What Is Domain Authority And How Does It Work?

Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank on search engine results pages (SERPs). It is not a metric used by Google itself, but it is widely adopted in the SEO industry as a useful indicator of a website’s overall authority and search performance potential.

DA scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating a stronger ability to rank. The scoring becomes progressively harder to increase your score as it gets higher. A DA of 20 to 30 may be considered average for small businesses or niche websites, while established websites with strong backlink profiles may score above 70 or 80.

DA is calculated using multiple factors, but the primary one is the quality and quantity of inbound links, commonly known as backlinks. The more reputable and relevant websites that link to your domain, the more authority your site gains in the eyes of search engines. Moz uses a proprietary algorithm that evaluates link quality, spam score, linking root domains, and other trust indicators.

For example, consider two online publications in the same industry. One has a DA of 65 due to years of consistent content publishing, media mentions, and backlinks from reputable sources. The other is a newer site with a DA of 18, lacking strong backlinks and brand recognition. All other factors being equal, search engines are more likely to rank the content from the first publication higher in results, simply because it has established more trust and authority online.