Anyone who works at SEO know that different factors and metrics affect a website Google ranking. Among these metrics, domain authority is one that has been closely followed by many, knowing its impact on a website's SEO quality. Excellent domain authority often translates into better SERP rankings.

Unfortunately, building domain authority is not easy. You need to consider various elements such as your internal links, backlinks, content quality and more.

In this article, you will learn what domain authority is and discover domain authority building tactics for an effective SEO strategy.

What is domain authority (DA)?

Domain authority indicates the relevance and credibility of your site for a particular subject area. Originally developed by Moz, it's a metric that can predict how likely your website is to rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). Domain authority is a score on a scale of one to 100, where a higher score means a better chance of ranking.

Defining a site domain authority includes several factors calculated by a machine learning algorithm. For example, the age of the domain usually matters. Old and popular websites have high DA, while new ones have around 1 to 20.

The quantity and quality of inbound links are also crucial. The more high-quality links that point to your site, the better your DA rating will be.

While domain authority helps gauge a site's ranking ability, it's not really an “absolute” metric. No specific range of scores can be considered “good” or “bad”. Let's say your site has a DA score of 50. This may sound like a high DA, but if your competitors have higher scores, you may still struggle to outrank them. Simply put, DA is a comparative metric where a “good” score depends on the ratings of your competitors.

Additionally, domain authority is not a Google ranking factor. Yes, it can predict your website's potential to outperform competitors, but this metric by itself cannot affect your website's SERP ranking. However, you should pay attention to your site's domain authority to see how it stacks up against your competitors.

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How to build your site's domain authority

Your site's domain authority can be a reflection of its SEO performance. Several Google ranking factors, such as the amount of links to the root domain, the number of reputable internal/external site links, and the quality of the content, can also affect domain authority. So it's basically hitting two birds with one stone – building a website's domain authority also improves SEO health.

Here are five foolproof ways to increase your website's domain authority.

1. Produce high-quality content

The bread and butter of most websites is producing high-quality content that people want to read.

Another reason to produce killer content is to link your pages to other websites as they find them informative and valuable. For example, writers researching for information about your niche may find your content useful and shareable, so they link to your site in their pieces.

In short, you will become more organic backlinks if your content is high quality and reputable.

Here are some tips for creating content that attracts links:

• Add statistics and data: Websites are more likely to link to other content sites that present facts backed by statistics, especially when trying to prove a point. You can do your own research and survey to get unique data that is not available to your competitors.
• Strive for readability and accuracy: Make sure the information you want to convey is factual and clear.
• Solve a problem: Link-worthy content provides useful answers to people's questions. You can identify common questions that will pique people's interest keyword research.
• Conduct interviews with professionals and experts: You can attract more links by producing content filled with expert-level knowledge derived from your interviews with professionals and thought leaders.

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2. Focus on the quality of your links

High-quality backlinks like those from popular websites affirm your site's credibility and reputation, improving your domain authority.

It is essential to get as many high quality links as possible. You can contact top website owners in your area, request guest blogs from well-known industry leaders, or partner with popular sites.

3. Get rid of bad or low quality links

Spammy or toxic bonds Showing your site is a big no-no in SEO. They must be removed or disavowed before Google decides to penalize you.

But what makes an incoming link “spam”, “toxic” or “low quality”?

Spam or toxic links usually come from substandard websites with low domain authority. They usually engage in unnatural or manipulative link building practices and thus fail to adhere to Google's annoying link updates.

It is important to regularly audit your link profile (manually or using SEO tools) to identify these bad links. Before rejecting them, you can contact the content owner (if possible) and ask them to remove the link. Alternatively, you can use Google's Disvow Links tool page to disavow these links and tell Google not to consider them for ranking your site.

4. Improve your website's internal linking

A well-designed internal linking structure can help Google crawl and index your websites, increasing their visibility and domain authority. If done well, internal links can keep visitors engaged with your content and entice them to view other pages.

Here are some tips for smart internal linking:

• Make your linked pages relevant.
• Anchor texts should be descriptive, keyword rich and match the linked page.
• Avoid using identical anchor texts for different linked pages.
• Keep internal links under 100. Your site can look spammy with too many internal links.

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5. Don't forget your on-page SEO

Never neglect the basics of on-page optimization for search engines and users: well-optimized title and meta description, correct use of title, natural use of keywords, consideration of search intent, and inclusion of relevant images and videos. optimized. Additionally, with Google's priority for mobile-first indexing, you should also optimize your website for mobile use, such as ensuring that its content fits well and is readable on screen.

Building domain authority is a holistic process that focuses on strong link building, quality content production and link quality auditing and management. It is not easy and takes time to succeed, but striving for high domain authority can lead to better ranking results.