Domain Authority(DA)

Long definition

Domain Authority was introduced by Moz around 2010 as a single-number proxy for the strength of a domain's link profile. It's calculated from Moz's own crawl (Link Explorer index) using a machine-learned model trained to predict Google ranking position. The 1-100 scale is logarithmic — moving from DA 20 to 30 is far easier than from DA 70 to 80.

Google has been explicit, repeatedly, that it does not have a "domain authority" metric and does not use Moz's score. The concept of site-level authority that Google does use (sometimes called "site authority" or referenced in Google's leaked Content Warehouse API documentation in May 2024) is computed on Google's own data and is not Moz's DA.

Where DA is useful:

• Competitor comparison — if your direct competitors sit at DA 45-55 and you're at DA 25, you have a link-profile gap to close before you can challenge them on head terms.
• Outreach prioritization — when evaluating dozens of guest-post or partnership opportunities, DA is a fast filter.
• Trend tracking — your own DA going up or down over time is more meaningful than the absolute number.

Where DA misleads:

• Absolute targets — "we need DA 50" is meaningless without context. A DA-30 niche site can outrank DA-80 generalists for specific queries.
• Cross-tool comparison — DA, DR (Ahrefs), and AS (Semrush) use different indexes and different models. The numbers don't translate.
• As a single KPI — DA can be inflated by spammy link-building that Google itself ignores. A high DA earned via PBNs is a paper tiger.

Common misconceptions

• "Google uses DA in its ranking algorithm." It doesn't. Google has stated this many times. DA is Moz's prediction of how well you might rank, not an input to that ranking.
• "Higher DA always means better rankings." It's correlated with rankings on average but worthless without query-level context. Topical authority for the specific subject matters more than headline DA.
• "DA can be raised quickly." The score updates when Moz recrawls and recalibrates. Genuine DA growth tracks genuine link-acquisition over months, not days.
• "DA and PageRank are the same thing." PageRank is Google's internal signal (still operational, no longer publicly exposed since 2016). DA is Moz's external estimate. Different inputs, different outputs.