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What are DA and PA?
Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) are scores from 1 to 100 created by Moz, one of the oldest SEO software companies. They predict how likely a website (DA) or a single page (PA) is to rank in Google compared with other sites.
Both scores are comparative and predictive. They do not measure traffic and they are not used by Google. Think of them as a quick, standardized way to compare the strength of backlink profiles — the "credit score" of SEO.
- DA scores an entire domain, including all of its subdomains and pages.
- PA scores one specific URL, such as a blog post or product page.
How Moz calculates Domain Authority
Moz crawls the web and stores trillions of links in its index. Domain Authority is then produced by a machine-learning model that looks at many link signals and learns which combinations best predict rankings in real Google results.
- Linking root domains: how many unique websites link to you — the most important input.
- Link quality: links from strong, trusted sites count more than links from weak ones.
- Spam signals: link patterns typical of manipulation reduce the score.
- Relative standing: every site is scored against all others, so your DA can drop when the rest of the web grows faster than you do.
Because the scale is logarithmic, a site at DA 20 can gain 10 points with a handful of good links, while a site at DA 70 might need thousands of new linking domains to reach 80.
DA vs DR vs PA
These three metrics are often confused. Here is how they compare:
| Domain Authority (DA) | Domain Rating (DR) | Page Authority (PA) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | Moz | Ahrefs | Moz |
| Scores | Whole domain | Whole domain | A single page |
| Scale | 1–100, logarithmic | 0–100, logarithmic | 1–100, logarithmic |
| Based on | Machine-learning model of link signals, tuned to predict rankings | Quantity and strength of linking domains (link popularity only) | Links to the page plus domain-level signals |
| Best for | Comparing sites, link prospecting | Comparing link popularity | Comparing individual pages |
The numbers are not interchangeable: a site can be DA 45 and DR 60. Pick one metric and use it consistently. For a deeper comparison, read DA vs DR.
What is a good DA score?
"Good" depends entirely on your competition. A local plumber with DA 25 can dominate local search, while a national news site with DA 70 might be the weakest in its niche.
| DA range | Rating | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| 0–20 | Poor | New websites or sites with very few quality backlinks. Completely normal for a young site — everyone starts here. |
| 21–40 | Average | Typical for small business sites, local brands and niche blogs that are starting to earn links. |
| 41–60 | Good | Established sites with a solid backlink profile. Competitive in many niches and attractive link partners. |
| 61–100 | Excellent | Authoritative brands, major publishers, universities and government sites with huge link profiles. |
The practical approach: check the DA of the sites ranking on page one for your target keywords. If your DA is in the same range, you can compete with great content. If you are far below, focus on earning links before chasing those keywords.
How to use the checker, step by step
1Paste your list
Open the Bulk DA PA Checker and paste up to 20 domains or URLs — one per line or separated by commas. You can paste messy data: http://, www., trailing slashes and duplicates are cleaned up automatically.
2Choose Domains or Exact URLs
Leave the switch on Domains to get site-wide Domain Authority. Switch to Exact URLs when you want the Page Authority of specific pages, such as a competitor's ranking article.
3Run the check
Tap Check DA / PA. Most checks finish in a few seconds. Previously checked sites are served from cache, marked with a "cached" label.
4Read and sort the results
Each row shows DA, PA, Spam Score, linking root domains and backlinks, color-coded from red (weak) to green (excellent). Tap a column header on desktop to sort.
5Export or share
Copy the table into a spreadsheet, download a CSV or Excel file, or create a read-only share link for a client or teammate.
How to increase Domain Authority
There is no trick that raises DA directly — it grows when more trusted websites link to you. These are the levers that work:
1. Link building that earns real links
- Digital PR: publish original research, surveys or data stories that journalists want to cite.
- Expert contributions: answer reporter requests and write guest articles for respected publications in your industry.
- Resource and broken-link outreach: find pages that link to outdated resources and suggest your better one.
- Partnerships: suppliers, clients, associations and local organizations often link to businesses they work with.
2. Content worth linking to
Comprehensive guides, free tools, templates, calculators and strong opinions attract links on autopilot. Ask of every page: why would someone link to this instead of a competitor?
3. Internal links
Internal links don't raise DA by themselves, but they spread the authority you earn across your site. Link from your strongest pages to the ones you want to rank, using descriptive anchor text.
4. Technical SEO
- Serve every page over HTTPS with one canonical version (www or non-www).
- Fix broken pages that have backlinks — redirect them with a 301 to the closest relevant page.
- Keep redirect chains short and your XML sitemap clean.
- Make pages fast and mobile-friendly so visitors (and link-givers) stay.
5. Patience
Moz needs to discover new links and recalculate scores. Measure DA monthly, not daily, and compare yourself with competitors over time.
Common DA myths
Myth: DA is a Google ranking factor.
Google does not use DA at all. It is a third-party prediction that correlates with rankings.
Myth: A higher DA always means more traffic.
Traffic depends on the keywords you rank for and search demand. Plenty of DA 30 sites outperform DA 60 sites in their niche.
Myth: You can buy a DA boost.
Services that sell "DA 50 in 30 days" typically use link networks that inflate metrics temporarily and put your site at risk.
Myth: DA drops mean you were penalized.
DA is relative. It can dip when Moz updates its model or when other sites grow faster — without any change in your Google rankings.
Myth: Only high-DA links are worth getting.
A relevant link from a DA 25 niche site can be more valuable — and drive more real visitors — than an irrelevant link from a DA 80 site.
Glossary
- Anchor text
- The clickable words of a link. Descriptive anchors help search engines understand the linked page.
- Backlink
- A link from another website to yours. Also called an inbound or external link.
- Canonical URL
- The preferred version of a page when several URLs show the same content.
- Core Web Vitals
- Google's user-experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift.
- Domain Authority (DA)
- Moz's 1–100 prediction of how well an entire domain can rank.
- Domain Rating (DR)
- Ahrefs' 0–100 measure of the strength of a domain's backlink profile.
- Dofollow / nofollow
- Nofollow (rel="nofollow", "sponsored" or "ugc") links ask search engines not to pass ranking credit. Links without it are informally called dofollow.
- Link equity
- The ranking value passed from one page to another through links. Sometimes called "link juice."
- Linking root domains
- The number of unique websites linking to a page or domain — the strongest input to DA.
- Page Authority (PA)
- Moz's 1–100 prediction of how well a single page can rank.
- RDAP
- Registration Data Access Protocol — the modern, structured replacement for WHOIS.
- Spam Score
- Moz's estimate of the percentage of similar sites that were penalized by Google.
Frequently asked questions
How often does Domain Authority update?
Moz updates its link index continuously and recalculates authority metrics regularly. Expect noticeable changes over weeks, not days.
Can DA go down?
Yes. Losing links, Moz model updates or other sites growing faster can all lower your score, even if your Google rankings stay the same.
Is DA or DR better?
Neither is "better" — they use different link indexes and formulas. Choose one and use it consistently to compare sites.
How long does it take to increase DA?
Most sites need several months of consistent link earning to see a meaningful increase, and gains slow down as the score gets higher.