How to increase your Domain Authority
Domain Authority (Moz’s score) and Domain Rating (Ahrefs’ score) are both built from the links pointing at your site, so there’s one real way to raise them: get more good websites to link to you. Here’s how to do that without shortcuts that backfire, and what to expect along the way.
What actually moves the score
Moz builds Domain Authority from link data such as how many different root domains link to you and how many links you have in total. Ahrefs builds Domain Rating from how many unique domains link to you, how strong those domains are, and how many other sites each of them links to. Ahrefs puts it plainly: getting backlinks from more unique websites is the only way to improve DR.
Three things follow from that:
- New sites beat repeat links. Ten links from one website count for much less than one link each from ten websites.
- Selective linkers count more. Ahrefs gives the example of a DR 26 site that links to five domains having more impact than a DR 73 site that links to 5,000.
- Early gains come faster. DA sits on a logarithmic scale, so climbing from 20 to 30 takes far less than climbing from 70 to 80.
One more thing before the methods: Moz says Domain Authority isn’t a Google ranking factor. Raising it is a side effect of earning links, and the links are what help you rank.
1. Publish pages people need to cite
Most links come from writers who need a source. Give them one: original data from your own work, a free tool, a template, or the clearest explanation of something in your field. A page like that keeps collecting links for years without outreach, which no pitch email can match.
2. Reclaim links you already earned
Two quick wins hide in most sites. First, search for mentions of your business name that don’t link to you, and ask the writer to add the link; people who already mention you usually say yes. Second, find old pages that have backlinks but now return a 404, and redirect each one to the closest live page. The htaccess redirect generator writes the rules if your site runs on Apache.
3. Get listed where you really belong
Industry associations, suppliers and partners who list the businesses they work with, local business groups, and directories your customers actually use. These links are earned by being a real business in a real industry, and they’re often easy to get.
4. Write for sites your audience reads
Guest articles, interviews and podcast appearances work when the site is relevant to you and the piece is genuinely useful to its readers. Pick a few strong sites over many weak ones: a link from a site that links out to everyone passes very little.
5. Be a source for journalists and writers
Reporters and bloggers regularly look for experts to quote. Answering those requests quickly, with a specific and quotable answer, earns links from news and trade sites that would be hard to get any other way.
6. Point your internal links at the pages that need them
Internal links won’t change DA or DR, because both scores only count links from other sites. They still matter: they pass strength from pages that have links to pages that need them, and Ahrefs’ URL Rating counts them. When a post earns links, link from it to the pages you most want to rank.
7. Keep your anchor text natural
When links are earned, most anchors are your brand name, your URL, or plain words like “this guide”. If most of your backlinks use the same keyword phrase, that pattern looks bought. Paste a list of your backlinks into the anchor text diversity checker to see your mix.
What to avoid
- “DA increase” packages. Services that sell a higher score can move the number, but the number was never the goal, and links bought to manipulate rankings break Google’s spam policies.
- Link farms and private blog networks. Sites that exist only to link out are exactly what search engines try to discount.
- Large-scale link swaps. Swapping a link with a partner now and then is normal. Doing it with dozens of unrelated sites is a scheme.
Why your score can drop while you do everything right
Both scores are relative. Ahrefs explains that when the strongest sites gain more links, it can’t push them past 100, so everyone else slides down the scale. You can lose a point without losing a single link. Lost links count too: when a page that linked to you is deleted, that link goes with it.
So check the trend every month or two rather than every day. SERP DR does this for Domain Rating: any site can get a free public DR page, and the paid plan (from $4 a month for 12 domains when I checked in October 2026) rechecks DR weekly and sends a weekly recap.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to increase Domain Authority?
Scores only change after Moz or Ahrefs finds your new links and recalculates, so expect gradual movement over months rather than days. Because the scales get steeper at the top, a newer site usually climbs faster than an established one.
Can I increase Domain Authority for free?
Yes. Every method that works long term, like publishing pages worth citing, reclaiming mentions and broken links, and getting listed by real partners, costs time rather than money. Paying for links is the risky route.
Do internal links increase Domain Authority?
No. DA and DR are built from links on other websites. Internal links still help rankings, because they pass strength to the pages you link to, but they won’t change your domain score.
Why did my Domain Rating drop when I didn’t lose any links?
DR is relative. When other websites gain lots of links, Ahrefs can’t push the top sites past 100, so everyone else moves down the scale. A drop with no lost links usually means the rest of the web grew faster than you did.
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