What Is a Good Domain Authority Score? The Complete Range Breakdown (And Why the Number Alone Doesn't Tell the Whole Story)

If you've spent any time in the world of SEO, you've seen the number. Someone pulls up a tool, types in a domain, and a score between 1 and 100 appears. Domain Authority. And then the inevitable question follows: is that good?

It's a reasonable question with a frustrating answer — it depends. But "it depends" isn't a useful response when you're trying to benchmark your site, evaluate a backlink opportunity, size up a competitor, or explain to a client where they stand. So let's make this concrete.

This post breaks down what Domain Authority actually is, what the score ranges mean in plain language, what "good" looks like across different types of sites, and most importantly — what to do with that number once you have it.

What Domain Authority Actually Is

Domain Authority, or DA, is a metric developed by Moz that attempts to predict how likely a website is to rank in search engine results. DA scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater potential for ranking. It's a measure of the strength or authority of your domain as a whole. MonsterInsights

DA is calculated by evaluating multiple factors, primarily focusing on quality backlinks. Moz uses machine learning predictions and data from its own index to provide a score between 1 and 100, with the calculation involving more than 40 signals, including linking root domains and the number of total links. 3way

It's worth understanding that DA is not a Google metric. Google does not use Domain Authority as a ranking factor — it's a third-party approximation created by Moz to help SEOs and marketers make sense of relative site strength. That said, 63% of SEO professionals use DA as their primary metric for evaluating link opportunity quality, making it the most commonly referenced third-party SEO metric in the industry. Rank Tracker It matters because the people making SEO decisions treat it like it matters — and there's real correlation between DA and organic performance, even if it isn't causation.

One more thing to understand before we get into the ranges: DA operates on a logarithmic scale, which means moving from DA 20 to DA 30 is significantly easier than moving from DA 70 to DA 80. Rank Tracker The higher you go, the harder each point becomes to earn. Keep that in mind as you interpret your score and set growth targets.

The Score Ranges: What Each Band Actually Means

Here's the honest breakdown of every tier of the DA scale, what it typically signals, and what kind of sites live in each range.

DA 1–20 — New or Underdeveloped

A score of 1 to 20 indicates little to no authority in the eyes of search engines. Websites in this range are typically new, or they haven't implemented any meaningful SEO strategies. UltimateWB

This is the starting point for almost every website on the internet. A brand new domain begins with a DA of 1 by default. A DA in the single digits means almost no backlinks exist pointing to the site. A score in the teens usually means the site is picking up its first few links — maybe from directory listings, social profiles, or a handful of citations — but hasn't yet built anything resembling a real backlink profile.

Websites in this category have few high-quality backlinks and struggle to rank well on search engine result pages. A low score signals the need for significant improvement in SEO practices and backlink acquisition. Contentellect

What this range is NOT: a death sentence. Every high-authority website on the internet started at DA 1. The trajectory matters more than the current number. A six-month-old site at DA 18 with a clean link profile and consistent content publishing is in better shape than a five-year-old site stuck at DA 12 that has never invested in SEO.

Typical sites here: Brand new businesses, recently launched websites, personal blogs with no outreach strategy, small local businesses with no digital marketing history.

DA 21–30 — Early Traction

Sites in this range have started building a legitimate online presence. There are real backlinks coming in — not just directory spam — and some organic visibility is beginning to develop. A DA of 20 to 30 is a low score, but it's a meaningful starting point. The focus here should be on building backlinks and creating high-quality content to continue improving. UltimateWB

This is often where small businesses land after one to two years of consistent SEO effort without a heavy focus on link building. There's enough authority here to rank for low-competition, long-tail keywords — which is actually where a lot of small B2B companies find their first real organic wins. Don't overlook this range. Ranking for ten low-competition keywords that your exact buyers are searching is more valuable than chasing high-competition terms you have no chance of hitting.

For competitive keyword research, low-competition keywords typically require a site DA of 20 to 30 to be competitive. Rank Tracker That's the practical value of this range — it unlocks a legitimate slice of the keyword universe.

Typical sites here: Small businesses with some SEO history, niche blogs with modest link building, local service companies that have been online for a few years, newer SaaS companies in early growth.

