Introduction to Moz & Domain Authority
Moz is a leading search engine optimisation software company that assesses and measures the changes in the Google.com algorithm. Moz then use this data to create analytic tools for webmasters and internet marketers to better understand their website performance and how their site compares to the competition.
Domain Authority is the most useful measurement comparison of one website to another as this is the overall measurement of a websites online authority. The domain authority has a big impact on the overall ranking of all web pages under that domain name. All online marketers and business owners should focus in improving their Domain Authority as this has a big impact on your websites ranking and long-term internet success.
The Domain Authority is calculated using a vast number of analytical measurements of which include; quantity and quality of links, number of linking root domains, social signals, content and many more factors. All of these components are used together to create an overall Domain Authority.
The Domain Authority is calculated and measured using Moz’s highly regarded software, which is closely aligned to the Google algorithm. This ensures that the Moz metrics give you an incredibly close indication as to how Google assesses and compares your website and web pages. Moz regularly updates their metrics as do Google, because of this you will expect to see your Domain Authority alter from time to time.
How is Domain Authority Graded?
A websites Domain Authority is graded out of 100 points. Moz use a logarithmic scale which essentially means that is far more challenging to increase your grade from 60 – 70 than it is to increase from 10 – 20.
The Difference between Page Authority & Domain Authority:
Your Domain Authority is a measurement that assesses the expected ranking of your domain name and all subdomains. Whereas your Page Authority is a measurement of the overall power of each unique page.
How to Measure Your Domain Authority
There are various platforms available online that you can use to measure your websites Domain Authority, however the consensus within our team is that the best platform to use is Moz’s Open Site Explorer, which also happens to also be the most favourable platform across the web. The Moz OSE tool is free to use and it can extract stats of data from both you and your competitor’s websites. The OSE tool not only pulls out tons of data but it also delivers the information in an easy to understand and simple to compare format, giving you data and information that is easy for you to take action upon in order to improve your websites online presence.
Domain Authority in Layman’s Terms
Your Domain Authority is calculated and assessed by Moz as a metric that indicates how authoritative your website is. Moz has a wealth of data in its web index that it uses to produce an accurate Domain Authority reading. Multiple factors are used to assess and calculate the Domain Authority, but most importantly all components are closely aligned to the algorithm and measurements used by Google. This enables us to make smart decisions on how we need to optimise our websites as the data provided is both of high quality and accuracy.
If you are looking to compare the authority of your website to competitors, it is certainly best to use the Domain Authority and Page Authority metrics. The OSE tool will identify key characteristics that a competitor has that you may not. Once these areas have been identified you will be able to clearly define what areas you need to focus on within your SEO strategy in order to supersede your competitors search ranking.
Enhancing Your Domain Authority
Unfortunately your Domain Authority is the most challenging metric to improve; however it is also the most beneficial for your website.
Don’t become frustrated by the prospect of increasing your Domain Authority. There is no doubt that it will take time and dedication to improve your online presence. As we are all aware, Google is an exceptionally advanced beast with an incredibly advanced algorithm, so whilst it will take time to increase your Domain Authority, it will also be rewarding in the long run. Google aims to combat spam and penalise low quality websites within search results, in order to do this it needs websites to spend more time and effort marketing their quality content and proving that their site is not a spam trap.
Predominantly search rankings are heavily dependent upon which site has the best in-bound link portfolio. For instance if your website has hundreds if not thousands of links from high quality, relevant and well linked to web pages then it is most likely that your website will rank higher than a competitor. If you do not rank above a competitor then it is very likely that they have a superior portfolio of links pointing to their site.
Links provide traffic; increase trust and most importantly boost online authority. Google identifies links as a vote of confidence from one web page to another.