A Guide to Domain Authority

Not all marketing tactics are created equally. Red Egg differentiates from other Denver marketing companies by altering our service offering packages to meet the specific needs of our clients. This can include anything from a website redesign to a comprehensive SEO audit and results-driven strategy.

We understand that SEO concepts are often confusing and we’re here to explain it for you. This deep dive into Domain Authority will help to clarify how Google’s algorithm works, how businesses appear on search engine results, and how to increase visibility for your business.

What is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority (DA) is a score that ranges from 1 to 100. This number predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). This scoring system was created by Moz to describe a site’s relevance for a specific subject area or industry.

Domain Authority is determined by comparing multiple variables, including:

This score can be used to compare website quality, however, the number itself is not used by Google to assess search rankings and has no impact on SERPs.

In the eyes of Google, your Domain Authority indicates the quality of your on-site information and how well you perform as an authority in your industry. The search engine uses your Domain Authority to ensure your website can provide high-quality content on a particular topic. If you do, you’ll have a stronger Domain Authority and Google will increase your rankings.

How Can You Check Domain Authority?

The best way to check Domain Authority is to go straight to Moz. There are a lot of free tools to check your Domain Authority score, like using Moz’s Link Explorer, the MozBar (Moz’s free SEO toolbar). There are also tools like Ahrefs’ Authority Checker.

Domain Authority metrics are also integrated across the web into hundreds of SEO and online marketing tools. Check your current MarTech tools to see if they provide a domain ranking service.

What is “Good” Domain Authority?

You’ll notice that the results most closely related to your search query will appear at the top of the page on Google. This is because those resources have received tons of high-quality links from other publications on the web claiming that the resource was useful. Google has identified these results as websites that provide a wealth of quality, accurate information for searchers.

Small businesses and websites with less inbound links can have a slightly lower score. Keep in mind, all brand-new websites always start with a rank of one.

A high Domain Authority score shouldn’t be your only goal though. As a business owner, you should really only be concerned with ranking higher than your competitors in order to drive traffic and leads to your site.

Can I Influence Domain Authority?

Domain Authority is difficult to change directly.

It consists of a collection of metrics and relation data that have an effect on the score of the authority. This metric is meant to estimate how competitive a site is in Google Search Results.

Since Google takes a lot of factors into account, a formula that attempts to quantify it needs to include a lot of factors as well.

The best way to impact your Domain Authority metric is to increase your overall SEO strategy. In particular, you can concentrate on your backlink portfolio and increase the number of links your site has earned from other high-authority sites.

Tip 1: Audit Your Backlink Portfolio

Google likes links. Your website should boast a number of links from a wide range of sites and high-level pages. The search engine considers this to be a sign of an authoritative and secure location. Earn extra brownie points with Google if your link portfolio induces nods from high-ranking publications within your industry.

SEO software like SEMrush Backlink Analytics and Moz’s Link Explorer can help you assess the health of your link profile.

Google’s Disavow Tool will help you improve your link profile by opting to “ignore” any bad or unwanted links that could end up hurting your website. This ensures the quality of your links, and while Google likes links, it likes quality links.

Links from toxic sites will do more to hurt your site than to improve it. Low quality links include those that appear spammy, have a very low authority score, or seem artificial. It’s best to avoid links from these sites.

Tip 2: Create Top-Notch Content

Google’s search algorithm assesses your on-site content based on engagement metrics. These metrics can include overall traffic numbers, organic traffic, direct traffic, etc.

To enhance the engagement with your website and, in turn, the Domain Authority, you must engage loyal audiences by crafting useful, high-quality content. Developing good content will also draw those effortless organic backlinks from other websites in your industry.

Tip 3: Earn High-Quality Links

Earning quality links from outside publications is an essential and highly rewarding aspect of growing your Domain Authority score. There are plenty of ways to go about this task.

You can start by doing some keyword research into those phrases your site currently ranks for, then identifying the ones you’d like to continue to focus on. These keywords will likely be those that have a high likelihood of an intention to buy. After all, your goal in prioritizing your search engine ranks is to drive leads, right?

Once you identify your ideal keywords, you will create knowledge and research-based resources to feature on your website. The goal here is to create better and more updated resources than your competitors. From here, you will reach out to publications that have previously linked to your competitor’s resources and allow them the opportunity to link to the better resource. This strategy is called the skyscraper method.

Another way you can improve your backlink portfolio is by reaching out to industry publication writers directly and asking them if they’d like to use your information on their site. This process can be a bit tedious and time consuming, though, especially if you don’t already have industry relationships in place.

The Key to SEO Results is Patience

Just like we tell our clients, these SEO changes don’t happen overnight. You can’t earn a link from a website with the Domain Authority of 89 and expect your position in the SERPs will skyrocket minutes later. Expect to wait a few months before you can reap the rewards of your hard work.

Really, your priority should always be to create beneficial and useful resources for your audience. It makes sense that Google would reward those who take the time to do so.

If you’re interested in auditing your website to understand how you can improve your standing, feel free to reach out to our team at Red Egg Marketing. Our team can get your business back on track.