Every site buyer asks the same question first: what is this domain’s DA? Domain Authority is the single most quoted number in link buying, yet most people misunderstand what it measures and how it moves. Moz created the score to predict how likely a site is to rank, on a scale of 1 to 100. This guide explains what Domain Authority really is, what a good score looks like in your niche, and the exact order of work that moves the number up.
What Is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority (DA) is a proprietary score from Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search results. It runs from 1 to 100 on a logarithmic scale, which means moving from 50 to 60 takes far more link growth than moving from 20 to 30. Moz calculates it with a machine learning model trained on thousands of real search results, rebuilt in 2019 as DA 2.0 around a neural network.
The score reads your backlink profile. The main inputs are the number of linking root domains pointing at your site, the quality of those linking domains, and other link signals that correlate with rankings. A link can point at any indexed page on your site, not only the homepage, and still feed the domain-level score.
Is Domain Authority a Google Ranking Factor?
No. Domain Authority is not a Google ranking factor and has no direct effect on search results. Moz states this itself, and Google has confirmed that third-party tools do not have access to its internal ranking data. DA is Moz’s prediction of ranking strength, not a signal Google reads.
That does not make the number useless. The signals that push DA up, links from trusted relevant domains, are the same signals that push rankings up. Treat DA as a thermometer for your link profile and a quick way to compare sites, not as a target that directly causes rankings.
What Is a Good Domain Authority Score?
A good DA is one that beats the sites you compete against, not one that hits an absolute number. There is no universal good score because the metric is comparative. A new blog with DA 25 can outrank everyone in a quiet niche, while a DA 55 site can still lose in finance or health.
The practical method: list the 5 to 10 domains that rank for your main keywords, check their DA, and read your score against that set. Your goal is to sit at or above the median of that group. When we screen publisher sites for the SEO Gangs marketplace, DA is the first filter, but a DA 60 site with no traffic and no relevance to your niche loses to a DA 45 site your audience actually reads.
How Can You Increase Your Domain Authority?
You increase DA by earning links from more unique, relevant, and trusted domains than the sites scored against you. Nothing else moves the score in a way you will notice. The order matters, so work through these four steps in sequence.
1. Reclaim the links you already earned. Links pointing at deleted pages, or at URLs that now redirect twice, leak the authority you already won. Fix broken inbound targets first and ask sites that mention your brand without linking to add the link. This costs nothing and often produces the fastest movement.
2. Collect the links you already have a claim to. Suppliers, partners, clients, industry bodies, and the few directories that matter in your sector will usually link to you if you ask. Most sites skip this step and leave easy linking domains on the table.
3. Publish something worth citing, then pitch it. One original study, free tool, or definitive guide earns more linking domains than a year of ordinary posts. Other sites link to work they have a concrete reason to cite. If guest posting is part of your plan, read our guide on how to write a guest post that gets accepted before you pitch editors.
4. Remove what drags the profile down. Links from spam networks and scraped directories get discounted by Moz and can raise your spam score. Try to get the worst ones removed, and disavow the ones you cannot remove. Only after these four steps does buying new outreach become the real constraint.
What Does Not Increase Domain Authority?
Page speed, title tags, mobile layout, social shares, and domain age do not move your DA. They matter for rankings and for users, but the score only reads links. Older guides still list them as DA tactics, and following that advice wastes months.
Also on the no-list: DA-boosting packages, expired-domain redirects, and private blog networks. These can move the number short term because they exploit the model, and they show up in your spam score while carrying real risk from Google, which does not measure DA at all but does punish link schemes. If someone sells you “DA 50 in 30 days,” you are buying the exact links Google penalizes.
How Long Does It Take to Increase DA?
Expect the first visible movement in 3 to 6 months of steady link earning. Moz has to discover your new links and refresh its index before anything shows up in the score, so there is always a lag between earning a link and seeing the number move. New backlinks can take around 10 weeks to influence the metrics built on them.
Track the trend, not the week. Check DA monthly against the same competitor set and look at the direction over two quarters. A score that climbs 3 points in 6 months while competitors stay flat is real progress.
Domain Authority vs Domain Rating vs Authority Score
DA (Moz), Domain Rating or DR (Ahrefs), and Authority Score or AS (Semrush) are the same idea from three vendors. Each predicts site strength from its own link index, so the same domain often shows three different numbers. The work that lifts one lifts all three, because all three mostly read links.
Use at least two when you evaluate a site. When the scores disagree sharply, for example DA 65 but DR 20, dig into the link profile before you trust either number. A sharp split often means one index caught spam the other missed. Want to publish on sites with verified metrics? See our Write for Us page for how we vet publishers.
Is a Domain Authority of 30 good?
DA 30 is normal for a young or small site. It is good if the sites ranking for your keywords sit at DA 25 to 35, and weak if they sit at DA 60. Compare against your niche, not against the whole web.
Why did my Domain Authority drop?
The usual causes are lost backlinks, for example linking pages that were deleted, or Moz refreshing its link index and recalculating scores. A drop can also mean competitors earned links while you stood still. Check your lost links in a backlink tool before assuming the worst.
Can I pay someone to increase my DA?
You can pay for legitimate link earning, like digital PR or quality guest posts, but avoid anyone selling a guaranteed DA jump. Those packages use spam networks and PBNs that inflate the score briefly and risk a Google penalty. The score is a side effect of real links, not a product you buy directly.
Does Google use Domain Authority for rankings?
No. Google does not use DA, DR, or any third-party metric in its ranking systems. These scores estimate the strength of the same link signals Google does value, which is why they correlate with rankings without causing them.
How often does Moz update Domain Authority?
Moz recalculates DA each time it refreshes its link index, so your score can shift between checks even if you changed nothing. This is why DA sometimes drops after an index update. Judge the trend over months, not single readings.