What Is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority is a third-party Moz metric scoring a site's ranking strength from 1 to 100. Definition, what a good score looks like, and an example.
Domain Authority (DA) is a third-party metric created by Moz that scores a website’s overall ranking strength on a scale of 1 to 100, calculated by a machine learning model built mainly on backlink signals. It is not a Google ranking factor, Google has never used it.
Why Domain Authority matters
DA is a widely used industry shorthand for comparing your site’s relative link authority against competitors, and it’s genuinely useful for that narrow purpose. The correction worth making here: too many people quote DA as if Google itself weighs it, or treat a specific DA number as a target to hit. Neither is accurate. Moz periodically recalibrates its underlying model, which can shift every site’s score even when nothing on that site changed, so DA is only meaningful as a relative, directional comparison at a point in time, not an absolute score to chase.
How Domain Authority is calculated
- Moz crawls the web and builds a link graph, tracking linking root domains and total inbound links to each site.
- A machine learning model is trained against actual search results to find which link signals best predict ranking position.
- Each domain is scored on a logarithmic 1 to 100 scale, meaning it gets progressively harder to gain each additional point as the score climbs.
- The model is periodically recalibrated, which can shift scores site-wide even without any change to a specific site’s own backlink profile.
How to improve Domain Authority
- Earn links from a growing number of real, relevant domains. Diversity of referring domains matters more than raw link volume from one source.
- Avoid manipulative link building. PBNs and paid link schemes risk both a Google penalty and, ironically, don’t reliably move DA either.
- Fix broken and toxic backlinks. Disavowing genuinely toxic links can help, though this affects Google’s view more directly than Moz’s score.
- Publish genuinely link-worthy content. Original data, tools, and research attract natural links far more reliably than generic articles.
- Be patient. Meaningful DA movement typically takes 12 to 24 months of consistent, legitimate link-earning work.
Domain Authority vs. Page Authority vs. Google’s own signals
| Metric | Scope | Created by | Used by Google? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain Authority | Whole domain | Moz | No |
| Page Authority | Single page | Moz | No |
| Domain Rating (DR) | Whole domain | Ahrefs | No |
| Google’s actual ranking signals | Query-specific, per page | Yes, but never disclosed as a single score |
Real example
For example, a major news outlet might carry a Domain Authority of 90-plus, built over decades of being linked to by thousands of other sites, while a brand-new small business website typically starts somewhere between 1 and 15 and climbs gradually as it earns its own links.
Domain Authority and AI search
DA has no direct role in whether a page gets cited by an AI Overview or chatbot, those systems draw on Google’s own relevance and quality signals, or their own separate crawl and ranking systems entirely, not Moz’s score. That said, sites with genuinely strong backlink profiles tend to also have the topical authority and content depth that both traditional rankings and AI citation reward, so DA can still function as a rough proxy for overall site strength, just not a causal lever for AI visibility specifically.
FAQ
Is Domain Authority a Google ranking factor?
No. Google has confirmed it doesn’t use DA, or any third-party authority score, in its ranking systems. DA is a Moz-created estimate meant for competitive comparison, not a signal Google itself reads.
What’s a good Domain Authority score?
It depends entirely on your industry and competitors, there’s no universal “good” number. Comparing your DA against the sites actually ranking above you in your niche is far more useful than any fixed benchmark.
Why did my Domain Authority drop with no change to my backlinks?
Moz periodically recalibrates its underlying model, which can shift scores across the entire web even when your own link profile hasn’t changed at all.
Can I buy Domain Authority directly?
No legitimate way exists to buy a DA score directly. Some sellers offer paid links claiming to boost DA, which risks a Google manual action and often doesn’t reliably move the score anyway.
Related terms
DA is a comparison tool, not a scoreboard Google is watching. Use it to size up competitors, not as a KPI you report to a client as if it were traffic.