If you own a website, you may wonder how you can improve domain authority on your website. This doesn’t have to be difficult, time consuming or complicated. In this blog, we’ll look into ways you can improve the domain authority of your website. We’ll also develop an overview of SEO, how to check website health and how to optimize your site for better results.

What Does SEO Stand For?

SEO stands for search engine optimization, and there are many aspects involved. It is one of the most critical factors concerning Internet marketing. When you have good SEO scores, you have an increased chance of getting more traffic (which can lead to more sales).

In addition, excellent SEO scores also help in marketability; you have your potential clients looking at your website and considering it as an option. You should also know that there are different scores associated with SEO.

What is an SEO Score?

The first of the various scores are based on domain authority. In terms of search engine optimization, this stands for the overall quality of your site. More specifically, it’s a score given to your site regarding its importance to search engine research. It was also introduced as DA on Search Engines.

The other aspect associated with your overall SEO score is the Trust Flow; this is seen as the credibility of your website. Trust Flow directly affects the number of visitors you receive.

***Interesting SEO Facts:

• 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine
• 80% of users start their product research online
• 75% of clicks go to the top three search results
• 75% of users visit the first page of search results only

~WebFX

What Ways Can You Improve Domain Authority?

The most factors necessary to improve domain authority include; the content, link content, and external links. In addition, DA can be broken down into a couple of other factors, including; Page Authority and Domain Rating.

What are Page Authority and DA?

The Page Authority score is based on all of the pages on a website. It is also measured by looking at the backlinks of these pages. In addition, it is based on how authoritative a page is. That includes; the links, text, and images within that page.

In certain cases, it’s important to improve domain authority while considering the Page Authority, which is linked. A high Page Authority means that the content is of a higher quality.

Some of the things you should know about DA include:

1. The ranking algorithm by Google will take into account hundreds of factors (the exact figure is unknown), whereas DA (domain authority) uses around 40 factors only.
2. DA is a number from 1-100 and flexible depending on the situation. The higher the number the better your score.
3. It is not difficult to increase DA if you do things the right way.
4. If you own enough quality content, your DA will automatically increase over time.
5. The score can change in a short period, and this means that it’s important to monitor how it is doing so that you can focus your efforts accordingly (and possibly boost it).
6. If your DA is low, it means that the search engines have less trust in your site. As a result, you may find that you are getting lower rankings.
7. If your DA is too low, it can lead to an overall decline in traffic. With this in mind, you should focus on increasing it.
8. It’s possible to boost your DA and your page authority by using backlinks and optimizing the crawlability of your website.

DA is calculated by taking into account the following signals:

• The SEO performance of your website
• The relevance and quality of incoming links
• Social signals- how relevant is your domain on social media platforms
• The quality of the content on your website
• The number of links that are incoming into your website

Some of the steps that can help to increase the DA of your website include:

1. Improve Domain Authority Through Off-Page SEO

The link profile is an important metric in this case. If your profile is clean and strong, your DA will increase. There are different ways to improve this, and they include:

• Make sure that your backlink profile is natural and not spammy

• Make sure that all of the links you have are related to your site or business. Don’t have random links to increase link quantity but rather use them for relevant purposes, for example linking out to other sites in your niche, press mentions, clients, etc.

Some of the ways to acquire good links include:

Building Links Naturally

If your website has great content, it will automatically attract links from other websites. So rather than spamming up your backlink profile, you should consider taking the time to write an article that is helpful.

Link Building with Guest Posting

You can also use guest posting to link to various sites in your niche; this is a great way of building links quickly. Just make sure that they are relevant and natural since you want the link profile to be appropriate for the topic you are posting about.

(Image Credit: WordStream)

2. On-Page SEO Optimization

On-page SEO is where you can get it right or wrong; this is where you optimize your content to help your visitors find you. You should take into consideration the following factors:

The Meta Title

The meta title contains all the details that the search engines need to know about your website. In addition, it’s crucial because when someone searches for a topic, they do so based on their search queries. If you manage to get the right keywords in your title, it will improve your chances of getting noticed.

The Meta Description

The meta description is a crucial part of the overall process as well. Within this section, you can fill in some of the details. The search engine listings will use this to show what your website and this specific page is about when someone searches through the listings. It must be written in a manner that will encourage people to click on the listing. For example:

(Image Credit: HubSpot Blog)

The Content

Your content is the most important part of your website, and this is what will determine whether your visitors continue to return to your site or not. When someone visits, they should be provided with information that is relevant and informative in a way that will do the following:

1. Save them time when sifting through other sites.
2. Help to answer their questions.

This form of content can help boost your rankings and increase traffic.

The Headings

Headings are used to structure the content on your site, and this is where you can get your site structured well to suit the keywords you are targeting. There are three types; formal, well-structured, and natural headings. You should consider each of them and make sure that you use them properly; this will help to improve the quality of your content on all levels, giving you a competitive edge.

Use of Images and Videos

Including images and videos on your site is a matter of preference as well. Some people do it; others don’t. The theory is that if the images are great, there will be an increase in traffic and time spent on the site; you should make sure that the images are high-quality and relevant to what you are talking about in your articles. You should also include relevant videos to help keep people on your site longer than usual.

SEO Friendly URLs

The pages must be easily readable from a search engine’s point of view, so you should focus on using SEO-friendly URLs. They should be created so that they are descriptive and consistent. Use hyphens to separate words, which allows for easy reading. To learn more on this topic in detail, check out this guide on crafting the best URLs.

