We’ve all heard of Alexa and Google Page Rank, but how important are they really? Everyone has their own standards of what they like to hold their web sites to, but one statistic starting to mean more and more to people is “Domain Authority.”
Domain authority was created by Moz and they explain it as the following…
Domain Authority represents Moz’s best prediction for how a website will perform in search engine rankings. Use Domain Authority when comparing one site to another or tracking the “strength” of your website over time. We calculate this metric by combining all of our other link metrics—linking root domains, number of total links, MozRank, MozTrust, etc.—into a single score.
To determine Domain Authority, we employ machine learning against Google’s algorithm to best model how search engine results are generated. Over 40 signals are included in this calculation. This means your website’s Domain Authority score will often fluctuate. For this reason, it’s best to use Domain Authority as a competitive metric against other sites as opposed to a historic measure of your internal SEO efforts.
In short, a bunch of different calculations, scores and metrics make up the domain authority score for your web site. This rating is on a 100 point scale and it’s much easier to boost your score from 20 to 30, then it is to jump from 70 to 80. This all makes perfect sense as you will have a much higher level of competition of great sites in the higher rating scales.
A few examples of web sites and their current domain authority score are:
There are actually a decent amount of sites that have a domain authority score of 100; Google, Facebook and ESPN to name a few.
So now the big question is, what can you do to increase the domain authority of your site?
Before we jump into what steps you can take to improve your domain authority, let us give you some references for where you can check your DA and also learn some of the basics on SEO and site rankings.
Moz recommends that you use Open Site Explorer or the MozBar, Moz’s free SEO toolbar for monitoring your DA score.
Two additional resources for learning about SEO and Domain Authority are below.
How to Increase the Domain Authority of Your Site
Since the domain authority number for your web site is created based on a wide range of variables, it will be hard for you to increase your score just based off a few methods. For this reason, it is important for you to focus on the overall progression and quality of content of your site. By doing this you will be creating an environment that provides value for your audience, while also building a long term link building and content solution as well.
Here are some quick tips for you to steadily improve your domain authority score over time.
Get Active on Social Networks
It seems like every day social networks are becoming more important in the way they influence and help search engines to rank web sites and blogs. Facebook and Twitter have paved the way for how people can share their information and favorite web content. Never has it been easier to connect to over a billion users worldwide and start a following of your own. Social networks are a great way for you to engage with your audience, while also building community and fan pages for your sites. There has also been a lot of talk about how/if Google+ will influence search rankings. If you currently do not have a social profile for each of your web sites, it is advised that you start thinking about making one.
Write High Quality Guest Post Content
If you look at every successful web site out there, at the end of the day it all comes down to quality content. What do the largest news, sports, financial and media sites have out there that others don’t? A constant supply of amazing content! This is what you need to focus on to create a successful brand and site on the internet. People love content that is catered to them and when it provides insightful or amazing information, they will usually share it with their friends, social networks, and even back to it if they have a web site or blog.
Being an amazing writer can really get you far in the world of online marketing and web sites. If you can write well, you can get exposure anywhere… even from some of the top blogs on the internet!
Connecting with Well Known Bloggers
Speaking of top blogs on the internet! With millions of new web sites and blogs going live every day, how are you supposed to compete with the other high level sites out there? There is no reason for anyone to link to your site and give you a chance… or is there? One of the best ways to bring new audiences and high value links to your web site is by connecting with well-known bloggers within your industry. It’s not just internet marketing and SEO that has well-known players with high level blogs, every industry has them and it’s just a matter of searching them out and providing them with amazing quality content that they will want to publish on their site. Follow these best guest blogging practices and in exchange for your time and content, you will usually get a backlink from their site back to yours.
Focus on Natural and Strong Link Building
Last but not least… as amazing as the content is on your web site, we still need juicy backlinks to keep the traffic flowing and the search engines happy. The good news is that you don’t need a lot of trashy low quality links, and the truth is you actually don’t want them. Instead, you should be focusing on SEO best practices. Focus on creating quality content that people will link to naturally. Don’t flood your sites with low quality and specific anchor text-based links. This is exactly what the search engines are looking for and they will penalize sites that are running off of these practices.
There you have it, an awesome breakdown of what “Domain Authority” is, how to find the DA of your site, and four quick tips to increase your score over time. The common theme among all of these tips is that quality content and backlinks are king. Focus on your long-term goals and build a legitimate plan for your web site and your domain authority will rise right alongside with the success of your site!
*Editors Note: This post went up under someone else’s bio but has been changed back and corrected.