Domain Authority: What It Is and How to Build It

## Clarifying "Domain Authority" "Domain Authority" is one of the most misunderstood terms in SEO. It is used to mean several different things, and conflating them causes real strategic errors. Before discussing how to build it, we need to be precise about what we are actually talking about. **Moz Domain Authority (DA)**: A proprietary 0-100 score created by Moz that predicts how likely a domain is to rank in search results. It is calculated from the number and quality of backlinks pointing to the domain. It is a third-party metric — Google does not use it. **Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR)**: Ahrefs' equivalent metric, also based on backlink profile quality on a 0-100 scale. Also a third-party metric. **Google's PageRank**: Google's internal measure of page-level authority based on backlinks. Google stopped publishing public PageRank scores in 2016, but PageRank-like authority calculations remain central to Google's ranking algorithm. Google does not publicly expose domain-level authority scores. When SEOs say "domain authority," they usually mean Moz DA or Ahrefs DR as proxies for the underlying Google signals. Domain authority in this guide refers to the genuine underlying strength of a domain's backlink profile and overall trust signals — not any specific third-party score. ## What Actually Determines Domain Authority ### 1. Backlink Quality and Quantity The primary driver of domain authority is the quality and quantity of other websites that link to you. Not all backlinks are equal: - A link from nytimes.com is worth thousands of times more than a link from a newly created blog with no readers - A link from a relevant, topically related site is worth more than a generic link - Links from sites in your language and country are more valuable for geographic ranking - Links embedded naturally in content are worth more than footer or sidebar links - Dofollow links pass authority; nofollow links provide a reduced or zero authority signal ### 2. Topical Depth and Expertise Google's Quality Rater Guidelines emphasize E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Domains that consistently publish deep, accurate, well-researched content in a specific topic area build topical authority that transcends simple backlink counting. A site that has published 500 detailed, expert-level articles about personal finance over 8 years has built topical authority that a site with the same backlink count but scattered content does not possess. ### 3. Brand Signals Google can detect brand search volume — how often users search for your domain name or brand name directly. High brand search volume signals genuine user demand and trust. Domains with growing brand search volume are treated as increasingly authoritative. ### 4. User Engagement Signals While Google does not confirm using engagement metrics directly in rankings, the correlation between sites with strong user engagement (low bounce rate, long session time, return visits) and high rankings is consistent across multiple studies. High-authority sites typically earn better engagement because users trust them more. The TLD trust signal contributes to this: a .com or .org domain starts with higher user confidence than an unknown new gTLD, which translates to lower initial bounce rates. ## Building Domain Authority: The Correct Strategy ### Content as the Foundation No link building strategy compensates for thin, unhelpful content. Google's Helpful Content Update (2022-2023) explicitly targeted sites with high backlink counts but low actual content utility. Authority must be earned from content first. The content that earns the best backlinks is: - **Original research**: Studies, surveys, and data that other writers want to cite - **Comprehensive reference content**: The definitive guide to a topic that becomes a standard citation - **Unique tools and resources**: Calculators, databases, and interactive tools that can only be found on your site - **Expert opinion and commentary**: Analysis that is only available because of your team's specific expertise ### Link Acquisition Without Buying Links Google's guidelines prohibit purchasing links. Manipulative link schemes are targeted by Penguin-derived algorithms and can result in manual penalties. Legitimate link acquisition methods: **Digital PR**: Creating newsworthy content, conducting original research, or building tools that journalists and bloggers cite naturally. This is the highest-quality link acquisition method. **Guest posting**: Writing articles for other sites in your niche with a link back to your domain. Google has signaled that scaled, generic guest posting is manipulative, but selective, high-quality guest contributions to relevant publications remain valid. **Broken link building**: Finding broken links on authoritative sites and offering your content as a replacement. High effort, but generates editorial links. **Resource page link building**: Getting listed on curated resource pages ("The best SEO tools," "Essential plumbing resources") that are relevant to your content. **Unlinked brand mentions**: Finding sites that mention your brand without linking and requesting a link. These convert at higher rates because the editorial decision to mention you has already been made. ### The TLD Comparison Tool and Authority When selecting a domain for a new project, consider that .com domains typically acquire links at higher rates than equivalent new TLDs in most industries. Use our TLD Comparison Tool to model the SEO implications of different TLD choices before committing — the authority gap compounds over time. ## Domain Authority by TLD Category Research from Moz and Ahrefs shows consistent patterns in domain authority distribution by TLD: | TLD Category | Median DA (Moz) | Notes | |---|---|---| | .edu | 68-85 | Academic, heavily linked by research | | .gov | 65-82 | Government, highly trusted | | .com | 35-45 | Wide distribution, median heavily diluted by spam | | .org | 38-50 | Higher quality filter than .com | | .io | 30-42 | Tech-heavy, decent quality floor | | New gTLDs | 15-30 | Wide variance, lower floor | These medians are skewed by the enormous volume of low-quality sites in each category. A strong .io site will have higher authority than a weak .com site. But the distribution shows that established TLDs have higher floors because they attract higher-quality site operators on average. ## Internal Domain Authority: Distributing PageRank Domain authority is a domain-level signal, but ranking happens at the page level. How you distribute your site's authority through internal linking is as important as how much total authority you accumulate. Key internal linking principles: - Important pages (pillar content, conversion pages) should receive the most internal links - Every page should be reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage - Orphan pages (pages with no internal links) receive no authority from the domain - Internal links should use descriptive anchor text that reflects the target page's topic - Fix broken internal links — they waste crawl budget and authority ## Protecting Domain Authority Authority can be damaged by: - **Receiving a manual penalty** from Google for link manipulation - **Acquiring toxic backlinks** from spam or adult content sites (use Google's Disavow tool to address) - **Migrating domains poorly** — a bad domain migration can lose 30-60% of accumulated authority - **Content decay** — old content that is no longer accurate or competitive erodes user trust signals ## How Long Authority Building Takes Domain authority growth follows a predictable curve: - **Months 0-6**: Minimal authority, primarily building content and technical foundation - **Months 6-18**: First significant backlinks begin accumulating, rankings for long-tail terms improve - **Years 2-4**: Compound growth as existing content earns links and attracts more content - **Years 5+**: Established authority where even new content ranks quickly due to domain trust There are no shortcuts that have survived Google's algorithm evolution. The sites with the highest domain authority in any vertical have been consistently producing high-quality content and earning genuine links for years. ## Related Guides - Domain Age and SEO: Myth vs Reality — Why domain age is often confused with domain authority - 301 Redirects and Domain Migrations: SEO Guide — How to transfer domain authority during a migration - Multiple Domains SEO Strategy: When It Helps — Why splitting authority across domains usually hurts