How to Increase Your Domain Authority in 2026: Proven Strategies That Work

Your ERP platform might outperform the competition in terms of functionality and innovation, but if your website continues to rank below those of less capable vendors, something’s clearly missing.

You’ve invested in content, UX, and performance, but your pages still stall in search results. That’s often because your site lacks authority. Search engines favor credible websites, and Domain Authority helps signal that credibility.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to increase your domain authority in 2026 using SEO strategies built for competitive B2B industries. Whether you're trying to close the gap with rivals or lead your vertical, this playbook will show you what works and what to fix first.

Understanding Domain Authority

If your goal is to rank on the first page of Google, then your website's authority score matters. It’s not just a number. It’s a signal of how much trust and influence your domain carries in the eyes of search engines.

Search engines evaluate hundreds of signals, but Domain Authority (DA), a metric developed by Moz, has become a key indicator of SEO strength. Your DA score helps predict how likely your site is to appear in top search results. While it’s not a direct Google ranking factor, it's widely used to benchmark SEO performance and compare websites in competitive spaces.

What Is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority estimates a website’s potential to rank in search results based on link strength and site trustworthiness. The DA score ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores reflecting a stronger link profile and greater trust. It was developed by Moz to predict search performance and is calculated using data like linking root domains, total backlinks, and the relevance of those links.

This metric adjusts frequently as your site gains or loses backlinks. A good domain authority score depends on your industry, but most authoritative sites rank at 60 or higher.

Why Domain Authority Matters for SEO

If you're trying to increase your website traffic, improving your domain authority score is one of the best long-term strategies. Sites with higher DA typically outrank lower-DA competitors for the same keywords. For example, websites with high domain authority often dominate transactional and informational queries because search engines trust them more.

While Domain Authority isn't a Google ranking factor, it correlates with performance on search engine result pages. It provides a reliable benchmark to assess your SEO progress, especially when combined with page authority, content quality, and technical SEO.

How Domain Authority Is Calculated

Domain Authority is calculated using a machine learning model that compares your link profile to thousands of real-world SERP rankings. Moz uses data from its Link Explorer index, which includes metrics like:

• Total number of linking domains
• Quality and relevance of backlinks
• Spam score
• Internal linking structure

These factors are combined to produce a predictive score. If you're unsure where your site stands today, you can check your domain authority using a free domain authority checker like Moz’s or Semrush’s. It’s a quick way to see where your site falls on the website domain authority score spectrum.

Assessing Your Current Domain Authority

Before you can improve your site’s authority, you need to understand your current standing. Your current domain authority score is your baseline for setting goals, tracking SEO progress, and prioritizing the right opportunities. For Tech and ERP companies, this score helps clarify how your website authority compares within your niche.

Domain Authority isn’t just a metric. It reflects the trust your site has earned in the eyes of search engines. A lower authority score doesn’t mean your website can’t rank, but it does mean you’ll need to work harder to build credibility across content, backlinks, and site structure.

How to Check Your Domain Authority

Start by running your site through a domain authority checker like Moz’s Link Explorer or Semrush’s Authority Score. These tools will give you a current DA score and additional insights, such as:

1. Total number of backlinks and referring domains
2. Link quality and domain rating
3. Spam indicators and internal linking patterns

If you’re launching a new website, expect a DA score between 10 and 20. That’s completely normal. What matters most is how your domain authority improves over time. Use this number as a checkpoint, not a finish line. Focus on steady growth, not instant results.

Don’t worry about hitting a “good domain authority score” right away. Instead, focus on factors affecting domain authority like acquiring clean backlinks, improving on-page SEO, and publishing high-quality content. These are the levers that help increase your website’s authority naturally.

Benchmarking Against Competitors

Once you know your score, compare it with 3 to 5 direct competitors in your space. Look at their domain authority, page authority, backlink profiles, and keyword visibility in Google Search.

If your site’s domain authority is significantly lower, start with less competitive keywords and foundational link-building. A slower climb with the right tactics will beat shortcut attempts that can backfire.

Focus on strategies to increase your authority in a sustainable way. Remember, domain authority is calculated over time based on real signals, not tricks or hacks. Your job is to build a site that search engines trust, and that starts with knowing your position today.

Core Strategies to Improve Domain Authority

There is no quick fix to increasing your domain authority score. However, if you focus on the right SEO strategies, your website authority will grow steadily. For Tech and ERP companies, success comes from combining content excellence, clean technical structure, and credible backlinks. 

Each strategy below helps improve your domain authority in a way that search engines recognize and reward:

1. Build High-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks remain the strongest factor influencing your domain authority score. Search engines view each quality backlink as a vote of confidence in your site. The more you earn from trusted domains, the more your own authority grows.

Earn these links by writing for reputable industry blogs, sharing original research with journalists, or using broken link building techniques. Look for opportunities on websites with a higher domain authority than your own.

Do not rely on link schemes or spammy directories. These tactics typically harm your domain rating and risk long-term damage to your site’s authority.

2. Create Authoritative, Link-Worthy Content

If your content is weak, no one will link to it. High-authority websites are built on content that solves problems, presents new insights, or offers unique resources.

Publish evergreen guides tailored to your niche. Share data-backed posts based on internal findings. Design visual content like charts or infographics that others will reference. The more useful your content is, the more links it will naturally attract, and that helps increase your website’s domain authority score.

Strong content supports long-term domain authority growth, especially in competitive industries.

