How to Increase Your Domain Authority? : 8 Fool-Proof Methods to Try in 2024

“How to increase my domain authority?” –  if you have this question in mind, there are some things you should know first.

First of all, Domain Authority (by Moz) or Domain Rating (by Ahrefs) is not a Google metric. Link aggregators like Moz, Ahrefs, and others have created their own metrics to make sense of rankings and provide you insights into the ranking potential of a website.

If you think a high domain authority always means a good website, you need to think again because we have seen low-value sites with 50+ DA ratings. Besides, these types of metrics can be manipulated easily with some SEO tactics.

You will do better by focusing on your content quality and then looking for dofollow backlinks from high-authority websites that are also relevant to your niche.

Still, if you are really eager to increase your domain authority because you think it will help increase your link sale or site sale value, here are some fool-proof methods that you can try out now.

What is Domain Authority?

Domain authority is a metric created by Moz to determine how authoritative a website is and how well it may rank in Google. It provides a score on a scale of 0 to 100 based on your backlink profile. The higher your DA score, the better the possibility of achieving higher rankings (though not true in all cases).

In other words, DA usually looks at the number and quality of your backlinks and analyzes the possibility of your site to rank.

Domain Authority vs Page Authority

Page authority – also developed by Moz – is another similar type of metric but while DA takes an entire site or domain into account, PA focuses on the ranking possibility of individual web pages. DA factors in the complete backlink profile of a website whereas PA analyzes backlinks gained by a single URL.

PA is also important since increasing your PA eventually helps improve your DA score as well.

The scores for both DA and PA range from 0 to 100.

How is DA Calculated?

The logarithmic scale of DA (ranging from 0 to 100) takes time for a site with a score in a lower range (10-30) to jump into a higher score (60-70).

When you start a new business site, your DA score will be between 0 and 30 whereas the scores of giants like Google, Facebook or Amazon are very close to 100.

Here’s how DA scores are valued:

Moz or other SEO tools have never disclosed how these scores are calculated. The exact algorithm is not known yet.

However, what we know is that Moz uses about 40 factors to determine a domain authority score. The most important ones are:

• Link Profile

A link profile refers to all the internal and external links pointing to a website. It’s just another name for “backlink profile” that includes information about the quality, quantity, and characteristics of the inbound and outbound links.

• Linking Root Domains

Moz considers only the unique backlinks that your site has earned. So, if your site has 200 external links but they all came from a single website, Moz will count your linking root domain to be 1.

So, it’s important that you try to outreach more and attain backlinks from different relevant websites to improve your overall DA score.

• MozRank

MozRank is a unique metric used by Moz to look into the strength and quality of your backlinks. Not only does it count the number of backlinks you’ve gained but their quality as well.

However, just like Google, Moz prioritizes the quality of a link over its quantity. One link coming from a reputed and relevant website is better than many from some average sites.

• MozTrust

This is another unique metric that also tests the quality of backlinks but more specifically, it determines the trustworthiness of the websites you are linked with.

For example, sites with .edu and .gov domains mean university and government websites respectively, which will add more points to your DA score if you can manage to get backlinks from them.

• Website Structure and User-friendliness

If your site is poorly designed, both users and search engines will find it difficult to navigate through your pages. As a result, it will lose referral traffic from those backlinks and eventually hurt your ranking. Moz takes this into account as well when scoring your DA.

• Content Quality

Content is the main factor that’s responsible for the success of your site. Domain authority also depends on the quality of your content. When you publish content regularly, you increase the chances of gaining more backlinks. It’s obvious that more backlinks from high-authority websites will help you earn a higher DA score.

• Social Signals

The more engaging your social media content is, the better they perform in SEO. Moz considers social signals as an important factor for scoring.

Why Domain Authority is Important

Some people think DA is a ranking factor while in reality Google doesn’t even consider DA as a solid metric for ranking. It’s only a metric developed and evaluated by Moz.

Google Search Analyst John Mueller confirmed this over and over again. In 2022, he said the following-

“On the one hand, you do not need DA for Google Search. Google doesn’t use it at all. If you’d like to level your site up in search, you’d need to focus on something else, or at least use other metrics for it. This is mostly why DA as a metric is frowned upon by many SEOs. For context, I don’t think I’ve ever looked up the DA for a site in the 14 years I’ve been doing this.”

