Why Should You Care About Domain Authority?
Firstly what is the term “Domain authority” and how important is it really? This term was created by Moz as they believed it to be behind how a website performs on the search engines. You all must have heard about Alexa and Google Page Rank but do you know how important they really are?
Moz mentioned the use of Domain authority when comparing two sites against each other. They mentioned about calculating the strength of the Domain authority by a combination of link metrics such as number of total links, MozRank, MozTrust, linking root domains etc. They will then come up with a score. All in all, what Moz created was a combination of different factors which graded the domain in terms of authority and strength. Now no one knows if this is really correct or not but we would not advise to completely rely on such a software as no one can predict how Google’s Algorithm works. How can a website determine all their internal SEO efforts via just a software? The rating scales up to 100 and higher you want to go, the tougher it gets in terms of competition.
The following are examples of high domain authority sites: Facebook has 100, Google is 100, ESPN is 100 etc.
Now you must be eager to know how you can increase your domain authority.
Firstly let’s talk about where you can check about your domain authority and learn more about the principles and basics of SEO. According to Moz who developed this software, you can use Open site explorer or the MozBar which is a free SEO toolbar specifically developed to monitor the domain authority score. You can also checkout Moz’s beginner’s guide to SEO which provides a complete guide into Search engine optimization for all the new webmasters out there.
How to increase Domain Authority of your site?
As we have learnt that there are a various factors involved in calculating the domain authority score therefore it is difficult to increase your score based on just a few methods. For just this reason alone, it is very important to focus on the long term progression and the content on your site. Content is King remember! By adding content you will be adding value to your site, your target market will want to read what you talk about and relate to it for example, a professional plumber might blog about how to clear pipes during winter, this is value to the reader who wants to know this can be done. Also providing a solution via your content will bring you many readers too.
Below are some tips and tricks on how to improve your domain authority score
Get working on the Social Networks
It does seem like the social networks are increasingly getting crucial in the way which they assist the search engines to rank websites and blogs. We all by now understand the part Facebook and twitter have played in relaying information and web content to the mass audience globally. Thanks to the social network it has become easier to engage with your audience than ever before. There has also been lots of discussion on if Google+ will influence search rankings. We do not know if this is true or not. If you do not have any social presence on your websites then we kindly ask you to begin making one as soon as possible.
Quality Content on the website
As an avid blogger I understand the importance of the content in the SEO world. If you do not have valuable fresh content then the chances of your site ranking at the top is very little. Just browse through all the top websites out there right now and you will notice that all have great quality content on them. When there is constant supply of fresh, unique content on your site then spiders will want to crawl your site often and you will notice your site getting indexed much quicker too. Through the help of content, one can create a successful brand name too. We all love content that is catered towards us and aims at providing some sort of solutions to the problems we have. Now with social networks it is even easier to share this content easily across various platforms with just a click of a button. If you can write well then you will get to the top pretty quickly and get the deserved exposure for the quality of content you write.
Working with well-known bloggers
There are millions of websites out there so how are you meant to be at the top when there are several high level sites out there competing for the same positions? One of the best ways to bring in new traffic and high page rank links to your website is by connecting with the established bloggers within your industry. Every industry has well known bloggers that are known for their amazing quality content. You have to find them so that they can publish your content on their site. Get hunting people!
Stick to Strong and Natural Link Building
You can have amazing content on your site but you will still need juicy backlinks to keep the traffic flowing and the search engines happy with you. The positive news is that you do not require a lot of trashy low quality links as they will not enhance your site in any way or form. You should focus more on the best way to build links naturally. Once again if you have quality content on your site, then naturally people will want to link to it. Do not purchase links in a bid to get your ranking to the top as this is bad SEO practice. Avoid companies that offer automated link building as that too is very bad for your site and can result in a penalty too.
So there you go, we have broken down what Domain Authority is and how you can enhance the Domain authority of your site by following the few tips we have outlined above. The main advice to all is to understand the importance of having quality content and backlinks on the website. We suggest in creating a long term goal and strategy to follow day in and day out. With time your domain authority will increase and along with it the traffic to your site too!
When planning any great SEO campaign, domain authority is one of those terms that crops up time and time again. This is well known to seasoned SEO experts but, for everyone else, just what is domain authority. More importantly, how can it be used to your advantage?
Developed by Moz, domain authority is a number – ranging from 1 to 100 – to determine the ‘strength’ and visibility of a website. The higher the number, the stronger the website is. A bigger number indicates better visibility on search engines. Google, itself, has a ranking of 100. Simple enough, right?
However, it’s also a logarithmic scale, so the gaps between points get exceedingly larger. This means that the gap between a website with domain authority (DA) of 10 and a site with DA 15 is much smaller than the difference between DA 90 and 95 platforms.
How Can This Help With SEO?
The main use of a DA score is to show the importance and relevance of websites. Google’s algorithm may be constantly changing – especially with the very recent Penguin 4.0 update – but there has always been a push to link with high quality websites, rather than mass-spam. The DA score is one way to help achieve this.
- When looking for external platforms to share content with, the DA score can be a quick and easy benchmark test. Higher visibility often means higher exposure, after all.
- On the other hand, let’s say your own website has a DA of 35. In this situation, you know that linking to very low quality websites, such as those with DA 10 or 15, might not do you many favours. This way, you can quickly compare sites, using your own platform as the benchmark.
Of course, there are always exceptions. It is often still better to target platforms that overlap with your niche – holding a relevant interest in your work - as Google’s ever sophisticated algorithm takes this into account as well.
How Easy Is It To Change Your Own DA Score?
The DA score itself represents your visibility across search engines, so it changes as you improve your SEO services. However, one of the reasons DA may be useful to website owners is that it gives a broad overview of the website’s impact.
This is different, for instance, than checking keywords. While your platform might perform exceedingly well on a few particular search queries, there are a whole host of other, relevant terms that it might be feeling to compete in. The DA score gives you one result, rather than having to compare various winner and loser keywords.
So, how well can you improve your DA? Some case studies show you can go up by a number of points with just one great piece of content. This is especially true when the content gets shared on other quality websites. As long as it links back to you, it will improve your DA.
Of course, the downside to this is that it is not very specific. When you want to target specific keywords, then you should ideally focus on these keywords as you normally would.