Search engines are a jungle that everyone is trying to tame. But to get to the top of the page, there is above all an entity that you must seek to convince: Google. To do this, you need to make the search engine trust you. This is where the authority of a domain comes into play: the more your site has high credibility, the better it will be referenced. Here are our explanations to see more clearly and our advice to achieve it.
The authority of a domain: what is it?
The authority of a domain (DA) is a score that search engines assign to a website. It equals the trust that Google places in you. The term was coined by Moz, a software company specializing in marketing. This score allows you to predict your positioning in a results page compared to your competitors in your respective sector.
This score ranges from 0 to 100. The higher your DA, the more you will appear among the first results of a search engine. The lower it is, the less visible you will be and your traffic will suffer. The average is between 40 and 50. A good DA is equivalent to 60. Above 60, it is a very good score.
However, it should be noted that the domain authority is only an indicator. Having good authority will not necessarily be enough to get you among the first results.
Why is domain authority important?
The authority of a domain is important because it will allow you to know how credible you are in the eyes of search engines. It also helps you know how you stack up against the competition.
Knowing your positioning allows you to refine your strategy. A link to a site with a high DA has more value than a site with a low DA. With this information, you will be able to choose the sites with which you want to collaborate according to their score. This is very useful for affiliate partnerships for example.
How does Moz determine your domain authority?
On his blog, Moz explains: “The domain authority is calculated based on several factors, including backlinks and the total number of links, and establishes a unique score. This score can be used to compare your site with others or simply to know your positioning potential in general”. The company also points out that AD is not used by Google to determine your place in the results. It does not affect the SERP, the results page.
Moz uses more than 40 factors to determine your score. Here are the most important:
- Links pointing to your site: Moz takes into account the number of links that return to your site. Two links from the same site are counted only once.
- MozRank: it determines the number of links that return to you
- The MozTrust: it determines the quality of the sites which return towards you
- Content quality: the higher the quality of your content, the higher your score
- Signals on social networks: the number of followers and interactions show the attractiveness of your site and promote good DA
- The structure of your site: the more your site will be “search engine friendly”, the better. So you have to work on your internal network, your ergonomics and your SEO.
What tools should I use to find out my domain authority?
Here are the 3 examples of companies that offer to measure your performance:
Moz
The company can predict the ranking of your site on search engine results pages. It offers three tools: Link Explorer, an analysis tool for backlinks; Mozbar, a free Google Chrome extension and Keyword Explorer, a SERP analysis tool.
Majestic
A technology that allows you to know the quality and quantity of inbound links on your site. As with Moz, your score ranges from 0 to 100. It allows you to go further on the backlink data.
Ahrefs
At Ahrefs, we talk about Domain Rating. To give you a score from 0 to 100, it measures the URL classification and the domain rating.
Here are a few things that will help you get the right frame of mind using these tools:
To do:
Compare your authority with sites of the same size, category and sector as you
Use it to see if your competitors’ scores change when they make improvements
Expect your score to change from time to time, as is regularly the case on the web with SEO
Not to do:
Watch your score without comparing yourself to other sites
Tell yourself that the score from 0 to 100 is equivalent to a mark out of 20. You don’t have to reach 100 to get a 20/20. You should rather try to be better than your competitors, whatever the score.
Confuse domain authority and PageRank. AD was developed by Moz. Google does not take it into account in the ranking of its results.
How to improve your domain authority?
Now that you know how it works, let’s take a look at how you can improve it.
- Choose a good domain name: if you’re just getting started, it’s important to choose a good domain name. The clearer and simpler the better.
- Optimize your presentation information: SEO also has an impact on your DA. So make sure your site has the right tags, the right meta descriptions, the right alt tags, and the right content.
- Create click-generating content: By posting quality content regularly, more people will share your site and others will get there. These clicks from various domains will increase your MozRank and your MozTrust.
- Improve your internal network: internal links are just as important as external links. This affects the user’s journey on your site and can help them navigate better. So it will stay with you longer.
- Remove dead or toxic links: it is important to audit your site from time to time to make sure there are no toxic backlinks. The presence of these links on your site has a negative impact on your domain authority.
- Make your site responsive: many people consult the internet from their mobile. It is essential to optimize your site for this support.
- Improve your display speed: the slowness of a site has a devastating effect on the patience of a surfer. If he doesn’t show up quickly, he’ll be the one to leave.
- Become a reference in your sector: it is important that you seek to improve your e-reputation. By forging a real identity, your traffic will be better and more sites will return to you.
- Make the promotion of your content on social networks: again, the number of interactions and followers hangs in the balance of the DA.
So you understand, knowing your domain authority will allow you to know if you are performing well in terms of SEO. It is by knowing your score that you will be able to put the right strategy in place.
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