What is Moz Domain Authority?
The Domain Authority (DA) score was created by Moz to predict how likely a website would rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). The Domain Authority score varies from one to one hundred, with a higher number indicating that a website is more likely to rank on SERPs, particularly in terms of your niche’s competition. This score can be used to compare websites overall Off Page SEO power and track the strength of their rankings over time.
How is Moz Domain Authority Calculated?
The Moz Domain Authority, according to Moz itself, is calculated using dozens of parameters and is based on data from their Link Explorer web index. Like most search engine optimization tools and metrics nowadays, the Domain Authority calculation employs a machine learning model to identify the best algorithm that links Moz’s link data with rankings on massive real-world search results, that they use as benchmarks. It does not take into account a website’s anchor text.
Domain Authority score is specifically evaluated using linking roots domain and a total number of links into a single score. The calculation can change over time because of algorithm updates. Last 2019, the Domain Authority 2.0 update is released, wherein the calculations come from the machine learning algorithm’s predictions on how often Google uses a domain in search results.
Since it is calculated using machine learning, a website’s score can fluctuate from time to time, as more, fewer, or different data points become available and are added to calculations. More established and authoritative domains will have increasingly larger link profiles, taking up more of the high DA slots. Therefore, it is easier to increase scores from lower scores than increasing scores closer to one hundred.
Domain Authority vs. Page Authority
Page Authority evaluates the strength of a single page’s predictive rating, while Domain Authority assesses the strength of the entire domains or subdomains. The measurements are still calculated by the same methods, so they are somewhat similar.
What Is A Good Domain Authority Score?
Sites with a very large number of high-quality links are at the top end of the Domain Authority scale, while small websites with fewer inbound links will have much lower DA scores.
When comparing sites to competitors, look at the DA scores of the sites you compete with directly in the SERPs and aim for a higher score than them. Because DA is a relative metric, there is no really definite good or bad Domain Authority Score.
How to Check Your Domain Authority Score?
You can use Moz’s Link Explorer or MozBar (Moz’s free SEO toolbar) to verify your Domain Authority Score. You may also check your Domain Authority with a range of SEO tools and checkers available on the internet.
How to Increase Domain Authority Score?
Although Domain Authority isn’t really a thing to be obsessed with, it is also a good thing if you can do something to increase it. Domain Authority’s main purpose is to be able to compare your site’s overall authority, specifically link equity to competitors. Solely being able to attract real links that drive traffic will help improve both your Domain Authority and your rankings.
Why Is My Domain Authority Dropping?
Significant drops in a website’s Domain Authority can be caused by a variety of situations. Since Google often re-calibrates and Moz updates their index, it is normal for your Domain Authority Score to fluctuate. A decrease of a point or two isn’t that crucial if your competitors’ scores are stagnant or decreasing as well, since it could be the effect of Google or Moz’s updates. But, if your score is constantly decreasing while your competitors are continuing to rise, then it must be a lack from your side.
- You haven’t added any new material on your site since the last crawl.
- The value of sites linked to your domain has devalued.
- Google might have picked up something unethical you performed, such as keyword stuffing, etc.
- Your website had some technical problems, causing it to be down for a significant time.
To further assist you on how you can keep your Domain Authority score from dropping, here are a few things you must avoid.
- Suspicious link building. Unethical methods relating to increasing connections through link building such as engaging in link exchange for the sole purpose of cross-linking, using bots to generate links automatically, or purchasing or selling links that pass Google’s PageRank.
- Keyword stuffing, which practically aims to manipulate page ranking by stuffing ranking keywords onto pages.
- Slow page speed. Google, as most people do, isn’t fond of sluggish websites.
- Unmaintained technical SEO. Search engines are always evolving. Google, for example, provides new updates on a regular basis to improve its usefulness. It’s critical to stay current with search engine upgrades in order to avoid being penalized.
- Toxic backlinks. Spammy sites will link to your site on a regular basis in the hopes of improving their own ranks. Your DA may suffer as a result of this. When Google penalizes a website, it examines the sites to which it is linked.
- Unoptimized content. Not only meta tags and URLs should be optimized, but old content as well. Because the initial information may have changed, informational content must be reoptimized and modified.
Key Takeaway
Domain Authority score fluctuations are normal! It’s okay to see small changes from time to time, there is no need to be really concerned.
While you can compare your Domain Authority Score alongside your direct competitors, keep in mind it is only one metric and, ultimately, it is your organic rankings and traffic that really determine your SEO project’s progress!
If your DA decreases, but your rankings are improving, then that’s just fine!
If your DA increases, but your rankings are getting worse, then that is not good!
DA can be artificially boosted in a way that makes a site look much more powerful than it is, so, while DA is a useful metric, don’t put too much stock in it.