Here’s our much-anticipated guide on how to improve your website’s domain authority.
Now, if you’re well-versed in the language of SEO, you’ll have come across the term Domain Authority (commonly shortened to DA). But if you’re not totally sure what it means or have never heard of it before, then this blog should help.
Simply put, Domain Authority is a score, usually measured on a scale of 1–100, that predicts how well your website will rank on search engines. The higher your score is, the more likely you are to outrank SERP competitors and get seen by potential customers.
It’s a metric we’re very used to, and thanks to Moz (the OG developer of Domain Authority), it is something we monitor regularly. Besides ranking potential, DA tells us how well your SEO campaign is progressing. That’s because DA is established by the strength of your backlink profile, as well as the UX quality and relevance of content.
Now, in all frankness, a guide on how to improve your website’s Domain Authority will not include shortcuts or guarantee overnight results. We’re afraid it’s a long game that requires consistency and strategy.
So, without further ado, here’s our no BS guide on how to improve your website’s domain authority… The GT way.
GrowTraffic’s Guide On How To Improve Your Website’s Domain Authority
1. Start With Onsite SEO
Your website is your foundation. Without a solid base, everything else crumbles. Onsite SEO covers everything from site structure and keyword strategy to web speed and core web vitals.
Search engines want to serve users the best possible experience. If your site is slow, clunky, or difficult to navigate, users are deterred, and your rankings take a hit. That’s why we optimise the following:
- Page load speed (who sticks around longer than 3 seconds for something to load anymore?)
- Internal linking to help Google understand and follow your content (think of crawlers as spiders on a literal web)
- On-page optimisation, including titles, meta descriptions, and all that jazz
While your DA may not improve overnight from some onsite SEO, it will support all the work you do on your site from there on. Without it, any digital marketing strategy you roll out will not reach its full potential.
2. Create Content Worth Linking To
We’re content kings and queens over here at GrowTraffic. It makes us laugh whenever we see ‘content creators’ on Strictly Come Dancing or Celeb Gogglebox, because that’s essentially what we do every day. Does that mean we qualify? If so, I’d like to dance with Vito!
Content marketing encompasses blog posts, whitepapers, cornerstone content, videos, and infographics, all help to position your brand as an authority in your ‘niche’.
The more helpful content you generate, the more likely it is that other websites will link to you. Every healthy backlink to your site is viewed as a vote of confidence by Google and, in turn, improves your DA.
3. Build Backlinks The Right Way
Domain Authority is heavily influenced by the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to your site. It’d be natural to think that the more links, the better… But there’s a catch. You see, not all links are created equally.
A single link from a high-authority, relevant site is worth far more than dozens of low-quality links from random directories. In that same breath, they are also much harder to achieve.
When we carry out backlink strategies at GrowTraffic, we cover:
- Outreach to reputable websites
- Guest blogging to reach new audiences
- Cleaning up your backlink profile to remove toxic links
It takes time to earn organic backlinks, but the payoff is worth it. Each strong backlink boosts your credibility in Google’s eyes and improves your DA.
4. Don’t Ignore Technical SEO
As much as you might want to, you can’t ignore the technical, nitty-gritty SEO.
Behind-the-scenes improvements matter. Technical SEO covers everything like site security (hello HTTPS), crawlability, and structured data.
If search engines struggle to crawl and index your site, your chances of improving DA are slim. We regularly audit sites for technical issues, patch up errors, and ensure the backend is working as hard as the frontend.
5. Build Trust Signals Offsite
Our final tip for how to improve your website’s Domain Authority is to remember that DA isn’t just about links; it’s about your brand’s wider presence online. Active social media accounts, citations, and consistent branding all contribute to how trustworthy your site looks to both users and search engines.
Think about when you are shopping online, and you stumble onto a website you’ve never seen before. Before going through with a purchase, you might want to double-check that the business exists elsewhere on the web, confirming its authenticity.
That’s why we encourage clients to combine social media management with SEO. When people share, comment, and engage with your brand across platforms, it amplifies your authority. On top of that, you give your audiences more places to find you. A win-win.
Improving Domain Authority With GrowTraffic
We hope this guide on how to improve your Domain Authority proves useful.
The most important thing we want you to take away from this blog is this: improving your DA isn’t about chasing vanity numbers. It’s about building the kind of online presence that search engines and users can’t ignore. From thorough onsite optimisation to creating standout content and earning quality backlinks, everything you do feeds that one goal.
It’s a lot of work, but luckily for you, our SEO experts at GrowTraffic know what it takes to get there. We support our worldwide network of clients, growing their visibility, traffic, and sales. Don’t just take our word for it, check out our digital marketing portfolio here.
If you’re ready to improve your Domain Authority and future-proof your website, check out our SEO services or get in touch with our team today. We can strategise a plan to boost your DA over a coffee or Zoom.