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Domain Authority is changing. Here’s what you need to know.
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority (DA) predicts the ranking ability of a website. Higher DA scores indicate a higher chance of ranking in search engine results. Domain Authority scores are based on factors from a domain’s inbound links (backlinks).
What’s changing?
Moz now has…
- More link data
- Better ways to interpret that link data
- Fresher link data
The new Domain Authority will be the most accurate way to compare your site’s ranking potential against your competition.
With metrics like Spam Score and link quality patterns factored into a sophisticated machine-learned model, you can keep pace with Google’s algorithm updates and make smarter search marketing decisions.
Timeline of recent updates
(September 2017) Tracking metrics over time – Moz starts tracking historical data. DA, PA, and Linking Domain counts can now be seen over time.
(April 2018) Bigger & fresher link index – Moz announces a rebuild of our link technology. This change makes our link index 35x bigger and 30x fresher than before.
(March 2019) New & improved algorithm – Moz updates the way DA is calculated, adding new factors that will improve the accuracy of the scores.
How will this affect my data?
If you monitor your site’s Domain Authority, you can expect to notice some changes. For some sites, DA scores may be higher; for others, they may be lower.
This is due to the update in how we calculate scores and is not a direct reflection of a change you’ve made to your link building strategy.
The update will apply to historical data so that you can continue to measure linear progress. This means that your “Metrics over time” will still be an accurate representation of your site’s authority and link improvement over time.
If you have a Campaign with Moz, we will retain your old score temporarily for reference. You will be able to view this data in the Links section of your Campaign.
Because we’re adding more factors to our algorithm, sites with suspicious link patterns may notice a change in DA beyond their normal fluctuations. This could cause a larger gap between your site’s score and the scores of others.
Dos and don’ts for using DA
DO: Use DA as a comparative metric between sites of a similar caliber, category, or industry.
DON’T: Don’t look at your site’s Domain Authority score in isolation.
DO: Look to see how your competitors’ DA scores fluctuated in light of any updates. How do you compare?
DON’T: Don’t mistake our 0–100 scale for an F–A grading on a test. You should not be aiming for 100 to get an “A,” but rather should be aiming for a score that is higher than your direct competitors (those who show up near you in search results for your target keywords).
DO: Expect regular fluctuations in your DA score, as both your site’s link profile and the rest of the web change over time.
DON’T: Don’t mistake DA for PageRank, Google’s link-based ranking signal. DA was created by Moz, and Google doesn’t factor the score into your site’s ranking.
To sum it up:
Moz is changing the way our Domain Authority score is calculated for even better accuracy.
Expect changes to your DA score in light of this update, but know that it’s not a reflection of changes to your site.
DA is a comparative metric, so look to see how your competitors’ scores change, too.
Aim for a score that is higher than your direct competitors (those who show up near you in search results).
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