In an ever-growing competitive marketplace that sees businesses needing to assert themselves as recognisable brands providing value at any opportunity, websites are important.
Domain Authority is one contributing factor to an organisation’s digital success, and here we’ll talk you through the ins and outs of what it is, and how it can be utilised to further boost your company’s online presence and visibility.
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority (often abbreviated to just DA) is a ranking score that judges how likely a website is to rank in search engine result pages, as well as how high within them. The concept of a Domain Authority as well as the calculations behind it were developed by Moz.
A Domain Authority score ranges from 1-100 – with the higher scores corresponding to a greater likelihood of ranking, and ranking well.
DA is calculated using data from Moz’s Link Explorer web index, which considers dozens of factors through its automated analytic algorithms. This includes the analysis of many on and off-site components including accessibility, content quality, site responsiveness and authenticity through backlinks.
Correlating this data with the real-time rankings of relevant search results, a Domain Authority score is calculated and presented.
Who are Moz?
Moz is a US-based company who specialise in SEO software and were founded in the early 00s. Now best known for their development of the Domain Authority, this scoring system is used worldwide and is considered an industry standard from which to judge a baseline for the SEO development of business’ websites.
Once a Domain Authority has been provided, improvements to the website can be made without further interaction or involvement from Moz themselves – until the business returns to check back on how their score has (hopefully) improved.
Moz are not affiliated directly with Google or any other search engine but instead utilise their Domain Authority programming as a piece of shareable content from which to glean traffic and exposure of their own brand; a great demonstration of a well-known SEO tactic!
How is DA Relevant to SEO?
While Domain Authority doesn’t provide an exact ranking based on Google’s algorithms themselves, it does give a good indication of the likelihood to rank on both that and other search engines, and helps demonstrate a correlation between SEO activities and the performance of the site.
DA is not, therefore, a direct contributing factor to SEO but does give focus to areas for improvement which will impact on SERP (Search Engine Results Page) ranking.
Businesses focusing on improving their Domain Authority will need to put into action practical SEO efforts in order to achieve progress. This means that, generally speaking, an increasing Domain Authority score indicates an improving SEO performance.
How Do You Build Domain Authority?
To build and increase a DA score, there are several areas of focus a business can work on. This includes, but is by no means limited to:
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- The continued effort to obtain high-quality backlinks from relevant websites that are trusted and authoritative
- Creating and publishing quality content to the site that users consider high enough value to share onwards with others
- Auditing the website to remove or repair any broken links
- Optimising the website structure to ensure a great user experience (UX) and appropriate accessibility and responsiveness.
All of these activities are already considered good SEO and in order to achieve a high and steady SERP ranking, should be worked on continuously; and not (as is so often just assumed by middle management) completed as a one-off task.
What is Considered a Good Domain Authority?
Domain Authority scores are ranked between 1-100, with 100 being the best. Broadly speaking, the scores sit as follows:
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- 1-20 – poor
- 20-30 – below average
- 30-40 – average
- 40-50 – good
- 60-70 – very good
- 70+ – excellent.
While of course, a score of 70 or above is the most desired, it isn’t necessarily what businesses should aim for right away. Instead, the baseline should be that of the best competitor, and then developing higher. It is worth noting that getting a score over 20 takes work and effort to achieve.
A website’s Domain Authority and SEO ranking are both impacted by the age of a domain; meaning that if a site is new, its score will start off at zero before growing and may not necessarily be deemed as ‘poor’ or ‘above average’ on its content and structure merit alone, just age.
What Are The Benefits of Increased Domain Authority?
Increasing Domain Authority scoring indicates an improving SEO ranking, developing visibility and exposure to a relevant target audience online.
However, a Domain Authority score that is considered good in the relevant industry does open up other opportunities too – including the likelihood of approach by third parties looking to collaborate on content and the increased possibility of paid-for adverts or placements to be made on the site. A high Domain Authority garners both respect and a perception of professional reliability and authority.
Where Can I Find My Domain Authority Score, and Learn How to Increase It?
There are several websites online that allow businesses to look up the DA score of websites for free – and while this may indeed be helpful, it is often not foundation enough from which to plan a comprehensive strategy for work. Instead, it is recommended that businesses work with an effective SEO partner to ensure the development and growth of their score with relevant activities and focus.
Woya Digital’s team of SEO specialists enact bespoke growth tactics with every client to best optimise their online presence and to nurture their Domain Authority upwards. Want to learn more on your business’ DA and how to boost it to increase visibility and performance online? Get in touch, and let’s get to work!