What is Domain Authority and How to Integrate it into Your SEO Campaign in 2021?
A dependable and authoritative website is the prerequisite for any SEO campaign. Due to this, many metrics have been made, which help ‘measure’ the quality of a website regarding factors such as link, speed, content, etc. Keeping into it, it wouldn’t be an overstatement when we say that Domain Authority is one of the most popular metrics, especially when it comes to link building.
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority is a metric which gives us an idea of how likely a website is to get a higher ranking on Google. It is mostly based on links, including the backlink profile of a website, the total number of links, root domain link, etc. The site structure and the Google Friendliness of your website also matter.
Depending on your website link quality, you get a DA score between 1 to 100. A higher number means more authority, which will increase your chance of ranking higher in Google search results.
Remember, the Domain Authority system mostly only uses link profiles to give you a score. You have to work on other factors to be sure that you actually rank.
Is Domain Authority from Google?
Actually, not. Domain Authority is from Moz, a popular web marketing company. This means Domain Authority isn’t actually the ‘official’ way to find a site’s quality, as many people think.
Why Do We Use Domain Authority?
It could be kind of puzzling when you see SEO folks give so much attention to DA, even if it isn’t an official Google algorithm.
The thing to understand is Google is very secretive about its search algorithms. Even if we know what most of the Google search algorithms are, the search engine never releases exact information on how its algorithms work.
We know that Google PageRank, which analyses the link profile, is one of the most important search algorithms. Google even used to have a separate toolbar for Google PageRank till 2015, and later removed it when SEO professionals laid most of their focus to the PageRank rather than lifting the website quality.
The Domain Authority from Moz is, in many ways, a substitute for Google PageRank (even if Moz hasn’t officially stated it). And it is an accurate one, as most of the websites that have a better Domain Authority gain better search rankings.
Why is Moz Domain Authority Checker Widely Used?
There are other similar metrics from popular companies like Semrush, Ahrefs, etc. However, SEO experts and site owners usually refer to Moz because it turns out to be more accurate than other similar analysis.
Domain Authority is not from Google, but as it turns out, websites with high Domain Authority usually have a good ranking. This is why experts prefer Domain Authority even if there are similar analyses from SemRush, Ahrefs, etc.
How to Check My Domain Authority?
Checking a website’s domain authority is the easiest thing to do. Just Google a domain authority checker and enter your domain name on some websites. Sometimes, the results may vary between sites, but they won’t vary a lot. You will get an average answer rather than an exact score.
Do I Really Need a Good Domain Authority Score?
In its website, Moz has stated that Domain Authority is more of a ‘comparative’ analysis than an absolute number. After all, it is a score from a third-party, and there is no guarantee that you will reach the top spot of Google only if you have good DA.
However, in the SEO world, Domain Authority has earned its own importance. When analyzing most websites, the first thing that many experts do is look for its Domain Authority score.
Remember that even if experts check your Domain Authority, they are only analysing how well your previous SEO tactics worked. They estimate that you have put as equal attention on other factors as well as you have done on the links.
All in all, Domain Authority helps analyze the links of your website, and it does it very well. Anyway, links aren’t the only Google search ranking factor. So, even if you put efforts into improving your Domain Authority, you should focus on other aspects like content quality, website speed, etc.
In other words, instead of improving the domain authority score, you should work on your website quality and analyse the Domain Authority to see how well your site is doing.
What is a Good Authority Score?
For many SEO experts, a domain authority from 40 to 50 is average. Between 50 to 60 is good, and anything above 60 is excellent.
However, this doesn’t mean that your site is not good or will not rank if the score is below 40. To expound on this, we will take a scenario.
For example, your website is in a very specific niche with very little competitors, and you have better content that is heads and shoulders away from your competitors. In such cases, Google will help you rank even if you don’t have many external links. This means you will have good SEO performance even if the authority score is not a lot.
What is the Difference Between Domain Authority and Page Authority?
Domain Authority analyzes the entire website, while page authority is the authority of a single page. Normally, pages on websites with high domain authority have more page authority.
According to Moz itself, Domain Authority measures the ranking strength of a domain and all its subdomains. On the other hand, Page Authority measures the ranking strength of a single page in the domain. However, as both of them use the same methodologies, they are more similar than different.
The Factors Affecting the Domain Authority
As Moz has stated on their website, Domain Authority is a logarithmic scale, meaning that there are various factors, and all the factors may not carry the same weight. Furthermore, if you have worked hard on a factor but have let other factors be, your authority score won’t improve, as they are interconnected for most parts.
Moz has more than 40 factors, but the major factors are the same- they are some of the most important page ranking factors that Google uses as well:
Unique Links to your Domain (Linking Root Domains)
Say that a website has around 10 backlinks to your site. All the backlinks can be important, but you have only one root link in terms of the unique links. This means that instead of asking a high authority website to refer to your site repeatedly, you have to try outreaching more high-profile sites.
Mozrank
Don’t get confused with the last part- you shouldn’t only focus on the number of links. The quality of the websites where you have backlink is actually more important than the number of links. Mozrank rating for a website can be between 0-10, and getting links on say, a MozRank 8 website will be better than getting links on multiple lower rank sites.
MozTrust
As we discussed earlier, Moz Domain Authority is also an alternative for Google’s PageRank. PageRank has a factor known as the distance from indexed pages, which means how far your website is from the most authoritative website regarding the topic. Though not the same, MozTrust is similar, which measures how close your website is to trusted sites. If highly authoritative sites, for example, .gov points to you, you will find a bump in your Domain Authority.
