If you have ever tried to improve your website’s ranking on Google, you have probably come across the terms Domain Authority vs Page Authority. These two metrics are often used together but they measure completely different things. Domain Authority measures the overall strength and credibility of your entire website, while Page Authority focuses on the ranking potential of a single specific page. 

In simple terms, DA looks at the big picture and PA zooms in on individual pages. Both metrics are predictive, not ranking signals used directly by Google. In this guide, you will learn the real difference between Domain Authority and Page Authority, how each impacts your rankings and when to focus on one over the other. By the end, you will have a clear strategy to improve both and strengthen your overall SEO performance.

TL;DR (Key Insights at a Glance) 

Both Domain Authority and Page Authority are scores developed by Moz, one of the most trusted SEO tool providers in the world. They both use a scale from 1 to 100. A higher score means a stronger chance of ranking on search engines. 

A quick snapshot of what you need to know before diving into the full breakdown:

FeatureDomain Authority (DA)Page Authority (PA)Created byMozWhat it measuresEntire domain strengthIndividual page strengthScale1 to 1001 to 100Main factorRoot domain backlinksPage-level backlinksBest used forOverall SEO comparisonPage-specific analysisAffected bySite-wide link profileIndividual page link profileUpdatedPeriodically by MozPeriodically by MozGoogle ranking factorNo (predictive metric only)No (predictive metric only)

What Is Domain Authority in SEO?

Domain Authority is a score that predicts how likely your entire website is to rank on search engine results pages (SERPs). The score ranges from 1 to 100 and the higher the number, the stronger your domain is considered to be in terms of SEO potential.

It is important to understand that DA is not a Google ranking factor. Google has its own internal systems to evaluate websites and it has never confirmed using Domain Authority as a signal. However, DA is widely used across the SEO industry as a benchmark for comparing websites and measuring the relative strength of a domain.

How Domain Authority Is Calculated

Moz calculates Domain Authority using a machine learning algorithm that considers dozens of factors. The most important one is the number and quality of backlinks pointing to your root domain. Here is a simplified breakdown of what goes into the DA calculation:

Total number of linking root domains: How many unique websites link to yours

Quality of those linking domains: High-authority sites passing links carry more weight

Link spam score: Low-quality or spammy links can reduce DA

MozRank and MozTrust: Internal Moz metrics that evaluate link equity and trust signals

Link profile diversity: Links from a wide variety of sources are valued more

One critical thing about DA is that it uses a logarithmic scale. That means going from a score of 20 to 30 is relatively easy compared to moving from 70 to 80. The higher your score gets, the harder it becomes to improve it. This is why even established websites struggle to push past certain thresholds.

Websites like Wikipedia, Google and YouTube have DA scores close to 100. A brand new website typically starts with a DA of 1.

What Is Considered a Good Domain Authority Score?

There is no universal benchmark for a ‘good’ DA score because it is always relative to your competitors. However, here is a general guide:

DA 1 to 20: New or low-authority websites, still building their presence

DA 21 to 40: Developing websites with some backlink traction

DA 41 to 60: Established sites with moderate authority

DA 61 to 80: Strong and well-established domains with solid link profiles

DA 81 to 100: Major publishers, government sites and global brands

The key takeaway is that you should compare your DA to competitors in your specific niche rather than measuring it against global giants.

What Is Page Authority in SEO?

Page Authority is also a Moz metric but it works at the individual page level instead of the entire domain. It predicts how likely a specific URL is to rank in search results. Just like DA, it uses a 1 to 100 logarithmic scale.

Page Authority is more precise and page-specific. Two pages on the same website can have vastly different PA scores depending on how many links are pointing to each page individually. A homepage of a website will typically have a higher PA than a blog post published recently with no backlinks.

How Page Authority Is Calculated

Page Authority is a score that predicts how well a specific page can rank on search engines. It is calculated using multiple SEO signals, including link quality, relevance and overall page strength. 

The factors that influence Page Authority are similar to DA but applied at the page level:

Number of backlinks pointing to that specific URL: Internal and external links both count

Quality of those linking pages: Links from high-PA or high-DA pages carry more weight

Internal linking structure: Pages that receive more internal links from the rest of the site tend to have higher PA

Anchor text relevance: Descriptive and relevant anchor text strengthens the signal

Link equity distribution: How link juice flows through the page’s outbound links

PA changes more frequently than DA because it is easier to build or lose links at the page level. If a single high-authority website links to a specific blog post, that page’s PA can jump significantly.

What Is a Good Page Authority Score?

Page Authority shows how strong a specific page is in search rankings. A ‘good’ score depends on your industry and competition but higher scores generally mean better chances of ranking on search engines.

