What is a good Domain Authority score?

A good score is one that's competitive with the sites ranking for your target queries. The scale is relative and logarithmic, so moving from 20 to 30 is much easier than moving from 70 to 80. A new B2B startup typically starts low, and that's normal. Focus on whether you can compete for specific queries, not on reaching a round number.

How do I increase my Domain Authority?

Earn links from relevant, trusted sites. That means publishing things people cite, such as original data, real price ranges and useful comparisons, getting listed on the review and integration platforms in your category, and asking partners for links. Don't buy links to raise the score: Google may ignore or penalize them, and the number itself doesn't rank you.

Why is my Domain Authority different in Moz and Ahrefs?

Each tool runs its own crawler and its own formula. Moz, Ahrefs and Semrush find different sets of links and weigh them differently, so the same site gets different scores in each. Pick one tool and track your trend over time in that tool, rather than comparing numbers across vendors.

Does page authority matter more than domain authority?

For a single query, the strength of the specific page often matters more than the domain as a whole. A page with its own relevant links and a clear answer can outrank pages on stronger domains. Domain-level strength helps every new page start from a better position, which is why both scores are worth watching.

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SEO & AI search

What Is Domain Authority? A Plain-English Definition

What is Domain Authority? A plain-English definition of DA and Domain Rating, why Google doesn't use them, and how to read the score sensibly.

By Mehdi HassanOct 29, 20264 min read

The short answer

Domain Authority is a third-party score, created by Moz, that estimates how likely a whole website is to rank in search results, based mostly on the links pointing to it. It runs from 1 to 100. Google does not use Domain Authority, so it's a comparison tool, not a ranking factor.

Key takeaways

Domain Authority is Moz's score. Ahrefs calls its version Domain Rating, Semrush uses Authority Score.
Google doesn't use any of these scores. They estimate link strength from outside.
Compare your score with sites ranking for your query, not with an abstract target.
Ahrefs found Domain Rating correlates 0.326 with AI Overview visibility, mentions 0.664.

Part of Web Design, SEO and AEO Glossary: 50 Terms Explained Simply

What is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority (DA) is a score from 1 to 100 that the SEO software company Moz calculates for every website it crawls. It predicts how well a domain can rank compared with other domains, using the number and quality of the sites that link to it. A higher score means a stronger link profile.

People often use "domain authority" loosely for any similar score. Ahrefs' version is Domain Rating (DR) and Semrush's is Authority Score. Each tool crawls the web differently, so the same site gets different numbers in each. The term sits next to backlinks in our SEO and AEO glossary.

Is Domain Authority a Google ranking factor?

No. Domain Authority is a third-party metric, and Google doesn't use it or any vendor's version of it. Google has its own internal ways of judging sites, and it doesn't publish a single site-wide score.

DA is useful because it's a decent proxy for something Google does care about: whether trusted sites link to you. But a site can gain DA from links Google ignores, and a site with a modest score can outrank a stronger domain because its page answers the query better. Treat the number as a rough measure of link strength, never as a goal.

Metric	Made by	What it measures	Used by Google?
Domain Authority (DA)	Moz	Predicted ranking strength of a domain	No
Domain Rating (DR)	Ahrefs	Strength of a domain's backlink profile	No
Authority Score	Semrush	Links plus traffic and spam signals	No
Search Console data	Google	Your real impressions, clicks and positions	It's Google's own data

How should a B2B site use Domain Authority?

Use Domain Authority to compare, not to judge. The useful question is how your domain compares with the sites ranking for the queries you want, because that tells you whether content alone can win or whether you also need more links and mentions.

A real example of reading it sensibly: a young studio site like designify.design will score lower than a large design marketplace, and that's expected. A newer domain rarely wins the broad query "web design agency" on links alone. It can win specific questions where its page has the clearest answer, such as a fixed-price offer it can actually state: our website package is $8,000 for up to 6 pages.

Hypothetical example: choosing battles by score

For example, suppose your SaaS domain has a DR of 25. You check the top five results for "crm for law firms" and see scores between 70 and 90. Those are hard to beat with one article.

Then you check "crm for immigration law firms" and the top results score 20 to 40, with thin pages. That's a query where a specific, well-structured page can win. The score didn't decide the ranking, but it told you where to spend your effort first.

Does Domain Authority matter for AI search?

It matters less than brand mentions. In Ahrefs' study of 75,000 brands, Domain Rating correlated 0.326 with visibility in Google's AI Overviews, while plain web mentions correlated 0.664 and branded search 0.392.

That suggests answer engines weigh how often and how widely you're talked about, not just how many links point at you. A brand that shows up in reviews, podcasts and community threads can appear in AI Overviews ahead of a higher-DR competitor. Our guide to entity SEO for startups covers how to build that presence.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good Domain Authority score?: A good score is one that's competitive with the sites ranking for your target queries. The scale is relative and logarithmic, so moving from 20 to 30 is much easier than moving from 70 to 80. A new B2B startup typically starts low, and that's normal. Focus on whether you can compete for specific queries, not on reaching a round number.
How do I increase my Domain Authority?: Earn links from relevant, trusted sites. That means publishing things people cite, such as original data, real price ranges and useful comparisons, getting listed on the review and integration platforms in your category, and asking partners for links. Don't buy links to raise the score: Google may ignore or penalize them, and the number itself doesn't rank you.
Why is my Domain Authority different in Moz and Ahrefs?: Each tool runs its own crawler and its own formula. Moz, Ahrefs and Semrush find different sets of links and weigh them differently, so the same site gets different scores in each. Pick one tool and track your trend over time in that tool, rather than comparing numbers across vendors.
Does page authority matter more than domain authority?: For a single query, the strength of the specific page often matters more than the domain as a whole. A page with its own relevant links and a clear answer can outrank pages on stronger domains. Domain-level strength helps every new page start from a better position, which is why both scores are worth watching.

Mehdi Hassan · CEO & Design Director

Copywriter, designer and developer, and founder of Designify Studio. Over five years, 60+ projects across 14+ industries, for startups that have raised $300M+.

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