In the world of SEO, understanding your website’s authority is essential to boost its ranking and visibility. One of the metrics used to formulate a website’s authority score is Domain Authority (DA) Score.
In simple terms, Domain Authority is a numerical value that depicts the likelihood of a given site appearing in the list of results provided by a search engine (SERP).
But what if you don’t have the finances to cut for expensive SEO tools? This article will discuss the 5 main domain authority check methods which offer insightful information regarding the SEO health of your website at no costs.
Key Takeaways
- Domain Authority (DA) is your SEO health score: DA is a simple number (0–100) that predicts how likely your site is to show up in search results—higher scores mean better chances of ranking well.
- Free tools make DA checks easy: You don’t need to pay for premium plans: Moz Link Explorer, SEMrush’s Domain Overview, Ahrefs’ Domain Rating checker, SEO Review Tools, and Small SEO Tools all let you check your DA at no cost.
- DA hinges on link quality and trust: Your DA score is driven by factors like the strength of your backlinks (MozRank), the trustworthiness of linking sites (MozTrust), and the number of unique root domains pointing to you. Monitoring these over time helps you spot and fix weak spots in your link profile..
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority (DA), is an indicator created by Moz, which serves to evaluate the strength and credibility of a given website. Each website is rated on a score between 0 and 100. A website’s search engine ranking is determined by how well it has positioned itself, making its score crucial.
Websites are classified as stronger or weaker according to their DA scores. Higher numbers signify the possessor’s chances of ranking well are great, while lower scores show that something is deficient in the website’s link profile and/or content quality.
DA is not a metric used directly by search engines like Google; but it is a comparison metric. Consider a website rated at 80 and another at 20. Both possess the same content and optimization strategies. In this case, the website with a score of 80 will outperform the other.
How is Domain Authority worked out?
The complex calculation of test Domain Authority requires multiple algorithms to evaluate its strength. Below are some of them:
- Link Profile – This measures how many backlinks your website receives and how reputable these backlinks are.
- Linking Root Domains – Unlike other backlinks, unique authoritative websites that link to your website act as root domains, boosting your DA.
- MozRank – This is a cumulative score that displays how powerful links towards a specific website are, the higher the value, the better the links.
- MozTrust – The measure of trustworthiness of the websites that link to your site determines MozTrust.
- Page Authority (PA) – Every page on a website has an authority value. When key pages are trusted greatly, they can boost overall DA.
So, knowing these factors will aid in increasing your DA thereby improving the ranking of your site on search engines.
How to check Domain Authority for Free
Many programs and tools are accessible that enable you to check your website’s DA without charge. Premium SEO tools such as Moz, SEMrush and Ahrefs offer a surplus of information about different SEO metrics, but most of them also have a free version that enables one to check their DA score.
It helps you in tracking your progress, understanding, diagnosing SEO problems, and making changes to optimize your website.
Top 5 free Domain Authority Checkers:
Here are the five most efficient Moz Link Explorer that offers a comprehensive report on analyzing your webpage DA, like most, it is available free of charge. Page Authority and MozRank are some of the vital components which this tool offers to report on.
1. Moz
Moz is the custodian of Domain Authority which explains Moz Link Explorer, one of the best programs that enable free DA checking. With this tool, one does not have to pay in order to get detailed information on DA score, backlinks, Page Authority and even MozRank.
Pros:
- Precise DA Score
- Link Profile Insights
- Additional Metrics
Cons:
- Limited Free Checks
- Additional Features Require Paid Subscription
2. SEMrush
SEMrush is one more popular company in the SEO world, providing streamlined tools that are capable of executing keyword research, site audits and backlink assessment. With its Domain Overview Tool, one can check the DA of their website alongside relevant organic traffic and domains referring to that site.
Pros:
- Comprehensive Overview
- Competitor Analysis
Cons:
- Limited Free Access
- Requires Registration
3. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is one of the most popular SEO tools available because of its exceptional site audit capabilities and backlink analysis. Although Ahrefs does not provide an explicit “Domain Authority” score, it has its own metric, Domain Rating (DR), which serves a similar purpose in assessing the strength of a website.
