What Is Domain Authority

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SEO 101: What’s Domain Authority

In this series, we’re going to dive into the most common SEO questions people have when learning how to optimize their websites or blogs. Domain Authority is a term that most small business owners aren’t familiar with when we first meet so I want to start here with the basics and answer the question you’re probably thinking right now, which is, what’s Domain Authority?

What is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority is a number that Moz gives to every website or blog. It represents how authoritative the website is based on the number and quality of the links that are pointing to that website or blog. Domain Authority is measured on a numerical scale and goes from 1-100, with 100 being the best. All sites start at 1.

What’s Moz?

If you’re not familiar with Moz, that’s OK. Moz is a company that offers SEO reporting tools, training, guidance, and more. They’re one that is very highly regarded in the search marketing industry. We can trust the information we get from Moz. You can check their website out at www.Moz.com to learn more. Their blog is one most of us in the industry follow and rely on for correct SEO information, especially when we suspect a Google Algorithm update.

Does Domain Authority Matter?

Yes. The DA (Domain Authority) of your website helps us determine how likely you are to rank for a given keyword phrase. The higher your DA the more likely you are to rank.

How do I find out what my Domain Authority is?

You can use Moz’s Open Site Explorer https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/ to find the domain authority of your website (or any site out there).

Does Domain Authority Change?

Yes. Your Domain Authority can change and go up or down at any time. Moz updates DA scores about once a month so you don’t need to look at it daily but take note of where your score is today and track it over time.

How do I increase my Domain Authority?

The best way to increase your website or blog’s DA is to build strong, relevant links to your site. You want to focus on building links that make sense for your site and are from other relevant websites or blogs.

Can I buy links to do this faster?

No. Never buy links from anyone. This is the fastest way to get yourself in trouble when you’re doing SEO. If you talk to any SEO person who suggests a program that includes a guaranteed number of links per month be very skeptical. Building links within Google’s rules are not easy to do. You need to make sure you’re being careful and today the best way to build them is through partnerships and guest blog posts.

Domain Authority SEO 101 Lesson Recap

Every website has a unique DA. The website with the higher DA is more likely to rank better for the keyword. Use Moz’s Open Site Explorer to find out what your website or blog’s DA is today. Track it monthly. Try to build links the natural way – through guest blogging or partnership opportunities. Don’t buy links.

Building your site’s Domain Authority is one of the best things you can do for your overall SEO strategy. Most small business owners have sites with a DA of 1-10. If you can get to 20 or higher you’ll generally see that it’s easier to rank and when you rank better, you get more traffic to your site. When your site gets more traffic, you generally get more leads which can lead to more sales. It all works together.

Request your copy of my SEO Checklist today and learn what to do for SEO on your website or blog