Domain Authority
You might not know about it but if you run a website, Domain Authority knows about you….
Chances are very high that if you have never heard of DA then your site will most likely have a very low score.
This article will breakdown the basics: what it is, its importance and how you can raise yours.
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority can be treated as a scorecard for predicting a website’s ranking on search engine results page. This metric was developed by an SEO company called Moz.
“Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). A Domain Authority score ranges from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank. -Moz
Basically, DA provides one with a metric to predict where a site ranks in the search engine results for comparison or tracking “ranking strength” over time.
How to check your Domain Authority
The Moz website has a free Domain Analysis tool which can assess a website’s rankings.
You do not need to create an account to use the tool but to access advanced SEO tools you would need to subscribe.
*If your results return an error message that data not found you can install the Mozbar Chrome Extension although you will need to create and log into a Moz community account to access its resuts… When enabled, this Chrome Extension also has the handy function of checking the DA of any website you visit…
NOTE: Before you check your DA expect that it will rate very low and its extremely difficult to get a score of 100.
How Moz calculates DA
Although Moz does not disclose how exactly it ranks DA the results show distinct categories
•Linking Root Domains (websites linking to yours)
•Ranking keywords
•Spam Score
•Although DA is updated in real time it might take weeks for changes you effect to translate to changes in your DA and a website’s age is also a contributing factor to DA
How to increase your Domain Authority
•Link building
This simply means that your site has links which lead back to it, these are called backlinks.
You can build backlinks by guest posting on other sites and featuring and being featured by others. You could even participate blog rolls or blog parties and shout outs.
Internal links are links that lead to articles within your website. These help raise your DA since they make it easy for search engine bots to crawl your site.
Why link building is important
Links signal resourcefulness to search engines. A site with numerous incoming links from authoritative sites is likely to be a good resource. Internal links imply easy navigation, and outbound links indicate a resourceful website which backs up its articles.
All this indicates a site is authoritative and trustworthy to a search engine’s eyes. Search Engines want to send users to resourceful and trustworthy sites.
•Remove broken links
Over time some links stop working as articles are removed or updated and websites are removed.
You can use a broken link checker such as this one www.brokenlinkcheck.com
• Interactive Engagement
Interactive engagement on articles sends a signal to search engine crawl bots that a page has information worth checking out and so it bumps up your rankings. Interacting with your audience also means they are more likely to quote or refer to your blog.
•Niched Content
Specialised content will rank higher than a general spread of articles
see related post on Types Of Blogs
•Evergreen Content
Content that will always be relevant or informative can be shared over and over again.. Also go back to old articles to update them with any new developments, reference and link back to archive posts.
•Meta Tags
Meta Data is an often over-looked aspect on websites. Ensure that when you use images on your website on your blog do not use generic names like Image.png DSC19092020.jpeg use names that describe or explain what the image is and also add an alt text which is an excellent accessibility resource for those who use screen readers and for when the image does not load correctly
Final thoughts on Domain Authority
Domain Authority is a useful metric and some organisations use it as a yardstick to find the blogger they want to work with for marketing or promotional projects.
Remember it’s a predictive tool and more of a guideline. Before you get too obsessed with checking and increasing your ranking NOTE DA is not a metric used by Google in determining search rankings and has no effect on the Search Engine Results Page.
At the end of the day just practise good SEO techniques.
See also 8 little known search engine marketing tricks for bloggers and digital marketers