What Are Page and Domain Authority and How Do They Influence SEO?

Google rankings are based on more than just on-site SEO. Page authority and domain authority are two of the hundreds of factors taken into account when Google decides how a website will rank.

Google’s algorithm is designed in a way that takes page authority and domain authority into account before a number of other factors. The way domain authority is scored depends on the SEO or online marketing platform that you choose. Generally speaking, websites with the best domain authority have a large number of high-quality external links. Small businesses often struggle with achieving domain authority, since they tend to have fewer external links from large sites, like Wikipedia and Google.

Page authority is a separate metric. Page authority was developed by Moz to predict how well certain webpages will rank in search. Page authority is scored on a 100-point logarithmic scale. Because it is a comparative tool, there aren’t necessary “good” or “bad” scores when it comes to page authority. Rather, publishers should look at page authority when deciding which pages on their websites have the most important link profiles. 

Although domain authority and page authority are both worth tracking, domain authority is likely to play a larger role in how a website ranks in Google search. That’s because domain authority measures the strength of an entire domain, whereas page authority is limited to measuring the strength of a single page on a website.

Why Page Authority & Domain Authority Matter

You might be wondering why page authority and domain authority matter. Should you track these metrics if you’re already working to improve your on-site SEO? 

The answer is absolutely yes. 

Search engines like Google and Bing look at domain authority as a predictor of a website’s power or importance. Websites with low page authority and domain authority scores are deemed to be less important or trustworthy, and they will usually rank lower in Google search.

Although it is difficult to influence page authority or domain authority directly, many brand marketers continue to try. The most effective way to improve domain authority is to build your website’s link profile by getting external links from other high-authority pages. If you are looking to improve your domain authority, SOCi can help.