Does that mean domain authority scores are absolutely valueless?

No. DA is preferred by many SEO professionals to quickly assess the link profile strength of a website.

For example, if your DA score is below 30, that means your ranking potential is far behind the well-established websites whose scores might be over 50. However, if that score is higher than other sites in your niche, you’ll probably be able to outrank your competitors.

This way, you can strategize to smartly optimize your SEO. For example, if you’re competing against a site with a lower DA score for the same keyword, you can rank higher with a quality blog. However, if your competitor has a DA score of over 80, you shouldn’t waste your time and resources on that keyword; rather work with a unique one.

Also, Google uses some of the factors that Moz follows to calculate their DA. For example, Google also looks at linking root domains while ranking sites.

So, DA is definitely connected with a healthy SEO no matter what others say.

How to Check Your  DA?

Although you shouldn’t stress much over the domain authority of your site, you can occasionally check out the DA scores of your site and those of your competitors to better understand the industry.

Checking DA scores is so simple. All you have to do is find an online keyword or SEO research tool, sign up, and type in the site you want information on.

Moz offers their own all-in-one SEO analysis toolbar called Moz Bar where you can check not only the domain authority but the page authority, ranking keywords, spam score, and more with a single click.

There are more tools you can use exclusively for the same purpose, such as-

• Moz’s Free Domain Authority Checker
• Ahrefs’ Website Authority Checker
• Linkgraph’s Bulk DA Checker
• SEMRush

How to Increase My Domain Authority?

Domain authority doesn’t necessarily lead to top rankings but there’s no better metric to check on the overall authority of a site than this.

Since DA is primarily scored based on the backlink profile of your site, paid link-building techniques are often enough to boost the score. But it’s a risky endeavor too since Google hates spammy and purchased link-building approaches that can ultimately hurt your business.

Here are the safest and fool-proof ways to increase your domain authority:

1. Choose a Great Domain Name

Pick a relevant domain name if you’re taking your startup online for the first time. The name should be catchy, easy-to-remember and simple enough. You can make it search engine-friendly by including your focus keywords. Take the example of SEMRush that included SEM in their domain name.

If you already have a domain, make sure it won’t expire shortly.

2. Get Listed in Local Directories

This is the safest and the most cost-effective local link building strategy. Search your local directories and enlist your business. Most directories provide a slot for you to include your website details. This link back to your site helps increase your organic traffic in return.

Local listings help make your site accessible by Google and other search engines, resulting in improved rankings and a higher DA score.

3. Gain High-quality Backlinks

It’s a no-brainer that backlinks are at the heart of the DA score since the metrics are mostly based on the backlink profile of a website.

Gaining quality inbound links requires time and effort. But what does “quality” mean here?

A high-quality backlink comes from a highly authoritative website. The source website also has to be relevant enough to your industry or niche.

Here are a few simple methods to gain valuable backlinks:

• Competitor Analysis

You can use tools like Moz or Ahrefs to look into the backlink profiles of your competitors and then try to acquire links from the same sources. Since they have already provided links to your niche competitors, they are highly likely to do the same for you.

In order to reach out to them, you can use a popular email finder tool like Hunter.io or Lemlist and automate the process at regular intervals.

These tools allow you to evaluate the performances of your email campaigns. For example, if you have got a minimal response rate, you should change the style and the content of your emails.

• Linkable Content Generation

Writing and putting up content on your site on a regular basis is easy. But we’re talking about improving your DA score here. The only way to do that is posting valuable content that people will want to link out.

• Guest Blogging

If you have the ability to write great content or hire a skilled writer, you should seek out guest blogging opportunities from industry-specific websites.

By creating content for some of the prominent sites in your niche, not only will you get a huge exposure, but you can also gain referral traffic. This is usually an exchange offer where you write an informative post for a popular website and in turn, they publish your link.

If the readers of that blog find the content useful, they may visit your website. You’ll get to pull in more organic traffic and increase your DA score because of the clicks.

4. Focus on Your SEO

SEO is your best way to help improve your ranking. Leave no stone unturned when it’s about your SEO endeavor. Make sure every aspect of your website is SEO-optimized.

