Website owners trying to increase domain authority in order to improve SEO

Domain Authority (otherwise known as DA) is a search engine ranking score created by a company called Moz. Moz is a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) consulting company that began in 2004 with the mission to help clients with their websites.

This score will forecast how well a site will rank on search engine result pages. Some people refer to a search engine result pages as SERPs. The scoring is ranked on a scale from one to one hundred with the highest score meaning the greatest ability to rank in search results.

This is tallied by looking at a few different aspects of a site. Linking root domains and the number of total links are both evaluated, as well as in-house evaluation methods called MozRank and MozTrust.

All of this is put into a single score, the Domain Authority score. This is then used to discover the ranking strength of a site, and it can be used to compare different websites to one another.

This is an extremely powerful tool as it can be used to discover how relevant search engine companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing are deeming that website. This in turn, will uncover how many visitors that site is likely to get and as well as how many sales, newsletter subscribers, and clients will be gained.

Furthermore, Google now uses Domain Authority to help determine their rankings. This article will further explore the ins and out of DA as well as the benefits that can be experienced when increasing it.

How to know what is a good score and what is a bad score?

Moz has created a free Google Chrome-extension called MozBar, which will allow people to view their DA score. When a page is first created, it begins at 0. Large companies that have a high amount of links will be close to 100.

moz DA ranking for website
Photo: Screenshot/Moz.com

Smaller businesses may only have a few links (even though they are good quality) and so will have a lower result. Because of the differences in sites, it is important to not ever compare one score to another.

It is more a comparative tool that can be used to assess individual growth. For example, if someone is implementing a range of optimisation techniques and their DA has not grown, then those techniques may not be working.

Alternatively, if someone hires a professional digital marketing company, they will want to make sure that the methods they are using are increasing their levels. This is why it makes such a great tool as it really gives business owners an insight into the health of their web pages, as well as to the health of their online marketing campaigns.

What can be done to improve DA?

The only way that it can be influenced is by improving SEO. MozRank and MozTrust are mainly influenced by the number of good quality links that are shared elsewhere on the internet.

A great way to increase links is through guest blogging. This involves sharing a post on another relevant website. For example, a health coach may create a blog to be shared on a nutrition page. Here you find a list of high quality websites which accept guest posts.

That page will also include links that will lead readers back to creators’ site. It is a great option for both parties as posting regular content is also an optimisation method because Google is more likely to show a site that is up-to-date. It is also a great way to build a business connection.

The more connections that are made, the more likely it is that word of mouth will build, and more guest blogging opportunities will arise. Another great way to improve a link profile is by creating amazing content that will encourage people to share onto their social media accounts.

Furthermore, individuals can share their own pages on their social media platforms. This is why many successful businesses focus on a wide variety of social media accounts rather than just one. This means using a mixture of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Tumbler and more.

Of course, keeping up with all of these platforms can be time-consuming so this is when many people to decide to hire an online digital marketing agency to help share their links across all of their platforms.

Hiring a professional digital agency is also a great idea because oversharing can be seen as spam, so it is important to get advice on how, when and where to share without overdoing it. You need to be careful when looking for SEO experts as many of them give false promises.

What can be done when a DA is going down instead of up?

decreasing domain authority
Photo by Daniel Páscoa, Unsplash

Sometimes when people are attempting to get their levels to rise, they actually end up going down. There are a few reasons why this can happen. A common mistake that is made is that people share their page to places that do not contribute to Google rankings.

For example, search engines do not look at the amount a page has been shared to social media. They only take notice when something is shared to social media that then leads to other online activities such as more visitors and increased clicks.

This is one of the many reasons why links need to not only be good quality, but they need to be shared in places where they are likely to be seen by interactive or interested users.

Another reason why scores may not have risen is that it can take a few cycles for a score to change. These cycles are known as index update cycles and it may take several of them for new page shares to be included.

Furthermore, some of the larger websites have an astronomical amount of links shared. This can skew the scale and lead to a change in a DA. For this reason, among other reasons, those who have lower scores are more likely to experience fluctuation.

What are the some of the benefits of having a higher score?

One of the many great benefits of having a higher Domain Authority is that there will be an increase in traffic. The more something is seen, the more likely it is to be clicked on.

