Since the dawn of search engines, webmasters have been looking for ways to improve their position in relevant search queries. As with every area of business and life that you want to improve, you need a baseline to measure your various activities so you can see what works and what doesn’t. When you want to lose weight, you need to first know how much you weigh. When you want to improve worker productivity, you need to know current production numbers. This same principle applies to improving your website’s search rankings. You need a measurable, standardized unit to compare your growth relative to previous versions and relevant competitors.
For the longest time, this SEO measurement was Google’s PageRank. It was considered the most comprehensive measurement of a site’s search value. Updated directly from an algorithm by the most powerful search engine in the world, this number showed your website’s rank compared to other websites and would fluctuate up or down, depending on your various activities. However, the last update to Google’s PageRank was two years ago (December 2013), subsequently killing PageRank as viable SEO measurement. The death of Google’s PageRank has brought to the forefront several other powerful SEO measurements.
One of today’s most popular SEO measurements is Moz’s Domain Authority. It is a macro-level measurement that can be used to compare your site to other websites over time. Moz uses an algorithm to calculate domain authority, and several, roughly 40, variables (number of links, MozRank, MozTrust, etc.) go into determining your score. The range is 0-100 and the higher your “Domain Authority” number, the more authoritative your website is. A comprehensive explanation of Domain Authority can be found here on Moz.com. Basically, the rub is — Domain Authority is a viable replacement for PageRank and is a number you should consider using to measure your SEO activities.
Increasing your website’s Domain Authority score is an excellent indicator that your search marketing efforts are working. So how do you increase Domain Authority? Here are 10 tips to help.
The term “backlinks” has an almost negative connotation because of the history of black-hat SEO link-building that burned many websites through Penguin algorithm updates or manual Google penalties. But the truth is links play a crucial part in your search ranking and subsequently, Domain Authority. A high number of quality backlinks to your website will improve your score and generate more authority and traffic.
How do you generate more quality backlinks?
For some other resources on generating high-quality backlinks visit the articles below:
As we’ve discussed, backlinks are a critical variable in determining your Domain Authority score. With that in mind, just as important as high-quality links are, the opposite is true of low-quality backlinks. Bad links from bad websites can negatively impact your Domain Authority score, so it is important to be proactive in keeping a clean link profile.
How do you eliminate low-quality backlinks?
For some other resources on removing low-quality backlinks, visit the articles below:
We already mentioned the power of content for generating quality backlinks, so I won’t beat a dead horse on that front. However, what is also important to understand is the impact that on-page content has on visitor engagement, readability, keyword usage, clickstreams, and other on-site metrics. These variables are all effected by your content and all play into your Domain Authority score.
How can you effectively use on-page content to improve your Domain Authority?
For other resources on how to improve Domain Authority through on-page content, check out these articles:
Domain Authority is not the only metric that measures a website, but it is certainly one of the best ways to compare different domains. The guide above is intended to provide you with a starting point for improving your website’s Domain Authority. The most important thing to remember is that if you focus on creating user-focused content and building a website that will provide value to visitors, then the authoritativeness will eventually come!
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