If you’ve dipped your toes into the world of SEO, you’ve probably come across the term Domain Authority, often abbreviated to DA. But what exactly is it, and why does it matter so much?
Domain Authority is a score (from 1–100) that predicts how well a website is likely to rank on search engines and how authoratitive your website is across the web. The higher your score, the better chance you have of outranking your competitors.
As with any aspect of SEO, there are things that can boost your DA, and also things that can harm it. This blog highlights the mistakes that are killing your domain authority. Let’s dive into the most common mistake and what you can do to fix them.
Mistakes That Are Killing Your Domain Authority
Spammy Backlinks
Backlinks (links from other websites to yours) are one of the biggest contributors to DA. If you have chatted with the GrowTraffic team about backlinks, you may have heard of ‘link juice’. Not all backlinks are created equal, some are ‘juicier’ than others, which means they hold more value to your website and therefore, your Domain Authority.
Links that don’t have a lot of ‘link juice’ tend to come from low value, spammy sources. If your site is linked to from spammy directories, irrelevant blogs, or low-quality sites, it can do more harm than good.
So what should you do about it if you have spammy backlinks?
Regularly keep on top of your backlink profile and disavow any links that don’t hold value. Focus on building your backlink profile with reputable and relevant sites in your industry.
Thin or Duplicate Content
You may find if you do an SEO crawl (or work with an SEO agency like us) that it flags up ‘thin content’ or ‘duplicate content’. This is something that can be negatively impacting your DA. It is no secret that search engines reward original, helpful content. If your website is full of low-value blogs or duplicate content copied from elsewhere, your DA will struggle.
Focus on creating in-depth, useful content that answers the questions that your audience is asking.
Poor On-Site SEO
Your onsite optimisation plays a big role in your website’s Domain Authority. Missing crucial elements of your on page optimisation such as title tags and meta descriptions make it harder for search engines to read your site.
But it isn’t all about search engines, we need to this of the user too! Broken links, and confusing site structures make it harder for your audience to trust your website.
So what should you do about it? If you aren’t an SEO expert yourself, this is the part I would really suggest working alongside an agency whose expertise lies in SEO. Focusing on a strong keyword strategy and making sure your onsite optimisation aligns with this is a crucial way in improving onsite elements of your site, making you more trustworthy for both search engines and users, thus, boosting your DA.
Ignoring UX
If visitors bounce off your site it signals that your website isn’t offering value. Over time, this will hurt your DA. User experience (UX) is a huge part of success on SERPs.
Some things to focus on to make sure you aren’t making a mistake that will kill your DA…
- Speed up your site.
- Make sure your site is easy to navigate.
- Improve readability of your content.
No Content Strategy
Ok, I get it, you’re fed up of me saying that ‘content is king’ but seriously, a good content strategy is a game changer for pretty much all aspects of your SEO strategy, including Domain Authority.
Posting one blog and then going quiet for months won’t build authority. It’s crucial that you are consistent in your content strategy. Search engines reward consistency.
A top tip to ensure consistency in your content marketing strategy is, create a content calendar. Schedule when you are going to create and publish your blogs, articles, guides or case studies on the website.
You can by all means repurpose your content (if anything, we encourage it!) The more types of content you produce, the better.
How to Grow Your Domain Authority the Right Way
So, we’ve delved into that mistakes that are killing your domain authority, but how can you boost your DA the right way?
Growing your Domain Authority, as with all of SEO, won’t happen overnight, but with the right strategy, you can steadily improve it.
Focus on earning high quality backlinks, producing valuable content and fixing those technical SEO issues to really help your DA skyrocket.
Boosting Your Domain Authority With GrowTraffic
Domain Authority is a useful indicator of your website’s strength, showing search engines and users that you are authoritative in your industry and across the web, but it’s only one piece of the SEO puzzle.
By avoiding common mistakes that are killing your domain authority, you can build a stronger website with an impressive DA that also drives real traffic, leads, and sales.If you want to know more about how to implement the techniques that can boost your Domain Authority, get in touch!