Everything You Need to Know About DA, PA, DR and Backlink Building
03 September 2025
03 September 2025
In SEO, knowing how your website ranks is the first step towards better visibility and increasing Google rankings. Two key indicators that most webmasters and digital marketers would discuss are Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA). Along with all these, concepts such as backlink building, DA vs DR in SEO, and the usage of a good DA PA checker tool also have a great impact on developing a good SEO strategy. In order to expand your website, gain more traffic, and rank higher on search engines, you must know how all these things connect.
Domain Authority vs Page Authority is perhaps one of the most frequent topics discussed in SEO, and understanding the difference is extremely crucial. Domain Authority, better referred to as DA, is a ranking developed by Moz to gauge your entire website's overall strength. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 100. The higher your DA, the higher your possibility of ranking favorably in search engines. DA relies on various things, such as the number of backlinks, their quality, domain age, and the general trust your site has built.
PA (Page Authority) on the other hand, is concerned with different pages in your site. It analyzes how probable it is for a specific page to rank higher in search results. PA is also rated from 1 to 100 but only for a specific page it looks at the backlinks and quality of the content. For instance, your home page could have a high PA because it will naturally accrue more backlinks, whereas a new blog post will have a lower PA until it can build up its authority over time.
The most significant difference between DA and PA is their scope. DA examines your whole domain, whereas PA examines the strength of a specific page. Getting better DA calls for a wider SEO plan, whereas getting better PA usually includes optimizing content, acquiring backlinks to one particular page, and optimizing internal linking. Both measurements are crucial, and combined they provide you with a very clear image of your site's ranking ability.
If you want to improve your DA and PA, you can't ignore backlink building. Backlinks are external links from other websites to your pages. Backlink building is one of the top priorities search engines look at to assess how trustworthy your website is. Simply put, the more quality backlinks, the higher the DA and PA. Nonetheless, quality is more important than quantity. A few links from authoritative sites are way more potent than hundreds of links from poor-quality or spam sites.
There are plenty of effective link-building strategies. The best long-term approach is through quality content, informative content, that will get linked to. Some other good ways to gain quality backlinks can be guest posting on quality sites, researcher outreach, quality research pieces and case studies, and other quality pieces of content. Don't neglect internal linking either, as you will pass authority from your high-PA pages to the lower-PA part of your webpage, whereas it will help to balance the overall ranking strength.
Finally, avoid spammy techniques, such as buying backlinks, using link farms, and automatic backlink generators. These may have short-term benefits and help you earn backlinks quickly, but they tend to have long-term bad effects; they will hurt your SEO long-term and spoil your DA. Focus on earning naturally occurring backlinks from reputable, trustworthy sources, are the links search engines prioritize.
When discussing Domain Authority, you will often come across another similar metric called Domain Rating (DR). DR is a score provided by Ahrefs, while DA comes from Moz. Both measure the strength of a website’s backlink profile, but they use different algorithms and databases. While DA focuses on predicting how well your site can rank compared to competitors, DR measures the quality and quantity of backlinks more directly.
In the DA vs DR in SEO controversy, it's noteworthy that neither of these scores is a true Google ranking factor. Google does not incorporate DA or DR into its algorithm. Those two metrics of course are useful to compare the strength of your site to competitors, for observing/enabling any SEO increase or decrease; and for plotting backlinks. For example, if a competitor has DA 70 and you have DA 40, you know this will take some effort on both your backlinks and your content to match their DA.
Ultimately though, it is best to monitor both DA and DR on a regular basis as they complement each other. There may be instances where your DR is greater than your DA because of variations in data collection between Moz and Ahrefs. By comparing both metrics, you can have a better understanding of your site's authority and where exactly you should work on improving it.
It is important to monitor your site's performance, and that's why a DA PA checker tool proves to be useful. Such tools give you a simple way to check your Domain Authority and Page Authority scores so that you can see how your SEO efforts are changing over time. One of the most popular options is Moz's Link Explorer, where you simply enter your domain or URL to see DA, PA, as well as some additional information, including backlinks and total referring domains.
There are free tools such as Teqtop’s DA PA checker tool, Ubersuggest, Small SEO Tools, and Website SEO Checker, which allow you to simply analyse your website. Regular use of a DA PA checker tool can help you discover low PA pages that require better content or more powerful backlinks. It also helps you differentiate your website from competitors’ websites to see how well your site ranks in your niche.
It also helps to consider how your site measures up to others of your type in your niche. When using these types of tools, don't try to get a perfect score but see how you improve over time. A small difference in your DA or PA may make a big difference in your rankings and traffic. By using the checker tool, and good backlink building practices, you can steadily improve your entire SEO.
If you want your site to rank higher, you will need to improve both PA and DA. The first is to produce good content that is of real value to your readers. Quality researched articles, popular guides, and entertaining blog posts are likely to be shared and linked to, which is a great way to build authority.
Afterward, reach out to authoritative websites in your niche, ask if they are taking guest posts or if a collaboration is possible where you can share your content. Make sure to post your content on social media to increase visibility and get backlinks naturally. Simultaneously, do not overlook technical SEO, make your site load fast, mobile-compatible, and have a seamless user experience since these indirectly contribute to your authority.
Internal linking is another easy but effective tactic. Referencing your new pages to existing pages that have a high PA can distribute the authority on your site, enhancing the potential for multiple pages to rank better at the same time. As more pages are made stronger, your overall DA will be enhanced over time.
Lastly, it is a good practice to check your performance using a trustworthy DA PA checker tool. Keeping track of your scores regularly enables you to realize what you are doing well and areas where you should work on, thereby making your SEO strategy more effective.
In SEO, Domain Authority vs Page Authority are important for evaluating your site's performance and ranking potential. DA assesses the overall domain strength, whereas PA considers the ranking power of specific pages. To enhance both, time must be taken up for building backlinks, producing quality content, and optimizing your site's internal linking structure.
When considering DA vs DR in SEO, keep in mind that although both are useful measures of website authority, they are not themselves Google ranking factors. Use both DA and DR as a baseline for tracking your progress, and to beat your competitors. Using a DA PA checker tool as regularly as possible to improve your site also keeps you in touch with your site's total performance, and informs your decision-making for SEO activity.
