Domain Authority – Why It Matters For SEO
Domain authority (DA) is a website metric developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). It is one of many factors considered when performing SEO, and what domain authority does is measure the strength and quality of a given website.
DA performs this analysis by looking at more than 20 different metrics from Mozscape and Majestic. Some of these metrics include a number of links, linking root domains, links from industry-leading & authoritative websites, social signals.. etc.
Moz's domain authority algorithm also considers what type of website it is (e-commerce, blog, B2B) to provide the user with an overall score. The domain authority metric can be useful to SEO because it gives them a quick snapshot of the website, which saves them time that would have been spent on research. Instead of looking at all factors Google uses to determine what website is best for their search results, you can check what website has the highest DA. If a website has a high DA, it's more likely to rank higher in Google search results, and that gives it a competitive edge over lower quality/authority websites.
Domain Authority Example
If you're in the business of selling running shoes, you probably don't want your website to come up in search results that are for baseball gloves or tennis rackets. If your website has a higher authority, it has more of a chance to rank in the category you're trying to target.
By looking at what websites have high domain authority, you can determine what competitors are putting their efforts into, what type of content is working well, what is not working, what type of links are bringing the most traffic, what article is performing well on social networks…etc.
Remember that domain authority is not a perfect system and no one metric can determine how “good” or “bad” a given website is. It's important to look at all factors when doing SEO to get an idea of what needs improvement on the website.
What is a good domain authority?
Anything over 40 is a high DA. 30-40 is usually what most websites are able to achieve. Anything under 30 you might consider is at the risk of dropping in ranking positions. This is due to not having enough link juice/ranking power to transfer over your website.
The higher you go, the better. But keep in mind that a DA of 99 is not going to rank your website over a DA of 50 unless all other factors are perfect. It's what Google uses as their main metric to determine what websites will rank on their first results page. It's also important to note what website has what domain authority. You don't want a competitor's website to have a higher domain authority than your own; it means they're doing something right and you're not. Find out what that is and what you can improve.
Domain authority should never be the only thing looked at when doing SEO because what makes a good SEO campaign is what makes a good website, what works for one website may not work for another.
What is a good DA for SEO?
It really depends on what industry you're in, what you're trying to rank for, what type of website you have, and what other websites are targeting the same keywords. If a website has a DA of around 30+ and is in a competitive industry, it's not going to be easy to beat them in the rankings when they have been around longer than you have.
It's not what you know but who you know: Who links to you and what websites they link from is what Google looks at when determining your website's power and authority. The more industry-leading & authoritative websites that link to your website, the better off you're going to be ranking in Google. This is why it's important to start guest blogging, connect on LinkedIn, and follow them on social networks so they can share your content. These are what Google looks for when determining who is talking about you and their opinion of your business.
Domain authority also includes what keywords you rank for in Google search results. The more keywords you rank for, the more authority Google gives your website. Keywords with a higher search volume will give you a better DA, but what is even better is what long-tail keywords you rank for. The closer you get to the original search term, the better the chance customers can click and convert it into a sale/lead/download, etc.
Why is domain authority important?
Some search engines use it to determine what websites they are going to show in their top search results. Domain authority is what matters when it comes to what website is going to rank highest so you need to have a higher domain authority than your competitors if you want to beat them in the rankings. This means that it's important for SEO campaigns because that's what Google uses to determine what will rank on their search engine's first page.
You won't be able to beat your competitors if you don't have a higher DA than them, which means they will stay ahead in the rankings. You need to stay ahead of the competition. Otherwise, you will always lose out on what search engine rankings your website should be getting. You also need a high DA if several other websites are targeting what keywords you're targeting and what industry your business is in.
High DA will give you what search engines consider a higher power when it comes to what websites should rank for what keywords. What's even better is what long-tail keywords your website ranks for; the closer you can get to the original term used in a search query, the better your chances of getting what people are looking for and converting them into sales, leads or what have you.
What are some benefits of having a higher DA?
The most important one is your website's search engine rankings if people link to you with the keywords you're targeting for that industry. You need to have higher domain authority than the “average”.
The more keywords your website ranks for, the better your SEO campaign will be.
What is the highest authority?
The highest Domain Authority Score (DA) is 100. This is what Moz considers the highest authority.