Domain authority

A marketing software company identified high-authority sites that linked to resources within their space. They found that some of these links pointed to broken pages. They created equivalent content, then reached out to the linking sites: 'I noticed you link to this page, which now returns a 404. I've created a better, updated resource on the same topic that might be more useful.' Many sites updated their links, building high-quality backlinks and improving domain authority from 42 to 58 in a year.

For B2B growth teams, domain authority affects your organic search traffic potential. A site with low domain authority will struggle to rank for competitive keywords, regardless of how well-written your content is. Improving domain authority expands the keywords you can realistically compete for.

Domain authority also affects your content's reach. When you publish an article on a high-authority domain, it's more likely to rank quickly and prominently. Backlinks from your domain also carry more weight, so when you link to partner sites or customers, those links provide more SEO benefit. This creates a compounding effect: as your authority grows, everything you publish has higher potential impact.

From a partnership and influencer perspective, domain authority is relevant. High-authority sites can attract partnerships and sponsorships more easily. Journalists and industry experts are more likely to cite a source with high domain authority. This compounds: higher authority attracts attention, which attracts links, which builds more authority.

Build domain authority through a strategic link-building programme. Rather than chasing quantity, focus on quality. A link from a relevant, high-authority site in your industry is worth far more than 100 links from irrelevant, low-authority sites. Identify sites and publications relevant to your industry and build relationships with editors and writers who might link to your content.

Create genuinely link-worthy content. The most effective way to build backlinks is to create content that's so useful, original, or comprehensive that other sites naturally want to link to it. Research reports, original data, comprehensive guides, and unique analysis are more likely to attract links than generic blog posts.

Monitor your backlink profile regularly. Use tools like Moz, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to see who's linking to you and whether you have toxic links (links from spam sites that could hurt your authority). If you find poor-quality backlinks, use Google Search Console to disavow them so Google doesn't count them against you.

A B2B SaaS company started with domain authority of 25. Rather than buying links or blasting outreach requests, they focused on creating original research reports on industry trends. Each report was comprehensive and included original data. Industry publications, analysts, and competitors linked to their research. Within 18 months, their domain authority reached 45, and they were ranking for keywords they'd previously been unable to compete for.

Build cumulative site-wide ranking power through quality backlinks and strong content so new pages rank faster than competitors starting from scratch.

Domain authority is a score, usually 1 to 100, that estimates how likely your whole website is to rank in search results. It was invented by Moz, and others have their own versions, but the idea is the same: the more relevant, high-quality sites that link to you, the more ranking power your domain accumulates. A site at 65 will usually outrank a site at 35 on the same keyword, all else equal.

The important nuance: Google does not actually use this number. It's a third-party estimate that happens to correlate well with real ranking ability, so treat it as a thermometer, not the disease. And it's relative, not absolute. A 50 is strong for a niche trade publication and weak for a Fortune 500. Compare yourself to the competitors you're actually fighting for keywords against, not to some abstract bar.

What moves it: the number and quality of sites linking to you, how naturally those links accrue over time, genuinely useful content that earns links, and clean technical SEO so crawlers can read you.

Why it matters

A low-authority site struggles to rank for competitive keywords no matter how well-written the page is. Lift your authority and you expand the set of keywords you can realistically win. It compounds too: as authority grows, every new page you publish ranks faster, and every outbound link you give to a partner or customer carries more weight.

How to apply it

Chase quality, not quantity. One link from a respected site in your industry beats a hundred from irrelevant junk. Build relationships with the editors and writers who could link to you, and earn the link by being worth linking to.

The first thing to do is see your starting point. Say you're auditing your own domain with SEMrush: you pull your Authority Score, list every site linking to you, and flag the toxic spam links so you can disavow them in Google Search Console before they drag you down. Now you know your baseline and what's holding you back.

Then earn links by being the best answer. Say you're writing a definitive guide with SurferSEO: it scores your draft against everything already ranking for the term, so you can make the page genuinely more complete than the competition. Comprehensive, original pages are what other sites actually want to cite, and that's how authority is really built.

Distribution closes the loop. Say you're turning original research into a flagship report inside Notion: you draft the findings, charts and methodology in one place, then publish it as the asset journalists and analysts link back to. Original data earns links no amount of outreach can buy, and each one nudges your authority up another notch.

A consulting firm built relationships with industry associations, training organisations, and conference organisers. Rather than asking for links directly, they contributed guest articles, hosted webinars, and created resources for these partners. These partners naturally linked to their content from their resource pages. This partnership approach built domain authority from 38 to 52 in two years, while also expanding their network and customer awareness.