Key Takeaways
- Before comparing them, it helps to be precise about what each metric is — and what it is not.
- Google has never confirmed using either DA or PA as ranking inputs.
- DA becomes the more relevant metric in scenarios where you are competing across a broad keyword set, where your site is relatively new, or where you are evaluating whether to pursue a link-building partnership.
- PA becomes the sharper tool when you are trying to rank specific, high-value pages — particularly in markets where the competing domain scores are broadly similar to yours, or where a single page represents significant commercial intent.
- Nearly every comparison of DA and PA focuses on external link acquisition.
- The honest answer is that both matter — but at different moments in your SEO programme and for different competitive situations.
- For newer sites or domains with limited link equity, building DA provides the foundation.
Most SEO conversations eventually arrive at the same impasse: should you be building links to improve your overall domain strength, or focusing effort on the specific pages you want to rank? The question sounds simple, but it trips up experienced practitioners and boardroom stakeholders alike. Understanding domain authority vs page authority — which matters more, when, and for what — is the kind of clarity that separates reactive SEO from a deliberate strategy.
Both metrics are Moz scores. Neither is a direct Google ranking factor. Yet both remain genuinely useful when read correctly — and actively misleading when misread.
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What Domain Authority and Page Authority Actually Measure
Before comparing them, it helps to be precise about what each metric is — and what it is not.
Domain Authority (DA)
Domain Authority is a Moz score ranging from 1 to 100 that predicts the likelihood of an entire website ranking competitively across search engine results pages. It is calculated primarily from the number and quality of unique root domains linking to your site. The scale is logarithmic, which means moving from DA 20 to DA 30 is considerably easier than moving from DA 60 to DA 70. A brand new domain starts at DA 1. Sites with enormous, diverse link profiles — think national news publishers or major educational institutions — approach DA 90+.
DA is a domain-level signal. Every page on your site benefits — or suffers — from the same DA score. It says nothing about any individual URL.
Page Authority (PA)
Page Authority uses the same 1–100 scale and the same logarithmic calculation, but applies it to a single URL. PA reflects the backlink profile of that specific page — how many links point directly to it, and from how many distinct domains. A page with a high PA can outrank pages on higher-DA domains if it has accumulated stronger, more targeted links at the page level.
PA is a URL-level signal. The same domain can have pages spanning a wide PA range — a well-linked resource page on a DA 40 site might carry a PA of 55, while a neglected product page on a DA 70 site might sit at PA 12.
Why Neither Is a Google Ranking Factor — and Why That Doesn't Make Them Useless
Google has never confirmed using either DA or PA as ranking inputs. Google operates its own proprietary systems — PageRank being the historical precedent — which are not publicly accessible. Moz's metrics are third-party approximations built on crawl data and machine learning models. They are correlated with rankings, not causally connected to them.
This distinction matters because it changes how you use the data. DA and PA are most valuable as relative benchmarks — tools for comparing your position against competitors, or for assessing the likely link equity a prospective backlink might transfer. Treating either score as a target in itself is where organisations go wrong. A DA 50 that rises to DA 55 does not guarantee any ranking improvement unless the underlying quality of your site's content and link acquisition has genuinely improved.
Used correctly, DA tells you how competitive your domain is within a given landscape. PA tells you how strong a specific page is relative to its direct SERP competitors.
When Domain Authority Should Drive Your Decisions
DA becomes the more relevant metric in scenarios where you are competing across a broad keyword set, where your site is relatively new, or where you are evaluating whether to pursue a link-building partnership.
Competitive benchmarking at the domain level
If your DA is 25 and your primary competitors sit at DA 50–65, that gap is a meaningful signal. It suggests that your overall backlink profile — the diversity and authority of sites linking to your domain — is substantially weaker. No amount of on-page optimisation will fully compensate for that disparity at scale. In this context, a sustained link acquisition programme aimed at earning links from a wider range of authoritative, relevant domains is the right strategic priority.
Evaluating prospective link partners
When deciding whether to pursue a backlink opportunity — through digital PR, content partnerships, or editorial outreach — DA gives you a quick read on the referring domain's overall strength. A link from a DA 60 site in your niche is likely to transfer more value than one from a DA 15 directory, all else being equal. It is not the only factor (relevance, placement, and whether the link is followed all matter), but it is a reliable first filter.
New sites and early-stage authority building
For a site under 12 months old with a DA below 20, almost every SEO priority feeds into domain-level authority. You do not yet have the foundation to compete on individual pages for competitive terms. The most efficient investment at this stage is building the domain's overall credibility — earning backlinks from established, relevant sources — rather than obsessing over PA at the URL level.
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When Page Authority Should Drive Your Decisions
PA becomes the sharper tool when you are trying to rank specific, high-value pages — particularly in markets where the competing domain scores are broadly similar to yours, or where a single page represents significant commercial intent.
Competitive SERP analysis at the page level
Before targeting a keyword, pulling PA scores for the top five ranking URLs gives you a realistic picture of what you are competing against. If your domain has comparable DA to those sites but your target page has PA 18 while competitors show PA 35–45, the gap is at the page level. The solution is not broader domain authority work — it is acquiring or earning links directly to that URL. Internal linking from high-PA pages on your own domain can also help here.
