Introductory Guide to Domain Authority: How It Can Help Your Startup’s Website

Many businesses have SEO strategies to maximize their digital engagement. But, how do you know if your SEO strategy is bringing more users to your website? Well, the short answer is domain authority. Domain authority is one of the largest factors in determining how your website ranks in search engines. If you are unsure about the importance of domain authority, don’t worry.  In this article, we explain domain authority, how you can use it to track progress and decide business goals, and how to use it to access competitors.

What is Domain Authority?

Domain authority is a score that rates a website on a scale from 1-100 (where one is the worst score, and 100 is the best). Essentially, the higher the domain authority score, the higher the website will rank on search engines. Back in the primitive days of search engines, rankings were much less sophisticated. However, today, search engine rankings are based upon a multitude of factors. Some of these include:

• Inbound and Outbound Links
• Domain Age
• Speed of Website
• SEO Content

When you think of domain authority, do not view it simply as ranking for your website, but how your website ranks against competitors. The higher the rank score, the more likely the website will rank on search engines. If competitors have a higher score than your business, their website will rank higher than yours, which means they are reaching a larger portion of your shared target audience. That is why you need to continuously check your domain authority to gauge the progress of your SEO strategy and ensure you are ahead of your competitors.

How to Check Domain Authority

There are multiple authority checkers you can access online.  One of the most commonly used and trustworthy domain authority checkers is Moz. On their website, all you have to do is type in your company’s domain address, and it will show your website’s latest domain authority score.

Although Moz is the most popular, you could certainly rely on other checkers. You could even use multiple checkers at once to get a better estimate of your website’s ranking.

How Is Domain Authority Calculated

Moz’s calculations consist of over 40 different variables. Each domain authority checker has a different method, and the exact science behind the algorithms is unknown.

Each checker uses machine learning to determine the score and base it off multiple SEO factors.

How to Improve Your Domain Authority

When you improve your domain authority, you increase the chances of your website ranking highly on search engines. Therefore, you should use domain authority as a way to make your website more competitive with search results.

If you find your current domain authority score is lower than you would like, view it as a starting point and idealize what you can do to improve your website’s ranking and how you will use that strategy to reach your end goals. For many startups, their authority rankings will be low in the beginning. Luckily, there are ways you can increase your overall score.

Increase Your Backlinks:

One of the largest factors in determining your domain authority score is backlinks. Backlinks are links to your website that are on other websites and are incredibly important for SEO. When other domains link to your website, it shows that your site is a trustworthy and authoritative source for insight. However, you must be sure that backlinks come from quality sites. If backlinks come from low-quality sources, it will actually hurt your rankings. You can use backlink monitors to ensure low-quality sites are not linking to your domain.

1. Be Careful With Your External Links

Just like you do not want low-quality sources linking to your website, you do not want to have any links on your website going to low-quality sources. In the end, low-quality links hurt your rankings, regardless if linked to or away from your website. It is also important to note that when you include a link, make sure the link is to a secured HTTPS website.

Unsecured websites are generally less trustworthy than secured ones, which will only hurt your rankings. And lastly, diversify your link sources. If writing blog posts, or other types of content, you should include at least two to three external links. However, if every link is to the same source, or if every post has the same few sources, it will only hurt your rankings.

2. Post Content That Establishes You As An Authoritative Source

Quality is always more important than quantity, which is why it is better to post a few high-quality posts a month than a few dozen mediocre ones.

The whole purpose of writing content is to establish yourself, your business, and your brand as an authoritative source for information in your particular niche. You want to be a news breaker and offer something different from your competitors. When you focus on high-quality content, you can increase the user experience as well as your search rankings.

3. Produce On-Site SEO Content

Along with producing high-quality content that establishes yourself as a leader in your respective industry, you must also ensure all of that content is search engine optimized. SEO content must contain keywords related to your particular topic, which makes the material far more likely to rank in search engines.

Likewise, the format is a huge factor. Content with multiple headings, sub-headings, one or two-bullet lists, etc., generally ranks well. Likewise, metadata and meta descriptions are also useful, as well as other SEO methods.

How Digital Marketing Can Help Build Your Online Presence

When it comes to crafting a compelling message that resonates with your target audience, you have to cut through all the noise. At previsible.io, we are digital marketing experts here to help companies build their brands and expand their digital presence.

Whether it be crafting a digital marketing strategy, producing SEO content, or providing growth support, we are here to help our clients reach their unique milestones and end goals. If you would like to learn more about previsible.io, and how we could help your business, feel free to schedule a call today!