What is Domain Authority and How to Wield It
Currently, there are more than two billion websites online, which probably doesn’t come as a surprise to many with life behind a screen growing exponentially since the onslaught of the pandemic. This has resulted in saturation for businesses across industries and a new era of needed digital shrewdness.
Businesses need to brandish tactics to try and coax online visitors to their virtual doorstep. One of the bigger determinants in this effort is what is known as Domain Authority (DA), and it serves as a significant factor in how websites are placed when individuals search for something on an engine. Let's take a look at the definition of Domain Authority and what a DA score is, how a business can determine its DA score, and finally how a company can help to boost its DA score.
What is Domain Authority, and What is a DA Score?
A company’s domain authority (DA), alternatively called a domain rating, is essentially a quick snapshot of a website’s SEO health. MOZ first developed this idea, and used it to rank websites on a scale similar to the way percentage is measured (0-100)—telling a business how likely their website is to rank in search engine result pages (SERPs). The algorithm created by MOZ determines the strength of a website in terms of its ability to rank along this scale.
A DA score works intuitively, with a score of 100 being the most competitive on the world wide web (think Wikipedia). Lower scores, such as for websites that were just created and launched, are on the single-digit side of the scale. It is also important to note that your DA is a relative score, meaning you should look at it in the context of your direct competitor’s websites.
A DA score is a compilation of the number of links and authoritativeness of those links (i.e., quality and trustworthiness), diversity and number of referring links, and root domains. It is also valuable to keep in mind that the stature of the links you include can also weigh in (e.g. a link in the NYTimes will drive a lot more traffic than that of your hometown business consulting firm will).
A brand-new website will always start with a Domain Authority score of one, and that score will increase as the site earns more and more credibility via things such as backlinks with integrity. Web traffic will follow by proxy, and over the course of time, a website will grow in influence over domain authority.
How to Determine Your DA score
Because DA scores are logarithmic, a webpage’s score is truly the sum of its parts. In other words, each factor listed above is exclusive in its capacity to increase your score.
However, there is not one almighty element or KPI that can directly generate quantifiable growth in your DA score. For example, just because you have a lot of diverse, prestigious, and trustworthy links doesn’t mean your DA score will increase. Or, just because your organic traffic has grown doesn’t mean you will see an exponential jump in your score either. Both of these things work together in their own unique equation for your individual website, leading to a growth in DA score over time. Nevertheless, that being said, content pieces and backlinks are the top two most important factors for ranking on Google for target keywords.
It is also important to understand your website’s relativity. Take note of the websites that rank above and below your website when you search yourself on google and then run the competitor’s webpage through a keyword research tool such as Moz, SEMrush, or Ahrefs. Knowing how your website levels up regarding its pertinent neighbors is key insight and can help drive domain rating and, thereby, higher rankings on the first page of Google—as the two are directly correlated.
A sprinkle of marketing tactics can go a long way because many marketing professionals operate in the landscape of perceived value. Perceived value is a customer's own perception of a product or service's merit or desirability to them, especially in comparison to a competitor's product.
Many companies look to convince customers through a carefully plotted exposé of attributes that their product is superior to the competition. This can affect domain authority and help you employ the necessary methods of channeling potential patrons in your direction. In addition, algorithms on often visited social media platforms are now employed to convince consumers with tailor-made bate that what is advertised is something that is “needed’. A well-executed marketing strategy can lead to a successful campaign in ascertaining domain authority.
Finally, DA scores are not ranked on an all-encompassing points scale. A DA score of 30 might not be great for certain industries, but in some, it is a competitive score within the microcosm of that niche business online.
How to Increase Your DA Score in Real-Time
In essence, to increase your overall DA score, a business needs to increase its overall number of domains that refer to your webpage for help. Here is a lineup of the numbers to give you context:
DA 0-20: 20 referring domains.
DA 20-40: 603 referring domains.
DA 40-60: 4,212 referring domains.
DA 60-80: 25,638 referring domains.
DA 80-100: 335,717 referring domains.
In order to capture the power of DA, first and foremost, content is key. When it comes to increasing your DA score, well-researched content, with fresh insight that gives your web page something that the competitors’ websites don't, is vital. Ensuring that keywords are on point and implementing a link strategy are also important tactics.
Keep up with posting content consistently and frequently, making sure there are no obvious errors and that the formatting and design match the continuity of your website. Design appeal is also important and can serve as a strict advantage in the marketing department as well. This means keeping UX and UI in mind and streamlining your content to match your brand across platforms. Finally, when making a claim or integrating a statistic into any written content, always cite your reference—using the top hit on google to help further promote SEO and credibility.
It would also be wise to perform a link audit, which means combing through your content using a keyword research tool such as Moz, SEMrush, or Ahrefs as listed above. This can help verify that all of your shady backlinks have been weeded out, ensuring that all of your references come from reputable resources and not from spam or blacklisted websites.
Domain Authority is the New Online Authority
It is vital for businesses that have an online presence—which by the way, if you’re not online, you really should be—to know how to maximize the possibilities for their company. No matter what it is you offer, be sure to keep your Domain Authority top-of-mind to ensure that you can keep up with modern-day business. By increasing your DA score consistently, you will put yourself in a position that will place you and your business leagues above your competitors.