Domain Authority vs Page Authority: What’s the Difference?
Quick answer: Domain Authority (DA) predicts how well a whole website is likely to rank in search results, while Page Authority (PA) predicts how well a single page is likely to rank. Both are scores from 1 to 100 created by Moz. Neither is used by Google directly, but together they show where your site is strong and which pages need more support.
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority measures the overall ranking strength of an entire domain, such as yourbusiness.com.au. It’s calculated mainly from the links pointing to your website: how many there are, how many different websites they come from, and how trusted those websites are.
Think of DA as your website’s overall reputation. A high score suggests that, all else being equal, pages on your site have a better chance of ranking than pages on a site with a lower score.
What is Page Authority?
Page Authority uses a similar method but focuses on one individual page. A strong page might have earned links of its own, for example a popular guide that other websites reference, even if the site as a whole is still building its reputation.
Domain Authority vs Page Authority: the key differences
- Scope: DA looks at the whole website. PA looks at one page.
- Use: DA is best for comparing your site with competitors. PA is best for comparing individual pages that compete for the same search.
- What moves it: DA grows as your whole site earns quality links. PA grows as a specific page earns links and internal links from the rest of your site.
Which one matters more?
Both are useful, but neither is the goal. Search results are page-by-page, so a highly relevant, genuinely helpful page can outrank a page on a bigger website. That’s why the best approach is to build overall authority steadily, while making each important page the clearest and most useful answer to the question it targets.
Does Google use these scores?
No. DA and PA are Moz’s estimates, and other tools use similar metrics, such as Domain Rating from Ahrefs and Authority Score from Semrush. Google uses its own signals. These scores are still helpful because they’re based on similar factors, but improving the score should never come at the expense of real quality.
How to improve both
- Earn quality links from relevant, trusted websites through guest articles, partnerships, interviews and genuinely useful resources.
- Link internally from your strongest pages to the pages you want to rank, using clear, descriptive anchor text.
- Answer questions directly at the top of each page, so search engines and AI assistants can understand and quote it.
- Keep content current by updating older articles, like this one, so they stay accurate and useful.
- Fix technical issues such as broken links, slow pages and missing sitemaps that make your site harder to crawl.
Frequently asked questions
Can Page Authority be higher than Domain Authority?
Yes. A single page that has earned strong links can score higher than the site’s overall Domain Authority.
How do I check my Domain Authority and Page Authority?
Use Moz’s free Link Explorer or the MozBar browser extension. Other SEO tools, such as Ahrefs and Semrush, offer comparable scores under different names.
Why did my Domain Authority drop?
Scores are relative and recalculated regularly. A drop can happen if you lose links, or if other websites grow faster, even when nothing on your own site has changed.
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