DA 31–40 — Established but Growing

This is the range where things start to get interesting. A DA of 30 to 40 is an average score. Many small businesses fall into this range. UltimateWB There's genuine credibility here — enough to compete meaningfully in moderately competitive spaces and to be taken seriously as a backlink source by other sites evaluating link opportunities.

The median website has a Domain Authority of 30 to 35, with the majority of all websites falling between DA 20 and DA 50. Rank Tracker So if you're in the 31 to 40 band, you're squarely in the center of the distribution. You're not behind — you're average, which in SEO means there's significant room to differentiate.

Getting from DA 30 to DA 40 requires real work. Each 10-point DA increase requires approximately two to three times more referring domains than the previous increase. Moving from DA 30 to DA 40 might require 40 new referring domains. Rank Tracker That's achievable, but it doesn't happen passively. It requires deliberate link-building strategy — guest posts, digital PR, partnerships, linkable content assets.

Typical sites here: Established small to mid-size businesses, regional companies with active marketing, B2B companies with solid content programs, niche publications with a loyal readership.

DA 41–50 — Competitive

A DA score between 40 and 50 is considered average to good, indicating a solid website with real authority. MonsterInsights Sites in this range have built something substantial. The backlink profile is diverse, there's meaningful organic traffic, and the site can compete for moderately competitive keywords without getting buried.

Websites with a DA of 40 have an average of 200 to 300 referring domains, and medium-competition keywords typically require a site DA of 35 to 50 to be competitive. Rank Tracker

This is a meaningful milestone. Getting above DA 40 means you've moved beyond the "average small business website" tier and into territory where your content can genuinely compete with established players for real search real estate. It also means your site is a more attractive linking partner — other sites will be more willing to link to you because your DA gives them value in return.

B2B websites typically have a DA between 30 and 50, reflecting their need for authoritative content and backlinks to compete in their niche markets. Umbrex If you run a B2B company and you're in the 41 to 50 range, you're in a strong competitive position relative to your peers.

Typical sites here: Well-established mid-size businesses, SaaS companies with mature content programs, industry publications, competitive regional players.

DA 51–60 — Strong

A DA of 50 to 60 is a very good score, suggesting a website with strong SEO and excellent ranking potential. MonsterInsights Sites here have built serious authority. The backlink profile is large and diverse, organic traffic is likely substantial, and the site can compete for high-difficulty keywords that smaller competitors can't touch.

Websites with a DA of 50 average 500 to 700 referring domains. Rank Tracker That's a significant backlink portfolio that doesn't happen by accident. Sites in this range have typically been investing in SEO — content, link building, digital PR, technical optimization — for several years with consistent effort.

Getting to this level is where the logarithmic scale of DA really starts to bite. Each additional point requires exponentially more referring domains and higher-quality links. Sites above DA 50 are competing with other sites above DA 50 for those same high-authority links, which is why progress at this level is slower and more resource-intensive.

Typical sites here: Established national brands, large SaaS companies, well-known industry publications, dominant players in competitive verticals.

DA 61–80 — High Authority

A high authority score ranging from 61 to 100 denotes a strong online presence with numerous high-quality backlinks. Websites with a high DA are well-established, trustworthy, and consistently rank highly on search engine result pages. Contentellect

Only 5% of all websites achieve a DA of 60 or higher. Rank Tracker If your site is in this range, you are in a genuinely elite tier of the internet. You can compete for almost any keyword in your space. Other sites actively want links from you because of the authority those links pass. Your brand name likely carries real recognition in your industry.

High-competition keywords typically require a site DA of 55 to 70 to be competitive, and DA 60 sites average 1,200 to 1,800 referring domains. Rank Tracker Getting here is the result of years of compounding SEO investment — content, links, technical SEO, brand building — and it's not a realistic short-term target for most businesses. But understanding this range matters for link prospecting and competitive analysis even if you're not here yourself.

Typical sites here: Major industry publications, household-name SaaS companies, large e-commerce brands, established news outlets, dominant national businesses.

DA 81–100 — Elite

This is the domain of the internet's most recognized brands. Scores above 80 are exceptional. Databox We're talking about sites like HubSpot, Forbes, The New York Times, Wikipedia, major university domains, and government websites. Popular websites with massive visitor counts and backlink profiles, like Google, Apple, or Microsoft, sit between 90 and 100. MonsterInsights

Extremely high competition keywords — the most competitive in any industry — typically require a site DA of 75 or higher to be competitive, and DA 70+ sites typically have 3,000 or more referring domains. Rank Tracker

For the vast majority of businesses, this tier is not a target. It's a reference point. You use it to understand why certain keywords are effectively unwinnable through organic competition alone, and why getting a backlink from a DA 85 site is worth so much to your own authority score.

