What Is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will 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 the most authoritative sites on the internet (Google, Facebook, Wikipedia) approach 100. For most small business websites, a DA of 20-40 is common, with local competitors often in a similar range.

It's important to understand that Domain Authority is a third-party metric, not a Google ranking factor. Google doesn't use Moz's DA score in its algorithm. However, DA is useful as a comparative tool — it helps you gauge your website's overall link profile strength relative to competitors. If your competitors have DAs of 30-40 and your site has a DA of 15, you know you need to build more quality backlinks to compete. Other SEO platforms have similar metrics: Ahrefs has Domain Rating (DR), Semrush has Authority Score.

Improving Domain Authority requires building quality backlinks over time — there are no shortcuts. DA is logarithmic, meaning it's much easier to grow from 10 to 20 than from 50 to 60. The most sustainable way to increase DA is to create content that naturally earns links, pursue ethical link building through guest posting and PR, clean up any toxic backlinks from spammy websites, and ensure your site's technical SEO is solid. DA should be viewed as a long-term trend metric, not a daily score to obsess over.