Domain Authority (DA) is a third-party SEO metric developed by Moz that predicts a domain’s likelihood of ranking in search engine results on a scale of 1 to 100.
Key points:
- It is not an official Google ranking factor — it is Moz’s own model.
- The score is logarithmic: moving from 30 to 40 is much easier than moving from 70 to 80.
- It should be used comparatively rather than as an absolute value: if your Competitor’s DA is 60 and yours is 40, you need to strengthen your Backlink profile to compete.
- Similar metrics: Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR), Semrush Authority Score.
DA is essentially an estimate based on the quality and quantity of a Backlink profile. Not spammy links, but links from authoritative sites, increase the score.
Tip: Do not think of DA as a goal on its own. Real business metrics such as rankings, traffic, and conversions should always come first; DA is only useful for Competitor comparison.