What is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority (DA) measures the strength of a website's backlink profile: the quality and quantity of other sites linking to it. Moz feeds that link data through a machine-learning model to predict how well the domain is likely to rank compared with similar sites. A strong score reflects strong links, not the quality of the content itself.

DA is not a ranking factor: Google doesn't use it, and raising your score won't directly move you up the search engine results. What it can do is show how your site is likely to perform in search compared with competitors, and whether your link building is keeping pace.

How Domain Authority is calculated

Moz scores every domain from 1 to 100 using backlink data from its Link Explorer index, which tracks more than 40 trillion links. The model weighs dozens of factors, but two dominate: how many unique domains link to a site, and how strong those links are. Higher scores mean a better chance of ranking.

Scores also aren't static. DA is recalculated as the web's link graph changes, so your number can move even when your site doesn't.

Domain Authority vs. Page Authority

Moz publishes two companion metrics, both on the same 1-to-100 scale:

• Domain Authority (DA) predicts ranking strength for an entire domain or subdomain.
• Page Authority (PA) predicts how well a single page will rank.

Use DA to size up whole sites, and PA to compare individual pages competing for the same keyword. Both metrics try to quantify authority, the trust and strength a site builds up over time.

Authority scores in other SEO tools

Moz created DA, but most SEO platforms publish an equivalent. Ahrefs calls its version Domain Rating (DR) and builds it purely from the quantity and quality of external backlinks. Semrush's Authority Score also runs from 0 to 100 but folds in organic traffic and spam signals alongside links.

Each tool uses its own link index and its own inputs, so the numbers aren't interchangeable: a DA of 45 and a DR of 45 mean different things. Compare scores within one tool, never across tools.

How to raise your Domain Authority

Earn better links. Link building is the main lever: get more unique, reputable domains pointing to your content, keep your link profile natural, and publish pages worth citing. Our guide to getting backlinks walks through 12 strategies that work.

Expect slow movement. The scale is logarithmic, so climbing from 20 to 30 is much easier than climbing from 70 to 80. And treat DA as a benchmark rather than a target: your score is good if it's comparable to or higher than your direct competitors', so check theirs first and track the trend from there.