How to Increase Domain Authority: The Zone-by-Zone Guide

Domain authority is Moz’s third-party metric estimating website ranking potential on a scale of 1 to 100.

You can increase Domain Authority by earning high-quality backlinks from diverse, authoritative referring domains while creating valuable linkable content, maintaining strong technical SEO, and building a trusted online presence.

If you want to appear in both traditional search results and AI-generated answers, improving the factors that influence Domain Authority (DA), such as earning high-quality backlinks, remains important.

How quickly your Domain Authority improves depends on your current website authority, so new and established websites require different strategies to increase their scores.

What Domain Authority Measures and Which Score to Track

Domain Authority (DA) is Moz’s proprietary score that estimates how strong a website’s backlink profile is compared to other websites.

The score ranges from 1 to 100 and is designed to predict a site’s ranking potential. It’s not a Google ranking factor.

For example, below you can see that Louis Vuitton currently has a DA of 90.

Source: Moz – “Free Domain Authority Checker”

Domain Authority measures things like:

• The number of referring domains
• The quality and authority of those linking domains
• Your overall backlink profile
• Link diversity and other link-related signals

DA does not directly measure:

• Content quality
• Search intent
• Technical SEO
• User experience
• Actual Google rankings

Use DA to compare the relative strength of one website’s backlink profile against another.

For example:

• Site A: DA 72
• Site B: DA 34

In most cases, Site A has a stronger backlink profile, which may give it a better chance of competing for rankings.

However, DA is only one metric. Strong content, technical SEO, and search intent still play an important role in how pages perform in Google Search.

Which Scores to Track

The scores or metrics you need to track for checking your site’s SEO are:

• Domain Authority
• Domain Rating
• Authority Score

The table shows what each metric measures and on what scale:

METRIC	TOOL	WHAT IT MEASURES	SCALE
Domain Authority (DA)	Moz	Predicted ranking potential based on Moz’s link index	1 to 100
Domain Rating (DR)	Ahrefs	Strength of a site’s backlink profile based on Ahrefs’ link index	0 to 100
Authority Score (AS)	Semrush	Overall domain quality combining link data, traffic, and spam signals	0 to 100

All three are useful. None is “the right one.”

Why the DA, DR, and AS Numbers Never Match

Each tool shows a different number because Moz, Ahrefs, and Semrush measure authority using different link indexes and methodologies.

If you’ve checked your site in all three, you’ve probably seen this firsthand.

For example, SEO metric values for domain authority, domain rating, and authority score measured for Louis Vuitton differ.

In the previous image, the DA score is 90 in Moz’s free domain authority checker.

In Ahrefs, the domain rating score is 84.

Source: Ahrefs – “Website Authority Checker”

And in Semrush, the authority score is 85.

Source: Semrush – “Website Authority Checker”

The score predicts ranking likelihood. The metric you track should match the tool you use most consistently.

• If you use Ahrefs daily, track DR.
• If you use Moz, track DA.
• If you use Semrush, track AS.

What matters is picking one, tracking it over time, and benchmarking against competitors ranking for your target keywords.

How to Benchmark Your Score

Benchmark your score against the sites competing with you for your target keywords, not an arbitrary number.

Moz recommends this approach instead of chasing a fixed target.

For example, for the keyword “ERP software”, you can see that the DA score ranges from 35 to 90 for the top 5 SERP results on Google.

In this case, your goal should be to reach or exceed this range over time.

A good score is whatever the sites outranking you for your target keywords have.

Context changes everything. A DA 40 site competing for “dog collar Singapore” is in a very different position from a DA 40 site trying to rank for “ERP software.”

Your benchmark isn’t 90. It’s the median DA of the competitors ranking for your target terms.

Compare your backlink profile against those specific sites, focusing on link relevance, topical alignment, and partial-match anchor text

Which Metric We Use, and Why

We track the authority metric tied to whichever platform a client uses.

We use Ahrefs to check Domain Rating and traffic, and use Semrush to check Domain Authority.

If a client primarily uses Ahrefs or Semrush, we track that platform’s authority metric instead.

Consistency matters more than the specific metric because each tool measures authority using its own data and methodology.

The Signal That Does Most of the Heavy Lifting

If you had to isolate the one signal that moves domain authority the most, it’s the number of unique websites linking to you.

This is your referring domain count, and it matters more than your raw backlink total.

