What is Domain Authority, and Why You Should Check it
Do you want to improve your business’s online authority? If so, domain authority is one of the most important metrics to improve.
What is domain authority? Why does it matter and how can you check it?
Read on to learn everything you and your marketing team need to know.
What Is Domain Authority?
The domain authority (or DA for short) of a website is a unique search engine ranking score. It was originally created by the software company Moz.
Domain authority predicts the likelihood that a website will rank on a search engine result page (or SERP).
A website’s domain authority score ranges from one to 100. The higher the score, the more likely it is that the website will rank.
How Is Domain Authority Calculated?
The domain authority of a website is calculated based on a variety of factors. These include the following:
- Number of incoming links that direct people to your website
- Quality and relevancy of those incoming links
- Overall quality of website content
- Popularity of the domain on social media networks
Your website’s overall SEO performance also contributes to your domain authority score.
Why Should You Check Website Domain Authority?
Some marketers, particularly those who are new to the world of digital marketing and search engine optimization (or SEO), may question the importance of checking their website’s domain authority. In reality, there are lots of benefits to measuring this score, including the following:
Boost SEO
In 2022, every business owner can agree that improving SEO is essential. The better your website’s domain authority is, the easier it is for you to reach a high position on search engine results pages. This, in turn, makes it easier for people to find your website when they’re searching online for products or services like yours.
Increase Website Traffic
When you help people to find your website online, you also increase the likelihood that they will click on it and pay it a visit. As a bonus, when your website traffic numbers go up, this also sends a positive signal to search engines and further improves your ranking.
Increase Conversions
It’s not all about search engine rankings, though. Increases in website traffic also, in most cases, lead to increased conversions and more revenue for your business. If you want to make more sales and boost your business’s bottom line, improving your website’s domain authority score is a smart move.
Increase Quality Backlinks
Finally, the higher your business’s domain authority score is, the more likely other people are to add links back to your website on their own sites.
This creates a positive feedback loop, as backlink number and backlink quality are two of the factors that are taken into account when your domain authority is calculated. The more quality backlinks you have, the better off your website and your business will be.
How to Check Domain Authority
You and your team can enjoy lots of benefits when you make it a priority to check domain authority. Keep in mind, too, that this process is not difficult or expensive to do.
You can easily use a free domain authority checker to gain some info on where your website stands. Then, you can make a plan to improve your score and check in regularly to ensure you’re moving in the right direction.
How to Improve Domain Authority
If you aren’t satisfied with your website’s domain authority, the good news is that you can start taking steps to improve it right away. The following are some specific strategies you can implement today to increase your score:
Upgrade Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to all of the steps you take outside of your website to improve its search engine ranking. This includes asking for bad links (i.e., links to your site that have been published on low-quality websites) to be removed or devalued with a no-follow tag and partnering with owners of high-quality websites and seeking backlinks from them.
Improve On-Page SEO
On-age SEO, on the other hand, refers to steps taken on your own website.
Some steps you can take to improve on-page SEO include optimizing page titles and descriptions, using proper headings throughout your website content, and optimizing images, videos, and other media. Adding internal links to other pages on your website is also beneficial.
Don’t Neglect Technical SEO
Technical SEO is all about improving your website on the backend. A few aspects of technical SEO that can improve your domain authority include registering the website with tools like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster and creating and optimizing an XML sitemap.
An XML sitemap is a special file that lists all of the important pages on a website and lets search engine crawlers know about them. Submitting this sitemap to Google ensures that your web pages will rank on SERPs.
Increase Mobile-Friendliness
Globally, nearly 70 percent of website visits come from mobile devices.
If your website is not mobile-friendly, people are unlikely to visit it. They may also exit it quickly when they realize they’re going to have to pinch and rotate their screens a million times to try and figure out what you have to say or what you’re offering.
Increase Page Load Speed
Page load speed also influences domain authority and search engine ranking. When a page’s load time increases from one to three seconds, the probability of a bounce (clicking away after visiting just one page) increases by 32 percent!
Use a Domain Authority Checker Today
Now that you can answer questions like “What is domain authority?” with ease, are you ready to start checking out your website?
The more you know about your site’s domain authority, the easier it is to improve search engine rankings and see better results from your digital marketing efforts. Follow the steps listed above so you can begin making improvements today.
For more information on domain authority and other important website metrics, head to the Digital Marketing section of our site today. You’ll find lots of other resources there that provide additional insight into how you can improve your business’s marketing strategy.