Social Signals
When building backlinks, you should not only focus on other general websites. If your content is shared multiple times in social media, say Facebook or Instagram, Google will use those signals to conclude that your website has great quality content. Moz also uses social signals- the genuine ones to provide search engine ranking for your site.
Website Structure
Along with the external links, Google PageRank also considers the internal linking in your site. Using your highly authoritative pages to point to other pages inside your own site may help your Domain Authority, and if not- it really will affect your Page Authority. Thus, in addition to outreach on websites for backlinks, you should also know how to structure links in your own website.
Tips for You To Improve Your Domain Authority
Like said before, even if the Domain Authority is mostly to analyse and compare websites’ links, it is affected more than 40 factors. For the best domain authority scores, you have to do the following things:
Create Splendid Content
Good content is the base for any successful SEO campaign. The same goes for scoring good Domain Authority.
You see, you need links from highly authoritative websites to improve your DA score. However, the authoritative websites will only be willing to link to your site if your content is good.
So, what does it mean to have good content? Well, it means to have content which actually solves a problem for your customers and readers. Only adding keywords shouldn’t be your concern, but helping people is necessary.
Extend Your Domain Name License
SEO is a long-term strategy rather than some bucks to get a quick boost in the search engine ranking. Google has always put its focus on websites that are in it for the long-term, improving as time passes, and updating functionalities and content in a timely manner.
Search engines can know the date of expiry of domain names. When the date of expiry is very far in the future, Google will perceive that you plan to keep on working on your site for a long time.
Thus, Moz also takes a look at your domain name license for the domain authority score. SEO experts will recommend you to extend your domain name for at least three to four years- don’t think twice, as the renewal of the domain name doesn’t cost a lot of money anyway.
Implement a Proper Link Building Strategy
Proper link building means creating links on highly rated websites. Remember, the quantity is only important after achieving a good quality of links.
If you are thinking of putting links on bad websites, stop. Spammy links will not only decrease your Domain Authority Score but will damage the level of trust Google has in you.
If you have already linked to bad websites, remove the links. Furthermore, links from your site to dead websites aren’t good. Take them out as well.
Use Internal Links
The problem with many websites is that they are so concerned about earning external links that they miss out on bettering their internal links. Internal links are more than merely some tools to lead from a user in one page of your site to another.
They provide your website with a structure; making it more usable and navigational to the users. They help make sure that your users can find their way around your site even if they have been travelled deep into the pages.
Another important factor about internal links is that Google uses internal links to crawl your website. Make sure that none of your pages is a dead end; each of your pages should point to at least another page so that the search engine crawlers don’t miss out on any of your content.
Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
With portable devices being used more than ever, mobile usability is one of the most important Google search ranking factors. This has also been seen to affect the Domain Authority of Sites.
Creating a mobile-friendly website requires some good web designing skills and understanding. As mobile devices have smaller screens, your content should use fonts that are easy to read even if the letters are tiny.
Compress images and videos to make your mobile site faster, and implement buttons and links that are easier to see on mobile devices. It will help if you make navigation simple- making it apparent to users where the information they want has been located. Finally, text blocking ads and pop-ups shouldn’t appear on your mobile site.
Improve Your Page Loading Speed
Ask an average SEO expert what they would do first after the SEO audit. Most probably, they will answer that they will analyse the page speed and look for ways to increase it.
A fast loading website is the first step of making a site engaging and accessible. Furthermore, various research has pointed out that people close a site if it takes more than a few seconds to load.
For a faster speed, the best things you can do is find a better hosting provider, compress images and files, use a simple website design, etc. Mobile websites also need special attention, and if you do it in the right way, the mobile version of your site can be faster than the web one.
Become an Authority Figure in Your Sector
The name ‘Domain Authority’ says it all. Only the most authoritative websites in a niche can get good scores; so if you are serious about getting the best scores, make sure that you actually make your site trustable to the people.
For becoming an authority figure, you need good content. Also, you need to be a problem solver with your content and don’t forget that you should frequently interact with your users and customers. Update and add new content in your site regularly with proper linking behaviour, and it shouldn’t take a lot of time for your users to keep increasing.
To become an authority figure, however, only availing of your website is not enough. You should also leverage your social media in the right way. Like said earlier in this article, search engines, thus, Moz also considers your social media link profile, so it is up to you to create material that people like to follow and share on social media.
Again, Domain Authority is a Logarithmic Scale
If you already have a good Domain Authority, you need not worry about getting it to perfect. Rather, focus on your SEO campaign and improve your website, as many sites have the first ranking position with half-decent Domain Authority Scores.
Furthermore, as domain authority is a logarithmic scale, increasing the DA when it is lower is very easy compared to increasing it when it is already good. For example, increasing DA from 10 to 20 is a piece of cake, while increasing the score from 80 to 90 is not possible for many.
Domain Authority- Key Takeaways
Since you have read the article, here is the summary of the things you must understand regarding Domain Authority:
Domain Authority is not from Google but is from Moz. Instead of deciding a website’s search engine ranking, it gives a rough idea of how a site can rank in the search engine.
Domain Authority is a comparative metric. We should use it to compare how a site’s performance with respect to another, or how the site’s quality has improved over time.
Link is the main consideration for the DA. However, the score still has around 40 factors, and it is measured in a logarithmic way. Instead of focusing on a single ranking factor, you must improve the overall quality of your site.
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