A good Domain Authority score depends on your industry and what you're competing for
Domain Authority (DA) is a search ranking prediction score created by Moz, a company that studies how search engines work. It ranges from 1 to 100 and estimates how likely a website is to rank well in Google search results. A "good" score is relative — a DA of 30 might be excellent if you're a local plumber competing in your city, but weak if you're trying to rank nationally for a common topic.
The score itself doesn't directly affect your rankings. Google doesn't use Domain Authority in its algorithm. Instead, DA is a third-party metric that tries to predict what Google will do, based on patterns Moz has observed. It's useful as a benchmark to understand where your site stands compared to competitors, but it's not a ranking factor you need to optimize for directly.
Key Takeaways
- Domain Authority is a prediction tool created by Moz, not a Google ranking factor, so improving it is a side effect of good SEO work, not the goal itself.
- Scores above 40 are generally considered strong for most websites, but what matters is how your DA compares to the sites you're actually competing against.
- Domain Authority grows slowly and mainly through earning backlinks from other established websites, which takes months or years of consistent content and outreach.
- A site with DA 20 can outrank a site with DA 50 if the lower-authority site has better content and more relevant backlinks for that specific search.
How Domain Authority is calculated
Moz builds DA by analyzing backlinks — links from other websites pointing to yours. The algorithm looks at how many sites link to you, how authoritative those linking sites are themselves, and how relevant those links are to your content. A backlink from a well-established news site carries more weight than a link from a brand-new blog.
The score updates roughly monthly as Moz recrawls the web and processes new link data. This means your DA can fluctuate slightly from month to month, especially if you've recently gained or lost significant backlinks. The updates are not instantaneous, so don't expect to see changes immediately after publishing content or building a few new links.
Moz also factors in the age of your domain and some signals about how established your site appears overall. Newer domains typically start with a DA of 1 and build up over time as they accumulate backlinks and content history.
What counts as a good score for different situations
For a brand-new website, a DA of 1 to 10 is normal and expected. You're not behind — you're just starting. After six months to a year of consistent content and some backlink building, reaching DA 15 to 20 is solid progress.
For an established small business website (2 to 5 years old), a DA of 20 to 40 is typical and respectable. If you're competing mainly locally or in a niche market, this range is often enough to rank well for your target searches. For a mid-sized company or a site with a few years of SEO effort, DA 30 to 50 is a reasonable target.
For large publishers, national brands, or sites that have been around for many years, DA 50 and above is common. Reaching DA 60+ typically requires years of consistent link building and a large amount of high-quality content. The top 1% of websites have DA scores above 70.
The most useful comparison is not your absolute score, but your score relative to the sites ranking above you for the keywords you care about. If you're trying to rank for "best coffee shops in Denver" and the top three results have DA scores of 25, 28, and 22, then a DA of 20 is competitive. If you're trying to rank for "best coffee shops" nationally and the top results have DA 60+, you'll need to build significantly more authority.
Why Domain Authority grows slowly
DA increases primarily through backlinks, and backlinks take time to earn. You can't buy your way to a high DA quickly — at least not legitimately. Buying links violates Google's guidelines and can result in penalties that hurt your rankings far more than a low DA ever would.
Building backlinks the right way means creating content that other websites want to link to, reaching out to relevant sites and publications, and becoming a resource in your field. A single backlink from a high-authority site might move your DA up by 1 to 3 points, but only if Moz detects it and recalculates. This process can take weeks.
Some websites see their DA drop even when they're doing everything right. This usually happens when a high-authority site that was linking to you removes the link, or when Moz recalculates and adjusts its algorithm. These fluctuations are normal and don't necessarily mean your SEO is failing.
Domain Authority versus actual search rankings
A website with a lower DA can outrank a website with a higher DA if the lower-authority site has better content, more relevant backlinks for that specific search, or better technical SEO. DA is a general prediction, not a may provide. Google's actual ranking algorithm considers hundreds of factors that DA doesn't capture.
For example, a local business website with DA 15 can easily outrank a national news site with DA 60 for a local search like "plumber near me" because Google prioritizes location relevance. Similarly, a newer site with DA 20 can rank above an older site with DA 40 if the newer site has more recent, more detailed, or more useful content on that topic.
This is why focusing solely on improving DA can be a distraction. The real goal is to rank for the searches your audience uses. If you're ranking well and getting traffic, your DA is doing its job — predicting that you're an authority. If you're not ranking, improving DA alone won't fix it; you need to improve your content, technical SEO, and link relevance.
How to improve your Domain Authority over time
The most effective way to build DA is to create content that people and other websites want to link to. This means writing detailed guides, original research, tools, or resources that solve real problems in your field. A single piece of content that earns 20 high-quality backlinks will boost your DA far more than 100 pieces of content that earn no links.
Outreach is the second pillar. Once you have good content, identify websites and publications that cover your topic or serve your audience. Reach out to editors, journalists, and site owners with a genuine reason they might want to link to your work — not a sales pitch, but a resource that would genuinely help their readers.
Building relationships in your industry also helps. If you're active in forums, comment sections, and professional communities, and you're known as someone who shares useful information, people are more likely to link to your work when it's relevant. This takes time but builds sustainable authority.
Avoid shortcuts. Buying links, using link schemes, or trading links with unrelated sites may temporarily boost DA, but Google will penalize you if it detects the pattern. The penalty — a drop in rankings or removal from search results — is far worse than a low DA score.
Tools for checking Domain Authority
Moz's own toolbar and website (moz.com) show DA for any site you enter. The free version gives you a basic DA score; their paid plans provide more detailed link analysis and tracking over time. MozBar, their browser extension, shows DA scores directly in search results, which is useful for competitive research.
Other SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Majestic also provide their own authority metrics (Domain Rating, Authority Score, and Trust Flow, respectively). These use different calculations and may give slightly different numbers than Moz's DA. They're all useful for comparison and tracking, but none of them is the "official" ranking factor — they're all third-party predictions.
If you're checking your own site's DA, check it monthly or quarterly, not daily. The score doesn't update that frequently, and obsessing over small changes will distract you from the actual work of building authority through content and links.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Google use Domain Authority in its ranking algorithm?
No. Domain Authority is Moz's own metric, not a Google ranking factor. Google uses backlinks and other signals, but DA is a third-party prediction of how those signals might affect rankings. Improving your DA is a side effect of good SEO, not a direct ranking boost.
Can I improve my Domain Authority without building backlinks?
Not significantly. DA is built almost entirely on backlinks. You can improve your overall SEO and rankings through content, technical fixes, and user experience, but DA specifically requires links from other websites. Some internal linking and site structure improvements may have a minor effect, but backlinks are the primary driver.
How long does it take to reach a DA of 30?
This varies widely depending on your industry, how much you publish, and how actively you build links. A new site with consistent content and moderate outreach might reach DA 20 to 30 in 12 to 18 months. A site in a competitive field or with minimal link-building effort could take several years. There's no fixed timeline.
Should I worry if my DA dropped by 2 points?
Small fluctuations of 1 to 3 points are normal and usually not a concern. They often reflect Moz recalculating their algorithm or a minor change in your backlink profile. Only worry if your DA drops significantly (5+ points) or if your actual search rankings are falling. A drop in DA without a drop in rankings usually means nothing.
Is a DA of 15 too low to rank for anything?
No. Many successful websites rank well for their target searches with DA scores in the 10 to 25 range. What matters is how your DA compares to the sites you're competing against. If you're targeting local searches or niche topics, a DA of 15 can be plenty. If you're competing nationally for common terms, you'll need higher authority.