Pros:
- Accurate Backlink Analysis
- Free Domain Rating checker Tool
Cons:
- Restricted Free Access
- Absence of DA Indexing
4. SEO Review Tools
SEO Review Tools is a basic SEO tool with a web Authority Checker. This enables you to assess your DA and view other website metrics, including backlinks and general SEO wellness.
Pros:
- Basic and Straightforward
- No Sign Up Necessary
Cons:
- Fewer Competitive Insights
- Basic Features
5. Small SEO Tools
Small SEO Tools provides an extensive list of free SEO services which include the Domain Authority Checker. This tool has been designed to provide ease of access which gives your DA score alongside important metrics such as backlinks, page authority, and keyword ranking.
Pros:
- Completely Free
- Multiple SEO Tools
Cons:
- Less Accurate Than Other Tools:
- Slow Processing Time
Final Thoughts
Monitoring your website’s domain authority periodically is important for measuring the performance of your SEO efforts and identifying the areas that require further optimization. The five no-cost domain authority checkers detailed in this article will aid in tracking your website’s performance.
Although these tools may not be as comprehensive as premium SEO services, they are still beneficial to those wanting to improve their visibility online.
These tools allow you to track your DA score over time, which will give your insight into how well your website is performing. Whether you are new to the world of SEO or an industry veteran, these tools serve as great assets that help strengthen a website’s authority and help maintain its overall SEO health.
FAQs
Is domain authority the same as website authority score?
Domain Authority (DOMAIN AUTHORITY) a term coined by MOZ, a metric that estimates the google ranking a website would get based on metrics such as backlinks, credibility, and the overall health of the website.
DA is a concept used in other SEO tools like Ahrefs which calls its version Domain Rating(DR), and even SEMrush which has its own score. These systems might be using different algorithms to calculate the scores, but all aim to do the same thing, measure the strength of a website based on its backlink profile and the trust signals it has.
Can improving my authority score help my Google rankings?
Yes, increasing domain authority score would negatively affect Google rank. Google does not use Domain Authority as a factor when determining a website’s ranking, but does look at several other factors including the ranking the website is given.
The website’s rank is determined by the quality of the backlinks it has when compared to other websites. This means that if a website increases its chances of scoring higher by getting more backlinks to their content, it would subsequently be able to score higher on organic Google’s ranking gradually.
How often should I check my website’s authority score?
An interval of 1 to 3 months is recommended for check website DA on the score of authority of the website. Such periodic actions allow proper assessment of the benefits arising from the ongoing optimization, and if there are abrupt changes in profile of links connected with the website.
Checking the score of authority on a weekly basis will not provide any beneficial insights, as there are changes over time. Also critical is the notion to avoid overemphasis on shorter periods, and instead focus on longer timeframes. Also assists in building a proper strategy is periodic checking to enable changes or modifications to be done where necessary.
Do backlinks really affect website authority score?
Definitely, the score of domain authority plus website score of the domain of a website is part of the backbone of its impact. Backlinks help signify that a website serves its core purpose of providing important content which can be relied upon.
In this context the source of back links will add more value when the websites are more authoritative. Having links connected to subpar websites will automatically lower a websites rating while being linked to higher quality interlinked websites will increase domain rate.
Overall increase in value will be accompanied by an increase in visibility from search engines and even the ranking that comes with offering reputable and niche associated links and content.
Why do different SEO tools show different authority scores?
The reason authority scores differ across various tools is because each of the tools has its own methods or algorithms which it uses to calculate those scores. For instance, Moz calculates Domain Authority (DA) depending on the amount and quality of a website’s backlinks. This is alongside Ahrefs, who also uses Domain Rank checker (DR), which takes into account backlinks but may use other factors differently.
There is also SEMrush, who has their own Authority Score metric. Each of these tools is based on different scoring techniques, and the data they use can differ in terms of crawl rate or link information, which affects scoring. Despite these discrepancies however, all of the tools guide themselves with the primary goal of measuring a website’s ranking capabilities using the concepts of authority and backlinks.
