Domain Authority (DA) is a metric developed by Moz that estimates how competitive a website is in search engine results pages (SERPs). It is scored on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100 — the higher the score, the more likely the domain is to rank well.
How Domain Authority is Calculated
DA is calculated using dozens of factors, but the most influential are:
- Linking root domains — the number of unique domains pointing to your site
- Total backlinks — the overall volume of inbound links
- Link quality — the authority of the sites linking to you
Domain Authority vs. Domain Rating
DA is Moz’s metric. Ahrefs uses a similar score called Domain Rating (DR), and Semrush uses Authority Score. They measure similar things but use different data and algorithms, so scores are not directly comparable across tools.
How to Use It
Use DA as a relative benchmark — compare your score against direct competitors, not against unrelated sites. A DA of 30 may be strong in a niche industry but weak in finance or health.
Focus on earning high-quality backlinks from relevant, authoritative sites to improve your DA over time.
Important Caveats
DA is a third-party metric — Google does not use it in its ranking algorithm. Do not optimise for DA directly. Instead, build a strong backlink profile and DA will follow.