What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority (DA) is Moz's 0-100 score predicting how well a website will rank in search. Ahrefs uses Domain Rating (DR), Semrush uses Authority Score (AS) — all three estimate the strength of a site's backlink profile relative to the whole web. Higher = stronger authority = easier ranking.
How Domain Authority works
- DA / DR / AS are NOT Google metrics — Google has never published a domain-level authority score. Third-party tools reverse-engineer estimates.
- Bands: 0-20 new · 20-40 growing · 40-60 solid · 60-80 strong · 80+ top-tier.
- Score grows from earning links from other high-authority sites — quantity matters less than referring-domain quality.
- Score is relative and logarithmic — going from DA 40 to 50 is roughly 5x harder than 30 to 40.
- Use as a directional comparison ("am I stronger than this competitor?") not as an absolute ranking predictor.
Example
A new SaaS blog at DA 18 will not rank for "seo software" (top 10 all DA 70+) but can absolutely rank for "seo software for shopify plus stores" where the top 10 average DA 35.
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The SERP checker shows authority and referring domains for every ranking page.
Compare authority across the top 10Frequently asked questions about Domain Authority
How is Domain Authority calculated?
Moz combines ~40 signals — mostly link-based (linking root domains, MozRank, MozTrust) — into a machine-learning model that predicts SERP position. Ahrefs' DR and Semrush's AS use similar but distinct blends.
How do I increase my Domain Authority?
Earn backlinks from high-authority relevant sites. Guest posts, digital PR, unique data studies, and being cited in industry roundups are the main levers. Buying links violates guidelines and rarely moves the score.
Is Domain Authority a Google ranking factor?
No — Google has confirmed DA is not used. But because it correlates strongly with the underlying signals Google DOES use (backlinks, brand mentions, quality), it remains a useful proxy.
Related terms
Backlink Profile
A backlink profile is the complete set of external links pointing to a website, plus their attributes — source domain authority, anchor text, follow vs nofollow, topical relevance, and geographic distribution. It's the single strongest off-page ranking signal after content quality.
Referring Domains
Referring domains is the count of unique websites (root domains) that link to your site — different from total backlinks, because one site can link 100 times but only counts as one referring domain. It's the single strongest predictor of ranking in competitive SERPs.