What Is DA and PA in SEO? | A Complete Guide for Beginners in 2025
What Is DA and PA in SEO?
In SEO, understanding the strength of your website is very important for building online visibility. Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) serve as key indicators that estimate how well your site or specific pages might rank on search engines. These metrics, developed by Moz (A third-party company), offer an understanding of your website’s trustworthiness and relevance based on various signals like backlink profiles and content quality.
While DA and PA are not ranking factors used by Google directly, they provide some guidance to adjust your SEO strategies and prioritize optimization efforts.
Understanding Domain Authority (DA)
Domain Authority (DA) is a predictive score developed by Moz that estimates how likely a website is to rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). It ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating a stronger potential to rank. DA doesn’t represent a definitive ranking factor used by Google, but it helps marketers benchmark their site’s overall strength compared to competitors.
In 2025, modern marketers focus on the EEAT framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) to build search visibility. A high DA score generally signals that your site is being referenced by credible sources, which aligns with the principles behind EEAT. That makes DA a useful supporting metric when assessing the overall SEO health and reputational strength of your domain in a competitive landscape.
Key aspects of Domain Authority:
- Score Scale (1 to 100): A logarithmic scale where moving from 0 to 15 is easier than moving from 70 to 80.
- Link Profile Quality: Strong backlinks from reputable websites increase DA.
- Root Domains Linking In: The number of unique domains linking to your site impacts the score.
- Spam Score Consideration: High spammy link patterns can suppress your DA.
- Constant Recalibration: DA scores shift as Moz updates its algorithm and as other sites grow or decline.
How Domain Authority Is Calculated
Domain Authority (DA) is calculated using a machine learning algorithm developed by Moz, which evaluates multiple factors to predict a domain’s ability to rank on search engines. The key elements that influence DA include the number of linking root domains, the quality and relevance of inbound links, spam scores, and how your domain compares to others across the web. DA is scored on a logarithmic scale from 1 to 100, meaning it’s progressively harder to move from 70 to 80 than from 20 to 30.
It’s important to acknowledge that a strong DA doesn’t guarantee high rankings. It reflects the relative strength of your site within the broader ecosystem.
How Page Authority Differs from Domain Authority
Domain Authority (DA) estimates the ranking potential of an entire domain. On the other hand, Page Authority (PA) focuses on the ranking strength of a single web page. Both scores use similar factors like link quality and quantity but are calculated independently. Understanding the difference helps you prioritize SEO efforts at both domain-wide and page-specific levels.
| Feature | Domain Authority (DA) | Page Authority (PA) |
| Scope | Measures the strength of an entire domain or subdomain | Measures the strength of a single URL |
| Use Case | Used to benchmark site-wide SEO strength | Used to evaluate potential of individual pages |
| Calculated By | Moz’s machine learning algorithm | Same, but isolated to page-level signals |
| Link Influence | Considers all inbound links to the domain | Considers links pointing to that specific page |
| Strategic Application | Useful for overall SEO planning and competitor analysis | Useful for optimizing and evaluating key landing pages |
How to Check DA and PA of a Website
To check the Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) of a website, use tools like Moz Link Explorer or the MozBar browser extension. These tools analyze backlink profiles and other SEO signals to display authority scores for entire domains (DA) and individual pages (PA).
1. Use Moz Link Explorer
- Visit Moz Link Explorer
- Enter your domain or a specific URL
- View DA, PA, number of backlinks, and linking domains
2. Install MozBar Extension
- Add MozBar to Chrome
- Log in to a free Moz account
- Visit any website to instantly see DA and PA in the toolbar
3. Try Alternative Tools
If you want multiple data points, try these free options:
- Ahrefs Website Authority Checker
- Ubersuggest by Neil Patel
- Small SEO Tools DA Checker
Tip: Always compare DA and PA relative to similar websites in your niche, but not major authority sites like Google or Wikipedia. Use the metrics to monitor trends, not chase scores.
How to Improve Your Website’s DA and PA
At DigiGyan, we encourage our students to focus more on quality content creation before they shift their focus to metrics like DA and PA. While there is no alternative to valuable content that aligns with EEAT guidelines, here are a few more ways to improve your site’s domain authority and page authority.
- Build High-Quality Backlinks
Focus on acquiring backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites within your industry. Create valuable, in-depth content such as guides, infographics, or case studies that naturally attract links. Outreach to industry partners for guest posting opportunities to strengthen your backlink profile.
- Optimize On-Page SEO
Ensure your website’s pages are optimized by using relevant keywords strategically in titles, headings, and content without overstuffing. Improve your site speed, fix mobile-friendliness, and design clear navigation paths to make your site easy to use. These factors help search engines understand and value your content better.
- Fix Technical SEO Issues
Perform regular audits to identify and fix broken links, duplicate content, crawl errors, and other technical SEO problems. Use tools like Google Search Console to monitor your site’s health and address issues quickly. A technically sound website supports better crawling and indexing by search engines.
Limitations and Criticisms of DA and PA Metrics
Many SEO professionals argue that DA and PA scores are third-party estimates, not official Google ranking factors, and should not be treated as absolute measures of SEO success. So, let’s understand their constraints to avoid overreliance on these metrics.
- Overemphasis on Quantitative Data: DA and PA rely heavily on link quantity and quality but underestimate qualitative factors like content depth, user intent, and site usability, which seriously impact rankings.
- Lack of Contextual Relevance: These metrics do not account for niche-specific authority. A high DA in one industry may not translate to dominance in another, making cross-industry comparisons misleading.
- Non-Transparent Algorithm: Moz keeps the exact formula secret, where users cannot fully understand what drives score changes, reducing actionable insights.
- Fluctuations Due to External Changes: Sudden spikes or drops can result from competitors’ link-building or Moz’s algorithm updates rather than your own site’s real SEO health, complicating interpretation.
FAQs
Improving DA and PA involves building a strong backlink profile with quality, relevant links from authoritative websites, regularly updating valuable content, and maintaining good technical SEO practices.
DA stands for Domain Authority, a metric developed by Moz to predict how well a website will rank on search engine result pages.
DA stands for Domain Authority, while DR stands for Domain Rating. Both are third-party metrics that estimate a website’s authority and ranking potential, with DA from Moz and DR from Ahrefs.
A DA or PA above 50 is considered strong, but “good” depends on your industry and competitors. Higher scores mean better ranking potential, but improving from 70 to 80 is much harder than from 20 to 30.
Spam score is a Moz metric that indicates the likelihood a website might be penalized or flagged as spam by search engines, based on certain link patterns and other factors. Lower spam scores are better for SEO.
Link juice refers to the value or authority passed from one webpage to another through hyperlinks. It helps improve the receiving page’s ranking potential by transferring trust and relevance.
In digital marketing, DA (Domain Authority) is used as a benchmarking metric to assess a website’s strength and visibility potential in search engines, guiding strategy decisions on SEO and content marketing.