Category: Links and Authority

“Domain authority” is shorthand for one question: how strong is this website in the eyes of search engines? Several companies have built metrics to answer it, each with its own name and formula. None of them is used by Google, but they are useful to compare websites and to evaluate links.

PageRank: where it all started

PageRank was the original algorithm behind Google: a page is important if important pages link to it. Google still uses evolved versions of it internally, but it stopped showing public PageRank scores in 2016. All the metrics below are third-party attempts to estimate something similar.

Moz Domain Authority (DA)

A score from 1 to 100 that predicts how likely a domain is to rank, based on Moz’s link index and a machine learning model. It is logarithmic: going from 20 to 30 is much easier than going from 70 to 80. Moz also has Page Authority (PA) for individual URLs.

Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR)

A score from 0 to 100 that measures the strength of a site’s backlink profile, based on how many unique domains link to it and how strong those domains are. It looks only at links, not at traffic.

Semrush Authority Score (AS)

A score from 0 to 100 that combines backlink data with organic traffic estimates and spam signals. Because it includes traffic, sites with strong rankings but few links can score higher than in link-only metrics.

Majestic Trust Flow and Citation Flow

Majestic splits authority in two: Citation Flow measures how many links point to a site, and Trust Flow measures how close those links are to a set of trusted seed sites. A big gap between the two can be a sign of low-quality links.

Open data alternatives

Open PageRank calculates a PageRank-style score from the Common Crawl link graph, and the Tranco list ranks the top 1 million domains by combining several popularity sources. Our free Domain Authority Checker combines both with the domain’s age into a single 0 to 100 estimate built only from open data.

What is a good domain authority score?

There is no universal good score. What matters is your score relative to the sites you compete with. A local bakery with a score of 20 can dominate local searches, while a national media site with 60 may struggle in a niche full of 80s. Compare yourself with the pages that rank for your target keywords.

How to increase domain authority

• Publish content others want to cite: original data, research, tools and in-depth guides.
• Get mentioned by media, associations and partners in your industry.
• Reclaim unlinked brand mentions and broken links that pointed to your site.
• Fix internal linking so authority flows to your important pages.
• Be patient: these scores move slowly and are updated in cycles.

Learn how to check backlinks for free to see where your authority comes from.

Frequently asked questions

Does Google use Domain Authority?

No. Google has said many times that it does not use Moz DA or any other third-party authority score.

Why did my domain authority drop?

Usually because the tool updated its index or model, or because you lost links. A drop across all competitors at the same time points to a tool update.

Which metric is the best?

None is objectively better. Pick one, use it consistently, and focus on comparisons rather than absolute numbers.

Backlinks, the links from other websites to yours, are still one of the strongest signals search engines use to judge authority. Knowing who links to you, and to your competitors, helps you find link opportunities, spot problems and understand why some pages rank. The good news: you can see a lot of this data for free.

1. Google Search Console (your own site)

The most reliable free source for your own website, because the data comes from Google itself. Open Links in the left menu to see your top linking sites, your most linked pages and the anchor texts used. You can export the lists. Its limits: it only works for sites you have verified, and it shows a sample rather than every single link.

2. Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing’s free webmaster platform has a Backlinks report that shows referring domains, linked pages and anchor texts for your site, and lets you compare your profile with competitor domains. It is one of the few free official tools that shows data about other websites.

3. Free versions of the big SEO tools

Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz all offer limited free access to their link indexes:

• Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker: shows the top backlinks and referring domains of any domain or URL, plus its Domain Rating.
• Semrush: a free account includes a small number of daily searches in its Backlink Analytics report.
• Moz Link Explorer: a free account gives a limited number of monthly queries with Domain Authority and top links.

Each tool has its own crawler, so their numbers will not match. Use one consistently to compare sites.

4. Check the authority of the linking sites

A list of links is only useful if you can tell strong links from weak ones. Paste each referring domain into our free Domain Authority Checker to see its global ranking, PageRank and age in seconds.

5. Search for unlinked mentions

Search Google for your brand name excluding your own site, for example "seoon" -site:seoon.page. Pages that mention you without linking are the easiest links to win: a friendly email often turns a mention into a link.

6. Look at who links to your competitors

Run competitor domains through the free tools above and look for sites that link to several competitors but not to you: directories in your niche, resource pages, media that cover your industry. These are your most realistic opportunities.

How to judge if a backlink is good

• Relevance: a link from a site in your topic is worth more than a random one.
• Authority: links from well-known, trusted sites carry more weight.
• Placement: a link inside the main content beats one in a footer or a sidebar.
• Traffic: a link that real people click is a sign of a real website.
• Attributes: nofollow, sponsored and ugc links pass less value, though they still bring visibility.

What about toxic backlinks?

Google says it ignores most spammy links automatically. You only need the disavow tool if you have a manual action for unnatural links, or if you know someone bought links in your name. Disavowing good links by mistake can hurt you more than the spam ever would.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I check my backlinks?

Once a month is enough for most sites. Check more often after a campaign, a migration or a sudden drop in rankings.

Why do different tools show different numbers of backlinks?

Every tool crawls the web with its own bot and index size, and counts links differently. None of them sees exactly what Google sees.

Can I see all the backlinks of a competitor for free?

Not all of them. Free versions show the top links. For a complete list you need a paid plan of a backlink tool.