Why & How To Increase Your Website’s Domain Authority

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Most bloggers and site owners have one goal in common:

• Rank higher in search engines.

There are hundreds of web metrics out there, but there is one web metric that has grown in importance exponentially since it came into the world of SEO.

That web metric is Domain Authority (DA).

You might have already heard of Domain Authority. If you haven’t, then you should read: What Is Domain Authority (DA)? – A Complete Guide For Beginners.

Domain Authority is a grade or score (ranging from 0-100) developed by Moz that estimates how well a website will rank on Google and other search engines.

A website with a high DA score is likely to rank higher in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

Do you want to know how to increase the DA of your website?

In this post, I will share 7 realistic methods that will help you increase the Domain Authority of your website. But before we move further and have a closer look at these 7 methods, let me first explain to you why it is important to increase the DA of your website.

Why is it crucial to increase the Domain Authority of your website?

Increasing your Domain Authority will increase the possibilities of your website ranking higher on Google and other search engines. Sometimes, you may have seen that a website which has a low DA ranks lower than websites who have a high DA with much less engaging content.

DA is very important for search engine ranking.

Here are a few facts about Domain Authority:

• To calculate Domain Authority, over 40 signals are taken into consideration.
• Websites that rank higher on search engines tend to have a high DA.
• High Domain Authority -> high search engine rankings -> more traffic.
• Domain Authority doesn’t increase overnight.

There are several things we can do to improve our DA score. That sounds pretty good, right? Well, it is not going to be easy, but it won’t be as hard as climbing Mount Everest.

How To Increase The Domain Authority Of Your Website

Well, Domain Authority cannot be purchased or stolen from another high Domain Authority site. To lift up your DA score, you need a great strategy, thousands of pieces of great content, and lots of patience.

If your DA is around 10 or 15, then it will be easy for you to raise it up to 30 or 40. But when it comes to growing your DA score above 50, the job becomes much tougher and pretty slow.

So let’s move ahead and see the 7 steps that will help you gain a better DA score.

1. Publish Quality Content

You need to write quality content in order to achieve a good DA score. Unique and approachable content gets value everywhere. If you want to write quality content, you need a great strategy.

It doesn’t matter how long you write; what matters is that it is unique and relevant.

Remember this phrase:

• Content is King.

Content is what attracts visitors, and you can not compromise on content. Use images, GIFs, and videos to make your content more appealing and interesting.

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A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

You can also use infographics as they can make your content go viral (and they are embeddable).  

A good piece of content should also have a good length. A good length means more than 800 words.

Longer articles are considered to be “more informative”. Your website will definitely suffer if you publish floppy, short, uninspiring content.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Do not copy from someone else’s work and paste it inside your post.
• Make use of synonyms instead of using the same word again and again.
• Don’t go off topic and discuss unnecessary things unrelated to your main subject.
• Make your content come across as “professional”.

2. On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO is another method of optimization. It plays a vital role in moving your DA from low to high.

It includes technical factors like page titles, keyword placement, and keyword density.

Here is a simple checklist that will help you maintain your On-Page Optimization:

• Keyword density- Avoid keyword stuffing and keep the density between 0.5 to 1.5%.
• Heading tags- Use heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to highlight main points.
• Targeted keyword- Choose a perfect keyword for your blog posts. Prefer long-tail keywords as they are easier to rank. Use your focus keyword once in the first paragraph of your post, if possible.
• Permalink structure- Use an SEO-friendly permalink structure which contains your focus keyword.
• Meta description- Fill out your meta description. Don’t leave it blank. Your meta description should have your focus keyword in it.
• Write keyword rich titles- The title of your blog post should be attractive and keyword rich. It is better to start your title with your focus keyword.
• Image optimization- Optimize your images to boost your SEO status.

If you are not taking care of your SEO, then it will become hard for your site to rank well on Google. On-Page Optimization is the best technique to bring interested visitors to your website.

And proper SEO will increase your Domain Authority.

3. Internal Linking Is Key

The best example of internal linking is Wikipedia (which has a DA score of 100).

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Internal linking reduces the bounce rate (increasing a visitor’s average time spent on your site).

Linking to your older posts will make your current post more informative and captivating.

But here’s the catch:

• Only link to old posts which are similar to your current post.

This will help search engine bots find your site’s content and easily crawl them. Internal linking also helps in spreading link juice and Page Authority (PA) throughout your website. Interlinking will allow both users and search engines to easily navigate your website.

In order to internally link effectively, make sure every internal link is do-follow.

• Read : 3 Best Solution For Blog Posts Interlinking in WordPress

4. Generate High Quality Links For Your Site

It’s not going to be easy to generate high-quality links for your site, but it’s going to be worth it.

Many bloggers and webmasters make mistakes here. They end up making low-quality links which don’t add any value, hence reducing their site’s ranking on Google.

Let me tell you where they go wrong: They practice rubbish methods.

For example, they generate links using sites like Fiverr and other sites which guarantee backlinks within a few minutes. These links suck.

I mean there are many people working hard day and night just to get high-quality backlinks; what the hell is wrong with them? Actually, they’re right, and the ones who are generating backlinks by illegal means are going to pay for it. They may lose their ranking and their site may get penalized by Google.

So what are the “good methods” of generating high-quality links?

I recommend you follow these steps:

A. Share your content on social networking sites- Most social media sites have a high Domain Authority. When you share your blog posts on sites like Facebook and Twitter, you reach a new audience. And if your content is good and gets more shares, then it will go viral in no time.

