There are a lot of metrics which are used by SEOs to find out where their sites stand. One of the metrics to talk about is the Domain Authority, also known as DA.
It is worth mentioning here that Domain Authority is most commonly associated with Google, i.e. people think of it as a tool by Google that helps in calculating the capability of a site to rank in search engines. But the matter of fact is that Domain Authority is not a metric by Google.
Domain Authority is actually a way by Moz to tell how well a website can rank in search engines. This metric uses a scale with a range between 0 and 100. The higher the rank, the better chance a website is going to have to rank, according to the theory.
It is also worth mentioning here that Moz’s metrics are being used in the industry by many of the professionals and they are quite happy with those metrics.
Third party metrics do help but they are not the only metrics to go for
If you are going to use a metric, pick one and use it in the way it is recommended. However, don’t use it as the only metric. And it is quite important not to confuse these third party metrics to be Google metrics.
Third party metrics are not equal to PageRank
The major issue here is that many of the people think of Domain Authority as a metric by Google. And some clients with a bit of knowledge try to insist that the SEOs must use these metrics since they have come from Google. Domain Authority is not front Google. It is from a company which is known for measuring rankings from different perspectives.
Even Moz has clarified things in this regard.
“Domain Authority is not a metric used by Google in determining search rankings and has no effect on the SERPs.”
The issue, or a part of it, seems to have influence from the word ‘Authority’ in this metric. This word is quite powerful, and so it may be doing a strong marketing here.When people talk about the Authority, they relate it to a factor which cannot be easily and immediately measured. And this is the reason that many of the people think of it as one of the Google metrics.
In the recent past, Google used to show the PageRank of the websites. But they are no longer doing it.This is the reason that people are turning the third party metrics to learn about the status of their websites. But it is important to note that all of these third party metrics are not the actual representations of PageRank.
The bottom line of this article is that you cannot judge a website based on its DA only. You are going to have to use Google metrics and some other third party metrics too in order to truly analyze your website.