• On-page SEO

These activities are related directly to the pages of your website. They are easier to carry out than off-page SEO and can be done right away! There are many aspects of on-page SEO, such as:

• Title tags: Title tags are essentially keywords that help your site get on the top SERPs. Also, they hold the content in place by keeping the discussion relevant to the reader’s expectations.
• Meta description: Write a concise and informative meta description that summarizes the content and comprises the target keyword.
• URL structure: Create SEO-friendly URLs that are easy to read and include relevant keywords. Avoid using special characters, symbols, or long strings of numbers in URLs
• SEO-friendly permalinks: Alside from URLs, you should also make your permalinks SEO-friendly.
• Visuals: Your sole focus is to attract users to your site and content. So, you should add images, videos, and infographics where necessary to make your content visually appealing.
• Natural distribution of keywords: Don’t overdo it. Spread them out naturally all over your content.
• Keyword variation: Use tools like LSI Graph to get access to a large collection of synonymous words and avoid keyword stuffing.
• Internal link building: Internal links are just as important as inbound links from other websites. So, don’t forget about them either.

You might have heard of the SEO term “Link Juice.” It means the equity transferred from one website or webpage to another through links.  Google estimates the strength of a page through link juice.

You can incorporate it into your internal link structure to grow your audience and raise your DA score as well.

• Technical SEO

Among the many aspects of technical SEO, here are the most important ones-

• HTTPS and Security: Secure your website with HTTPS, as Google considers it a ranking factor. Also, implement SSL certificates to encrypt data and enhance user security.
• XML sitemap: Create an XML Sitemap to allow Google to index all your content in a structured way.
• Mobile-friendly design: Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, make sure your website is responsive and provides a good user experience on mobile devices.
• Speed: Increase your site speed by optimizing images, using browser caching, and leveraging Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).
• 404 error pages: These broken pages are often omitted but if you can reuse them to get users back on the working pages, then why not use this opportunity? For instance, you can include a search bar in the error page for people to use and find the content they’re looking for.

5. Enhance User Experience (UX)

Creating a proper website structure and enhancing user experience is no longer optional for your domain authority. You have to prioritize users over everything else since they are the ones willing to click on your links.

Your web designers will know better to optimize your UX design. However, there are a couple of crucial aspects you have to invest in no matter what.

• Mobile friendliness

Majority of your users will be using smartphones to access your site when needed. If you fail to cater to their comfort, this will have a drastic effect on your business as a whole.

As a matter of fact, even Google operates on a mobile-first index now; meaning that it will look at content compatible with mobile devices first to rank them over the others.

To accurately test whether your site is mobile friendly or not, you can try out Google’s Mobile Friendly Test. If not, Google will recommend how to make it mobile-friendly.

• Loading Speed

According to Kissmetrics, 40% of people leave a site that takes 3 seconds or more to load. It means that a faster website can ensure a smoother experience for your users. It needs some technical skills to improve speed on your site and you should leave it to the experts.

6. Run Website Audits and Remove Spammy Links

Performing link audits is a smart way to improve your DA score. Link audits usually inform you of the:

• Backlinks sending traffic to you
• Performance of your links
• Pages that are attracting more traffic
• Strategies you can adopt to improve your link profile

After the audit, you should get rid of the spammy and bad links. The criteria to understand which links are bad are-

• They come from a spam or a malicious website
• They belong to a site not indexed by search engines
• They’re included in sites with weird and negative content

Remember, a bad or toxic link is not the same as a low-quality link. You can give the low-quality links a chance because the sites they come from may not be reputable at the moment but they can grow.

But you can’t allow bad links. They have to be removed completely for a healthy link profile.

7. Invest in Outreach for Dofollow Links

In short, this involves reaching out to relevant websites or influencers and requesting them to link to your high-quality content. You have to identify target sites, build relationships, personalize outreach emails, and highlight the value your content brings. A public relation team (PR) can ease the process for you.

If you can’t afford a PR team at the moment, there’s an easier alternative. Just sign up for Help a Reporter Out (HARO).

HARO is an email newsletter service where reporters ask for expert opinions in their work. If you’re an expert in your niche, you can provide input in one of their stories and get a high-quality backlink in return.