3. Strengthen On-Site SEO

If your website is poorly structured, even the best backlinks won’t help. A strong internal architecture is essential for search engines to crawl and understand your content.

Start with clear URLs, consistent headers, and intuitive navigation. Use keyword targeting based on your current domain authority score to avoid chasing terms that are too competitive. Strengthen internal linking so that valuable pages pass authority to other parts of your site.

These on-page improvements support every other SEO tactic and help boost the authority of your website from within.

4. Improve Technical SEO

Search engines prioritize websites that are fast, secure, and mobile-optimized. These technical elements increase crawlability and build trust with both users and algorithms.

Make sure your website is responsive on all devices. Improve site speed by compressing images and minimizing scripts. Use HTTPS across every page to ensure data security. These steps may not raise your DA score overnight, but they contribute to long-term SEO performance and trustworthiness.

For ERP platforms, especially, technical SEO is not optional. It affects how easily search engines can access and rank your site. For more practical ways to improve load times and rankings, see 4 Key Strategies to Improve Website Page Speed and SEO.

5. Fix Toxic or Spammy Backlinks

Not every backlink helps you. Some may actually hurt your site’s authority if they come from irrelevant, spammy, or low-quality domains.

Use Moz or Ahrefs to identify suspicious inbound links. If you find harmful patterns, create a disavow file and upload it to Google Search Console. This tells Google not to associate your site with those domains.

Cleaning up your backlink profile protects your site from future penalties and reinforces that your authority has been earned, not manipulated.

Measuring Progress and ROI

Improving your domain authority score takes time. But if you don’t track results, you can’t prove what’s working. To make smart SEO decisions and justify the investment, you need to monitor the right indicators consistently. This section shows how to measure progress, interpret data, and tie your domain authority gains to real business outcomes.

Tools to Track DA Improvements

Use trusted SEO tools like Moz’s Link Explorer, Semrush, or Ahrefs to monitor your DA score. These platforms help you evaluate backlink growth, domain rating, link quality, and spam indicators, which are all key factors affecting domain authority.

Set a realistic target. For example, if your competitors have a domain authority score of 45 to 60, focus on closing that gap over time. Even modest improvements show that your SEO efforts are moving in the right direction.

Keep in mind that domain authority is a metric created by Moz. It’s not a direct Google ranking factor, but it does correlate with stronger keyword performance and more traffic to your website.

Monitoring Organic Traffic and Rankings

As you implement strategies to increase domain authority, check whether your organic traffic and rankings improve as well. Use Google Search Console to track keyword movement, impressions, and clicks. If you see traffic gains but your DA score stalls, you may need to earn more links from trusted, high-authority domains.

You should also monitor changes in page authority and how well your top content performs. Authority is calculated at both the domain and page level, and improving both strengthens your overall SEO foundation.

Linking Authority to ROI

Improving your domain authority should lead to measurable outcomes—higher conversions, more leads, and greater brand visibility. Keep tracking how search gains contribute to revenue, not just rankings. For expert support in building and executing a high-impact SEO strategy, check out SmithDigital’s SEO Services.

Remember, authority takes time. But with consistent tracking, you’ll know when to double down, pivot strategies, or defend your SEO investment with clear data.

Common Myths About Domain Authority

Despite how often it’s discussed, Domain Authority is one of the most misunderstood concepts in SEO. Knowing what it is and what it isn’t will help you make smarter, more effective decisions as you work to increase your website authority. Here are the most common misconceptions that lead Tech and ERP companies off track.

Myth 1: Domain Authority Is a Google Ranking Factor

It’s not. Domain Authority is a metric created by Moz, not Google. It estimates how well your site might rank based on the strength of your backlink profile, but it’s not part of Google's algorithm.

That said, higher DA scores often align with better visibility in search results. This is because sites with stronger link profiles tend to rank better, even if Domain Authority isn’t a Google ranking factor itself.

Myth 2: You Can Buy Your Way to a High DA

Buying backlinks, flooding low-quality directories, or automating link schemes won’t help increase your domain authority score. These tactics may boost numbers in the short term, but Google is quick to penalize artificial patterns.

If your site’s authority increases too quickly without legitimate signals, it could actually trigger a review or drop. Sustainable SEO strategies are the only way to build lasting authority.

Myth 3: Domain Authority Reflects Content Quality

While content is a major driver of SEO success, Domain Authority is calculated primarily from link data such as the number of referring domains, link quality, and spam risk. It does not directly measure the value or depth of your content.

To boost your domain authority, you must build backlinks from trusted sources. Publishing great content helps, but only if others link to it. If no one links to your resources, your domain authority score will stay flat.

Myth 4: Authority Changes Overnight

Authority takes time. It can take three to six months or more to see meaningful gains, especially if your site starts with a lower domain authority. In many industries, a domain authority score between 30 and 50 is considered average, while scores above 60 are viewed as strong benchmarks for competitive niches.

Check your progress every 30 to 60 days. Real improvement in your website’s domain authority score happens gradually, as you earn credible links, strengthen your content, and tighten technical SEO. Be patient and stay consistent.

Final Thoughts and Next Steps

Improving your domain authority is not just about hitting a number. It's about building long-term credibility with search engines and creating a site that earns trust through quality, structure, and consistency.

Whether you're an ERP provider or a tech firm, these strategies will help you sustainably increase your website authority. Focus on what you can control, like content, links, and technical SEO, and track your progress over time.

Ready to see where your domain stands today? Get a free SEO Audit from SmithDigital and start boosting your domain authority with a clear, data-backed plan.