Domain Authority vs Page Authority: What's More Important?

Authority is among the widely misinterpreted terminology in the entire SEO spectrum. The authority is a qualitative and constant measure of a web property that significantly impacts the overall search visibility or ranking. 

The search engine optimizers give immense importance to the authority, from producing informative and valuable content to link building; all of this is done on purpose to boost the authority of a website. However, authority alone is nothing when it comes to increasing search visibility; there is a need to add contextual relevance with the user's search intent. Although, the authority is still considered to be a pretty good indicator when it comes to determining the overall performance of SEO. 

The SEO efforts are generally analyzed on the basis of different metrics. There are different discussions and analyses that revolve around domain authority vs. page authority.

Let's understand the authority scenario with a concrete example. Suppose you want to know how to manage the deductions in taxes. For a pretty obvious reason, you would refer to your accountant or tax lawyer. The financial advisor will certainly help you manage the entire situation. Isn't it right? It means that there is a need to seek help from an authoritative source.

The same goes for web properties; the more influential you are, the more are the chances you will gain authority in a particular domain. Building trust among the audience will surely deliver awesome results. The search engine giant will also rank your website and web pages accordingly by measuring different signals. Before moving towards discussing what is more important, domain authority or page authority, there is a need to know how search engines assess the authority of a website. 

How Search Engines Assess Authority? 

There is a profuse amount of factors that the search engines take into account while determining the level of authority. However, in this section, our primary focus would be the content and links. This is because these are considered to be the baseline of authority for a website. 

 Content

The search engines weigh content as the primary factor in increasing your search visibility. For establishing a supreme baseline for your website, there is a need to produce quality, relevant and valuable content. There will be no use to produce content just for having a blog. Great content is surely thoughtful and inspired, and it is inevitably a part of your content strategy. Great content is surely a key to increasing the domain authority and page authority of a website. Along with that, the content also needs to be relevant according to the search queries. 

The search engine bots analyze the structure, language, and other elements to comprehend whether the content is beneficial for the users. Once the content is indexed, then the search engines start looking for external signals. When these two segments are amalgamated for determining the authority, the cumulative values are then considered to be the domain authority and page authority of a website. 

 Backlink Profile 

The backlinks could be simply explained in a way that they work like votes of confidence from one site to another. In technical terms, it is known as link equity or link juice. High-quality links will fetch authority for your site, while low-quality links will only have an adverse impact on your site's overall authority. Links also help you boost up your search visibility. 

If you have strong domain and page authority, then it could be predicted that there are pretty good chances of ranking on the search engine result page. In this regard, a need for proactive link-building process is required for fetching desired results. The authority is surely a specific SEO metric, and it needs to be improved tactically. 

Now, let's get to know what is domain authority and page authority. 

What is Domain Authority? 

The domain authority is an SEO metric that helps you out in knowing the worth or status of web property against its competitors. The domain authority isn't a ranking factor but a search engine ranking score. The metric is the brainchild of Moz; the metric is used to determine the probability of visibility of a website on the search engine result page (SERP).

The rating score of this metric is determined on the values of 1 to 100. In this regard, 1 is considered to be the lowest, while 100 is the highest one. The higher the score is, the more are the chances that have the probability of ranking on the search engine result page. The domain authority is calculated on the basis of several factors. The authority of the domain is determined through the link profile of a website and the quality of content. 

What is Page Authority? 

Let's put it simply, the page authority follows the same concept as that of domain authority. The score could be considered to be a proprietary score, which was also created by Moz. Following the same pattern, the page authority is calculated on a 100-point logarithmic scale, and it is based upon many factors. Similarly, a good page authority will also let you know how to stack up against your competitors. In simple words, the page authority is calculated in the same way as the domain authority. However, when it comes to PA, then the authority of an individual page is determined, not the entire site.

Therefore, the PA is a good metric when it comes to looking at the authority of individual pages. You can compare the authority of your pages with your competitors. The page authority can be improved by working on the link profile and content quality. The creation of quality backlinks publishing relevant and comprehensive content will let you increase your page authority. 

How to Check the DA and PA of a Website? 

The SmallSEOTools is offering one of the most prodigious online facilities of DA PA Checker of multiple websites. All you need is to enter the domain's root URL, and the tool will calculate the authority within seconds. Moreover, the results generated by the tool are accurate. 

How to Boost Domain Authority? 

The domain authority isn't a Google ranking factor, as explained previously. It only helps in determining your site's overall health and performance in regard to its competition. The DA of a website can be improved tactically and strategically. 

The Domain authority can be improved by working on the backlinks, and for that reason, there is a need to focus on quality over quantity. Over here, you need to make sure that the links you are creating must be of quality and also make those do-follow links. The creation of valuable and engaging content will also help in getting quality backlinks. There is a need to have a focus on the targeted audience; it will make your content shareable. Along with that, to boost the domain authority, there is a need to update older and unindexed content with relevant and fresh information that can grab your audience's attention.  

Moreover, you can also keep an eye on your competitors and formulate a strategy to go one step ahead from them for increasing search visibility. Over here, you can look at their link profile and get a backlink from the same sources for boosting your DA. The distribution of content through different channels will also help you to amplify your efforts. You can increase your visibility through different channels, and it could be social media, email, newsletters, and more. 

How to Boost Page Authority?

There is surely no doubt that boosting page authority is a tough chore. You would have to work on different aspects and dimensions for increasing the page authority. There is surely no need to increase the page authority of every other page. If your page authority is higher, then there are chances that you will be able to rank your web pages high on the search engine result page. The creation of fresh content to the addition of relevant information is the key to boosting your page authority. Fresh content contributes a lot in giving a new life to an already existing web page. The stronger content you are posting, the more are the chances it will be shared by your audience, and it will also fetch relevant natural backlinks to your web page from other sources. 

In addition to that, the link profile of a webpage also matters a lot in this regard. Therefore, you need robust work on the quality of the backlinks. However, it doesn't mean that only a bunch of quality backlinks will increase your page authority, but there is a need to also work on the quantity of the backlinks and that can be determined by a backlink checker within seconds. Therefore, working on link-profile and content is necessary for boosting your page authority. 

The Relation Between DA and PA

Domain authority and page authority both hold significant importance. This is because they are interlinked with each other. However, over here, you need to bear in mind that if a website has high DA, it will not impact the PA. While, if a site's page authority is higher than the domain authority, then it will also increase its domain authority. In this regard, you need to work on boosting both page authority and domain authority to overall increase your authority over others. The authority is all about the likelihood of ranking on the search engine result page. 

Final Words

In the last analysis, the page authority and domain authority are more or less similar. The page authority determines the growth rate of your content and the keywords you are targeting for fetching traffic. In comparison, the domain authority is about the likelihood of ranking your website on the search engine result page (SERP). Both the metrics are calculated through trusted and worthy backlinks.  

Backlinks from high authority sites will earn endorsements from others, which will let the search engines know that you are a trustworthy source in your targeted niche. It means that other trustworthy sites are vouching for your valuable content. However, you need to bear in mind that it isn't a ranking factor but a metric that determines the overall success of your website. 

Moreover, the practical way of outranking your competitors is by delivering quality content that can synchronize with the aspirations of your targeted audience. Therefore, there is a need to have a strong link-building strategy and content marketing stratagem for positioning yourself above others. 

Do not forget to read our previous post: Google's E.A.T. and SEO: The Ultimate Guide