Searchlab Domain Authority and Page Authority: Use Them Correctly
DA and PA are third-party scores that estimate ranking strength on a 1 to 100 scale. Google does not use them. Used as a comparison tool they are genuinely useful; used as a target they mislead.
What the numbers are, and are not
- They are predictions, built from backlink data by third-party companies. They estimate how likely a site is to rank, not how good it is.
- They are logarithmic. Moving 20 to 30 is straightforward. Moving 60 to 70 is enormously harder.
- They are relative. A DA of 35 is weak in finance and strong in a small local niche. The number alone means nothing without context.
- Google does not use them. No third-party score appears anywhere in Google's ranking systems.
Where bulk checking genuinely helps
- Qualifying link prospects. Screen a large outreach list quickly and spend your time on the plausible ones.
- Competitor benchmarking. See what authority level actually ranks for your target terms, so your goals are grounded.
- Vetting a purchase. Checking a domain before you acquire it.
- Portfolio monitoring. Tracking several client sites at once over time.
The trap to avoid
Chasing DA as a KPI leads people to buy links from high-DA sites that are entirely irrelevant to their topic. The score goes up; the rankings do not. Relevance beats raw authority almost every time. A DA 25 site in your exact niche is usually worth more than a DA 70 general news site.
Better questions than "what is my DA": Are we ranking for terms that bring revenue? Is our referring-domain count growing? Are the new links relevant? Those track the business; DA tracks a vendor's model.
Frequently asked
What is a good DA?
It depends entirely on your competition. Check the sites ranking on page one for your target keyword. Match them and you are competitive.
Why did my DA drop without losing links?
These scores are recalculated periodically and are relative to every other site. If others gained faster, yours can fall while your links stay flat.
DA or PA, which should I care about?
PA for a specific page you are trying to rank, DA for the site overall. For link prospecting, look at both plus topical relevance.