Domain authority can be likened to the influence of an expert within their own discipline and in the larger scholarly community. Just as this well-respected professor can wield a great deal of influence over their peers. So, you can a domain with high authority impact the behavior and opinions of those who frequent it. The thing is, just like it’s difficult to become an expert in your field, as is increasing your site’s domain authority. Although, be sure to understand, it’s by no means impossible. Here we discuss How to Increase Domain Authority
What is Domain Authority?
Domain authority (DA), developed by Moz, and domain rating (DR), Ahref’s equivalent. So, they are link building metrics that rate the authoritative strength of a website. The higher the DR or DA score, the more authoritative the site is considered to be. So, domain authority is determined largely by two main ranking factors. So, these are the quantity and, more importantly, the quality of backlinks that a website possesses and how many referring domains have outbound links pointing to the website.
Why Should I Care About Domain Authority?
It’s important to point out that Google itself doesn’t use domain authority. It is a determinant of how to rank websites on the SERPs. So, google has its own set of metrics that it uses to determine the placement of the search engine results page (SERPs). The Google team refers to these metrics collectively as PageRank. So, if Google doesn’t pay attention to domain authority, why should you? Additionally, SEO tools like Moz, SEMrush, and Ahrefs pay very close attention to Google’s algorithm. Therefore, domain authority is a very well-respected means of understanding how your site will perform overall.
What is a Good Domain Authority Score?
Domain authority is a score, between 0 and 100, that reflects how authoritative a website is. A high domain authority means that the website is likely to be ranked high on the SERPs, while a low domain authority means a website is going to have a harder time of ranking, particularly for highly competitive topic niches. For a touch of thought play, when you think of a website with a high domain authority, who would you expect to rank very well on the SERPs? While it may not be everybody’s cup of tea, it’s still a very well-respected publication that consistently ranks well on Google Search for a wide range of topics.
How Do You Check Your Domain Authority?
There are a few ways you can check Domain authority using Moz. The easiest and the most affordable is to use Moz’s Free Domain SEO Analysis Tool. Pretty simple, just plug in your domain address, like we’ve done below, and hit the “Analyze domain” button.
Actionable Ways to Increase Your DA Score
Before jumping straight into the deep end. So, there are a few fundamentals you need to have mastered before working towards increasing your site’s DA score.
These include:
Nail the SEO basics
Without honing the basics like on-page SEO, page speed, and some of the more technical aspects of building a solid website, there’s little to no reason why you should even start to worry about your site’s DA. So, before you start, be sure your site runs adequately, isn’t slow to load, and contains high-quality content that’s SEO optimized and valuable to your audience.
Optimize Your Website Structure and User Experience
Is your website easy to navigate and intuitive to use? If not, focus on formatting it in a way that’s both easily navigable and easy to use. So, if you’re unsure of where to start, focusing on the basic principles of conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a great place to begin your journey.
Improve Your Internal Links
No site is going to rank well without a solid internal linking structure. Internal linking helps search engines index your pages more accurately and helps visitors find information on your site more easily. Both are super important to your web page’s page authority and link building potential.
Build (good) links
Perhaps the most important factor in taking your site from a low DA to a higher score is by building a strong backlink profile full of high-quality backlinks from trusted websites. So, backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website, often referred to as referring domains or root domains. So, the links that come from root domains act as a vote of confidence, signaling to Google that your site is both a relevant and a credible resource of information.
Create high-quality content (that people want to read)
There is no single recipe for creating great content that generates backlinks, but one of the most effective ways is to make your content visually appealing, highly engaging, and easy to digest. Sure, it sounds obvious, but seriously, the amount of content marketing campaigns that don’t create content that engages their target audiences is kind horrifying. Something like an infographic, super engaging video, or informative written piece of content always will always do well.