What Is Domain Authority and How Do You Improve It?

TL;DR: Domain Authority (DA) is a score (1–100) that predicts how well your website will rank in search results. The higher your DA, the more likely your pages are to outrank competitors. This guide explains what it is, why it matters for your business, and the proven ways to improve it.

What Is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority (DA) is a metric developed by Moz that predicts how competitive your website is in search engine rankings. It’s scored on a scale of 1 to 100 — a new website starts near 1, while the world’s most authoritative sites (like Wikipedia or the BBC) sit close to 100.

Google itself doesn’t use “Domain Authority” as a ranking signal — it uses its own internal measures of site quality and authority. But DA (and similar metrics like Domain Rating from Ahrefs or Domain Score from Semrush) serve as a useful proxy that correlates closely with how Google views your site’s trustworthiness and credibility.

Think of it this way: a website with a DA of 50 will generally find it much easier to rank for competitive keywords than one with a DA of 15 — all else being equal.

Why Domain Authority Matters for Business Owners

Your Domain Authority directly influences:

• How quickly new pages on your website rank in Google
• Which keywords you can realistically compete for
• How much your backlinks and content investments pay off
• Your ability to outrank competitors in your market

A business with higher domain authority than its competitors has a significant structural advantage in SEO. Every new page it publishes starts with a higher baseline of trust — giving it a much better chance of ranking quickly. Also read
What is SEO and a complete guide.

What Determines Domain Authority?

Domain Authority is primarily calculated based on your website’s backlink profile — specifically:

• Number of linking domains: How many unique websites link to you
• Quality of linking domains: The authority of the websites linking to you
• Relevance of links: Whether links come from relevant, related websites
• Link diversity: A natural mix of link types and sources

Other factors including content quality, technical SEO health, and overall site size also contribute to how Google perceives your site’s authority.

What Is a Good Domain Authority Score?

Domain Authority is relative — what matters is how yours compares to your competitors, not an absolute number.

• DA 1–20: New or low-authority websites. Best suited for very low-competition, long-tail keywords.
• DA 20–40: Developing authority. Can rank for moderate-competition local and niche keywords.
• DA 40–60: Solid authority. Competitive for most local and mid-competition industry keywords.
• DA 60–80: High authority. Competitive for most national keywords.
• DA 80+: Elite authority. Major publications, established brands, and industry leaders.

If your competitors have a DA of 30–40 and you’re at 20, closing that gap should be a key strategic priority.

How to Improve Your Domain Authority

1. Earn High-Quality Backlinks

This is the most direct lever for increasing Domain Authority. Focus on earning backlinks from websites with higher authority than yours — industry publications, local news sites, respected blogs, business directories, and partner organisations.

2. Create Link-Worthy Content

Publish content that other websites genuinely want to reference and link to: original research, comprehensive guides, useful tools, data-driven analyses, and expert commentary. Content that earns natural backlinks is the most sustainable DA-building strategy.

3. Fix Technical SEO Issues

A technically healthy website is more crawlable, more indexable, and signals competence to search engines. Fixing broken links, improving page speed, ensuring mobile-friendliness, and implementing proper redirects all contribute to overall site health and authority perception.

4. Remove or Disavow Toxic Backlinks

Low-quality, spammy, or irrelevant backlinks can actively hurt your Domain Authority. Regularly audit your backlink profile and disavow harmful links using Google’s Disavow Tool.

5. Build Internal Linking Structure

Strong internal linking helps distribute authority from high-DA pages across your website — ensuring that every important page benefits from your overall domain strength.

6. Be Patient

Domain Authority grows slowly. Moving from DA 20 to DA 40 typically takes 12 to 24 months of consistent link building and content creation. The businesses that invest consistently in this area build an increasingly durable competitive advantage over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Domain Authority the same as Google’s PageRank?

No. Domain Authority is a third-party metric created by Moz. Google’s PageRank is a proprietary internal signal that Google no longer publicly shares. DA is used as a useful approximation for site authority, but it’s not a Google metric.

How quickly can I improve my Domain Authority?

DA growth is gradual. Most businesses see meaningful improvement over 6 to 12 months of consistent link building. Very low-authority sites (DA under 10) can sometimes see faster initial growth by securing even a handful of quality links.

Can my Domain Authority decrease?

Yes — if you lose backlinks (from sites removing links or going offline), acquire toxic links, or if competitors in your space build authority faster than you do, your relative DA can decrease. Regular monitoring and maintenance is important.

Does creating more content improve Domain Authority?

Indirectly. More content creates more opportunities to earn backlinks and establishes your site as a comprehensive resource — both of which contribute to authority growth. But content alone without links won’t significantly move your DA.

What’s more important — Domain Authority or content quality?

Both matter at different stages. Early on, content quality and on-page SEO deliver the most impact. As you grow, Domain Authority determines your ability to rank for competitive terms. A comprehensive SEO strategy addresses both simultaneously.