There are numerous ways out that you can use to increase your Site Domain Authority (DA) of your blog. Unfortunately, not all of them work towards achieving just that. So, it is important to single out the best methods you can use in order to achieve that.
According to Neil Patel, ask any marketer what the #1 goal of SEO is, and they’ll probably tell you it’s to get to position #1 on the first search engine results page (SERP). That’s the dream: page 1, position 1. And, yes, it all makes sense.
The whole first SERP is prime real estate, but position 1 is especially valuable. Since the data backs it up.
And when you get to position one, your Page CTR is going to be at least 200% higher than the closest runner-up, position 2! Of course, there are lots of roadblocks in the way of actually getting this spot. There’s a lot more than meets the eye.
For example, you can’t just think about ranking for certain keywords and getting authority backlinks —you have to think about tons of other factors that influence ranking. Above all, one of those factors is the Site Domain Authority (DA).
What is Domain Authority?
The Domain Authority (in short DA) is a ranking metric developed by Moz. Whereby, it predicts how well a site will rank. And it’s one of the industry standards we use when we talk about SEO and ranking on the SERPs.
A Site Domain Authority score ranges from one to 100. With higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank. But, you guessed it just right! A low Domain Authority can result in huge losses of traffic and ranking. That’s why it’s important to have a good DA.
In reality, I see lots of people having trouble changing their Site DA. And that’s because it’s somewhat of a long-term process. You can’t just make a couple of changes and expect your DA to skyrocket.
There are actionable steps you can take to improve and increase your Site Domain Authority. And although your Site DA won’t happen overnight, it can, however, happen faster than you think.
For instance, you can put together this plan that helped jmexclusives and their clients increase their DA by 5 points in just 2 weeks. Yes! Of course, you can take it from me that this plan works. If we could do it on our website blog articles, you too can definitely do it.
What is a Good Domain Authority?
Generally speaking, sites with a very large number of high-quality external links (such as Wikipedia or Google.com) are at the top end of the Domain Authority scale.
Whereas small businesses and websites with fewer inbound links may have a much lower DA score. Brand-new websites will always start with a Domain Authority score of one.
Because Domain Authority is meant to be a predictor of a site’s ranking ability, having a very high DA score shouldn’t be your only goal. Look at the DA scores for the sites you are directly competing with in the SERPs. And then aim to have a higher score than your competitors.
It’s best used as a comparative metric (rather than an absolute, concrete score) when doing research in the search results and determining which sites may have more powerful/important link profiles than others. Because it’s a comparative tool, there isn’t necessarily a “good” or “bad” Domain Authority score.
How to Increase your Site Domain Authority
First of all, the Site Domain Authority is calculated by evaluating multiple factors. Including linking root domains and the number of total links, into a single DA score. This score can then be used when comparing websites or tracking the “ranking strength” of a website over time.
However, the Site Domain Authority is not a metric used by Google in determining search rankings and has no effect on the SERPs. You can check Domain Authority using Moz Link Explorer, the MozBar (Moz free SEO toolbar), or in the SERP Analysis section of Keyword Explorer.
The DA metrics are incorporated into dozens of SEO and online marketing platforms across the web. They are also incorporated into all Moz Pro campaigns, as well as the Moz API.
Whereas Domain Authority measures the predictive ranking strength of entire domains or subdomains, Page Authority measures the strength of individual pages.
The Key Elements that Affects a Site Domain Authority
Before you do anything about your DA, you need to understand what elements affect DA. But even before that, you need to find out what your site’s DA is.
Not to mention, Moz, who created DA, has a free tool called Open Site Explorer (OSE) that you can use to check your DA.
With that in mind, you can head over to their Open Site Explorer in order to access both their Link Research & Backlink Checker.
And in that case, you’ll see a page with a search bar in the middle as shown in the screenshot above.
Next Step:
After that, you should enter your Site URL into the search bar. Then thereafter, hit on the “Search” button and you’ll see a results page. And it will display all the data you’ll need in your next part.
In general, your DA will be listed underneath the “Authority” title heading as shown below:
I’d say most DAs hover around the 40–60 mark, roughly speaking. But that range is for sites that have spent some time building authority, backlinks, and traffic.
Brand new sites will have a smaller DA. So, don’t get discouraged if your DA is low! No matter what your DA is, you can take steps to increase it. This takes time, for reasons which you’ll soon understand. Thankfully, there are some ways to level up quickly.
Next Step:
Next, let’s take a look at what exactly makes up DA. Moz has an entire page dedicated to DA. Unfortunately, DA is hard to define in a specific way. Moz just says that it’s “based on data from the Mozscape web index.” In other words, they have a trade secret algorithm (like Google does) that determines DA. However, Moz does name a few of the factors:
- MozRank
- MozTrust
- Link profile
Unsurprisingly, 2 out of the 3 are based on Moz’s proprietary systems. They also say that there are over 40 factors that are used to figure out DA.
