What Domain Authority Is, and How to Increase It

In working with the site, the main thing is to bring it to the top of the search results. This will help reduce advertising costs, because then users will get to the site in an organic way. However, many search queries and regions are too competitive and it is simply impossible to reach the first page, let alone the first place.

Some webmasters believe that the success and effectiveness of a site can be determined using a metric such as domain authority. In our material, we will talk about what it is and why it is necessary in traffic affiliation.

The concept of domain authority

Domain authority is a search engine ranking score that predicts a site’s appearance in the SERPs. It was originally invented by MOZ, a software development company. It’s important to note that Google itself does not use domain authority metrics for changes in SERPs. Overall, domain authority is a measure of SEO performance, nothing more.

Domain authority is a score from 1 to 100. The higher the score, the higher the site’s rating itself. At the same time, the authority itself is developed as in computer games – the higher the “level” of the site, the more difficult it is to get the next one. For example, you can grow in authority from 10 to 20 in a month of work, and from 40 to 50 you will have to work closely on marketing activities for a whole year.

The authority score itself is mostly made up of the age and popularity of the domain.

Age. Other things being equal, older domains rank higher in search results. Young domains must first develop a reputation, then the search engines will place them higher. The only exceptions are sites transferred from the old to the new domain.

Popularity. The popularity factor is determined depending on the number of backlinks – the more, the better. In addition, unique domains should link to the site. Quantity also plays a role here. However, authority is also affected by the authority of referring domains. For example, if the BBC or NYT links to your site, it will greatly improve their position.

How to check domain authority

First of all, you can check the authority of those who invented the concept itself. This can be done on the MOZ website. There is a separate page called Link Explorer.

Ahrefs has two ratings that perform similar tasks – Ahrefs rating and domain rating. The first displays the number and quality of backlinks, while the second compares the overall backlink profiles from the service database.

Semrush has its own authority rating, which determines the SEO quality of a website. Majestic, in turn, uses Flow Metric Score, which evaluates the quality of content on the site and the number of links on it.

How to increase domain authority

It is worth noting that several companies use the mechanics of measuring domain authority at once. And each of them has its own processes and slightly different metrics. But in general, there are several recommendations in order to increase the credibility of the site.

Create interesting content

For a high authority score, user engagement plays a big role. The more of them who read your articles and spend time on the pages, the better. Overall, it is with the help of content that users are attracted to the site and search engines track this.

At the same time, search engines love a variety of content – long and short articles, videos and podcasts. It’s important to experiment with formats to keep users on the page.

Finally, the content must be viral. Users should share selected content on social networks, discuss and comment on them. High activity around an article will tell search engines that this page is interesting – perhaps it will rank higher.

Build a Rich Link Profile

The authority of a domain will also be higher if other sites link to it. Moreover, the more authoritative they are, the better. For example, a link to the Washington Post will be many times better than links on a dozen junk sites.

Study the competitors

Evaluate the work of competitor sites in SEO – what positions do their sites hold for selected keywords? How interesting is their content? Is their link profile rich? All this will help determine the direction of your site.

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