The current digital landscape is saturated, and getting your fair share of market share can be tough. Simply having a website doesn't guarantee traffic. If your site is relatively new, you'll first have to prove to search engines that it's legit and provides something users actually want. Enter: domain authority.
What Is Domain Authority?
Domain authority (DA) is a relatively new metric developed as a predictor of how well a site will perform in search. It's a logarithmic score from 1 to 100, primarily determined by how many quality backlinks a site has. In short: backlinks are signals from other sites that trust your content enough to link to it. More high-quality backlinks → higher DA → higher likelihood of ranking well.
Keep in mind: DA is an estimate by third-party tools. Google doesn't use it directly. But the backlinks that influence DA do carry weight in real rankings, which is why DA remains a useful benchmark for business owners trying to gauge their site's authority.
Brand new domains start at 1. Your score isn't set in stone — it goes up (or down) based on factors including time. Apart from the uncontrollable, SEO is the most effective way to improve DA, and there's an entire sub-field of SEO devoted to it: link-building.
What Is a Backlink?
A backlink is any instance where another website links to yours. Think of the internet as a popularity contest — each backlink is a vote in your favor. More votes, higher DA, and more likely search engines will view your site favorably.
How Do I Find My Domain Authority?
Checking DA is easy and free. Moz and Ahrefs both offer free authority checkers — no account required for the basics. If you find DA as fascinating as we do, the Moz Toolbar browser extension surfaces a staggering amount of information for free (account required).
Making Sense of Your Score
Scoring varies between tools — you'll see different numbers from different sources. A high or low DA alone is not a marker of success. It only considers a few factors and may not correlate perfectly with your actual search performance, traffic, or click-through rate. Use it as a guideline, not a verdict.
How to Improve Domain Authority
Increasing DA takes virtual elbow grease and patience. It's not fast — even the "shortcuts" take months. Business owners can start by actively earning backlinks through:
- Creating unique, informative content (blogs, infographics, videos)
- Building presence on reputable directories (Yelp, Google Maps, specialty sites)
- Reaching out to other websites and pitching them to link to your content
Some backlinks carry far more weight than others, and a handful can even hurt you — those need to be disavowed. Link-building is its own world inside SEO, and most busy business owners simply don't have the time. Ultimately, if you focus on an optimized site with great content and great UX, DA improves naturally. Instead of "if you build it, they will come," think "if you optimize it, they will backlink."