What Is Domain Authority & How To Increase It
Reading Time: 9 minutes Are you contemplating how to rank your site on the number one spot on Google? If yes, then you’ve surely encountered the phrase domain authority.
It’s crucial to be aware that, among the 200 diverse ranking factors that are used on Google Domain authority is among them.
This article will tell you what domain authority is actually, what it is to rank your site, and how you can increase it.
As it’s an extensive read, it’s possible to skip to any part you’re interested in.
Do you know what domain authority is?
In the years since Moz developed this domain authority measure, we’ll use them as the following definition:
Domain authority, also known as “DA,” is “A rank score on search engines that determines the probability that the website will be ranked on the search engine result pages (SERPs). The Domain Authority score ranges from one to 100 – higher scores lead to a higher probability of being ranked.“
Moz adds that “Domain Authority is determined by analyzing multiple variables such as linking root domains, as well as the total number of hyperlinks, and converting them into one single score for domain authority. “
It’s important to remember that although domain authority is a predictor of the success of a website, it doesn’t necessarily be a sign of success. This metric isn’t used by Google, and increasing your DA doesn’t guarantee that your site appears higher in Google results for a search.
In short, the domain authority score can aid you in determining your competition within your field. This will aid you in choosing the right keywords.
Let’s say, for instance, your site’s DA score of 56. If you’re competing on a certain keyword against websites that have domain authority between 37 and 46, then you’ll be aware an excellently written blog article or web page stands the chance of ranking. However, if you’re competing against websites with domain authority in the 1980s it’s likely that you should choose the same search term.
What is a good domain authority score?
Many variables affect the calculation of the domain authority. To give an idea of what to expect, SEO-friendly websites such as Google, Apple, or Microsoft will have a very high DA (between 95 to 100).
However, If your site is not yet up and running, your DA might be lower (possibly between 10 and 20).
Also, you should be aware that it’s much easier to boost the DA of your website if it’s in the 20-30 range rather than if it’s between 70 and 80. In order to determine what is excellent domain authority, you should consider these categories:
- A lower than 30th grade is considered to be poor
- 30-40 is less than the average
- 40-50 is the standard
- 50-60 is a good age
- 60-70 is excellent
- A score of 80 or more is great
One important thing to remember is that DA can help you determine your site’s performance in the search results.
Therefore, it’s best to compare it against other websites on SERPs. Then, try to boost your DA so that you get higher rankings.
What do you calculate domain authority calculated?
In the calculation of domain authority, various tools have their own methods. For Moz is concerned, it utilizes over 40 elements to calculate a DA score.
However, the most important aspects are:
- MozRank: It is a measure of the amount of sites that link to a website. It also considers the quality of these sites that give your site the inbound links.
- Link profile: This is a term used to describe external and internal links to the website. Therefore, if your article includes links to websites with high authority and also is hyperlinked back by other trustworthy websites, then you’ll be awarded a great score.
- Root domains: When checking your link profile Moz will also look at the amount of distinctive backlinks. For instance, if you have 100 backlinks from a single site. Moz will count this to be one root domain. It is therefore important to have backlinks coming from multiple websites.
- MozTrust: MozTrust Moz examines the credibility of sites that link to your site. For instance, if , for example, you receive a link from an official university website, a government site, or large website for an organization, then you’ll be awarded an extremely high score.
- Website structure and user-friendliness: To achieve the highest DA it is essential to ensure that your website’s structure is simple for search engines such as Google to crawl your site. Additionally, you must give a fantastic user experience for your users.
How can I increase domain authority?
As you begin working to increase your site’s domain authority, be aware that this is a long-term approach. Here are some strategies to boost your website’s Domain Authority:
1. Get high-quality backlinks from authority sites
If you’ve noticed that backlinks play a significant part in calculating the domain authority. Not just that, but backlinks are among the two ranking factors.
A study conducted by Ahrefs revealed that 55.24 percent of websites do not receive any organic traffic because they don’t have backlinks.
So, it’s reasonable to say that you must have backlinks as well as top-quality ones.
There are a myriad of ways to gain backlinks to boost the profile of your links. Start by examining your most frequent referral sources and then look for other sites that offer backlinks.
