that link to your domain. More unique domains linking to you = higher DA.
• Total number of links: The overall count of inbound links, including multiple links from the same domain.
• Quality of linking sites: Links from high-DA sites pass more authority than links from low-DA sites.
• Link diversity: Links from a variety of domains, industries, and IP addresses are more valuable than many links from a single source.

What Is a Good Domain Authority Score?

Remember: DA is a comparative metric. A DA of 30 might be excellent in a niche with low-authority competitors, but insufficient in a highly competitive industry. Always compare your DA against direct competitors, not against sites like Amazon or CNN.

How to Improve Your Domain Authority

1. Build High-Quality Backlinks

This is the single most effective way to increase DA. Focus on earning links from reputable, relevant websites through guest posting, creating linkable content (original research, infographics, comprehensive guides), and building relationships with industry influencers.

2. Create Exceptional Content

Content that provides genuine value naturally attracts backlinks. Write comprehensive guides, publish original research and data, create useful tools, and produce content that people want to reference and share.

3. Fix Technical SEO Issues

A technically sound website is easier for search engines to crawl and index. Fix broken links, optimize page speed, ensure mobile-friendliness, implement proper redirects, and maintain a clean site architecture.

4. Remove Toxic Backlinks

Low-quality or spammy backlinks can actually hurt your DA. Use Google's Disavow Tool to remove links from link farms, spam directories, or hacked websites that point to your domain.

5. Improve Internal Linking

Strong internal linking distributes authority throughout your website. Link from high-authority pages to important pages you want to rank. Use descriptive anchor text and ensure every important page is reachable within 3 clicks from your homepage.

6. Be Patient

Improving DA takes time. It is a long-term metric that grows gradually as you consistently build links, create content, and strengthen your website. Expect months, not days, for meaningful improvement.

Domain Authority vs. Page Authority

While Domain Authority measures the overall strength of your entire domain, Page Authority (PA) measures the ranking strength of a single specific page. Both are useful — DA helps you understand your site's overall competitive position, while PA helps you evaluate individual pages.