99creatix Book a 15-minute fit call
Glossary · Links & authority

domain authority

Also called DA, domain rating, DR

Reviewed 31 Oct 2026 By Madiha Fatima 3 min read Check it yourself: yes, free

3 min
Definition

Domain authority is a score from 0 to 100 that estimates how strong a website's backlinks are compared with other sites. SEO tool companies invented it. A higher number suggests a site many trusted sites link to. Google does not use it, publish it or recognise it. It is a third party's guess at what Google might think.

The scale is logarithmic, so moving from 20 to 30 is far harder than moving from 10 to 20, and a small business site in the 20s or 30s is normal. Treat the number as a rough way to compare two sites, never as a target to buy your way up.

Short version: a tool's estimate of your link strength, not Google's.
Why it matters for your business

A number Google
has never heard of.

Domain authority matters to your business mostly because of how often it is used to sell you things. Link sellers price their inventory by it: "DA 50 guest post" is a product, and the score is the label on the tin. Agencies put it in proposals because it is a single figure that moves and looks like progress. Neither use tells you whether a link will bring a customer or move a ranking.

The score is easy to inflate. Sites built purely to sell links can carry a high domain authority while sending no visitors and earning no trust from Google, which is why a high-score link from an irrelevant site often does nothing at all. A link from a local business association with a modest score will usually do more for a real estate agency than a high-score link from a site about anything and everything.

Use it for one thing: judging whether a competitor's backlinks are in reach. If every site above you for your main search has a score three times yours, the gap is links, and the plan should say how it will earn them, not what score it will reach by when.

Example

Two real estate agencies,
two very different 35s.

What the agency owner sees

Two real estate agencies in the same city, both showing a domain authority of 35 in a free checker. One has forty links from local news sites, a property portal and the chamber of commerce. The other has four hundred links from directories and guest posts bought in bulk.

What Google sees

Two sites that could not be more different. The first has earned mentions from places Google already trusts for that city and that subject. The second has a pile of links that Google's systems have learned to discount, and a pattern that could draw a manual penalty. Same score in the tool, opposite prospects in search. The number told the owners nothing they needed to know.

How to check it on your site

Four checks, and what the score cannot tell you.

Tick each one as you go. 0 of 4 checked on your site.

  1. Look up your score and a competitor's

    Ahrefs' free website authority checker and Moz's free domain analysis both return a score for any address. Check yours and the two sites that sit above you for your main search. A gap of a few points means nothing. A gap of thirty means links are the problem, and no amount of on-page work closes it.

  2. Ignore the score and read the list

    The same free tools show the top linking sites. That list is the useful part. Are the competitor's links from sites in your city and your trade? Then those are the places to earn a mention. Are they from unrelated blogs in bulk? Then the score is hollow and you do not need to match it.

  3. Watch the trend, not the figure

    Check once a quarter and note the direction. A score that drifts up slowly as real mentions arrive is healthy. A score that jumps ten points in a month without any press, partnerships or new content usually means someone bought links, and that is worth asking about if you did not.

  4. Strike it from the targets

    If a proposal promises to "raise your DA to 40", ask what that does for your bookings. A fair plan sets targets in impressions, rankings for named searches and leads. The score can be reported, but it should never be the goal.

Related terms

Usually in the same sentence.

Read next

Where this shows up in practice.

Pricing & transparency The fees agencies hide

DA targets are a common way to look busy. What to ask for instead.

 Pricing & transparency What SEO costs a small business

Where the money in an SEO plan should go, and why link scores are not on the list.

 Service SEO & AI search

We report referring domains and leads, not a third-party score.
Related service

Link work in the SEO service is reported as named sites and leads, never as a score. Prices are on the price list, not on a call.

See the SEO service
Reviewed by Madiha Fatima, founder of 99creatix

Every entry in this glossary is written and checked by the person who runs the agency, reviewed at least once a quarter and dated. Last reviewed 31 October 2026.

Spotted an error or a term we are missing? Tell us and it is fixed within the week.

Did this explain it?
Next step

Been sold a number?
Let us read it with you.

Fifteen minutes, your site and the proposal you were given. We will tell you what the score means, what it hides and what a fair link plan would say instead, before you decide anything.

Book a 15-minute fit call Back to the glossary