Again, this is relative to the pages you are competing against in search results. General benchmarks:

PA 1 to 20: New or unlinked pages with little authority

PA 21 to 40: Pages with some organic link growth

PA 41 to 60: Well-linked pages with decent visibility

PA 61 to 80: Strong pages with solid backlink profiles

PA 81 to 100: Viral content, top resource pages or authority articles on major sites

Domain Authority vs Page Authority: Key Differences

Domain Authority and Page Authority both measure SEO strength but they focus on different levels. This difference helps you focus your SEO strategy in the right direction.

Now that you understand both metrics individually, let us look at how they compare directly in the context of DA vs PA in SEO.

Scope of Measurement

The most fundamental difference is scope. Domain Authority covers your entire website as a single entity. Every page, every post and every URL on your domain contributes to or affects your overall DA. Page Authority on the other hand is laser-focused. It evaluates the strength of one individual URL in isolation.

Think of it this way. Your Domain Authority is like the overall reputation of a university. Page Authority is like the individual ranking of a specific course offered by that university. The university might have an excellent reputation overall but one specific course might be less known and harder to discover.

How They Respond to Link Building

Both metrics respond to link building but in different ways.

When you earn a backlink from a high-authority website to your homepage, your Domain Authority benefits because the overall domain gets a stronger vote. When a high-authority site links to a specific blog post of yours, that page’s Page Authority benefits most directly.

This is why link building strategy matters. If you are trying to rank a specific landing page or product page, getting links directly to that page will boost its PA. If you want to improve your site’s overall competitive standing, you need to build links to your root domain consistently.

Stability Over Time

Domain Authority tends to be more stable because it reflects the cumulative link profile of an entire domain built over time. It takes consistent and sustained effort to move it significantly.

Page Authority is more volatile. A single viral article or a new backlink from a major publication can cause a page’s PA to spike. Conversely, if links are lost or removed, PA can drop faster than DA.

SEO Use Cases: Domain Authority vs Page Authority

Domain Authority and Page Authority help SEO teams evaluate website strength and page performance. They guide link building, content planning and competitor analysis for better search rankings.

When to use each metric strategically:

Use Domain Authority (DA)Use Page Authority (PA)Evaluate the overall website strength of a competitorAnalyze individual page performance and ranking potentialVet guest posting opportunities and link building targetsIdentify high-performing competitor pages and why they rankTrack your website’s growth at a domain level over timeFind pages on your site with the highest SEO potentialCompare multiple websites in your niche for competitive analysisDecide where to place internal links for maximum SEO impactAssess overall authority before outreach campaignsMeasure results of link building on specific pages

Which SEO Metric Matters More: DA vs PA for Better Rankings

This is the question most SEOs and bloggers ask. The honest answer is that neither DA nor PA directly causes rankings. Google does not use Moz’s metrics to decide where pages appear in search results. But both metrics are useful proxies that reflect real underlying SEO signals.

That said, in practical day-to-day SEO work, each metric has its place depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

For Overall Site Growth: Domain Authority Takes Priority

If you are building a new website or aiming for broader organic growth, Domain Authority becomes a stronger focus. It builds overall trust and improves how search engines treat your entire site.

Key points:

Improves overall site trust across search engines

Helps new pages get indexed and ranked faster

Supports better crawl efficiency for your content

Gives new or growing websites a stronger SEO foundation

Strengthens the impact of backlinks across the entire domain

For Targeting Specific Keywords: Page Authority Is More Relevant

If you want to rank a specific page for a competitive keyword, Page Authority becomes more important. It reflects how strong that individual page is in search results.

Key points:

Focuses on the ranking strength of a single page

Helps compete directly in search results (SERPs)

Strong pages can outrank higher-DA sites with weaker content

Works best when paired with solid on-page SEO

Internal linking boosts weaker pages by passing authority

Helps distribute link equity across important content pages

How to Improve Domain Authority

Improving Domain Authority takes consistent SEO effort focused on building trust and credibility. It depends on earning quality backlinks, strengthening your site structure and maintaining strong, relevant content over time.

Improving DA is a long-term process. The most effective and proven strategies:

Earn high-quality backlinks from authoritative domains: Focus on getting links from websites with a DA of 50 or higher in your niche. One link from a reputable source is worth more than fifty links from low-quality sites.

Fix toxic or spammy backlinks: Use Moz’s Link Explorer or Google Search Console to audit your backlink profile. Disavow links from spammy or irrelevant sources that could drag your score down.

Create link-worthy content: Original research, comprehensive guides, infographics and data-driven posts tend to earn backlinks naturally. This is sometimes called linkbait content.

Guest post on reputable websites: Contributing articles to authoritative blogs in your niche is still one of the most reliable ways to earn quality backlinks.

Improve your site’s technical SEO: Page speed, mobile-friendliness and crawlability indirectly support DA by making your site more trustworthy and easier to index. Technical health is a foundation for all SEO success.