Commercial and transactional pages
Businesses running service pages, product category pages, or landing pages targeting high-intent keywords should be monitoring PA on those specific URLs. These pages often receive fewer external links than blog content, which means their PA can lag significantly behind the domain average. A targeted outreach campaign — securing coverage in trade press, earning mentions from relevant partners, or building a resource that naturally attracts links — specifically to those commercial URLs can move conversions meaningfully without requiring wholesale domain authority improvements.
The Internal Link Architecture Angle Most Articles Skip
Nearly every comparison of DA and PA focuses on external link acquisition. The more actionable — and frequently overlooked — lever is how you distribute existing page-level authority internally.
Your highest-PA pages are equity sources. Internal links from those pages pass authority to other URLs on your site. If you have a well-linked resource or blog post sitting at PA 45 and it links to none of your commercial pages, you are leaving distributable equity unused. A structured internal linking audit — identifying your highest-PA pages and ensuring they link purposefully to pages you want to rank — can improve the effective PA of commercial pages without a single new external backlink.
This matters particularly for sites that have been producing content for several years. Editorial content accumulates inbound links over time. If that content sits in a silo, disconnected from your core commercial pages, the authority it represents never flows to the pages that generate revenue.
The practical steps are straightforward:
- Crawl your site and export a list of all URLs with their PA scores (Moz's Link Explorer provides this).
- Identify your top 20 pages by PA — these are your internal equity sources.
- Review whether each links to your priority commercial or conversion pages.
- Where gaps exist, add contextually relevant internal links. A single contextual link from a PA 40 resource page to a PA 15 service page can shift the latter's standing noticeably within weeks.
This is particularly relevant for businesses that have invested in content marketing but see organic traffic concentrated on informational pages rather than commercial ones. The authority is there — it just needs routing.
A Practical Decision Framework: DA or PA First?
The honest answer is that both matter — but at different moments in your SEO programme and for different competitive situations. The following heuristics help determine where to focus resources:
| Situation | Primary focus | Why |
|---|---|---|
| DA significantly below key competitors | Domain Authority | The domain-level gap limits how well individual pages can compete |
| DA broadly comparable to competitors | Page Authority | The differentiator is page-level link equity and content quality |
| New domain (under 12 months) | Domain Authority | Building foundational link diversity is the highest-leverage activity |
| Targeting a specific high-value keyword | Page Authority | Analyse SERP-level PA to identify the real gap |
| High-PA content not driving commercial results | Internal links to PA | Redistribute existing equity to commercial pages via internal linking |
The broader principle: DA sets the ceiling for what your domain can aspire to; PA determines whether individual pages reach it. A high DA with poor page-level link distribution means you have untapped potential. A high PA on one page but a weak DA means that page may outperform the rest of your site — but the wins won't generalise.
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FAQ
Is a high Domain Authority more important than high Page Authority for ranking?
Not categorically. For newer sites or domains with limited link equity, building DA provides the foundation. For established sites competing in a specific SERP, PA of the individual URL is often the decisive factor. The correct answer depends on where the competitive gap lies — which is why checking both before setting strategy is worthwhile.
Can a page with a low-DA domain outrank a page from a high-DA domain?
Yes. If the lower-DA site has built strong, targeted links directly to that specific page, and the content itself is highly relevant and well-structured, it can outperform a page on a stronger domain that has relatively few inbound links at the URL level. This is more common in niche markets where specialist sites attract focused, high-quality backlinks even without broad domain authority.
How often do DA and PA scores update?
Moz updates both DA and PA scores regularly as their web crawler discovers new link data. Significant movements typically reflect substantial changes in a site's link profile — either new high-quality links being acquired or existing links being lost. Don't expect scores to move dramatically month-to-month unless you have an active link acquisition programme running.
Should I mention DA or PA when reporting SEO performance to a board or senior stakeholders?
Use these metrics as context, not primary KPIs. They are useful for explaining competitive positioning — "our domain is significantly weaker than the top three competitors, which is why we're investing in digital PR" — but boards respond better to metrics that connect to business outcomes: organic traffic growth, keyword ranking improvements, and conversions. Position DA and PA as leading indicators that explain why results are where they are, not as goals in themselves.
What to Do This Week
Rather than treating this as background knowledge, there are three specific actions worth taking immediately:
- Run a domain-level competitive check. Use Moz's Link Explorer or Indexed's domain rating checker to pull your DA alongside the DA of your top three organic competitors. If the gap is more than 15 points, domain authority building should be a standing priority in your SEO budget.
- Identify your top five commercial pages by PA. Export page-level PA for your most important conversion pages. Compare them against the PA of the pages ranking above you for your target keywords. This will tell you whether you need more external links to those URLs or whether internal linking is the faster fix.
- Map your highest-PA pages to your commercial priorities. Find your top 10 pages by PA and check whether they link to your key service or product pages. If they don't, add contextually relevant internal links this week. It costs nothing and begins redistributing existing equity immediately.
These three steps take a morning. They will give you a clearer picture of where the real gap lies than any amount of abstract discussion about which metric matters more in theory.
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Written by
Anjan LuthraManaging Partner, Indexed
Anjan Luthra is Managing Partner at Indexed. He has spent over a decade inside high-growth companies building organic search into their primary acquisition channel, and writes about SEO strategy, AI search, and revenue a…