7 tips to improve your website’s domain authority
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search engine result pages (SERPs).
Many factors come together to make or break your search engine optimization (SEO), including your domain authority.
In a nutshell, the higher your domain authority, then the more likely your website will rank higher in search engine results and generate more organic traffic. Domain authority represents your ranking strength.
Domain authority is scored on a scale of 1 to 100, where 1 is the worst and 100 is the best as derived through an algorithm that you are not in control of. Scoring between 40 and 50 is average. Between 50 and 60 is good, and scoring over 60 is excellent.
One important clarification: DA is a third-party metric built by Moz, not a score Google itself calculates or uses directly in ranking. Other SEO tools track similar concepts under different names, like Ahrefs' Domain Rating (DR) or Semrush's Authority Score, and each uses its own methodology and scale. Don't be alarmed if your site shows different numbers across tools. Pick one tool and track your trend over time rather than comparing raw scores between platforms.
With about 68 percent of online experiences beginning with a search engine, SEO matters more than ever.
To be clear, domain authority reflects your entire domain (or website), while page authority is specific to a single webpage.
The following are seven tips to help you improve your website's domain authority.
| Tip | In short |
|---|---|
| Pick a good domain name | Relevant, memorable, and renewed on time |
| Optimize on-page elements | Title tags, alt tags, headings, and genuinely useful content |
| Consider backlinks | Earned through content worth linking to |
| Increase internal linking | Fully within your control, so audit regularly |
| Audit your outbound linking | Only link to sites that are still live and trustworthy |
| Prioritize mobile optimization | Search engines rank the mobile version of your site |
| Embrace social media | Shares and links back to your site, indirectly |
Pick a good domain name
Having the right domain name for your website is critical. You want it to be relevant but also easy to remember.
Of course, if you already have a great domain name, make sure that your license isn't going to expire without your knowledge.
Optimize your on-page content, elements
This includes so much more than just the obvious content itself, including:
- Title tags
- Image alt tags
- Headings
Of course, when it comes to your content, it needs to be relevant and use critical keywords. Think about the questions search engine users are asking that should lead them to your website. Give them the value that they're looking for. To truly improve your domain authority, you must show that you are the expert of your niche. Seize that opportunity with every piece of content you create.
Consider backlinks
Backlinking is when other websites link to the content on your website. This obviously isn't something you can snap your fingers and make happen.
But it all starts with creating high-quality content that others would want to link to, of course. Beyond that, see our seven tips to grow quality backlinks to your website.
Increase your internal linking
Internal links, on the other hand, are entirely within your control. They help direct your website visitors to other related content on your website that they might be interested in.
Take the time to audit the content you've already published. Then, begin to edit in links to your other related content. Doing so creates an internal linking structure that supports a stronger domain authority ranking.
Audit your outbound linking
Outbound linking is great for your SEO. It shows search engines that you're a team player, but you also are showing whom you consider to be trustworthy resources on the internet.
That being said, you'll want to ensure that any website you're linking out to from your content is still live and a trustworthy site.
This can ebb and flow more than you might imagine. So, it's worthwhile to take the time to make sure every outbound link you have is still viable. Otherwise, you risk your own domain authority by linking to bad sites.
Prioritize mobile optimization
The way of the internet these days is mobile first. If your website doesn't work well on a mobile device (whether it's the layout, loading speed or something else), you're shooting yourself in the foot.
And that's not just because of what website visitors might think. Google has moved entirely to mobile-first indexing, which means the mobile version of your site is what search engines actually crawl and rank, on both mobile and desktop searches.
Check out our 16 tips to optimize your website for mobile traffic, plus our six best practices for mobile SEO specifically.
Embrace social media
Social media can impact both your domain authority specifically and your SEO at large. At the heart of it, it comes down to links directing users to your website beyond your website.
Share your best content on your social media accounts, but also make it easy for your website visitors to share your content by providing social media sharing buttons.
See these seven ways that social media can impact your SEO.
In conclusion
Of course, the last thing you want to do is obsess over your domain authority ranking. We recommend monitoring your website analytics so that you are familiar with where your website traffic is coming from and what is working (and what isn't).
Embracing general SEO best practices should feed into a boost for your domain authority. Then, know that it will take time. Be patient.
Check out our 12 SEO marketing tips for beginners, and once you have the basics down, review these 13 common SEO mistakes you could be making right now.