Build internal links consistently: A strong internal linking structure helps distribute authority across your domain and ensures no important page is orphaned.

How to Improve Page Authority

Improving Page Authority focuses on strengthening individual pages so they rank better in search results. It depends on quality backlinks, strong content and effective internal linking to build page-level credibility over time.

Boosting PA for specific pages requires a focused approach. These are the most effective tactics:

Build backlinks directly to that specific page: Reach out to relevant websites and ask them to link to your target page rather than just your homepage. Use the resource page link building or broken link building to find opportunities.

Strengthen internal links pointing to that page: Identify high-PA pages on your own site and add contextual internal links from those pages to the one you want to boost. This passes link equity efficiently.

Optimize on-page SEO thoroughly: Title tags, meta descriptions, header tags and keyword usage all support the overall strength of a page. Strong on-page SEO combined with good PA gives a page maximum competitive power.

Update and refresh the page regularly: Search engines favor freshly updated content. Keeping your high-value pages up to date can help maintain and even improve their PA over time.

Earn mentions and shares on social platforms: While social signals are not a direct ranking factor, high-engagement content tends to attract natural backlinks which do increase PA.

Reduce outbound links on key pages: Every outbound link on a page bleeds link equity away from it. Audit your high-value pages and remove or nofollow outbound links that are not essential.

Domain Rating vs Domain Authority & URL Rating vs Page Authority

Search engines do not use a single public score to decide rankings, but SEO tools often create their own authority metrics to estimate how strong a website or page appears in search. That is where Domain Rating, Domain Authority, URL Rating and Page Authority come in.

These metrics are widely used in SEO analysis, yet they are often misunderstood or compared incorrectly. Each one is built by different tools, uses different data and focuses on different levels of authority, from entire domains to individual pages.

You may have also heard of Domain Rating (DR) and URL Rating (UR) from Ahrefs. These are similar metrics but from a different tool. Here is how they compare:

MetricTool ProviderScopeWhat It MeasuresKey FocusDomain Rating (DR)AhrefsFull websiteOverall backlink strength of a domainLink profile strength at domain levelDomain Authority (DA)MozFull websitePredicts ranking ability of an entire domainOverall SEO authority and trustURL Rating (UR)AhrefsSingle pageBacklink strength of a specific URLPage-level link authorityPage Authority (PA)MozSingle pagePredicts ranking strength of an individual pagePage-level SEO performance

Both tools measure similar concepts but use different algorithms and datasets, so scores rarely match perfectly. 

Neither set of metrics is officially used by Google. They are third-party estimates that help SEOs compare and benchmark performance. Domain Authority should be used as a comparative tool rather than an absolute measure.

How to Check Domain Authority And Page Authority

Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) are not official Google metrics but they are widely used in SEO to estimate how strong a website or page is in search results. Several SEO tools provide these scores based on backlink data, link quality and overall site strength.

You can use trusted SEO platforms that calculate authority using their own algorithms to check these metrics:

1. Use SEO tools that provide DA and PA scores

One of the most common ways is through Moz. Their tools allow you to enter a domain or URL and instantly view both Domain Authority and Page Authority scores along with other SEO insights.

Other platforms like Ahrefs and Semrush provide similar authority-style metrics such as Domain Rating and page-level strength indicators, which can be used for comparison.

2. Check DA and PA using browser extensions

Moz SEO browser extension makes it easier to view authority metrics while browsing. This tool displays DA and PA directly in search results or on any webpage, helping you evaluate competitors quickly during research.

SEO Ranking Factors in 2026: Role of DA And PA

Search rankings in 2026 depend on many signals, but Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) still play a useful role in SEO analysis. While they are not official Google metrics, they help estimate how strong a website or page may perform in search results. 

Google’s algorithm has evolved significantly with AI-driven ranking systems like RankBrain, BERT and the Helpful Content System. While backlinks and authority signals are still critical, Google has placed increasing emphasis on the following:

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness): Content demonstrating real-world experience from credible authors ranks better

User experience signals: Core Web Vitals, bounce rate and dwell time continue to influence rankings

Content helpfulness: The Helpful Content Update rewards content written for people rather than search engines

Topical authority: Covering a subject comprehensively across multiple interlinked pages builds stronger authority than isolated posts

Time to Build Your SEO Authority

Domain Authority and Page Authority are useful indicators for understanding SEO strength but they serve different purposes. DA gives you a broad view of how strong your entire website is, while PA focuses on the ranking potential of individual pages.

Start by checking your current DA and PA in Moz. Identify your strongest pages by PA score and use internal linking to funnel their strength to the pages you most want to rank. Build backlinks to your root domain to grow DA steadily over time. And always focus on creating genuinely helpful content that earns links naturally.

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