AnalyticsPublished02.05.2026

DA (Domain Authority)

A metric from Moz (0–100) that predicts a site's ability to rank in search engines. Google does not use DA — it is a third‑party indicator for competitor comparison.

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What is DA Why Google Does Not Use DA How to Use DA Limitations

In brief

Domain Authority (DA) is a domain authority score calculated by Moz's algorithm based on dozens of factors including link quantity and quality. It is not a Google ranking factor but useful for relative assessment.

What is DA

A metric from Moz (0–100) that predicts a site’s ability to rank. Important to understand: Google does not use DA. It is Moz’s attempt to simulate PageRank.

Why Google Does Not Use DA

Google has its own algorithms (PageRank, rank modules, machine learning). Third‑party metrics like DA, DR (Ahrefs), CF/TF (Majestic) are approximations that do not match Google’s actual signals. Use them with caution.

How to Use DA

Use DA (or DR from Ahrefs) only for competitor comparisons. "I have DA 30, my competitor has DA 50 — so I need more backlinks." The absolute number means nothing by itself.

Track DA growth over time
Compare DA only within the same niche
Don’t try to 'boost DA' by any means — Google doesn’t care

Limitations

DA does not account for topical relevance of links
DA can be inflated by buying high‑DA links, but that won’t help in Google
DA updates are delayed (several weeks)
DA may be unavailable or inaccurate for new sites

Never make link buying or selling decisions based solely on DA. Evaluate traffic, relevance, audience quality, and spam signals as well.

FAQ

Common questions

Both metrics are subjective. DR is based on the number of unique domains linking to a site and their DR. DA uses a more complex machine learning model from Moz. Depending on the task, one metric may suit better, but neither is the truth.

Buying links from high‑DA sites will increase DA, but that’s white noise. Natural DA growth takes time through quality content and organic links. A sudden DA spike may indicate manipulation.

Because Google does not use DA. Your site likely has high relevance, good content, proper on‑page optimisation, and local signals — all ignored by DA.

Moz updates DA roughly every 2–3 weeks. Due to the huge volume of data, updates can be unstable and delayed.

Indirectly — older domains tend to have more links and history. But a new domain with quality content and good backlinks can quickly catch up to an old one with a poor profile.

Direct contacts

Discuss your project?

Share your goals and website context — I will suggest a practical next step.

pavlo.seo@proton.me @pavelbarushka LinkedIn