Learn about Domain Authority and how it works

If you're in the tech world, and we believe you are, you probably heard of Domain Authority at least once. But what is DA in the first place and why do people find it so important? First of all, let's explain what Domain Authority represents. It's a search engine ranking code, and it's made with the purpose to show a website's ranking chances. This search engine was made by Moz, and it shows a website rank related to SERPs.

Learn about Domain Authority and how it works

Okay, now that we've realized that, let's see what such scores look like. So, DA can range anything from 1 to even 100. Of course, the higher the scores, the better the ranking chances of a certain website are.

How does it work? It's based on the data that comes from Link Explorer and its web index. When it comes to the calculation of what a website's ranking would be, there are, of course, numerous things that can be considered. The machine learning model is used for such purposes.

Okay, that is clear, but what does it look like in practice? Linking root domains and the entire number of links are two main things that are considered in this calculation. In the end, that's put into code that represents Domain Authority. With that code, we can compare one website to others, as well as track its strength.

Useful tip - Although many people connect Domain Authority directly to Google, it's important to know that DA actually doesn't have an impact on SERPs just on its own because it's not Google's ranking factor.

Know that every website will probably fluctuate in these rankings. Why? Because of different data points that appear. Calculations are done over and over again as new data arrives, therefore, you should always strive to get a better ranking by checking your website's quality.

Let's explain that in one simple example. Imagine that Instagram has added millions of different and new links. What happens with other websites similar to Instagram? Will their Domain Authority drop? Yes, it could drop. Why? Because Instagram's domains often bring larger profiles and more data, which would create new and stronger DA slots.

The conclusion of this example? If you want to gain something positive from DA, don't think of it as of some absolute scale, but rather as something relative that can help you rank your website better, and improve its quality in the first place.

Interesting fact - People often claim that it is the hardest to gain 80 points once you have 70, but it's easy to gain 40 once you have 30. Overall, you got the point - the higher you rank, the bigger competitors you have. And what do they do? They work. Hard. All the time.

Curious about checking your website's DA? Check out Moz Link Explorer. Keep in mind that you're also capable to check this for free! 

Why do some websites have high DA scores?

We have already explained this situation in Instagram's example. So, the more external links a certain website has, the more DA it gets. If you're running a small business online you cannot expect to beat wikipedia.com, right?

What to do instead? Explore more about your competitors and be sure that they are the ones you should overcome. What to look for? Powerful link profiles. If someone who runs the same business as you ranks higher on the Domain Authority scale, know that they definitely have more powerful link profiles.

So, find your own competitive landscape. Always keep in mind that there are no bad or great scores, but the good ones are those that help you strive for better and gain success. Of course, as with every online business, you should offer users the best possible experience. Don't just focus on the score. Focus on quality. Think of creating better and stronger link profiles. Think about powerful external links. 

Here are some reasons why you'll realize that your DA changes:

1. Link profile growth. It may happen that it still isn't captured in the web's index, so don't worry.

2. Other websites have created powerful external links.

3. You have more links, but they are not related to Google's ranking.

4. If your website's DA has been decreasing by 6% since 2019, know that it's because it was affected by the implementation of Domain Authority version 2.0.

One more piece of advice for the end - the most important thing you can do to improve your Domain Authority is to optimize your website by SEO principles. We've already said all else you should know.

We hope that we made this clear to you. It may sound complicated to learn how Domain Authority completely works, but focus on those things that will actually bring you the wanted changes and make your business grow.