Created by Moz to help you assess your site, domain authority tells you when you are doing things right. Ranging from one to 100, your score reflects your website’s ability to rank on the leading search engine results pages. Many individual factors go into building your score, creating a big picture overview you can use to improve your site. But what those factors are and how they work together is not always so clear. Thankfully, we are here to help you out with this guide about the most effective ways to improve the authority of your website.
Source Quality Backlinks with Exceptional Content
Above all else, domain authority pays close attention to how much trust other websites put into your site. The way this trust is reflected is through quality backlinks. When your site gets linked by other reputable sites, your domain authority increases in kind.
Perform a Backlink Audit
To take full advantage of the power of backlinks, you need to first see who is already linking to you. You can do that by performing a backlink audit using one of the many free or paid programs online.
As you look through the audit report, verify your backlinks are coming from relevant, high-quality sites. If you see a plethora of spammy or low-quality sites, you may need to disavow them to protect your domain authority score. With the completion of that step, you are now ready to source backlinks, but you must abide by Google’s Webmaster Guidelines to avoid common linking schemes.
Regularly Post Exceptional Content
Basically, what it all comes down to is naturally sourcing backlinks through exceptional content regularly published on your site. Your content needs to be engaging, authoritative, and highly linkable to attract the attention of other site owners and inspire them to link to your website.
To improve your domain authority, always make sure your content:
- Centers around topics relevant to target audience
- Is easy for everyone to read and understand
- Does not have misspelled words or other mistakes
- Links back to internal pages on your site
- Contains external links to reputable sources
- Inspires readers to share and link on their own websites
In following these rules, aim to post at least twice a week to start. As marketing data comes in, adjust the frequency to suit the needs and expectations of your target audience. Also, remember to share on all your social media channels to provide your followers with valuable content they may feel inspired to share.
You can also go one step further by occasionally creating guest posts for industry-specific blogs and other sites in your realm. Just make sure to follow all the rules in creating quality content when you do, so you can make the biggest impact with each post.
Make SEO Your Top Priority
If you want a high domain authority score (and who doesn’t?), then you will need to take a close look at your technical search engine optimization, or SEO. All the SEO elements used for your site help tell search engines what it is all about, after all. So, when you take the time for optimization, you help these entities clearly see your site for what it is.
To accomplish this goal, you will need to go back to each page and post on your website, checking its SEO elements to make sure you are on the right track. Throughout this process, you should look at and optimize your:
- Header tags
- Meta title
- Meta description
- Image alt text
- Image description
- URL
You will also need to make sure each page and post even has enough text for search engines to crawl. Anything under 300 words, for example, does not offer enough information for Google to understand and index. As you dial in your SEO, your will see remarkable improvements to your domain authority, but it doesn’t stop there.
Optimize Your Site Performance
Quality content and all the right SEO elements work together to build domain authority and drive traffic to your site. But if your site cannot handle the visitors or does not give them an optimal browsing experience, your efforts will undoubtedly fall flat. Here are just a couple ways to improve your site performance and domain authority as a result.
Site Speed
If your site is too slow to load, prospective visitors will hit the back button and move on in an instant. Not only will your bounce rate increase as a result, you will not get any valuable backlinks. Thankfully, you can use the PageSpeed Insights tool to see where your site is slowing down and complete a few quick fixes to speed it back up.
Navigation
The navigation structure of your site directly impacts the experience of every visitor coming to take a peek. You must have an intuitive and easy to understand navigation structure to keep visitor numbers optimized. Web crawlers also appreciate an intuitively arranged website, as it makes it easier to correctly index each page.
Make improvements by ensuring all your navigation elements are consistent, accurate, and clickable. Your visitors should be able to quickly source the information they need and understand where each link will take them.
By optimizing how your website performs, you give your content the chance to shine. Your site visitors will leave your site satisfied with their experience and better engaged with your brand, as a result. Your site’s exceptional performance will also help you gain the backlinks you need to improve your domain authority.
Start Making Progress Toward a High Domain Authority Score Today
Through all these effective tactics, you can boost your domain authority score and improve your search marketing success. For help getting started, you can always turn to our team at WriterAccess. Our talented marketing experts can help you create a personalized content strategy plan and write up the exceptional content you need for your site, guest posts, and more. Start your risk-free trial today to see all we have to offer.
Marie A. is a talented copywriter and content strategist who can help you achieve great success with all your digital marketing campaigns. She can write up all the web content you need to promote your company and build a loyal following. She also provides content strategy services to help you establish and follow an effective inbound marketing plan. She writes shareable copy with a clear call to action that inspires your readers to move forward in their purchase journey. Her content will always reflects your company voice and mission while adhering to your preferred style guide.
