What is Domain Authority? Why is it Important for SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a huge field. So, several things fall under its umbrella. One of those things is Domain Authority (DA). People often get confused between Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA). So, in this guide, let’s discuss the core concepts of domain authority and domain rating and their differences. After that, let’s discuss why is it important for SEO. So, without wasting any time, let’s begin.
What is Domain Authority in SEO?
Domain Authority (DA) is Moz’s logarithmic metric (scale) to predict how well a website will rank in search engines. The higher the website’s domain authority, the better it will perform in search results.
What is Domain Rating (DR)?
On the other hand, the Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs’ metric that shows the strength of a website’s backlink profile. The higher a website’s domain rating, the more powerful its backlink profile will be.
Domain Rating vs. Domain Authority:
According to their definitions, Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA) are the two critical metrics for SEO strategists to understand how a website stacks up against its competitors. But let’s hover over the main differences between these two key metrics.
| DOMAIN RATING (DR) | DOMAIN AUTHORITY (DA) |
| Domain Rating is the metric of Ahrefs | Domain Authority is the metric of Moz |
| It is a benchmark for the backlink profile of a website. But increasing the DR score alone should not be the end goal of a blogger | Google doesn’t rank the web pages according to their DA scores only. Therefore, increasing the DA score of a website should not be the end goal of a digital marketer |
| Digital marketers use DR rating to check whether a website is a suitable linking candidate or not | Domain Authority (DA) is not an accurate metric for estimating the ranking power of a website |
How to Calculate the Domain Authority?
Domain Authority (DA) is calculated by taking the on-page SEO factors, social signals and other website metrics into account to produce a single number that estimates a website’s ability to rank in search engines. So, calculating the DA score sounds challenging. But technology has reduced the complexities of this world by making everything more manageable. Therefore, bloggers can use the ‘Link Explorer’ tool of Moz for up to five free daily searches, as it provides accurate DA scores for all URLs.
However, if bloggers want more than five daily searches and some extra features for free, they can use the several free DA checker available over the internet.
What is a Good Domain Authority Score?
Domain Authority (DA) is a logarithmic scale. So, increasing the DA score of a website from 40 to 50 is more complicated and time-consuming than boosting the DA score from 10 to 20. However, SEO strategists and experts consider a website average if its Domain Authority rating is 40. A Domain Authority score between 50 to 60 is good and a DA rating greater than 60 is ideal in digital marketing.
How to Increase Domain Authority?
The Domain Authority (DA) of a website depends on several factors (almost 40). But SEO experts and strategists think that the following factors matter the most in increasing the DA score of a website.
- The domain age of a website is one of the most crucial factors that play an essential role in increasing the DA score of a website.
- Search engines like Google use mobile-friendly versions of the website to index and rank them. So, if a website is only computer-friendly and not mobile-friendly, it will badly affect the DA rating of that website. Thus, to boost the DA score of a website, people should focus on creating mobile-friendly websites.
- The quality of unique backlinks significantly impacts the DA score of a website.
- Similarly, the number of social shares or signals of a website is another essential factor for the DA score of a website.
- On-page, off-page, and technical SEO are the other key factors that play a vital role in influencing the DA score of a website.
- Despite all the technical stuff, the quality and quantity of the content is one of the significant role-players in impacting the DA rating of a website
Why is Domain Authority Important for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
People trust search engines like Google because they know that Google will provide valid information for their search queries. Therefore, Google prefers websites with relevant and reliable information against each search query. But how does Google determine if a website is a valid source of information? The answer to this question is the domain authority score.
Google uses Domain Authority (DA) scores to distinguish between low and high authoritative websites. So, a website with a high Domain Authority (DA) score will be more relevant to Google than a website with a low DA rating. Thus, Google doesn’t rank web pages according to their DA score. But the Domain Authority (DA) score plays a vital role in attracting customers through organic search.
Conclusion:
Domain Authority (DA) is an excellent metric to compare websites in SEO-related research and discussions. It can help bloggers by assessing how strong a website is for Google and other search engines. A high DA score means the website has good brand strength and is effectively competing to rank higher with all search engines. In other words, high DA websites are of high quality and carry more weight in search engine results. So, there are several tools available to check DA PA scores. But the entire focus of a blogger should not be on increasing the DA rating of his website.
