Page Authority is a score that predicts how well a single page will rank in search results

Page Authority (often abbreviated as PA) is a number from 1 to 100 that estimates how likely a specific page on your website is to rank well in Google search results. It was created by Moz, a company that builds SEO tools, and it works differently from Domain Authority — which scores your entire website. Page Authority looks only at that one page and the links pointing to it.

The score is not a Google metric. Google does not publish Page Authority numbers or use them in their ranking system. Instead, Moz built the score by studying which pages actually rank well, then reverse-engineered the patterns. A page with a PA of 65 does not automatically rank higher than one with a PA of 40, but historically, pages with higher PA scores have tended to rank better.

You check Page Authority using Moz's tools — the free version shows limited data, while their paid subscription gives you full access. Other SEO platforms like Ahrefs and SEMrush have built their own similar metrics (Domain Rating and Authority Score, respectively), but they all measure roughly the same thing: how much ranking power a page has accumulated.

Key Takeaways

  • Page Authority is a Moz-created score from 1 to 100 that predicts how well a single page will rank in search results, based on the links pointing to it.
  • The score is not used by Google itself — it is a third-party estimate based on patterns Moz observed in real search rankings.
  • A page's authority grows when other websites link to it, especially when those linking sites have high authority themselves.
  • Page Authority is one signal among many that affects ranking; a low PA does not mean a page cannot rank well if it has strong content and relevance.
  • You can check Page Authority for any page using Moz's free tool, though the paid version shows more detail about what is affecting the score.

How links build a page's authority score

Page Authority is built almost entirely on backlinks — links from other websites pointing to your page. The more links a page receives, the higher its PA tends to be. But not all links count equally. A link from a page that itself has high authority is worth more than a link from a low-authority page.

Think of it like a voting system. When a well-known website links to your page, it is like getting a vote from someone with influence. When an unknown or new website links to you, it is like getting a vote from someone with less influence. Moz's algorithm tries to weight these votes accordingly.

The quality of the link also matters. A link embedded naturally in the body of an article is typically worth more than a link in a footer or sidebar. A link with relevant anchor text (the clickable words) is worth more than a generic "click here" link. Links from websites in your industry or topic area are worth more than random links from unrelated sites.

Why Page Authority is useful but not a ranking may provide

Page Authority is useful because it gives you a quick way to compare pages and understand which ones have accumulated the most link power. If you are deciding which pages to promote or which competitors are strongest, PA can be a helpful starting point. It is also a way to track whether your link-building efforts are working — you should see PA increase over time as you earn more backlinks.

But Page Authority is not a ranking may provide. Google's actual ranking system considers hundreds of factors: content quality, how well a page answers the search query, page speed, mobile-friendliness, user experience signals, and much more. A page with a PA of 30 can outrank a page with a PA of 60 if the lower-authority page has better content for what the user is searching for.

Page Authority also lags behind reality. Moz updates its scores periodically, not in real time, so a page that just earned a bunch of links might not show the increase in PA for weeks. This means PA is better for spotting long-term trends than for reacting to recent changes.

The difference between Page Authority and Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) is a score for your entire website, while Page Authority is a score for one page. A website might have a DA of 45, meaning the site overall has moderate ranking power, but individual pages on that site could have PA scores ranging from 15 to 65 depending on how many links point to each page.

Your homepage typically has the highest PA on your site because it receives the most links — both from external websites and from your own internal links. A blog post published last week might have a PA of 5 because almost no one has linked to it yet. As the post gets shared and linked to, its PA will grow.

Domain Authority is useful for understanding your site's overall competitive position. Page Authority is useful for understanding which specific pages are your strongest and where you should focus your efforts.

How to check Page Authority for your pages and competitors

The easiest way to check Page Authority is to use Moz's free tool at moz.com/tools/seo-toolbar. You install it as a browser extension, and it shows PA and DA scores for any page you visit. The free version shows the score but limited detail about what is affecting it.

Moz's paid plans (starting at around $99 per month) give you access to their full Site Crawl tool, which shows PA for every page on your website and identifies which pages are earning the most links. This is useful if you want to understand your entire site's link profile at once.

You can also check competitors' Page Authority using the same tools. Search for your main competitors' pages, check their PA scores, and see which of their pages rank best. This can show you which topics and pages are worth competing on and which ones might be harder to rank for.

What a good Page Authority score actually means

There is no universal "good" PA score — it depends on your industry and what you are competing for. A PA of 25 might be excellent for a brand-new website in a competitive industry, while a PA of 50 might be weak for an established news site.

A more useful way to think about PA is relative to your competitors. If your main competitors' pages have a PA of 40 and yours have a PA of 20, you are at a disadvantage. If you are matching or exceeding their PA, you are in a stronger position to rank. This is why many SEO professionals use PA as a competitive benchmarking tool rather than an absolute measure.

New pages start with a PA of 1 or close to it. As they earn backlinks, the score climbs. Most pages never reach a PA above 40 because earning high-authority links is difficult. Pages with a PA above 60 are typically from established, well-known websites or pages that have been around for years and accumulated many links.

How to improve your pages' Page Authority

Since Page Authority is built on backlinks, the main way to improve it is to earn more links from other websites. This is called link building. Some common approaches include writing content that is useful enough that other sites want to link to it, reaching out to relevant websites and asking for links, and getting mentioned in industry publications or directories.

Internal linking also helps, though less directly. When you link from one of your high-authority pages to a lower-authority page, you pass some authority to that page. If your homepage has a PA of 50 and you link to a blog post from the homepage, that blog post will benefit slightly.

Improving your content quality and relevance is also important. Pages that rank well tend to earn more links naturally because people find them useful and want to reference them. So writing better content is often the foundation for earning more links, which then improves your PA.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Page Authority affect my Google ranking directly?

No. Google does not use Page Authority in its ranking system. PA is a third-party estimate created by Moz. However, the underlying factor that builds PA — backlinks — does affect Google rankings. So while the PA number itself does not matter to Google, the links that create that PA do matter.

Can I improve Page Authority without getting external links?

Not significantly. Page Authority is almost entirely based on backlinks from other websites. Internal linking and content quality can help indirectly by making your pages more likely to earn external links, but there is no way to directly increase PA without external links pointing to your page.

How often does Page Authority update?

Moz updates its authority scores roughly monthly, though the exact timing varies. This means if your page earns new links, it may take several weeks for that to show up in your PA score. Real-time tracking is not possible with Page Authority.

Is Page Authority more important than Domain Authority?

They measure different things. Domain Authority tells you how competitive your entire site is, while Page Authority tells you which specific pages are strongest. For ranking purposes, Page Authority is more directly relevant because Google ranks individual pages, not entire domains. But Domain Authority is useful for understanding your site's overall position.

What if my competitor has higher Page Authority than me?

Higher PA usually means they have earned more links to that page, which is an advantage. But it is not insurmountable. You can still outrank them if your content is more relevant to what users are searching for, loads faster, or provides a better user experience. Focus on creating better content and earning links naturally rather than trying to match their PA exactly.