With Smart Insights reporting average domain authority (DA) scores of between around 58 and 86, depending on your industry, we have a key view into what it takes to be better than the rest of your peers. If you are behind, however, you can be assured that you are not alone, as many small-to-medium businesses struggle to understand and improve their domain authority. With that in mind, how do you learn how to increase your domain authority, and what should your next steps be if that is your goal?

So, keep reading to discover:

• Why this number is so important
• How to boost your DA rating
• What technical improvements lead to better DA
• Other SEO tips to boost domain authority in 2024

Let Rose & Cactus guide you towards a more impactful future for your business, and start seeing results you can be proud of.

Recap: What Is Domain Authority?

While we cover the basics of domain authority in more detail elsewhere on this site, to summarize:

DA is a metric developed by a company called Moz to estimate the likelihood of a website appearing higher on a search engine. The scores range from 1 to 100, and the higher the score, the stronger the website’s ranking potential.

It’s worth noting that Domain Authority (DA) isn’t a fixed benchmark – it varies widely by industry and business size. What matters most isn’t your number, but whether your site is growing stronger compared to competitors in your niche. Domain Authority is also a third-party metric, not a direct Google ranking factor, but it correlates closely with the same signals Google values most, like high-quality backlinks, helpful content, and technical site health

While Moz’s Domain Authority remains the most widely recognized benchmark, several SEO tools now offer their own variations – such as Ahrefs’ Domain Rating (DR) and Semrush’s Authority Score. Each uses a slightly different formula, but all serve the same purpose: to estimate how competitive and trustworthy your website appears within your industry. Tracking one or more of these metrics can help you measure progress over time.

How to Increase Your Domain Authority

To improve your domain authority, you must first understand your audience. Otherwise, engaging with those who might read your site will be extremely challenging. Discovering this fact will instead give you clear information on what problems you are trying to solve and how to communicate it well to that group.

Once you have this information, start performing a keyword analysis to understand what content your target audience is searching for. You want to find:

• Pain points they are suffering from
• Issues your competitors are not resolving
• Areas where you can provide solutions to their problems
• Untapped potential keywords with both high and low search numbers
• Ways you could leverage those keywords to present valuable insights

You can then start the process of aligning your content and even the structure of your website to optimize for those keywords. 

Where and How to Leverage Keywords

You should then use these keywords throughout the rest of your website. The details of exactly how to do this can be found here.

Once you have the topics you wish to share based on those keywords, you can create a content calendar to ensure consistent publishing. If this seems like too much work, consider partnering with an SEO provider, such as Rose & Cactus, who can create and implement a tailored content strategy specifically for your business.

Crafting High-Quality and Shareable Content

You cannot simply create a lot of content and hope it brings people to your site. Nobody wants to go to any website that has the same bland information posted multiple times.

Instead, focus on creating content that addresses a core need of your target audience. Perhaps it explains:

• How to use your product or service
• Why your product stands out from competitors
• What people can do to resolve one of their key pain points
• Common misconceptions about your industry or product

Try to always use insights backed by data or well-trusted sources such as popular news sites or government advice. These can make your content much more authoritative. 

The main things offering such content can do include:

• Increase the amount of time people spend on your site
• Make it likely people will share your site with others
• Build trust and credibility with your audience
• Encourage repeat visits
• Foster engagement through comments

Over time, these should start to increase your DA, making people more likely to find you during a search.

Next, you need to keep doing this. Regular blogging proves your expertise in your industry and maintains your audience’s interest. With internal links that can direct traffic to other locations on your site, you also boost your authority on that page and others.

Backlink Building to Strengthen Domain Authority

Backlinks, or links from other websites, are one of the most powerful ways to boost DA. However, as noted above, the quality of everything related to DA is much more important.

Focus your efforts on earning links from reputable sites that are directly relevant to your industry. You want the link to display genuine interest, not links for the sake of links.

So, try to network with people who may be able to link to you in their regular roles, such as:

• Bloggers
• Journalists
• Influencers
• Industry leaders

Each of these offers its own benefits when it comes to links and makes you look like a much more important person in the industry when they show you to others via a backlink.

Over time, you should also monitor the backlinks others send in your direction. If you find that many sites are linking to you that you would not want to, you can take action to “disavow” these links. Doing this prevents their link from impacting search engine stats and can save you from appearing untrustworthy.

Technical SEO Tips to Build Domain Authority

Having a well-developed site that offers a high-quality user experience to its visitors tends to meet search engine requirements for visibility, thus significantly increasing your domain authority. After all, you will only get a good score if people can use your site without encountering blockages.

In 2025, Google continues to prioritize Core Web Vitals, mobile-first indexing, and overall page experience as part of its ranking considerations. Fast loading times, responsive design, and smooth interactivity signal trustworthiness and usability to both users and search engines. Incorporating structured data (schema markup) can also improve how search engines interpret your site’s context, supporting stronger authority signals across all your pages.

You need to prioritize several factors to avoid such penalties, including aspects such as:

• Page speed
• Mobile-friendliness
• Proper site indexing
• Well-planned site structure

Also, resolve technical errors, such as pages that will not load. Either remove links to these locations or adjust the content to accommodate the changes.

Drive Your Domain Authority to New Heights

Learning how to increase domain authority is the key to boosting your visibility to potential customers. To ensure it is higher, you need to focus on high-quality content, backlinks from trusted sites, and your site’s technical underpinnings.

Remember that improving Domain Authority takes time. Since DA reflects a combination of link equity, trust, and technical health, it’s normal for results to appear gradually over several months. Focus on the quality of your SEO work rather than quick gains – steady, consistent improvements will compound into meaningful authority over time.

If you need someone to monitor your DA and advise you on your next steps, an SEO specialist like Rose & Cactus can offer you key insights and help guide your business toward greater visibility. Contact Rose & Cactus to learn more about how to discover steady and sustainable growth for your site and get the help you need to reach your business goals today.

FAQ: How to Increase Domain Authority

What is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority (DA) is a Moz metric (1–100) that predicts how likely a site is to rank versus competitors. It’s a proxy for overall authority signals.

Is DA a Google ranking factor?

No. DA isn’t used by Google. Improving the underlying signals—quality backlinks, helpful content, and technical health—tends to lift both rankings and DA.

How to increase domain authority fast?

There’s no instant fix. Publish intent-matched content, build topical clusters and internal links, and earn links from relevant, reputable sites. Consistency wins.

How long does it take to see DA improvements?

Typically several months. DA reflects cumulative link equity, trust, and technical health, so progress is gradual and compounding.

DA vs DR vs Authority Score — what’s the difference?

DA (Moz), DR (Ahrefs), and Authority Score (Semrush) estimate domain strength using different models. Pick one to track consistently over time.

Should I disavow bad backlinks?

If you detect obvious spam or manipulative links you can’t remove, consider using Google’s Disavow Tool. Review carefully; don’t over-disavow.

Need a DA growth plan? Ask Rose & Cactus.