So, improving DA isn’t as simple as improving a few of your metrics.
1. Start by making improvements on your link profile
Your link profile influences other metrics used to determine DA. Plus, the fact that Moz specifically mentions your link profile means it’s important in some way.
Something else you have to think about: Since Moz, like Google, uses a ton of factors in their algorithm, you need to see DA improvement as an SEO best practice.
Thinking about your DA should be part of your overall SEO strategy. And I think this is where lots of people get it wrong. They see DA as something isolated when it’s really part of SEO as a whole.
Related Topic: What is SEO? Everything every Web Marketer should know
The key point is that DA is the sum of several parts, and you need to focus on all the parts if you want to improve your DA.
It’s important to know that the domain authority scale is logarithmic. But, what the heck does logarithmic mean? Here’s my non-mathematician attempt to define it.
Logarithmic means that the scale increases nonlinearly. In other words, the scale’s “distance” from 50 to 51 is greater than the “distance” from 40-41. So, what does this mean practically?
Here is how Moz explains it:
We score Domain Authority on a 100-point, logarithmic scale. Thus, it’s significantly easier to grow your score from 20 to 30 than it is to grow from 70 to 80.
If you’re coming to this guide with a DA of 95, and want to move up to 100, it’s going to be unlikely. Why?
Because moving the scale by just one point at such a high level takes exponentially more effort, time, backlink juice, and whatever else goes into Moz’s algorithm.
If your DA is, say, a 15 or 20, you may be able to follow this plan and boost your DA by 7 or even 10 points! So with all of that in mind, let’s look at some different strategies for getting your DA up.
2. You should conduct your website links audit
In the first place, if you want a greater site Domain Authority ranking, you’re going to have to focus on maintaining a healthy link profile.
Simply put, your link profile is all of the backlinks your site has earned. For example, Google likes link profiles that have lots of variety, as that means the link profile in question is authoritative. And that’s a sign of a good, trustworthy site.
But, Google also likes link profiles that are healthy too. And in a nutshell, a “healthy” link profile is one that follows Google’s guidelines. There are some link strategies that will get your site penalized and make your link profile unhealthy.
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Google calls these “link schemes.” They’re non-organic methods of getting backlinks, which is frowned upon. You can see the official list by Google of prohibited link schemes.
I’m willing to bet you have more than a few links that fall into the category of link schemes. And that’s okay—no site is perfect. But, you should remove them (at least most of them) if you want search engines to see your site as an authority.
Trust me, there are much better and safer ways to get great backlinks. And frankly, if you do engage in a link scheme, you’ll probably end up with backlinks that aren’t relevant or high quality.
Related Topic: Guest Posting | Why your Site Backlinks Counts on SEO
But, before you get those links, you need to perform a link profile audit to assess your current link situation. You can do this using a few tools together: SEMrush Backlink Audit is a fantastic choice. Majestic is another great tool for link audits.
Last but not least, Moz’s Open Site Explorer (the tool you used earlier) and Ahrefs are also worth checking out. I won’t get into the full process of conducting a link audit (since that would take forever), but here’s a guide that shows you how to do it.
Once you’ve finished your link audit, make sure to disavow any bad or unwanted links. This will help you clean up your link profile, which will make Google happier and increase your DA.
3. Try and get high-quality links for your site
As I mentioned earlier, there are better alternatives to link schemes, and I want to share some of my favorites with you.
No matter which of these methods you end up using, you absolutely have to create amazing content that draws in people. And if that sounds familiar, that’s because it is. It’s a little something called content marketing, and it’s critical for a great link-building strategy.
If you’re producing awesome content, other sites in your niche will link to your site. And that will organically increase your DA (and give you a ton of other sweet benefits).
3.1. Use the Moving Man Method for Backlinks
Once you’re producing content worth linking to, there are a few ways of getting those links. One of my favorites is the Moving Man Method.
As explained in this tutorial guide by Brian Dean, this is one of the best link building methods because you’re genuinely helping someone out.
In this case, you’re not violating any search engine guidelines, and you can build a relationship with sites while you’re at it. You can read and learn more about how to get high quality backlinks using the Moving Man Method here.
3.2. Use Quora as part of your Backlinks Strategy
Another great method that I love is that of using Quora as part of a backlink strategy.
You’ve probably noticed I talk about Q&A sites quite a bit. That’s because they’re one of my go-to sources for content marketing, and you can also use them to get legitimate backlinks.
The idea is to have content that answers questions in your niche. Then, when you see that question pop up on a Q&A site, you can answer it and link to your content.