The reason is that 30 backlinks from a single website count as fewer than 1 backlink from each of 30 different websites.

• Moz’s algorithm places more weight on diversity, just as Google’s approach to link evaluation does.
• Each new unique domain that links to you is a new vote.
• Getting the same site to link again doesn’t add the same value.

The Logarithmic Scale Shapes This Further

It’s easier to go from 10 referring domains to 50 than from 100 to 500, even though both represent adding the same number of new sources.

The further along the scale you get, the more you need each additional link to come from a site with its own strong link profile.

This explains why:

• 50 low-quality links in a month can do nothing for DA
• 5 links from genuinely authoritative sites can visibly move it

The quality of the source passes through to your score. You can read more about what drives that quality distinction in our guide to high-quality backlinks that move rankings.

This is also why equity flowmatters, helping authority move between pages within your site more effectively.

A link landing on a page that’s isolated from your site’s main architecture won’t distribute authority as efficiently as one landing on a well-connected page.

Your Starting Score Changes What to Do First

The most common DA-building mistake is applying the same tactics at every score level.

What moves a DA-12 site is genuinely different from what moves a DA-48 site.

Applying the same strategy regardless of your starting point wastes time on the wrong lever.

The DA growth zone framework is how we at Outreach Desk categorize DA growth by starting score.

Each zone has a different primary driver, and identifying your zone stops you from spending budget on strategies that won’t move your number yet.

ZONE	DA RANGE	PRIMARY LEVER	WHAT TO PRIORITIZE	WHAT TO STOP DOING
Zone 1	0 to 20	Link diversity	Unique referring domains from any DR 30+ site	Paying premium rates for DR 80+ placements you don’t need yet
Zone 2	20 to 50	Link quality	Editorial placements from topically relevant, high-DR sites	Collecting cheap links from the same small pool of DR 10-20 sites
Zone 3	50+	Brand authority	Earned editorial coverage and digital PR	Volume-based link acquisition as your primary strategy

Zone 1

In Zone 1, the goal is diversity. At this stage, one site linking to you twice is worth less than two new sites linking once each.

You need unique domains you don’t already have. Any DR 30+ site that’s real and relevant moves the needle.

Zone 2

Zone 2 is where quality takes over from quantity. A single, well-placed contextual link from a DR 70+ publication can outperform twenty guest posts on DR 25 sites.

Relevance also becomes more important here. A link from a site in your niche will carry more weight than an off-topic link at the same DR.

Zone 3

Zone 3 is where DA growth stops being something you build directly and becomes a byproduct of authority and press coverage.

Outreach and guest posts alone won’t take you from DA 55 to DA 70.

The bigger levers at this stage are thought leadership content, original data studies, and digital PR, which earn press coverage and generate editorial links along the way.

Link building shifts from a numbers game to a positioning strategy.

Four Levers That Move Domain Authority

Four levers are earning links from new websites, strengthening internal linking, creating link-worthy content, and fixing technical issues limiting Domain Authority growth.

You can work on these levers in parallel, but if you’re in Zone 1 or Zone 2, start with the first.

1. Earn Links from Websites You Don’t Already Have

Every new unique referring domain linking to your site adds a referring domain your current count doesn’t have.

Getting an existing linking site to add another link is less efficient than finding a new source entirely.

The backlink should come from a genuine editorial context.

A link that’s included because your content earned a mention carries more authority signal than one from a directory that accepted a fee.

Off-page SEO signals are what Moz’s algorithm evaluates alongside your own site’s quality.

At Outreach Desk, we distinguish between links a publisher chose to include because the content merited it and links that weren’t earned on editorial merit alone.

Both can contribute to DA, but the former carries a stronger signal.

For a full breakdown, refer to our guide on earning backlinks with outreach tactics to understand the mechanics step by step.

2. Strengthen Your Internal Link Structure

A link pointing to one page on your site doesn’t automatically benefit the entire domain.

Authority passes between pages through your internal links.

If a strong editorial link lands on your homepage but your important inner pages have no internal links pointing to them, that authority doesn’t reach those pages.

Fix the basics here:

• Make sure your most important pages have internal links from multiple other pages on your site
• Confirm key pages are reachable in no more than 3 clicks from the homepage.
• Add cross-links when you publish new content by identifying which existing pages should reference the new one.
• Run a site crawl to find orphaned pages (pages no other page on your site currently links to)

3. Create Content with a Reason to Be Linked to

Generic blog posts don’t earn unsolicited links in competitive niches. What earns links is content with linkable assets.