Typical sites here: Global news organizations, major technology companies, government and educational institutions, the internet's most trafficked properties.

The Most Important Context: DA Is Relative, Not Absolute

Here's the thing that all the range breakdowns above need to be prefaced with — and it's the piece most people miss.

It's not possible to say that a Domain Rating of 30 is good, or 50, or 60, or 70. It's all relative. Your domain authority score is good if it's higher than or comparable to similar sites. Ahrefs

A DA of 35 is outstanding for a local HVAC company in a small market. It's weak for a national cybersecurity firm trying to compete for enterprise keywords. A DA of 55 is excellent for a B2B SaaS startup. It's average for an established trade publication that's been building links for fifteen years.

Rather than chasing a specific number, benchmark your DA against your closest competitors. Average domain authority varies across industries, so it doesn't make sense to name a certain number as universally good. MonsterInsights

The competitive comparison is the real measurement. Pull your top three to five organic competitors into any DA tool, compare your score against theirs, and that gap — or lack of one — tells you far more about your actual position than any absolute number does.

The Tools: DA, DR, and Authority Score Are Not the Same Thing

One more layer of complexity worth addressing: different tools produce different scores, and they're not interchangeable.

Moz produces Domain Authority (DA). Ahrefs produces Domain Rating (DR). SEMrush produces Authority Score (AS). All three are attempting to measure similar things — the strength of a site's backlink profile and its likelihood of ranking — but they use different methodologies and different data sets.

SEMrush Authority Score averages 15 to 20% higher than comparable DA scores due to different calculation methodologies, meaning an Authority Score of 50 roughly equals a DA of 40 to 43. Rank Tracker So if someone tells you their site has a "score of 50," the first question is: which tool? A DA 50 and an AS 50 are meaningfully different things.

SEMrush's Authority Score is calculated based on three primary factors: link power — the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing to the site — organic traffic — the estimated monthly organic visitors the site receives — and spam factors — the presence of suspicious patterns that might indicate link manipulation. Intero Digital

The practical takeaway: pick one tool, use it consistently, and benchmark against competitors using the same tool. Mixing DA from Moz with DR from Ahrefs in the same comparison produces meaningless data.

What Actually Moves Your DA Score

Understanding the ranges is useful. Knowing how to improve your position is what matters.

The first 10 to 20 referring domains have the most dramatic impact on DA, typically moving sites from DA 1 to 10 all the way up to DA 20 to 30. Subsequent growth requires exponentially more links. The quality of referring domains matters three times more than quantity for DA growth above DA 40 — ten links from DA 70+ domains impact scores more than 50 links from DA 20 to 30 domains. Rank Tracker

A few things worth knowing about what does and doesn't move the needle:

What works: Earning backlinks from high-authority, topically relevant domains. Guest posting on real industry publications. Digital PR that earns coverage on respected sites. Creating genuinely linkable content assets — original research, data studies, comprehensive guides — that other sites want to reference. Building internal links that distribute authority across your site.

What doesn't work: Simply adding more pages to your site, building more links from the same domain, or submitting your site to hundreds of low-quality directories won't improve your Authority Score. Semrush Link farms, paid link schemes, and spammy directory submissions not only fail to help — they can actively hurt your score through spam penalties.

How long it takes: Niche authority sites focused on specific topics achieve target DA scores 30% faster than generalist websites, reaching DA 40 in roughly 18 months versus 26 months for broad-topic sites. Rank Tracker That's the best case scenario with consistent effort. For most businesses, meaningful DA growth is a 12 to 24-month project, not a 90-day campaign.