Make sure you answer concisely and accurately. Be fast since the platform is competitive.

8. Stay Patient

Never expect that your domain authority will skyrocket overnight. Don’t be unrealistic and dishearten yourself.

It takes time and effort to take effect after you’ve opted for any one of the options above. Most of the big companies had to wait a long time before they could build their domain authority.

So, stay calm and collected. It’s even better if you take a systematic approach to improve your google ranking since that will automatically boost your DA anyways.

How to Increase Your Domain Authority? : Things to Keep in Mind H2

We’re going to remind you again that Google doesn’t consider DA as a ranking factor but improving your DA has a positive correlation with better Google ranks.

Keeping this in mind, there are some things you should know:

• You Can’t Fake Real Domain Authority

Domain authority may be a product of Moz but it’s globally accepted as one of the most reliable metrics to determine a website’s overall authority in link profile. The real authority that comes from real efforts can’t be replicated.

If you can’t focus on organically growing your backlink profile, hire a professional link building agency like LinkBuilderPros to do the work for you. They’ll give you a better result in a shorter time.

But make sure that the agency is trusted. Otherwise, they may provide you with spammy and low-value links – only making things worse.

• Don’t Be Too Dependent on Your DA

Always remember that Google’s ranking algorithms change rapidly; so does your DA score. In fact, sometimes you’ll see your DA score declining even after strengthening your link profile. That’s because some other site may have built their link profile faster than you. Since domain authority is comparative, higher scores from the competitors can affect yours.

But the same rule applies for you too, doesn’t it? If you can build a robust backlink profile faster than your competitors, you’ll definitely outrank them in SERP despite your overall DA score going down.

So, don’t get too hung up on your DA score, please. Keep doing what makes your site rank organically without worrying too much about the metric.

Wrapping It Up

“How to increase my domain authority?” – now you know the answer! Domain authority is an awesome metric to analyze the SEO health and link profile of a website. Our article here has collected all the available strategies you can follow to increase your DA score.

But we have also warned you not to emphasize too much on the score since it’s relative. Domain authority can predict your success with the website but it can’t define that.

Focus on organic link-building and SEO optimization to increase your site traffic. Your DA score will follow suit.

If you want immediate results, it’s not possible. So, be smart and maintain a strong domain authority.

FAQs

Q. How long does it take to increase my domain authority?

Ans. There’s no definite answer to this. Sometimes, you can build quality links and notice a bump in your DA score the next day. In other times, it can take months. But with active link building efforts and regular quality contents, you can experience a rise within 3 months.

Q. Are there other measures of domain authority?

Ans. Over the years, many companies came forward with the same concept as domain authority but named it differently such as domain ratings, domain reputation or website authority. However, all these different tools follow different mechanisms to determine their respective score. So, be consistent no matter which one you choose for your site.

Q. What’s the difference between Domain Authority and Domain Rating?

Ans. Domain authority is developed by Moz whereas Domain Rating is developed by Ahrefs, another SEO tool. Both these metrics essentially measure the same thing but following different algorithms and considering different factors.

Q. Is a low DA score bad?

Ans. No, not necessarily. DA score is relative. Your site can score low on DA scale but gain new leads every month because of your authoritative position in the niche. So, it depends on how fast you can build your link profile compared to your competitors.

Q. How many links do I need to increase my domain authority?

Ans. There’s no specific number. DA depends on a lot of factors. Moz looks at around 40. Quantity of links is only one of them. So, keep your focus on all of them to have a boost in your DA.

Q. Why is my domain authority going down?

Ans. Lack of fresh and engaging content and spammy and low quality backlinks can lead to the decline in domain authority.

mothasim

SEO & Growth Manager

A distinguished SEO and Business Development Consultant with a proven track record of helping businesses achieve outstanding results in the digital landscape. Throughout his career, Mothasim has worked with a diverse range of businesses, from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

His strategies are characterized by his meticulous attention to detail, data-driven decision-making, and a deep understanding of search engine algorithms. In his personal life, Mothasim enjoys hiking, photography, and volunteering in his community. He believes in giving back and is actively involved in mentoring aspiring SEO professionals. LinkedIn .