Formats that consistently attract external links include:

• Original research or data.
• Reference guides that save a reader from needing multiple sources.
• Tools or calculators.
• Visual assets that make a complex concept easy to explain and share.

Fix the Technical Signals That Affect Domain Authority

You fix this by checking four things in Google Search Console: page indexing, broken internal links, redirect chains, and thin pages. Clean these up, and every link you build works better for you.

Check these basics in Google Search Console (a free tool from Google that shows how your site performs in search):

1. Make sure your main pages show up in Google

• Open the Pages report.
• Check that your most important pages are indexed (this means Google has added them to search results).
• Fix any that aren’t.

2. Fix your broken links (404 errors)

• Find your list of “Not Found” pages in the Pages report.
• Check the Links report to see which pages link to those broken pages.
• Fix or remove those links.

3. Shorten your redirects

• Find any page that redirects more than once (URL A to URL B to URL C ).
• Make it redirect straight to the final page (URL A to URL C).
• One step is enough.

4. Merge your weak pages

• Look for pages with barely any content or pages that repeat each other.
• Combine them into one strong page, or add more useful content.
• Weak pages pull value away from your site without helping you rank.

Fix these four issues first so the authority your backlinks pass can flow more effectively through your site.

What Keeps Domain Authority Stuck

If you’re building links consistently and your DA isn’t moving, the issue is usually one of these four things. Toxic links pulling against your progress, link velocity errors, zero referring domain growth, and unresolved technical debt.

Toxic Links Pulling Against Your Progress

Toxic backlinks are links from spam sites, sites involved in link farming schemes (low-quality sites built to sell links), or paid directories that exist to manipulate search engines.

They don’t just fail to help your DA. At sufficiently large volumes, they dilute the positive signal from your good links.

Run a link audit in your SEO tool and identify links from clearly spammy sources.

Then use Google’s Disavow tool (a file you submit to Google that tells it to ignore specific links when evaluating your site).

Our guide on how to disavow backlinks covers the full process in detail.

Link Velocity Errors

Link velocity is how fast you gain new referring domains over time.

Picture two sites building 80 links total. One does it all in a single month, then goes quiet for three months.

The other adds 10 links every month for eight months straight. Same total, but algorithms read them very differently.

Steady link acquisition looks natural. Big spikes look like manipulation, even when they aren’t.

For most sites in Zone 1 or Zone 2, 5 to 15 new referring domains a month is a sustainable pace.

Your ideal number shifts based on your DA and what your niche competitors are doing.

But one pattern holds across almost every account: a sudden burst followed by a long dry spell rarely helps you.

As per our observation, most DA slowdowns happen because sites keep earning links from the same few domains instead of expanding.

Zero Referring Domain Growth

Links can be coming in, and your DA can remain unchanged.

The reason is that if those links all trace back to the same small pool of sources, you’re not growing.

If your guest contribution strategy cycles through the same 10 blog networks month after month, you’re deepening relationships you already have (not adding the new referring domains that move DA).

Watch your referring domain count month over month instead of your total backlink count.

If total backlinks are climbing but referring domains are flat, your link building needs more source diversity. That’s the fix, not more volume.

Unresolved Technical Debt

Redirect chains, crawl errors, and thin pages that can’t be indexed all absorb authority without passing it on.

You can earn strong editorial links and still see almost no DA movement because your site’s architecture is fragmenting that authority before it reaches the pages that matter.

Track your backlinks alongside your technical audits, so you catch both problems at the same time.

How Long Before You See Real Movement

Most Zone 1 sites see their first measurable DA movement within 60 to 90 days of consistent link building.

Zone 2 sites typically need 90 to 180 days. And “movement” doesn’t mean reaching DA 50. This means the score shifts 2 to 5 points in the right direction.

Your timeline depends on where you’re starting, how fast you’re acquiring links, and whether you’re also expanding your topical authority (the depth and breadth of content covering your subject).

Optimize more of these inputs at once, and you’ll see movement faster.