3. Improve on Your Technical SEO

Technical SEO is about making your website more appealing to search engines. You can do this by improving your site’s architecture and page structure. You should also focus on improving the internal linking structure, content organization, and other aspects like site performance.

Create a Site Map

Creating a site map is an important part of technical SEO; this is where you will get your website indexed completely, which will help improve your search engine rankings. A sitemap can also be used as a guide for getting each of your pages crawled more efficiently and effectively.

(Image Credit: DYNO Mapper)

Use Keywords

If you have great content, the search engine will easily find your website. But if your content is poor, it won’t. You should consider keeping your keyword density at around 1%; this means for every one hundred words of content, you should include one keyword. You should also use specific keywords in your content in an intelligent way that makes sense. For example, if it’s about a book about cooking techniques, you should not just mention the word “cooking” over and over again. It is best to use it when it makes sense in the content.

Image Optimization

Images are extremely important, and they can help boost your website’s rankings; this is because people have a hard time reading long strings of text, so you should make sure that you use relevant and interesting graphics to keep visitors on your site longer. You should also include ALT tags on each image to give the search engines something to work with when they look at your images.

Site Speed

It is crucial to have a fast site. It will improve your rankings and make your site look better; this means that you should focus on ensuring a fast page load speed and quick check out process.

4. Your Website Should be Mobile-Friendly

This might not seem important to some people, but this is the case. Mobile-friendly websites have become extremely popular, if not vital, and this will only increase every day. By using responsive design or giving your mobile visitors a choice of which website they want to use, you can appeal to a larger audience.

5. Monitor Your Website’s Performance

Performance monitoring is extremely important, and it will help you determine whether your site maintenance tasks are effective or not. You should always analyze these metrics to see what your visitors are doing on your site. You should also make sure that you have cached pages so that they don’t load too much when someone comes to your site.

Let’s now delve into how you can be penalized by Google  which would lower your DA score.

How to Reduce Your DA Score and Penalties

If you have worked hard to improve your domain authority score, you must take the necessary steps to maintain it. In today’s world, where everything is interconnected, some will try and game the system by doing things that may be against your best interest. These might include things like:

Using Spammy Backlinks

Using spammy backlinks is something that Google has been cracking down on severely in recent years; this means that you should keep a close eye on any site you are linked to. If it is questionable, consider removing it from your site or requesting that they remove it; this is not only because it’s wrong but because Google sees the link as a threat to your website’s integrity and authenticity.

Using Doorway Pages

A doorway page is a specific type of webpage built with the sole purpose of increasing a site’s link popularity. They are usually composed of multiple keywords with little or no content, and they don’t help with search engine rankings. Some people use them to make money off other people’s websites by using affiliate programs or through AdSense. But Google has been known to penalize these kinds of sites, so you should avoid them at all costs.

Using Broken Links

There have been accusations that many high authority sites are using broken links to make money on their site; this means that you must watch out for any suspicious links on your site. If you find one, don’t just remove it; remove all of them, so you don’t get penalized by Google.

Being Over Optimized

Google has been cracking down on websites that have incredible amounts of keywords on their pages. They are looking for websites that give people what they need, so if you over-optimize your site, you could get penalized.

Focusing on One Keyword too Much

If you are using a keyword in your pages that don’t contain any real content, this will be a problem for Google. You should avoid focusing on just one keyword since it can lead to unnatural results. You should also make sure that you don’t link to your own site too much or look like you are just trying to drive up your rankings.

Tools You Can Use to Improve Domain Authority

Some of the tools that can help to improving DA include:

1) Diib Digital

This is a comprehensive tool that helps to monitor your website health and SEO with easy, actionable steps. It allows you to get a better idea of your site’s performance and how it is being perceived by visitors. You can get results based on various tests that will help you understand how your website compares with other sites.

(Image Credit: We Observed)

2) Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog is an extremely useful tool that helps find broken links faster than other tools. You should use this tool on reviews, but if you are handling any serious business, paying for this tool might be worth it in order to improve the domain authority of your website.

3) Website Auditor

This tool helps to audit your website, making sure that you haven’t made any mistakes. The results can be compared with the results of other sites, and they can also be sent to your site’s host; this will help them know what changes need to be made so that your website health improves.

These are some of the tools you can use to improve domain authority and increase your rankings.

Diib® Digital: Improve Domain Authority Fast!

Domain authority is a ranking metric that has been created for the sole purpose of helping Google to determine which websites are trustworthy. It was created to help identify spam and keep it from being crawled and indexed.

If you have been working hard to improve domain authority, you must maintain it by ensuring that no one is trying to game the system. Many people use unethical methods to do so, but these are things that can be used against you as well. It’s always best to choose a path with long-term success rather than something that will bring you short-term gains. Diib® Digital offers actionable insights to improve domain authority and the overall SEO of your website. Here are some of the features of our user dashboard you’re sure to appreciate:

• Bounce rate monitoring and repair
• Social media integration and performance
• Broken pages where you have backlinks (404 checker)
• Keyword (including snippets), backlink, and indexing monitoring and tracking tools
• User experience and mobile speed optimization
• Technical SEO monitoring

Click here for your free 60 second site scan or simply call 800-303-3510 to speak to one of our growth experts.