Quick Reference: The Full Range at a Glance

ScoreLabelWhat It Means1–20Very LowNew or underdeveloped site, minimal backlinks, limited organic visibility21–30LowEarly traction, can compete for long-tail low-competition keywords31–40AverageEstablished presence, solid starting point, median for most websites41–50GoodCompetitive, strong for B2B, can target medium-difficulty keywords51–60Very GoodStrong authority, significant referring domain base, high-difficulty keyword access61–80HighTop 5% of websites, dominant in most niches, strong brand recognition81–100EliteGlobal brands, major publications, household names

The Bottom Line

Domain Authority is a useful compass, not a destination. The number tells you roughly where you stand relative to the rest of the web. Your competitor's number tells you what you actually need to beat. And the gap between the two tells you how hard you'll have to work to get there.

Don't obsess over reaching a specific DA target in isolation. Focus on the things that move DA as a byproduct of good SEO practice — earning high-quality backlinks, publishing content worth linking to, building real relationships in your industry. The score will follow.

And if your DA is lower than your competitors right now? That's not a crisis. It's a roadmap. You know exactly what they have that you don't, and you know exactly what building it looks like.

Not sure where your Domain Authority stands — or what it would take to close the gap on your competitors?

Ritner Digital runs full SEO audits and competitive analysis for B2B companies that want to know exactly where they stand and what to do about it. No guesswork, no generic recommendations — just a clear picture of your SEO position and a real plan to improve it.

Get your free SEO competitive analysis from Ritner Digital →

Sources: Moz Domain Authority Documentation, Ahrefs Domain Rating Guide, SEMrush Authority Score Explainer, RankTracker Domain Authority Statistics (2025), Contentellect Authority Score Research, MonsterInsights DA Guide, Umbrex Domain Authority Analysis Framework.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Domain Authority an official Google metric? Does Google actually use it to rank websites?

No, and this is one of the most important things to understand about DA before you put too much weight on it. Domain Authority is a metric created by Moz, a third-party SEO software company. Google has its own internal systems for evaluating site quality and authority, but Domain Authority is not one of them and Google has publicly stated it does not use DA as a ranking factor. That said, DA correlates meaningfully with search performance because both DA and Google rankings are largely driven by the same underlying thing — the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to a site. A high DA site tends to rank well not because Google sees the DA score, but because the strong backlink profile that produces a high DA score also happens to be what Google rewards. Think of DA as a useful proxy that approximates what Google cares about, not a direct input into rankings.

My site has a DA of 28. Should I be concerned?

Not necessarily. A DA of 28 tells you very little without context. The question that actually matters is: what is your closest competitors' DA? If your top three organic competitors are sitting at DA 22, DA 25, and DA 31, then a DA of 28 puts you in a very competitive position and there's no urgent problem to solve. If those same competitors are at DA 45, DA 52, and DA 58, then the gap is meaningful and closing it should be part of your SEO strategy. A DA of 28 on its own is below the median for all websites, but it's entirely capable of ranking for low to medium competition keywords, which is where most small and mid-size B2B companies find their best organic opportunities anyway. Stop benchmarking against the abstract scale and start benchmarking against your actual competition.

What's the difference between Moz DA, Ahrefs DR, and SEMrush Authority Score? Which one should we use?

All three are attempting to measure the same general concept — the strength of a website's backlink profile and its likelihood of ranking — but they use different data sets, different methodologies, and produce different numbers. Moz's DA and Ahrefs' Domain Rating tend to be the most commonly cited in the industry. SEMrush's Authority Score incorporates organic traffic and spam signals in addition to backlinks, which makes it a slightly broader measure. The practical difference is that the same site will show a different score in each tool, and those scores are not interchangeable. A site with a Moz DA of 40 might show an Ahrefs DR of 38 or a SEMrush Authority Score of 48 — roughly similar in meaning but not identical numbers. The most important rule is to pick one tool and use it consistently for all your comparisons. Mixing scores from different tools in the same competitive analysis produces misleading data. Most agencies and in-house SEO teams default to either Moz or Ahrefs — either is fine as long as you're consistent.

How long does it realistically take to improve Domain Authority by 10 points?

It depends heavily on where you're starting from. Because DA operates on a logarithmic scale, the answer is very different at different points on the spectrum. Moving from DA 15 to DA 25 might take six to twelve months of consistent link building and content creation for a small site actively investing in SEO. Moving from DA 35 to DA 45 might take twelve to eighteen months and requires significantly more referring domains than the previous jump did. Moving from DA 55 to DA 65 could take two to three years and demands a serious, sustained link acquisition strategy targeting high-authority sources. The general rule is that each 10-point jump requires roughly two to three times the effort of the previous one. Niche-focused sites that stay topically tight tend to build authority faster than broad generalist sites. And sites in less competitive industries find it easier to earn links because there are more relevant link sources willing to point to them.

