Marketing Intelligence
What is Website Authority and How to Improve It?
The SEO community has been aware that building site authority through link building is an important part of ranking in Google. What’s more, this was confirmed by the Google leak of 2024.
In this guide, we’ll explain site authority, its importance, and how to improve it with SEO competitive research. We’ll also cover page authority and its role in building overall site authority, offering practical steps to strengthen your digital presence.
What is website authority?
Website authority is an SEO metric that appeared in the 2024 Google leak, which measures a website’s credibility, relevance, and trustworthiness. It is influenced by factors such as backlink quality, domain age, and the overall quality of the site’s content. A high domain authority suggests that a website is reliable and more likely to rank well in search engine results. Metrics like Similarweb’s Domain Trust Score (DTS) can be used as a proxy to evaluate site authority.
Why does it matter for SEO?
There are three areas where site authority matters for SEO, including:
1. Competitive benchmarking
Domain Trust Score provides insight into how your website compares to competitors. A strong domain authority reflects a robust backlink profile and trustworthy content—two critical pillars of SEO success.
2. Improved SERP rankings
While Google doesn’t directly use Domain Trust Score as a ranking factor, websites with high domain authority often rank well due to their high-quality content and strong backlink profiles. This gives them an indirect advantage in search engine visibility.
3. Enhanced SEO strategies
Understanding site authority helps refine your SEO strategies. Focusing on acquiring backlinks from reputable websites, improving site architecture, and ensuring content relevance are foundational strategies to boost site authority and, in turn, search performance.
How can you measure website authority?
Similarweb provides two site authority metrics: Page Trust Score (PTS) and Domain Trust Score (DTS), which evaluate the strength of a page’s or domain’s backlink profile.
- Page Trust Score (PTS): This metric measures the credibility or authority of an individual page within a domain. It estimates the likelihood of that page ranking highly in search engine results.
- Domain Trust Score (DTS): This score assesses the overall authority or trustworthiness of an entire domain. It predicts the site’s potential for high rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). DTS is determined by a machine learning algorithm that evaluates link profiles, taking into account factors like the number of linking root domains and total links.
Since site authority is dynamic—changing as backlinks and link profiles evolve—it’s important to monitor it regularly to adapt your SEO strategy.
1. The logarithmic nature of website authority
Site authority scores increase logarithmically, meaning it’s easier to move from 20 to 30 than from 70 to 80. Understanding this progression helps prioritize efforts to maximize domain authority. To boost scores effectively, focus on obtaining high-quality backlinks from reputable domains and maintaining a diverse backlink profile.
2. Key factors that influence domain authority
- Link quality:
High-quality backlinks from authoritative and credible websites are crucial for a strong site authority score. - Link diversity:
A varied backlink profile with links from multiple unique domains signals a robust and natural link-building strategy, positively impacting site authority. - Domain and page authority:
Internal linking plays a key role in spreading page authority across the site, enhancing the domain’s overall strength. A solid internal linking structure supports higher rankings and better site authority.
What is a good domain authority?
What qualifies as a good site authority score depends on the industry. Generally:
- A site authority score between 40-50 is considered average.
- Scores in the 50-60 range are strong.
- Scores 60 and above are excellent and typically reflect a well-executed SEO strategy with a robust backlink profile.
However, domain authority is relative. Instead of fixating on specific numbers, compare your site authority to competitors within your sector. Some industries require higher site authority to achieve significant visibility, while others can perform well with lower scores.
Site authority should be viewed as one part of your overall SEO toolkit. Strengthening your site authority involves a combination of technical audits, link-building, and content optimization. Focus your efforts on aligning with industry trends and use analytics to regularly assess progress and stay competitive.
Comparing website authority to topical and page authority
Website authority vs. topical authorityTopical authority and site authority have distinct focuses:
- Site authority is a general measure of a website’s overall strength, credibility, and trustworthiness across a wide range of topics.
- Topical authority assesses a website’s expertise and depth within a specific topic or niche.
Even websites with high domain authority can enhance their topical authority by specializing in certain areas. By demonstrating in-depth knowledge of a niche, websites build credibility, engage readers seeking detailed information, and foster trust, which can improve search rankings for relevant queries.
Website authority vs. page authority
While site authority evaluates the overall credibility of an entire website, Page Authority measures the potential of individual pages to rank in search results.
- Site authority: Considers factors like backlink quality and overall content strength across the domain.
- Page authority: Focuses on page-specific factors, such as the quality of content and link metrics tied to that page.
Improving page authority involves optimizing content and strengthening internal and external links at the page level. When each page is optimized for its search potential, it contributes to the overall performance of the website. A comprehensive SEO strategy that aligns individual page efforts with site-wide goals can amplify both page and site authority.
How to improve website authority strategically
Building site authority isn’t just about tweaking your website’s appearance or content. It’s about strengthening your off-page SEO strategy. Here’s how to approach it effectively:
1. Build backlinks
Among the many factors influencing domain authority, developing quality backlinks is the most impactful. Backlinks form the cornerstone of off-page SEO, and when it comes to links, quality always beats quantity. A few high-quality, relevant links can drive more authority and rankings than dozens of low-quality or irrelevant ones.
With Similarweb’s Backlink Analysis tool, you can gain deep insights into referring domains and uncover successful backlink strategies used by your competitors. These insights will help you build a more effective off-page SEO strategy.
