---
title: Domain Authority — definition | RGM® Glossary
url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/domain-authority/
updated: 2026-06-10
source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/domain-authority/
---

# Domain Authority

do·main au·thor·i·ty/doʊˈmeɪn əˈθɔɹəti/noun

The number SEOs quote and Google doesn't compute — useful exactly as far as you remember that.

Term
:   Domain Authority

Abbreviation
:   DA

Creator
:   Moz (proprietary)

Scale
:   0-100, logarithmic, relative

## Forms & parts of speech

DA · acronym

Moz's domain score.

"**DA** 70 referring domain — strong proxy, but check its actual traffic before the pitch."

## Definition in plain terms

Domain Authority is Moz's proprietary 0-100 score predicting how well a domain is likely to rank in search, computed primarily from its link profile (linking root domains, link quality patterns) via a machine-learning model trained against actual search results. It is a third-party MODEL of ranking strength — Google has repeatedly confirmed it uses no such 'domain authority' metric. Competitors run their own equivalents (Ahrefs' Domain Rating, Semrush's Authority Score).

## The mechanics

The scale is logarithmic — climbing 20→30 is far easier than 70→80 — and RELATIVE: scores recalibrate as the whole web's link graph shifts, so your DA can fall while your site improves. Moz's 'DA 2.0' update (2019) rebuilt the model against link-spam patterns. The honest uses: comparing domains in the same niche, triaging link-prospect lists, and communicating rough site strength to non-SEOs. The dishonest ones: selling DA points as a deliverable, judging links by DA alone (a DA-90 site's spammy subdirectory beats nothing), and reporting DA growth as if it were traffic.

## When it matters

DA matters as shared shorthand in an industry that needs SOME comparable number — agencies triage prospects with it, link builders filter outreach lists, and publishers price guest placements (a practice that invited the score's gaming — private blog networks farm DA specifically). The professional posture: use it as one filter among several (traffic estimates, topical relevance, real rankings), prefer the same vendor's score consistently rather than mixing scales, and never let a model metric appear in a contract as the outcome.

**Worked example.** An outreach campaign filters prospects purely by DA 50+, and three months of placements move nothing. The relevance audit explains it: high-DA general-news sites whose links sit in irrelevant contexts, plus two DA-60 'publications' that turn out to be link farms wearing borrowed authority. The rebuilt filter stacks DA WITH topical relevance and organic-traffic estimates — the new placements average DA 38 on niche sites that actually rank for the target topics. Rankings move within weeks. The score was never wrong; it was just never the point alone.

**Failure modes to watch.** Quoting DA as a Google metric; contracting deliverables in DA points; judging links by domain score without page context and relevance; and mixing DA, DR, and AS as if one scale.

## Synonyms & antonyms

### Synonyms

DADomain Authoritydomain rating (the Ahrefs analog)

### Antonyms

page-level authoritytopical relevance (the missing half)

## Origin & history

Coined as a product metric by Moz (then SEOmoz) in the late 2000s — introduced alongside its Linkscape index (2008-2010 era) as a machine-learned successor to simpler link counts and its own mozRank, deliberately named to express what PageRank's public retirement left unmeasured. The 'DA 2.0' rebuild shipped March 2019.

Etymology: [source](https://moz.com/learn/seo/domain-authority).

## Usage trends

Search interest for this term over the last five years:

[View interest-over-time on Google Trends →](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=domain%20authority&date=today%205-y)

## Common questions

What is Domain Authority?
:   Moz's proprietary 0-100 score modeling a domain's ranking strength from its link profile — a predictive proxy, not a Google metric.

Does Google use Domain Authority?
:   No — Google has repeatedly stated it computes no such metric. DA models Google's behavior from the outside.

How should DA be used?
:   As a comparative filter within a niche, alongside topical relevance and traffic data — never as a contracted outcome.

## Related tools & calculators

- tool[Funnel drop-off analyzer](/tools/funnel-drop-off-analyzer/)

## Resources & people to follow

- referenceMoz — Domain Authority documentation
- referenceMoz — the DA 2.0 update (2019)
- referenceAhrefs DR / Semrush AS — the rival scales

Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.

## Related training

- module[Marketing analytics](/training/marketing-analytics/)

## Disciplines

Areas of marketing where domain authority is a core concern:

[Measurement](/training/marketing-analytics/)[Growth strategy](/training/growth-marketing-foundations/)

## Read next

## Related terms

[Moz](/glossary/moz/)[Backlink](/glossary/backlink/)[Link building](/glossary/link-building/)[Rand Fishkin](/glossary/rand-fishkin/)[SEO](/glossary/seo/)

## Sources

1. trends[Google Trends — "domain authority"](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=domain%20authority&date=today%205-y)