How to Increase Domain Authority: A Step-by-Step Plan

Increasing your domain authority isn’t done with a button or a trick: the number only rises once you build real authority. Concretely, that means earning strong, relevant links, creating content people want to link to, and keeping your link profile clean. In this article you get an honest step-by-step plan, plus when the effort isn’t worth it. Want to know first what the number actually means? Then read domain authority: what it is.

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What is domain authority again?

Domain authority (DA) is a score from 0 to 100 that predicts how strong your domain is compared to other sites. The metric was created by Moz to estimate where a site might rank in the search results. It is therefore an estimate from an external tool, not a factor in the Google algorithm itself.

Important to remember before you start optimizing:

• It is a relative measure. According to Moz, a new site starts at 1 and grows slowly. Compare yourself with your competitors, not with an ideal number.
• The scale is logarithmic. According to Moz, every step higher takes more effort than the last. Going from 20 to 30 is faster than from 60 to 70.
• The number leans mostly on links. The number and quality of your backlinks determine the largest part of your score.

That last point is immediately the good news: because the number leans on links and authority, you raise it in exactly the same way you strengthen your SEO in general. You never work for the number, you work for the underlying authority. Want to outsource this entirely? Then take a look at our SEO service.

Does higher domain authority really improve your rankings?

In short: a higher score usually goes hand in hand with better positions, but it isn’t a cause in itself. Ahrefs analyzed, for its own authority metric, a large number of domains and found a clear link between that score and the number of keywords a site ranks for, which makes the metric useful for estimating how much organic traffic a site can pull from Google. But it remains unclear whether a high score causes more traffic or simply correlates with it.

For you as a B2B owner, that is a crucial distinction. You don’t increase your domain authority because Google reads that number, but because the things that make the number rise (strong links, good content, trust) are also the things that genuinely rank you higher. The number is the thermometer, not the fever.

That is why our honest rule is: steer on leads and revenue, use domain authority as a compass to see whether your link profile is becoming stronger than that of whoever ranks above you.

How do you increase your domain authority? The step-by-step plan

Lifting your score is a long-haul job, but the steps are clear. Work through them in this order.

The order is no coincidence: you clean up first and only build afterwards, because every step leans on clean foundations beneath it.

Step 1: start with a link audit

Don’t begin by chasing new links, but by cleaning up. Map which sites currently link to you and whether those links are healthy. A profile full of weak or suspicious links drags you down, no matter how many good links you build on top. How to tackle that: see link building and the SEO audit.

Step 2: clean up toxic backlinks

Links from spammy or dubious sites, links from paid schemes and links with over-optimized anchor text push your score down. Identify them and make sure they disappear or get devalued. This is tedious work, but it is the foundation: you don’t want to build on a leak.

Step 3: earn strong, relevant links

This is the engine behind your score. Not all links weigh the same: one link from a trustworthy, relevant site in your sector counts for more than dozens of weak ones, something Backlinko on increasing domain authority also stresses. Tactics that work for a small B2B team:

• Give others a reason to link. Offer something unique: your own data, a fresh angle, a better explanation than your competitors.
• Use existing relationships. Customers, partners and suppliers: exchange testimonials or refer to each other where it makes sense.
• Consider targeted guest contributions on sites that reach your audience, but only if their public matches yours.

For most B2B sites, a handful of authoritative links per year is enough. You’ll find more detail in link building.

Step 4: create content worth linking to

Nobody links to a thin service page. People link to resources: guides, research, original figures, practical templates. The more link-worthy content you produce consistently, the greater your chance to rank and attract links. This overlaps entirely with your content strategy and your SEO strategy.

Step 5: optimize your on-page SEO

Make sure your technical base and your on-page SEO are in order: tidy meta titles and descriptions, a good user experience and correct technicals. Also add smart internal links. Internal links help Google understand your site and strengthen the authority of your most important pages.

Step 6: build brand visibility and social signals

More likes, shares and mentions, together also known as social signals, increase your reach and your brand visibility. That rarely leads directly to a higher score, but it does create the attention from which new links and mentions arise. See it as the spark, not the engine.

How long does it take to increase domain authority?

Count in months, not days. Building authority is slow by definition: links have to be earned, get indexed and pass on their weight. Because of the logarithmic scale, you feel progress fastest at the bottom and every step after that gets harder.

Don’t be alarmed either if your number fluctuates. According to Moz, your score can drop without you doing anything wrong, for example because the tool indexes a different number of referring domains than last time, or because large sites suddenly win many links and the whole scale shifts. So look at the trend over months, not at a single snapshot. For more on realistic timelines, read how long SEO takes.

When is it not worth chasing domain authority?

Here is the honest advice you rarely hear elsewhere: a high number without leads is worthless. We see companies proud of a nice score while their revenue stands still. That is steering on a vanity number.

It is not worth chasing domain authority when:

• Your site doesn’t turn visitors into customers. Fix your conversion rate first. More authority on a leaking site simply means more expensive loss.
• You’re in a niche market where competitors have a low DA. Then you win with better content and relevance, not with a higher number.
• You take the number as a goal instead of a compass. The moment you choose tactics to flatter the score instead of helping customers, you’re optimizing in the wrong direction.

So steer on what pays the bills: leads, conversions and revenue. Authority supports that, but pays nothing on its own.

Frequently asked questions about increasing domain authority

Can you increase domain authority quickly?

No. There is no legitimate shortcut. The number rises as a result of earned links and strong content, and that takes months. Anyone promising a quick boost via bought links will eventually get you into trouble with black-hat tactics that lead to a Google penalty.

How many backlinks do I need to increase my DA?

The number matters less than the quality. For a small B2B company, 5 to 10 truly authoritative, relevant links often make more difference than hundreds of weak ones. The better question is: how strong is my link profile against whoever ranks above me?

Does internal linking help increase my domain authority?

Internal links don’t increase your domain authority directly, but they do strengthen the authority of individual pages and help Google understand and index your site. That is valuable in itself. Read internal links for the approach.

How often should I check my score?

Once a month is a fine rhythm. Checking more often makes little sense: the scale moves slowly and short-term fluctuations tell you nothing.

Does Google use domain authority as a ranking factor?

No. Domain authority is an estimate from an external tool and not part of the Google algorithm. It is useful for comparing yourself with competitors, but never chase the number itself.

Do you want to build your authority in a targeted way?

We compare your link profile with that of your competitors, clean up what drags you down and safely build strong, relevant links. Always aimed at leads and revenue, never at a vanity number.

We’re a small team, so we move fast and do more than you expect. Book your free intake and you’ll hear within 24 hours where your biggest authority opportunities lie.