ZONE	STARTING DA RANGE	FIRST MOVEMENT WINDOW	WHAT “MOVEMENT” LOOKS LIKE	KEY VARIABLE
Zone 1	0-20	60 to 90 days	2 to 5 point increase	Pace of new referring domain acquisition
Zone 2	20-50	90 to 180 days	3 to 8 point increase	Quality of editorial placements
Zone 3	50+	6 to 18 months	1 to 3-point incremental gains	Brand citation volume and topical authority depth

DA is a lagging indicator. It reflects what you did weeks or months ago, not what you did this week, and it often updates quarterly rather than in real time.

Don’t judge your strategy by checking the score every week.

If your referring domain count is growing and your link quality is improving, the score will follow.

For a closer look at how volume and quality work together at each zone, read our piece on how many backlinks you need to rank for specific keywords.

Tracking the Right Signals, Not Just the Score

Track the number of new referring domains added per month, the distribution of referring domain quality, crawl health in Google Search Console, and keyword ranking movement.

These are the inputs that drive the score.

New Referring Domains Added Per Month

New referring domains added monthly are your primary growth metric.

Adding 8 to 12 unique linking root domains per month is a healthy pace for Zone 1 and Zone 2.

If your total backlink count is rising but the number of referring domains is flat, that’s a warning sign.

Referring Domain Quality Distribution

Look at the quality distribution of your referring domains by their own DR or DA.

Track what share falls in the DR 40+ range versus DR 1 to 10.

A healthy link portfolio shifts toward higher-quality sources over time, as you earn better placements and phase out low-value ones.

Crawl Health in Google Search Console

Run a coverage report to confirm your core pages are indexed without errors.

Authority from earned links won’t help your rankings if the destination pages aren’t crawled and indexed properly.

Keyword Ranking Movement

Rankings confirm your authority work is landing, but they lag behind it.

Pick 10 to 15 target keywords and track their position weekly. Meaningful DA gains usually precede ranking improvements by 4 to 8 weeks.

If your DA is moving but rankings aren’t, the issue is usually content relevance or on-page factors (how well the page itself addresses the search query).

For the full monitoring workflow as your referring domain count grows, see our backlink management guide.

The Road Ahead

Your next 6 to 12 months of DA growth will come down to consistency, more than any single tactic.

Sites that move from Zone 1 to Zone 2 do it through a steady stream of diverse, editorially earned links.

Sites that stall build links in bursts, let technical debt pile up, or keep cycling through the same source pool until growth in the referring domain stops.

The zone you’re in tells you which lever to pull next. Start there.

Want to keep your authority moving forward?

Get a backlink strategy that supports long-term authority growth.

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Does domain authority affect Google rankings directly?

No. Domain authority is a third-party metric built by Moz.

Google doesn’t use DA, Domain Rating, or Authority Score as direct inputs.

These scores reflect what Google is reading: the quality and breadth of your backlink profile. Improve your DA through quality-focused link building , and you’re usually improving the real signals Google cares about.

The number itself just isn’t what moves your rankings.

Is domain authority the same as page authority?

No. Domain authority measures the linking strength of your entire domain.

Page authority, also a Moz metric, measures the strength of a single page.

A page can carry high PA even on a domain with moderate DA.

For rankings, both matter. A high-authority page on a moderate-DA domain can still rank well for specific queries.

Can I increase domain authority quickly?

Zone 1 sites (DA 0-20) can see first movement within 60 to 90 days of consistent link building.

But “quickly” is relative: moving 5 points in three months at Zone 1 is realistic. Moving 15 points in the same window isn’t, for most sites.

DA is a lagging metric; it doesn’t update in real time.

Shortcuts like paid link schemes or private blog networks (sites created specifically to sell links) can produce a temporary bump, followed by a penalty that sets you back further than where you started.

What is a good domain authority score?

Whatever the sites outranking you for your target keywords currently have.

There’s no universal benchmark worth chasing. A DA 30 site can outrank a DA 60 competitor for low-competition keywords in a narrow niche.

Your real target is closing the DA gap between you and the top 3 results for your actual terms instead of hitting an arbitrary number.

What is the difference between domain authority and domain rating?

Domain authority (DA) is a Moz metric, built on Moz’s link index. Domain rating (DR) is an Ahrefs metric built on Ahrefs’ index.

Both measure a similar idea, the strength of your backlink profile, but pull from different data and different weighting formulas.

It’s common to see the same site with a DA of 35 and a DR of 28, or the reverse. Neither is more accurate. They’re two tools reading the same reality through different lenses.