Getting started with link building:
1. Create link-worthy content: High-quality content is the foundation of link-building. This includes data-driven articles, comprehensive guides, infographics, and original research that others naturally want to reference and share.
2. Identify target sites: Use tools like the Similarweb Backlink Analytics to find potential websites that align with your niche and audience. Focus on sites with high domain trust scores and active engagement.
3. Leverage existing opportunities:
– Broken link building: Identify broken links on target sites and suggest your content as a replacement.
– Unlinked mentions: Find instances where your brand or content is mentioned without a link and politely request a hyperlink.
4. Guest posting: Offer to write valuable content for other websites in exchange for a link back to your site.
5. Appear on podcasts: Podcasts are an excellent way to establish authority in your niche and gain backlinks. Many podcast hosts include links to guest websites in the show notes. Research relevant podcasts, pitch yourself as a guest, and share unique insights during the interview.
Outreach tips:
Outreach is essential for earning links. The goal is to build relationships and demonstrate the value your content provides.
1. Personalize your emails: Avoid generic templates. Address the recipient by name and show that you’re familiar with their website and audience.
2. Emphasize value: Explain how your content benefits their readers. For example, if your article fills a gap in their resources or adds updated information, highlight this clearly.
3. Be concise and polite: Keep your message short and professional. Respect their time and don’t push for a response.
4. Follow up thoughtfully: If you don’t hear back, send a polite follow-up after a few days. Avoid being overly persistent, as it may damage the relationship.
2. Improve your website structure
A well-organized site structure is essential for building and spreading site authority. By optimizing how your pages connect through internal links, you can distribute link authority from high-value pages (such as those with strong backlinks) to other important pages on your site. This ensures that link equity flows efficiently across your site, strengthening its overall authority in the eyes of search engines.
Internal links
Internal links are the backbone of how link authority is distributed throughout your site. They create a clear roadmap for search engines, guiding them to discover, crawl, and index all relevant pages. By strategically linking to high-priority or related content, you amplify the visibility and authority of those pages. This not only improves rankings but also ensures users stay engaged by easily accessing valuable information, reducing bounce rates and increasing time on site.
For example, linking from a popular blog post with strong backlinks to a service page or cornerstone content can elevate the authority of those target pages. A deliberate internal linking strategy ensures that no page is left orphaned, and every link contributes to building overall site authority.
Website structure
Your website structure works hand-in-hand with internal linking to improve site authority. A logical and hierarchical site layout enables search engines to understand which pages are most important and how they relate to one another. For instance, a flat site structure with shallow navigation allows link authority to cascade more efficiently, ensuring that even deep pages benefit from the authority of your homepage or other top-level pages.
A cluttered or inconsistent structure, however, can trap link authority in isolated sections, making it harder for search engines to identify key content. Tools like Similarweb’s Website Structure feature can provide insights into how competitors optimize their site structures, helping you refine yours to improve the distribution of link authority and SEO performance.
3. Align content with your product
The foundation of domain authority lies in creating content aligned with your site’s mission and product offerings. By producing content that genuinely helps your users, you not only boost engagement but also earn trust from search engines. A key principle to keep in mind is E-E-A-T: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. These factors heavily influence how search engines rank your content:
- Expertise: Showcase your expertise by publishing well-researched articles, in-depth tutorials, or practical guides. For instance, if your site focuses on health, ensure your content is evidence-based and reviewed by qualified professionals. This positions you as a trusted expert in your field.
- Experience: Highlight first-hand experience in your content. Case studies, customer reviews, or ‘how-to’ articles grounded in real-world experience resonate with both readers and search engines.
- Authoritativeness: Establish yourself as a reliable authority by consistently producing accurate, extensive, and valuable content that others want to reference and link to. Resources like whitepapers, industry reports, and comprehensive guides can help solidify your authority.
- Trustworthiness: Ensure your site conveys trust. Provide accurate information, proper citations, and maintain a secure site (e.g., SSL certification). Features like a detailed ‘About Us’ page, verified qualifications and transparent contact information can further enhance your credibility.
By aligning your content strategy with these principles, you can strengthen your site’s authority while building trust with both users and search engines.
Strengthen your website’s market position
Understanding your site’s authority is critical to boosting its visibility and competitive edge. A strong authority score is built through consistent SEO efforts, including publishing high-quality content, earning authoritative backlinks, and optimizing site architecture. The ultimate goal is to be more visible and relevant than your competitors. By focusing on these key areas, you can take actionable steps to enhance your site’s online presence. When these strategies are integrated effectively, you’ll notice clear and measurable improvements in your website’s rankings and overall performance.
FAQs
How fast can you raise your Google site authority score?
Improving site authority is a gradual process that requires consistent effort. Incremental growth comes from ongoing practices such as enhancing content quality, acquiring high-quality backlinks, and regularly evaluating your SEO strategies.
Do social media links impact site authority?
While social media links don’t directly influence site authority, they can boost brand visibility and drive traffic to your site. This increased exposure can indirectly support organic growth and link-building efforts.
Is site authority related to the domain name’s age?
Site authority is not directly tied to a domain’s age. However, older domains often have an established backlink profile, which can positively impact site authority over time.
How does content relevance affect site authority?
Content relevance significantly influences backlinks and user engagement—two critical factors for site authority. Continuously producing relevant, high-quality content in your niche helps solidify and grow your authority.
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