What Is Domain Authority and How to Improve It

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Domain authority (DA) is one of the many metrics used by search engine optimisation specialists in their SEO efforts. But what is it, in the first place, and how can you improve it?

In this article, we’ll guide you through this matter step by step to help you understand what this metric stands for, how you can assess it, and how you can promote a domain authority increase!

Domain Authority: What It Is and Why It Matters

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DA is a site authority metric that evaluates its credibility and predicts the likelihood of ranking it high in search engine result pages (SERPs). It is important to understand that DA isn’t a ranking factor. Yet, thanks to calculating your authority score based on a range of factors (including direct Google factors), it often correlates with a site’s success in search results, including:

  • Number and quality of backlinks
  • Number of referring websites
  • Velocity of inbound links
  • Spam score, etc.

Keeping an eye on this metric is pivotal for businesses aiming for a broader online presence and sustainable growth. Luckily, you can easily do it with the right tool. For example, the Domain Authority Checker by SE Ranking can help you easily assess your site’s domain rating. With the help of this tool, you can draw valuable insights into what can help you appear more credible and rank higher in SERPs.

What Is a Good Website Authority Score?

The Domain Authority Checker recommended earlier, as well as other similar tools, use the same scale to calculate DA – from 1 to 100. Respectively, 100 is the best you can get. Yet, the overall benchmark is set to 40-50 points (average DA) and 50-60 points (good DA). Website authority that’s above 60 is usually considered excellent so this is something you might be striving for.

Here’s one more quick note: As you already know, DA is not a direct ranking factor. That is, though measuring and improving it can help you enhance your overall credibility and standing in search engines, you shouldn’t focus solely on domain authority improving. Instead, focus on more holistic improvements that you can make based on insights from your website authority checker. For example, put effort into enhancing your backlink profile or improving your on-page SEO.

Factors That Determine DA

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You already know that the site authority metric is determined based on a variety of factors. Yet not all of them have an equal impact on your DA.

Let’s briefly review the primary factors that make your DA and define what impact each of them has on your score:

Strong Impact on DA

  • Backlink quality and quantity are the primary factors determining your DA score because backlinks that come from trusted sources act as votes of trust and enhance your overall brand image and SEO. So, if you analyse your site with a domain authority checker and find a lower score than you’d wish, the first thing you need to work on is link-building.
  • Content value and relevance also impact your score, though more indirectly. The thing is that quality, people-first content is the key to driving and maintaining an audience, as well as earning quality links. Thus, the quality and relevance of your copy can greatly affect your overall credibility.

Moderate Impact on DA

  • Site architecture and navigation are the backbone of user experience and search engine optimisation. When they are poor, search engines can find it harder to crawl and index your site, and visitors may bounce, leading to poorer SEO and, thus, possibly lower DA.
  • Technical SEO and performance also have a moderate impact on your website authority. Mobile-friendliness, fast page loading, and other technical aspects can either turn your visitors’ experience great or make them leave. These technical aspects must be well-optimised to improve SEO, receive more quality backlinks, and eventually get a better DA rating.

Weak Impact on DA

  • Domain history, including its age, previous owners, changes in registration details, hosting details, and other things, typically don’t have a significant impact on your score. What has a bigger impact is your website’s link history, particularly the number of backlinks, relevance, and quality. The more quality links your site had through the years, the more trust it could’ve built and the higher its DA can be.
  • Social media presence can also have some impact on your DA. The more active you are on social media; the more people might share your content and end up on your site. As a result, you might receive more links and traffic, which can help improve your credibility.

How to Improve Domain Authority

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If, after using a domain authority checker, you find a lower DA than you’d wish, there are a few proven tactics to facilitate a domain authority increase:

  • Acquiring high-quality backlinks – Since the quality and quantity of backlinks have the biggest impact on your DA, this is the first tactic you need to leverage to improve this metric. To eliminate the guesswork from this process, equip yourself with specialised SEO tools that give data-backed insights into your backlink profile and assess its strength.

Depending on the results and insights you get, you may need to “clean up” your existing profile before moving further. By cleaning, we mean eliminating toxic links that have a negative impact on your profile. After this, you need to revise and adjust your long-term link-building strategy. You need to ensure that it focuses on quality content, guest blogging, the skyscraper technique, and other tricks that will let you gain links from credible and relevant sites.

  • Creating valuable content – High-quality content that focuses on addressing user questions and bringing value is the key to gaining backlinks and improving your domain rating. Analyse your target audience thoroughly and focus on delivering original and quality content that’s perfectly optimised for SEO.
  • Internal linking – Internal links may not directly impact your credibility score. However, they perform a range of other important goals, such as enhancing user experience, improving site navigation, and encouraging users to stay on your site for longer. By doing this, a well-structured network of internal links can also help your DA and SEO.
  • Optimising technical SEO – Conduct a thorough technical audit using SEO tools of your choice to see if any performance issues need to be fixed to improve user experience and, consequently, your DA. Keep special attention to your site speed, mobile-friendliness, duplicate pages, and broken links.
  • Social media promotion – Finally, if your goal is to domain authority improving, you can leverage indirect tactics that can generally boost your visibility, drive more traffic, and help you earn more backlinks. One of the best tactics to try is to get active on social media and use it as a channel for promoting your content.

Summary

Website authority may not directly count into your search engine ranking. Yet, spanning a wide range of factors, such as quality and quantity of backlinks, content quality, and others, it can help you predict your site’s ranking potential and offer insights into areas for improvement.

After reading this article, you have a detailed roadmap to analysing and improving your DA. Use it to your benefit now to achieve your SEO and business objectives!

Don’t aim just for domain authority improving at all costs. Instead, use the score you detect with a website authority checker as an opportunity to find deeper problems that might be holding you back from shining in SERPs and use ethical, SEO-friendly tactics to improve your rankings.

Author Profile

Manuela Willbold
Blogger and Educator by Passion | Senior Online Media & PR Strategist at ClickDo Ltd. | Contributor to many Business Blogs in the United Kingdom | Fascinated to Write Blogs in News & Education I have completed a journalism summer course at the London School of Journalism and manage various blogs.

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