If you have a website and know a little something about SEO, then chances are you’re at least somewhat familiar with the term Domain Authority. You may know that it has something to do with search engine results pages and that it’s important, but…that’s about it.
Well, if you were looking to expand your knowledge about Domain Authority then you’ve come to the right place! In the remainder of this article, we’re going to go over what Domain Authority is and what you can do to increase your score on this important metric.
Let’s get started!
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority, or DA, is a metric first developed by Moz that essentially tells you how well you’ve been doing with your SEO efforts on your website. DA is scored on a scale from 0 – 100, and this score represents how likely it is that your domain will rank on search engine results pages (SERPs) when compared with its competition. For example, a website with a DA of 60 is significantly more likely to rank for a relevant search term than a competitor with a DA of 20.
It is important to note here that having a certain DA score doesn’t have a direct effect on Google’s SERPs, as it’s not an official Google ranking factor. It’s more of a prediction of how it will rank based on a machine learning algorithm. This means that your DA score will likely fluctuate over time in response to changes in the amount and kind of data used in the algorithm’s calculations.
How Do I Increase My Domain Authority?
There are quite a few things that you can do to increase your website’s DA score, but keep in mind that you won’t necessarily see an improvement right away. It takes time to establish real authority, but the following tips should help you on your way.
Remove Bad and Broken Backlinks
The DA algorithm does a great job of discounting bad or broken links when calculating its scores, so it’s important to remove those from your website. One of the best ways to go about doing this is to use a keyword research tool like Moz or SEMrush to conduct a link audit. This will allow you to identify and remove any backlinks that are broken or come from untrustworthy sites.
Create High Quality Backlinks
If you want a high DA score, then you’ve got to have high quality backlinks. There is a lot that can go into link building, but here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Create unique, quality content. It may take some work, but authoritative websites are much more likely to link to your content if it stands out from the rest.
- Try guest blogging. Connect with authoritative sites and see if they’d be willing to let you create some content for their blogs. Not only will this allow you to share your content with a potentially new audience, but you may be able to include a few links back to your website.