Remember:

• Even the best content needs to be shared and promoted.

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Do not be a spammer and develop a schedule. Social media sharing is a skill. To master this skill, a great strategy and lots of practice is needed.

• How to Encourage Your Blog Readers to Share Articles on social media?
• The Best WordPress Social Media Plugins
• 7 Types of Content People LOVE on Social Media

B. Guest Posting- Guest posting is one of the best ways to grow your brand’s authority and to increase referral traffic. It is a much safer and more advantageous technique than blog commenting.

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I have found that guest posting is becoming very spammy because many guest bloggers implement wrong methods. A few of them try link stuffing, rich anchor text stuffing, publishing low-quality content, etc.

The days are long gone when guest posting was the main source of link building. Don’t use guest posting as a way to gain more links for your site because that won’t work.

Guest posting is still a very strong and convenient way that will help with your site’s rankings if you do it in a systematic and proper way. If you want to make the most out of guest posting, then you should follow these points:

• Think outside the box and create insanely good content.
• Try to post on high authority sites.
• Avoid link stuffing as it can affect your site’s ranking. And you may get penalized.
• Only post on related topics as the site where you are planning to post.
• Use relevant links.

For detailed reading:

• Guest Posting or Article Marketing : Which is Better for Backlink?

C. Content Is The Natural Link Builder- Yes, no other methods are as useful as this one. You just need to produce good content – content that is information-rich, legitimate, and easy to read and understand. 

Good content will not only benefit your site (and your readers), it will also help other sites too. How?

Let’s look at an example:

Suppose Sam has created a great and descriptive post on his site and Brad found Sam’s content very unique and relevant to his post. Brad linked to Sam’s post in order to make his own post more informative and interesting. Thus, Sam got one mention, and Sam’s post helped Brad in composing a good post of his own.

Create lots of linkable content to gain more and more natural links for your site.

Although there are many other safe and practical ways to generating high-quality links, these three techniques work like a charm.

• You may want to read: 101 Ways To Get Quality Backlinks To Your Blog in 2016.
• How To Use Search Operators To Find Link Building Opportunities

5. Disavow Bad Links

It is essential to remove bad links regularly that are affecting your site’s position on Google. Removing toxic and spammy links is as important as gaining quality links.

You will have to keep your link profile clean and spotless. Many bloggers don’t focus on this important fix that needs to be done continuously. If you won’t disavow the bad links which are harming your site bit by bit, then you may lose your position in SERPs.

Bad links directly impact your Domain Authority as it is mandatory to have a good link profile for a high DA score.

In order to have a good link profile, you should focus on removing bad links and generating quality links.

• Read: How to Remove Spam Backlinks Using Google’s Disavow Links Tool

6. Have Patience And Let Your Domain Grow Old

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The domain’s age will help you increase your site’s ranking and DA score. If your site is 3 or 4 years old and still active, that means that you have been there for a long time. That also means that you have been publishing quality content and your site is probably not a spam site.

[Tweet “Old websites are more likely to rank higher in Google Search results.”]

You should not worry about your DA score or keyword ranking if your site is one or two months old. Just keep publishing quality content on your site and your DA will improve as time passes.

Domain age is an important factor in SEO. Now, this doesn’t mean that new websites can not get high rankings or improve their DA. They surely can, but it will take more time.

So have patience, and let time pass. Another good practice is, book your domain for next 3-4 years. Do you know ShoutMeLoud is booked for next 8 years.

7. Increase Publishing Frequency

To keep your blog updated, you will have to increase your publishing frequency.

Frequently asked question => How often should I blog?

I would say: You should blog regularly.

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It is not easy to post on a regular basis. But if you do, then improving your Domain Authority will be easy.

Most bloggers are not consistent. That’s why they see fluctuations in their DA.

Domain Authority will increase if you keep posting regularly, but it may decrease if you do not.

Other benefits of regular posting:

• Higher traffic, higher revenue, higher page rank.
• Lots of quality content to link to.
• Develops writing skills.
• There’s always something new to share with your readers.
• Generates trust among visitors.
• Increases conversions and sales.

On my blog, I have experienced the many advantages of publishing blog posts regularly. You may have experienced them too.

In general, the more often you blog, the more traffic you get. Most views you get come from your old blog posts. The more you publish, the more old posts you store on your site.

Checking your Domain Authority

It is very important to check your DA score at least one a month. It will help you know your site’s strength.

A high DA means a high search engine ranking.

There are many free Domain Authority checker tools available that will help you not only check your site’s DA score, but also your competitors’ DA.

Here’s one way to check your Domain Authority:

• Go to Open Site Explorer.
• Enter your website’s URL.
• Click on the Search button to get your DA score along with Page Authority and Spam Score.

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As you can see (in the screenshot), ShoutMeLoud has a DA of 59.

Achieving a DA number higher than 50 is very challenging and will take a lot of time to get there. But I promise that if you follow all of the steps in this post, you will achieve that score one day.

Improving DA and SEO with Content Marketing

In improving DA, content and optimization go hand-in-hand. You can not increase your DA without improving your site’s overall SEO. So make a plan and work accordingly.

Your main focus should be on your content. Content marketing is the key which will open every door for your online business. Believe it or not, you can never rank high for a creepy site with stupid content, no matter how well you optimize.

For me, it’s always content that matters more than anything.

If you are following all of these steps, then your DA score will doubtlessly increase over time.

That’s all I have to say about DA. Please feel free to ask and suggest anything in the comments.

Like this post? If yes, then don’t forget to share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn!

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