Can a website have a high DA but still rank poorly in search results?

Yes, and this happens more often than people expect. DA measures the overall authority of the domain — the whole website — but individual page rankings are determined by a much more complex set of factors including content quality, keyword optimization, user experience, page speed, topical relevance, and the authority of the specific page being ranked, not just the domain. A site with a DA of 60 that publishes thin, poorly optimized content on topics with no keyword demand can absolutely be outranked by a DA 35 site that publishes thorough, well-structured content directly answering what searchers are looking for. DA is a ceiling indicator — it tells you roughly how high your site could compete — but it's not a guarantee. The sites that rank are the ones that combine solid domain authority with excellent on-page content and genuine topical relevance, not the ones that have the highest DA in isolation.

We got a backlink from a DA 15 site. Is that worthless?

Not worthless, but significantly less valuable than a link from a high-authority site. Low-DA backlinks do count and they do pass some link equity — especially early in a site's life when any legitimate, non-spammy backlink helps move the needle. The problem is that as your own DA climbs, the marginal value of low-DA links decreases substantially. A DA 15 link moving your score from DA 5 to DA 10 is meaningful. That same link trying to move you from DA 45 to DA 50 is essentially noise. What matters most is topical relevance and the authority of the linking domain. One link from a DA 70 industry publication in your exact niche does more for your DA and your rankings than fifty links from DA 15 sites that have nothing to do with what you do. Use low-DA links as a baseline to maintain a natural-looking, diverse link profile — but focus your energy on earning links from authoritative, relevant sources.

Our DA dropped last month even though we didn't lose any backlinks. What happened?

DA is a relative metric, which means your score can change even if nothing about your own backlink profile changes. If the sites linking to you lost authority, your DA can dip. If Moz updated its index or recalibrated its algorithm, scores across the board can shift. If competitors gained significant new authority through new backlinks, the relative scoring can adjust downward for everyone around them. Monthly DA fluctuations of two to five points in either direction are completely normal and should not trigger alarm. What you should watch for is sustained downward movement over three or more months, particularly if combined with declining organic traffic. That pattern suggests either a real problem with your backlink profile — links being lost or devalued — or a broader SEO issue worth investigating. Single-month dips, especially small ones, are almost always noise rather than signal.

Should we refuse to accept guest post pitches from sites with a low DA?

DA alone should not be the sole filter you apply to guest post or link exchange opportunities. A site with a DA of 22 that is topically hyper-relevant to your industry, has real human readers, publishes quality content, and has a clean backlink profile can be a perfectly worthwhile linking partner. A site with a DA of 45 that is a generic multi-topic blog farm with no real audience and a spammy history is a much worse link than the DA 22 niche site. The filters that actually matter when evaluating inbound link opportunities are topical relevance — does this site cover subjects your audience cares about — real traffic — does the site have genuine organic visitors, which you can estimate through SEMrush or Ahrefs traffic data — content quality — is the content published on this site something a real person would actually read — and backlink profile cleanliness — does the site have a natural link profile without obvious spam signals. DA is a useful quick filter to eliminate clearly low-quality sites, but treat anything above DA 20 as worthy of a deeper look rather than automatically rejecting it based on the number alone.

What's a realistic DA target for a B2B company trying to compete in its industry?

For most B2B companies, getting to DA 40 to 50 puts you in a genuinely competitive position for the majority of your target keywords and makes you a credible presence in your industry's online ecosystem. Getting above DA 50 starts unlocking higher-competition terms and signals real SEO maturity. The more useful target-setting exercise, though, is this: identify the top three to five websites that are currently outranking you for your most important keywords, check their DA scores, and use the average of those scores as your working target. If those sites are clustered around DA 38 to 44, getting to DA 42 should be your near-term objective. If they're at DA 55 to 65, you have a longer road ahead and should be simultaneously investing in content quality and technical SEO to compete on those dimensions while you build authority. DA is a component of your SEO strategy, not the whole thing — and for B2B specifically, combining reasonable domain authority with genuinely expert content often outperforms high-DA sites that publish generic material.