DA Scores Explained: Everything You Need to Know About Domain Authority | Jo Linsdell

DA Scores Explained: Everything You Need to Know About Domain Authority

 

DA Scores Explained: Everything You Need to Know About Domain Authority


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DA Scores Explained: Everything You Need to Know About Domain Authority

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When talking about SEO a topic that can come up is DA Score. Not all bloggers know what that means though and so I thought it might be a good idea to delve a bit into; what DA is, how it works, why it's important and how to improve your score.

What is DA Score?

DA stands for Domain Authority and is ranked from 1 to 100. DA Score basically predicts how likely a website is to rank in search engine results compared to other websites posting on the same topics. The higher the DA Score the more likely it is to rank.

Domain Authority is not a Google ranking factor and has no effect on the search engine result pages (SERPs).


How do I find out my DA Score?

Go to https://moz.com/domain-analysis and type your website url where it says "Enter a domain" and click "Check Authority". 

Why does DA score matter?

Domain Authority predicts how likely a site is to rank in search engine results and as such is an indicator of the overall strength of the website. 


You might also like: Ultimate Guide to SEO for Book Bloggers


How does DA work?

DA Score is meant to predict how competitive a website will be in Google search results, and since Google considers so many ranking factors in determining its rankings this means it's normal for a DA Score to fluctuate over time.

The algorithm takes into account numerous elements including, but not limited to, the number and quality of backlinks to your website. Good backlinks will have a positive impact on your own DA Score. Bad backlinks will have a negative impact. This is because the more high quality and high authority sites linking to your site, the more Google will see your site as an authority itself.

Your website could lose points due to a variety of reasons, for example:

  • Other competitor websites have substantial grown their sites and as such has an impact on the scaling process.
  • When your website was crawled it picked up less links than it did on the previous crawl.
  • There's been an update and recalculations mean that the score of a given site could go down even if that site has improved its link profile.

What is considered a good DA Score?

A brand-new website will always start with a DA score of one. 

The higher your DA Score the harder it is to increase it. For example, it is easier to increase a DA of 20 to 30 than it is to increase a DA of 80 to 90. 

There is no fixed amount for a "good" DA Score. 

Because Domain Authority is a predictor of a site's ability to rank within its unique competitive landscape, you shouldn’t choose your target DA in a vacuum. Look at the DA scores for the sites you compete with directly in the SERPs and aim for a higher score than your competitors'. DA is best used as a comparative metric when investigating the sites within your target SERPs that may have more powerful link profiles than you do — your true competitors. Because the metric is relative, there is no such thing as an absolutely "good," "average," or "bad" Domain Authority score; there are only scores that are "good," "average," or "bad" within the context of a particular competitive landscape. - Moz.com


As each domain’s score depends on comparison to other domains all across the DA scale a "good" score depends. In general a score of 30 or over can be considered good.


How can you improve your DA Score?

The best way to increase your overall domain authority is to improve the general SEO of your website. 

When building backlinks remember link quality is more important than quantity. 


You might also like: Ways To Improve Your Blog DA Score


Find out more about DA Scores:

https://www.eskimoz.co.uk/domain-authority-seo/

https://www.digitalthirdcoast.com/blog/domain-authority

https://bluetree.digital/da-dr-metrics/

https://xamsor.com/blog/moz-da-domain-authority-explained/

https://www.web.com/blog/what-is-domain-authority/


How often do you check the Domain Authority of your website? Have you ever noticed your website have a dramatic change in DA Score in a short period of time? 


DA Scores Explained Everything You Need to Know About Domain Authority


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2 comments

  1. I check my DA about once a month. I blogged for 6 years before I reached 30. After I started updating old posts I noticed a jump in my DA. Maybe coincidence? Last time I checked it was 34. It’s been stagnant for a while. Maybe I’ve plateaued?!?! I continue to do my best with SEO and I update on average one older post per week. My strategy for updating involves Throwback Thursday…when I write a throwback post, I update the older post I link to. Using that strategy helps me consistently update, albeit at a snail’s pace. I look for opportunities to collaborate and help each other out with DA. Great post, Jo! ~Carol @ ReadingLadies

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    1. Thanks Carol. I need to get better at updating my older blog posts. I used to update them more frequently but I've got a bit lax about doing it this year. It's on my to do list for the summer. Your strategy of doing Throwback Thursday to highlight the posts you update sounds like a good way to stay motivated and hold yourself accountable with updating.

      The thing with DA scores is that they are influenced by so many different metrics it's hard to know what exactly caused an increase/decrease. As the DA score gets higher it becomes harder to increase it. That could be a reason why a lot of blogs struggle to increase it more once they get in the 30's range.

      I'm hoping to be part of more collaborations now I have a bit more free time during the summer break.

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