Raising DA – The short answer (video transcript)
How do you increase the DA or domain authority of a new website? Well, get people more authoritative, more important, and better ranking than you to link to you and ensure they’re in your niche. But importantly, remember DA isn’t a metric used by Google, we just use it in SEMrush, Ahrefs to figure out what’s going on.
Increasing DA – a longer answer
Let’s dig into this a bit deeper. If DA isn’t a metric used by Google, then what metrics should be used?
More importantly, what metrics does Google use themselves? The honest answer is, ‘it gets complicated’. Just remember that if you’re serving your audience well and answering the questions that your audience has, then Google will reward that naturally.
I will steer the focus of this article away from how to increase authority on a new website. This article is relevant to all websites, regardless of age. From an SEO perspective, a site that is ignored by Google faces many of the same challenges as a new website.
If your website has been rising in the rankings and has started to do well in SERPs, then this article is still relevant.
I read an interesting quote recently – “If you are chasing the Google algorithm, you will always be behind; if you are chasing customer excellence, then you will always be ahead.” I may be paraphrasing, but the sentiment is a good example of how focusing on the algorithm rather than humans can hold you back in SEO.
So, what practical steps can be taken to increase DA?
Think about DA in the context of improving the way that Google understands how excellent your content is. Let’s stop talking about DA and start talking about authority.
Authority is everything in SEO, and with authority, there are a lot of parallels between the online world and the offline world.
When you attend an industry conference and listen to a keynote speaker, think about how that speaker was chosen for the event. Also, consider how that speaker rose to a place of authority within your industry.
A part of how a speaker at a conference gains authority is by being talked about by other authoritative voices in the niche; this naturally means many other voices in the niche also talk about them.
Precisely who the authoritative voices are in any niche will be different. Still, you can generally find them in similar places: conferences, industry press, blogs, podcasts, and other outlets where anyone with a strong or useful opinion has a voice.
If you think raising your authority sounds like a lot of work, you are correct, but it’s also worth remembering that not all niches are very competitive. I can still think of many industries that don’t appear to have embraced SEO yet.
Effort and ROI
So, if building authority is unavoidably demanding and requires an investment of time and energy, what’s the ROI? The answer is a little bit conceptual: what will the payoff be if your company is seen as the leader in the industry? When people have the problems that your business solves, and they look for solutions on Google, if they consistently find you, will that help your business grow?
If you read this article and think about building your authority, you might wonder how long you’ll have to wait until you see positive change. The honest answer is I have no idea; there are so many factors at play that I can’t even suggest a ballpark timeframe for seeing progress.
But I can tell you one thing for definite: If you don’t start building authority, you will never make progress.
Some people may tell you there are shortcuts to building authority, and it is a good idea to be very wary of this flavour of advice. If your budget allows, you can potentially speed up the process by working with a PR agency or investing heavily in content. But don’t do either before you have done your research, especially keyword research. You need to know which direction to point your ship before you start stoking the boilers.
I will only mention this once in this article – do not buy links to build authority.
Strategic partners can be instrumental when building authority. If you have big players in your niche who aren’t direct competitors, reach out and discuss opportunities for collaboration.
Building authority should be a natural byproduct of an excellent business and running effective marketing campaigns. It’s essential to think of authority building as something everybody at your company can be involved with.
Building authority isn’t about setting aside a specific amount of time for an authority-building campaign. Authority is built when you have an excellent company with a brilliant message and a compelling, measured, marketing campaign.
If you are looking for ideas on how to start building authority, then have a dig into the competitors you have who appear to be popping up everywhere in Google results. There’s an excellent chance they have a deep understanding of authority. You can learn from them by looking at their operations and who links to their websites.
In conclusion, stop worrying about DA and start focusing on amplifying your excellence.
Last Updated on January 20, 2024
