Story Based Question
Imagine you own an online boutique store selling handcrafted jewelry. You’re analyzing your SEO metrics when you notice two scores on your Moz dashboard: Page Authority (PA) and Domain Authority (DA). Your homepage has a high PA, but your product pages and blog posts have much lower scores. Meanwhile, your competitor has a consistently high DA, and they seem to rank better overall. You’re confused—what’s the difference between PA and DA, and why do they matter?
Exact Answer
Page Authority (PA) measures the ranking potential of an individual page, while Domain Authority (DA) measures the overall ranking potential of an entire website or domain.
Explanation
The key difference lies in scope:
- Page Authority (PA) focuses on one specific page. Factors like backlinks to that page, content quality, and technical SEO determine its score.
- Domain Authority (DA) evaluates your whole domain or subdomain. It considers the total quality of backlinks across all pages, the site’s overall reputation, and how well it performs compared to others in your niche.
Both are predictive scores created by Moz and range from 1 to 100. They don’t directly affect Google’s ranking algorithm but act as useful benchmarks for SEO.
Here’s why this matters:
- A high DA means your site is trusted as a whole. Even newer pages on your domain may rank better because they inherit the domain’s strength.
- A high PA indicates that a specific page is optimized and competitive. However, if your domain’s DA is low, your efforts might be limited to that page alone.
In your jewelry store’s case, your homepage might have high PA because it has more backlinks, but a low DA means your entire website isn’t seen as authoritative yet. Your competitor’s consistent high DA signals that they’ve built a strong, credible online presence over time.
Example
Let’s break it down using your boutique jewelry store:
Page Authority (PA):
Your blog post, “5 Tips for Storing Handmade Jewelry,” has a PA of 25 because:
- It’s linked to by a fashion blogger and a DIY crafting forum.
- It’s well-optimized with keywords like “handmade jewelry care.”
- It’s fast and mobile-friendly.
However, your product pages have low PAs (around 10) because:
- They lack backlinks.
- They have shorter, less engaging content.
Domain Authority (DA):
Your website’s DA is 15 because:
- It’s a relatively new site (launched one year ago).
- You have only a handful of high-quality backlinks pointing to the domain.
Your competitor’s DA is 50 because:
- Their domain has existed for five years.
- They have backlinks from authoritative sites like fashion magazines and e-commerce platforms.
How It Plays Out:
If someone searches for “how to care for handmade jewelry,” your blog post might rank well due to its PA. However, your competitor’s site might still outrank yours overall on broader keywords like “best handmade jewelry” because of their strong DA.