Domain Authority

Domain Authority is a proprietary metric from Moz that estimates the overall ranking strength of a domain. The score ranges from 0 to 100; higher is better. Ahrefs publishes a similar metric called Domain Rating (DR); SEMrush calls theirs Authority Score. None of these are Google's actual ranking signal — Google has its own internal scoring — but they correlate strongly with where pages rank.

DA is built primarily from the size and quality of a domain's backlink profile. A site that earns links from many high-DA sites (Wikipedia, major publications, established brands) gains DA faster than a site that earns links from low-DA sources. The relationship is logarithmic — moving from DA 10 to DA 20 is easier than moving from DA 50 to DA 60, which is much easier than DA 80 to DA 90.

DA is most useful as a comparison tool. 'My DA is 25, this competitor is DA 40' tells you whether you can realistically outrank them with content alone, or whether you need to close the backlink gap first. New domains typically start at DA 1–10; established small businesses sit at DA 20–35; major brands sit at DA 70+.

Common mistakes: treating DA as a goal in itself ('I need DA 40 by Q3') rather than a leading indicator. DA is downstream of real authority — backlinks, brand mentions, content quality — not something you can directly optimize. Focus on the inputs (publish citable content, earn natural links, get covered by press) and DA follows.