For example, if your niche is email marketing, you would search that in Quora and then find a question like this one. And if you have content about increasing the open rate, you could write a helpful answer and then link it to your content.
But, if you use this method, make sure to write an actual answer! Don’t just link to your content. The idea is the same as the Moving Man Method. You’re helping someone out and asking for a small favor in return. And most of the time, it works like a charm.
3.3. You should avoid engaging in any Link Schemes
Whatever you do, don’t engage in any link schemes. I see a lot of sites using obviously paid links as the main part of their backlink strategies and you can bet their DA scores aren’t increasing.
Getting links the right way will help your DA soar. If you try to find all kinds of ways to cut corners, your DA will likely take a dive.
You can see some of the best ways to get backlinks without using any link schemes. Or even see other link schemes guidelines here.
4. You should create content that your readers will love
There is one small problem with the backlinking methods I just shared with you. They don’t work if you don’t actually have amazing content, to begin with!
Getting your actual content right is a huge part of SEO copywriting, even though it’s not technically an SEO technique. Meaning that, if your content isn’t great, no one will visit your site. And if no one visits your site, your SEO won’t improve.
SEO isn’t just about search engines and algorithms. It relies on real people for traffic, social shares, and, yes, backlinks. If you want a role model for reader-friendly content, look at blogs like Smart Passive Income. Another good example is Copyblogger.
They publish lots of detailed long-form content that addresses concerns their readers have.
Related Topic: What is Content Creation? A Simple Step-by-step Guide
Even though longer content ranks better, quality matters way more than length.
If you write content that answers your readers’ most burning questions, you’ll get attention and your SEO will improve. But, you need to go deep with your content.
Your content should be comprehensive and cover every little detail of a topic. And to be content SEO friendly, you should also pay special attention to your on-page SEO when writing content.
What should good content be like?
First of all, keep it simple! Don’t use long, complicated sentences and huge paragraphs. So, make as user-friendly content as possible by using short paragraphs and sentences.
You might not have noticed this, but sometimes I rarely use more than two sentences per paragraph. And my sentences are pretty short. This helps break up the page, which helps you read it better. After all, which type of content would you prefer? Long or Short?
See the 4 statistics every Blogger should know about content word count
If you picked the second option, you’re like millions of other readers out there. So do your visitors a favor. Use short paragraphs and sentences. Include media. Images, infographics, and videos all help break up content even more and add visual interest.
When it comes to image SEO, make sure you give your images alt and title text. Of these two types, alt text is more important. Your alt text should contain your keyword and give a general description of the image.
5. You should try a crackdown on your whole site SEO
Moz suggests improving your overall SEO in order to improve your DA. That’s not surprising, considering SEO is a big part of any successful site’s strategy.
Unfortunately, there are no documented cases of any particular SEO techniques increasing DA more than others. All we know is that enhancing SEO is important. That means focusing on improving both your on-page and off-page SEO.
Like I said earlier, improving your DA should be part of your SEO strategy. Below are a few aspects of SEO (both on-page and off-page) that you might want to consider working on:
5.1. Utilize Meta Tags:
Title tags and meta descriptions are key aspects of on-page SEO.
These help search engines process your site easier, and they also help human readers find the most relevant content on your site. And this is most obvious on SERPs.
If search engines and people can process your content easily, your DA will go up.
5.2. Try Mobile-first SEO:
With the launch of Google’s mobile-first index, it’s more important than ever before to think mobile.
If you haven’t already separated desktop and mobile into two completely different categories, you should do that today.
Mobile environments have their own needs, and since most web traffic is mobile, you need to be paying extra attention here.
For one, this means you should have a responsive design with no annoying interstitials. You should also perform mobile keyword research.
5.3. Focus on Typical Issues:
Last but not least, focus on typical issues like site speed, user experience, and site navigation.
Like SEO in general, mobile SEO isn’t just something you do. It’s a way of thinking about your site.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to become a dedicated SEO to have a great SEO strategy. You can combine SEO and content marketing or include SEO as part of your local marketing.
If you use all of these methods in the next two weeks, I’m confident you’ll be able to increase your DA by 5 points.
There you have it!
A nice and simple plan to Increase your Site Domain Authority in simple steps. And I’m confident this will work for you, but you have to be willing to put the work into it.
If you slack off or ignore some parts of the plan, it probably won’t work. And if you choose not to automate it, you’ll sacrifice consistent growth.
But if you follow each step, you’ll see a nice increase in your DA. If you have a high DA already, you might not see it before the 2 weeks are over, but you’ll see it sooner than later.
More than anything, I hope you start focusing more on DA in your long-term SEO strategy. It gives you a solid metric to look at and see how your site performs over time.
Finally, if you’ll need more help on how to increase your site Domain Authority, you can Contact Us or even share your thoughts in the comments section.
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