SEO is full of myths, half-truths, and as a constantly evolving industry, also out of date information. The website optimization guidelines may change overnight due to a single update of the Google ranking algorithm. The fact that the details of this algorithm remain secret does not help. Of course, a lot can be deduced from official information and, above all, from your own positioning experience and constant experiments. However, with thousands of changes to the algorithm annually, i.e. every 3 hours on average, without constant monitoring and holistic analysis, it is easy to fall into the trap of rumors and hasty conclusions. One of the frequently misinterpreted variables in SEO is the so-called domain authority. What is it and to what extent can you rely on it for link building?
SEO – Search Engine Optimization
Positions in search results depend on many factors – Google’s algorithm takes into account over 200 issues, related to both content and technology, as well as links directing to the domain. In a nutshell, SEO can be divided into two sections:
– On-site SEO is activities that can be performed on the website itself. They come down to, among other things, updating and usually expanding the content on the website and saturating it with relevant keywords. Technical issues are also of great importance – loading speed, responsiveness, implementation of the SSL certificate or issues related to UX (SXO).
– Off-site SEO is based on building links that lead to a given domain. In theory, the more pages hyperlinked to a given site, the higher it is in search results – Google digitally applies its version of social proof of rightness to its rankings. Of course, the mechanics are a bit more complicated in the details – for example, it is important to diversify the link profile.
PageRank – Domain Strength Index
In the past, the indicative “power” of the domain could be easily checked using Google tools. It is the PageRank index, which uses a formula to calculate the “quality” of a domain on the basis of links to it and links placed on the website. Links taken into account by PR had to be provided with the dofollow parameter (the division into dofollow and nofollow was introduced in 2005 – previously the categorization did not exist, and the algorithm necessarily analyzed all links).
PageRank information was on the google toolbar, and small page owners often placed PR morning banners on their sites as an expression of digital prestige. Over time, PageRank was removed from Google Search Console and it was not possible to officially check the PR of a given page. Today, this result still has a significant impact on the page’s position in search results, but it is only one of many factors that the algorithm takes into account.
Domain authority and other indicators
With Google hiding PageRank in 2016, finding out about domain “strength” has become more complicated. Many SEO tools have developed their own algorithms to evaluate this value. Often in discussions, the issue of domain authority is raised – it is a ranking developed by the Moz company, which is based on the analysis of several factors. The result is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where the higher the number indicates the greater potential of the domain.
A similar tool, although of course based on its own value calculation system, is used by the popular Ahrefs service. This is called Domain Rating and is based on comparing the profile of links leading to the analyzed domain with other domains in Ahrefs database. As in the case of a domain rating, the score is given on a scale of 0 to 100.
Note – when using Ahrefs, do not confuse Domain Rating with URL Rating (UR) – the second indicator refers to quite similar mechanics (however, it uses a logarithmic scale), but not the entire domain is analyzed, but only a specific URL.
Domain authority and the Google algorithm
However, it is worth remembering that both domain authority and domain rating (as well as other similar indicators calculated by other tools) are not official Google data. This is only an approximate estimate and should only be taken as a guide, not a reliable factor. The Google algorithm remains a secret of the Mountain View group – all commercial tools trying to recreate it based on their own data are necessarily burdened with a large dose of presumptions or even randomness. Google admits the same in the words of John Mueller, an expert who has been dealing with the google algorithm for many years – “high authority of the linking domain does not guarantee high positions in the search engine.”
Ahrefs, Moz or Senuto are so useful services that no SEO specialist can ignore them – mastering such tools is the basis of an SEO engineer’s work. However, it cannot be denied that the key is the appropriate interpretation of the data they contain. Commercial crawlers may not reach all links. What’s more, they can be blocked from the level of the website administrator (meanwhile, Google crawlers will usually reach these subpages anyway). Many SEO agencies block the bots of tools such as Moz or Ahrefs so as not to reveal their back-end competitors. At the same time, this security and know-how protection strategy does not allow these tools to realistically assess the link profile. Domain authority is therefore only an estimated guideline and not a genuine value. DR can be a sensible indicator, but the analysis of each domain must be approached individually – only then will the SEO audit and subsequent positioning activities be able to draw the maximum potential from the website.
The SEO audit is unequal to the audit
The first step in SEO is always (or at least should be) a detailed, specialized website audit. During such an audit, each experienced specialist takes into account that despite the undeniable usefulness of the above-mentioned commercial tools, many indications may be burdened with various errors resulting from generalized statistical conclusions drawn by such tools. When analyzing a website’s link profile, it is important to consider first of all the results that link building generates – i.e. page positions in SERPs.
