While exploring methods to enhance your position on Google, you’ll often come across the term domain authority. Grasping what domain authority entails, discerning if it’s a measurable index or an idea, and identifying if there are strategies to improve it might seem perplexing. Let’s delve into these topics with a closer examination.
What is Domain Authority?
The term “Domain Authority” hasn’t been coined by Google, it actually comes from SEO software provider, Moz. Domain Authority is what Moz calls its search engine ranking score which predicts how likely it is for a website to rank in search engine results. Moz isn’t the only SEO platform that has this type of metric. Others like SEMRush, Ahrefs and SERanking have their own versions of a domain ranking score that measures similar attributes for domains.
Content marketing professionals frequently adopt an oversimplified perspective on domain authority, believing that a greater authority level will necessarily lead to improved rankings, or that backlinks from sites with higher authority carry more weight. However, Google does not employ a straightforward domain authority metric for page ranking. Nonetheless, its algorithm considers certain metrics applicable to the entire site in determining the placement of pages in search results.
As expected, Google remains unclear on the specifics of these measurements. Still, it’s widely believed that Google considers websites higher in quality if they concentrate on a specific niche, boasting a considerable volume of outstanding content related to that subject, and have a good number of “votes” in terms of inbound links and mentions from other sites around the internet.
Although there are many metrics that Google can use to sort through the billions of web pages to surface the best results, one of the biggest signals is the number and quality of inbound links to a website. It is the strength of these links that contributes the most to these metrics for measuring the ranking power of a website, the best known being domain authority.
Look at the search results for a topic in your area such as “hotels in Dorset”. It’s very likely that the top ten listed sites have a high domain authority thanks to a stong number of inbound links. Those sites with the most power are positioned higher up the list.
What is considered a good domain authority score?
The answer to this question is not simple, as it depends on a number of factors, including the competitiveness of the market you’re in and the types of search terms targeted.
This metric is presented as a number out of a total of 100. The best sites on the planet such as Google’s own domain, enjoy a top score of 100. New sites without any links start on zero. A good domain authority score is generally considered to be 20 and above. This means the site is well-established and has attracted a good number of solid links.
Is it even worth trying to increase Domain Authority?
It’s clear that the concept of domain authority doesn’t play a role in Google’s ranking mechanism. Reports also suggest that internally, Google doesn’t even adopt anything like “domain authority” to refer to any site-wide metrics it uses for determining rankings. It used to have PageRank but it says it is no longer a ranking factor.
we don’t really have “overall domain authority” – Gary Illyes, Google
Moz, the company that made the term popular, acknowledges that Google does not incorporate it, emphasizing that efforts to boost this metric for the sake of a higher domain authority rank are futile and merely serve as an ego boost. While it’s possible to take measures to enhance this figure, it begs the question of what real benefit that effort will yield.
However, a strong link profile definitely plays a vital role in a site’s position in the SERPs (search engine results pages). And we can use domain authority and page authority, developed by Moz, as a rough guideline on website authority and potential Google ranking.
How Domain Authority can help your SEO efforts
When viewed by itself, domain authority doesn’t amount to much more than a number without much significance, yet it serves as a helpful indicator for steering your SEO strategies. It acts as a valuable tool for gauging how your website stacks up against its competitors in terms of competitiveness.
For instance, merely being aware that your site’s domain authority is 50 doesn’t offer significant insight. However, if you find out that the keyword you aim for is mostly targeted by websites with domain authorities ranging from 30-40, this suggests a greater likelihood of surpassing them if your content aligns with Google’s best practices.
Merely having a higher score doesn’t automatically lead to improved rankings. Through comparison, it can uncover potential opportunities for enhancing your site’s rankings. As illustrated in the given example, targeting keywords where competing sites have lower domain authorities than yours could theoretically position your content for higher rankings and potential organic traffic, assuming your site adheres to Google’s optimization guidelines.
Proven ways to increase rankings with Domain Authority
Write exceptional content
Your focus should be on increasing domain authority in the sense that whichever internal metrics Google uses to evaluate the quality of a site are effectively met. Google has been pretty open about content quality being a major ranking factor. There’s no alternative to it, if you’re producing great content that’s focused on a particular niche, then that content is going to perform well. And quality, helpful content is the exact kind of content that Google loves and is most likely to attract natural links and push up your domain authority.
Your attention ought to focus on developing material that offers comprehensive insights on the question that initially led a user to that particular page. Visitors shouldn’t feel the need to browse other websites subsequently. The material should not only be unique but ideally accompanied by original pictures too. An extra advantage of producing high-quality, original content is that it can be valuable to others who might then reference it, thereby supporting your efforts in acquiring backlinks.
Fine-tune your keyword selection
Selecting specific keywords is crucial for on-page search engine optimization (SEO). By analysing your competitors, you can identify relevant keywords within your niche that your rivals with low scores use. This strategy should influence your choice of keywords so you know what is it possible for your site to rank for.
This approach enables you to uncover novel keywords, especially long-tail ones, which can enhance your website’s on-page SEO. Consequently, this could improve your site’s position on Google’s search results page.
Avoid spammy link building
Link-building services are available everywhere now. You’ll find many advertising their services and promising big improvements in search rankings due to an improvement in your domain authority.
But these are usually low-quality links on poor sites that can do more harm than good for your ranking power and domain authority score.
It is also against Google’s guidelines for site owners to buy paid links. If discovered, it can result in penalisation to the point where recovery may become impossible. Avoid the temptation to take this easy route. It may work for a short time but Google will ultimately catch on and score you lower in the rankings.
Google’s guidelines remain your best resource
When in doubt or faced with SEO misinformation online, it’s always best to consult Google’s guidelines. The company maintains a decent database where it provides tips to webmasters and publishers on how they can improve their chances of ranking.
SEO requires you to adapt frequently as Google releases major updates for its algorithms several times a year. These updates can cause major changes in rankings. As long as you’re solid in the fundamentals, you should be able to coast through these updates.
Need help improving your domain authority for SEO success?
Domain authority offers us a rough measure of a site’s ranking potential on Google, especially for competitive key phrases. If you’re interested in improving your domain authority for SEO success, get in touch to learn how we can naturally promote your site to gain quality and relevant links for your website.