When a page is presented well and has suitable click funnels, it is able to direct visitors to where they need to go. This is usually to a newsletter opt-in or other online advertising methods, a sales page or to a services page.

When there is plenty of healthy traffic, these numbers can be used to collaborate with other businesses. When a company sees that there is a high number of visitors they are more likely to offer sponsored post deals, affiliate deals, ads as well as other collaborations.

Individuals are more likely to be invited to speaking events or to participate in podcasts and YouTube videos. Basically, a higher number means more legitimacy in the eyes of not only Google but also other businesses.

What are some other ways to increase Domain Authority?

As well as the method already discussed such as guest blogging and link building, there are plenty of other strategies out there that can be implemented. One simple way that is often overlooked is choosing a good domain name.

It is important to pick something that stands out but that also lets people know what the business is about. It also needs to be easy to spell and easy to remember so visitors will have no troubles returning.

Easy and relevant domain names are also more likely to be shared and will invoke a sense of trust. Many people like to brainstorm with a digital marketing agency before choosing their domain name, so thorough research can be conducted beforehand.

Another thing that many forget to think about is font. Sometimes first-time designers can get wrapped up in trying to stand out from the crowd and end up using crazy fonts that are quite hard to read.

Cursive fonts can also be harder to read on mobile phones and tablets. Opting for simpler and easy to read fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman is a very simple way to optimise on-page content.

Similarly, it is important to think about font size as well. Many designers suggest the size 16 as it can be easily read on computers and mobile devices alike. Another great increasing method is to ensure that a site’s speed is up to scratch.

This can be achieved by not clunking it up with too many images and videos or by regularly checking the speed of a page with online tools such as the PageSpeed tool by Google.

At the end of the day, there are many different increasing techniques that can be used, but it is always a great idea to chat with a professional before implementing them.

What are Mozrank and MozTrust?

As mentioned previously in this article, Mozrank and MozTrust are both used in conjunction with other things to help calculate DA. While many people have heard of these things, they do not actually know what they are. MozRank is the metric used to determine the strength of a site’s external links.

links included in MOZ rank for domain authority

It evaluates not only the number of these links but the quality of them. This means that it is better to have less good-quality ones versus heaps of low-quality ones. This is measured on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the highest. The average number for MozRank is 3.

Similarly, MozTrust is used to establish link quality by assessing how many trusted websites have shared them. Examples of trusted sites are .edu and .gov.

So, working hard to share to these trusted options is a great way to increase MozTrust levels and so the overall Domain Authority. Once again, this is measured from 0-10 with higher meaning more trust.

Is it possible to increase levels without the help of a professional?

The truth is everything in the world can be done without a professional. But it is important to ask how good the quality of work is going to be. Any regular person could build a house, but it doesn’t mean that the house will be very good or will withstand the test of time.

It is the same with SEO and DA. Time can be spent researching different techniques and methods, but that time isn’t going to pair up against the time a digital agency has spent using these techniques.

The SEO and marketing professionals literally spend hours per day researching and trialling methods and have usually been doing this for many years. A lot of people who work for themselves also find themselves getting stretched too thin.

This is because they are not willing to delegate. While, of course, it can take a lot of trust to hand jobs over to someone else, it can often have astronomical benefits in the longs run. Many expert agencies also have several different packages as they understand that not every company is the same.

Larger companies may need large amount of work completed whereas smaller ones may only need a little bit of help. But it is important to understand that no matter the size of an organisation, SEO is still one of the most important things to focus on.

For those who are absolutely determined to do everything themselves, they have the option to seek the support of a skilled worker who can at least teach them some basics. This way, spam methods can be avoided, and visibility is still increased.

There have been many things discussed in this article but there are still other things to consider. There are many methods that need to be avoided such as keyword stuffing or posting unoriginal content.

It is always better to only include keywords a few times and to use original photos and infographics. Again, things to be avoided can be discussed with a digital agency. At the end of the day, content is key and all of these techniques cannot work without regular and original content.

This can be done by blogging regularly, by staying up-to-date with social media and by having regular brain storming sessions to come up with new and fresh content. Once this is done regularly, website owners can then begin to look at increasing their DA and SEO to experience the benefits of a wider audience.

Mike Smith
Mike Smith
Executive Editor at Best in Australia. Mike has spent over a decade covering news related to business leaders and entrepreneurs around Australia and across the world. You can contact Mike here.
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