If you’ve spent time researching search engine optimization, you must have encountered a term called “domain authority.” It is one of the critical facets upon which the visibility of a website, be it an online store or a blog website, is based. To increase the domain authority of your site is a must for those looking to improve their ranking in SERPs.
In this blog post, we’ll cover everything you must know about domain authority and SEO tactics to help boost it. Read on.
What Is Domain Authority?
Domain authority is a metric that measures the strength of your site’s backlink profile. It helps assess the likelihood of a website ranking on Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) and other search engines. It also reflects on the relevance of your site for any specific industry or subject matter. Therefore, it is also referred to as “thought leadership of a website.”
Moz is credited with developing this metric, which relies on complex algorithms to calculate the score. Domain authority scores range from one to 100, and as always, the higher the score, the stronger the authority and the more likely your site will rank on SERPs. It is such an important metric that seven out of ten SEO experts track it every month.
How Is Domain Authority Calculated?
Today, there is an abundance of SEO platforms and keyword research tools. They all have developed their own ways of measuring domain authority. For instance, Semrush uses website authority or authority score, and Ahrefs uses domain rating.
While these may be slightly different than Moz’s original concept, they all consider the following factors when calculating a site’s authority:
- The number of backlinks on your site
- Authority of domains linking to your site
- Your ranking for different keywords
- Organic search traffic
- The presence of spam links, i.e., backlinks won with bad practices designed to manipulate search rankings
What Is Considered A Good Domain Authority Score?
Domain authority scores ranging from 40 to 60 are considered decent, while any number greater than 60 is exceptional. Below is the complete table for different scores and their rating:
| Domain Authority Score | Ratings |
| 1-20 | Terrible |
| 21-39 | Unsatisfactory |
| 40-50 | Average |
| 50-60 | Good |
| 60+ | Outstanding |
Read More: Why E-Commerce Businesses Require SEO?
How to Increase Your Domain Authority?
Boost domain authority with these tips from experts:
1. Publish Content Optimized for Search
As mentioned earlier, organic traffic and keyword rankings greatly influence a site’s domain rating. For that, you must create and publish content incorporating all the best practices and SEO techniques. This entails researching relevant keywords to your brand and incorporating them naturally in your blog posts and product pages.
However, simply adding keywords here and there won’t be enough. You must satisfy the intent with which searchers type them on Google. For instance, for informational keywords, you can publish informational content such as how-to articles and guides. Similarly, target transactional and commercial keywords with your product and category pages.
Apart from that, focus on the readability of your content and incorporate on-page SEO techniques. Doing so regularly will help you increase your site’s ranking on Google. As a result, you’d attract high-quality traffic to your site, increasing your domain authority over time.
Read More: 9 Blog Content Strategy Benefits for SEO Success
2. Win Backlinks from High-Authority Websites
With organic traffic taken care of, your next step should be to boost your link profile, another important consideration for domain rating. Basically, you need to earn backlinks from other domains, especially the ones that already have a solid domain rating.
Some of the most effective link-building strategies include guest blogging. Contact bloggers and influencers in your niche and contribute articles on their websites for a backlink to your site in return.
When searching for guest blogging opportunities, look for sites with high domain ratings. Also, prioritize do-follow links as they pass on link equity or link juice from the source site to your site, helping you increase its domain authority.
3. Create Link-Worthy Content
Link-worthy content is anything you publish as part of your content strategy that attracts backlinks on its own. Other websites refer to such content, share it on their pages, and direct link juice to your site.
Original research, informative guides, infographics, whitepapers, and case studies are prime examples of link-worthy content you must host on your website. Publishers and brands will likely use them as references for their content, citing you as the source and linking to your site.
4. Find Unlinked Mentions and Bad Links
Websites referring to your original content may not always provide you with backlinks. They may simply mention your brand, or their link may not work as intended. Use tools like Semrush and audit your site to track unlinked mentions and broken links.
Once you’ve found such websites, reach out to the publishers and request them to add a backlink to your site. While you can ignore mentions and dead links on low-authority domains, the ones on more credible sites are worth pursuing.
5. Create a Robust Internal Linking Structure for Your Site
Internal links are links connecting two pages on the same site. And just like backlinks, they also transfer equity from one page on your site to the other. They are also important from the user experience perspective, helping audiences navigate your site and discover more content. Moreover, they help search bots crawl your site and index its pages.
To build a solid internal linking structure, you must utilize the favored technique of creating topic clusters. In this strategy, you make a pillar page that covers the main topic and links to different pages, each focusing on a related sub-topic.
Read More: Boost Website Crawlability and Improve Site Indexability for Better SEO
Final Words
With a higher domain authority, you not only improve your website’s ranking but establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche. However, it is also important to note that domain rating changes over time and can even decrease if a site lags on factors like the number and quality of backlinks, organic traffic, etc. So, always cover all the vitals and continue to increase domain authority with the tips we discussed.
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