To find the top sources of inbound links for your website, use MonsterInsights. It’s the most effective WordPress Google Analytics plug-in and displays the most detailed information on your Dashboard.
It is also possible to ethically observe your competitors take a look at their backlink sources, and attempt to get links from similar websites. Another method of securing hyperlinks from top-quality sites is by guest posting.
2. Create awesome content that worth it
The other way to increase your domain’s authority is by creating content that is link-worthy. What makes your content outstanding?
If people find your content useful and useful, they’ll begin sharing it with other people. This will increase your likelihood of getting backlinks from authoritative websites, for example, educational institutes or government institutions.
In addition, with links from other websites, you’ll be able to increase the root domains of your site. All of this will go to the achievement of the highest DA.
You can now create different types of content like essays, long guides, explainer videos, podcasts, slides, and infographics to get high-quality backlinks.
However, a good way to begin is by taking a look at some of the top pages of your website. In this way, you can develop similar topics and types of content.
3. Remove low-quality backlinks
Inbound links are crucial to your site’s DA and ranking; however, bad links could cause more harm than good ones.
Links that originate from a shady website could lower your website’s authority on the internet. And, in certain cases, it could cause being penalized by Google.
To prevent this from happening, examine your website for harmful links and eliminate the links as soon as you can. You can make use of various search engine optimization tools to find unsafe links. You can do this by looking through the entire page’s link profile.
If you cannot eliminate the links, you may use Google Search Console to deny or disavow the hyperlinks. This means that Google’s crawler will not consider any unnatural or spammy backlinks while indexing.
4. Improve your website structure and user experience
One of the elements that were used to determine the domain authority was your website’s design and structure as well as its ease of use.
When your web pages are properly constructed, search engines are able to browse your website websites and then index the pages onto the results of searches.
To assist crawlers of search engines in finding your site, you can make a sitemap using WordPress. A sitemap is a list of the most important pages of your site and aids search engines in navigating your website easily.
Here’s what a simple website structure looks like:
Websites like Simar Glossy use a thirst type of linear structure, where pages are connected linearly, and all follow a logical path of actions. They use websites to show their product that can use these kinds of plane structures.
If you want to improve your site’s user experience, you must begin by improving it for mobile.
Google has now shifted to mobile-first, meaning it will look at how your site performs on mobile devices. Therefore, ensuring that your website works when you’re using mobile and loads fast is essential.
You must then ensure that your website is secure. This can be done by acquiring SSL certificates and converting your website over to HTTPS. You can also purchase one of the most effective WordPress security extensions such as Sucuri Sucuri, which includes a number of features such as an application firewall for websites.
5. Enhance your internal links
Another method of improving your website’s user experience is by focussing on the structure of your internal links. Through links that lead to other helpful pages on your website, you can keep your visitors interested and decrease bounce rates.
Internal links aid robots crawling through search engines to visit your site, which aids in indexing your pages.
Another advantage of having a well-constructed inside link layout is the fact that it carries links from one site to another.
The term “link juice” is used in SEO to refer to the importance of a page linked to other pages. It is a sign of trust for the engine because more links linking to an internet page prove that it’s reliable. This all adds up to boost the authority of the domain.
To enhance an internal link-building strategy you can make use of an SEO plugin such as the All-in-One SEO.
How do I check domain authority?
Domain authority might seem confusing initially. However, determining the DA score of your website is a breeze. Follow these steps:
- Use Moz’s free Link Explorer tool.
- Enter your URL in the search bar near your page’s right side.
- Join for a free Moz account. Already a Moz member? Log in.
- Study the data Moz provides you with.
In the above you can see the domain authority of Learnyst- an online course selling platform is 45, they got links from 8.1k websites, and they have 495 ranking keywords.
It’s important to note that although Moz invented its domain authority measure, several other SEO tools have also created their own versions. For example, Majestic has Site Explorer, and Ahrefs is a part of the domain rating. You can also use one of these programs instead in case you prefer.
The wrapping up
One thing to keep in mind is that you aren’t able to determine your website’s domain authority. All you have to do is place all the pieces in the correct position, and your DA is increasing gradually.
Another important thing to consider is the fact that the process takes time to build in the authority of your domain since it’s not going to happen in a single day. Thus, create an over-the-long term strategy and apply these tips to boost your DA.
