Some big news in the SEO world over the past few weeks, including Google’s descriptively named March Core Algorithm Update and Moz’s Domain Authority 2.0 Update. In terms of the Google update, it’s too soon to tell exactly which kinds of sites are impacted, so help your fellow SEOs figure out exactly what sites are being targeted, by filling out this Search Engine Land survey.
The Domain Authority 2.0 update is much easier to understand and explain! This often misunderstood (and perhaps maligned) ranking predictor from our friends at Moz has been updated and released. They’ve put out a lot of great info & blog posts on what it is & why it’s important. Here’s our TLDR version:
What is Domain Authority?
- Domain Authority is a metric from 1 to 100 predicting how well a domain will rank in Google.
- It’s not linear. Going from 1-10 isn’t very difficult. Moving from 60-70 is.
- DA is relative. Compare yourself to your prior self (previous DA) as well as to competitors. Analyze regularly.
What has changed with Domain Authority 2.0?
1. Bigger Link Index: Now, domain authority has 35.5 trillion links to play with!
2. New Machine Learning Model: Now part of Domain Authority looks at Google rankings and uses machine learning to try to understand how rankings are stacked.
3. Spam Score Incorporation: Now incorporates spam link detection by looking at a bunch of on-page factors, of linking sites.
4. Detects Link Manipulation: Can better identify when people are buying and selling links.
5. Daily Updates: The old Domain Authority used to update about approximately every month
Neat! Have I mentioned that I might be checking clients’ domain authority every day now? It’s a shiny new toy for SEOs. Probably best to look at on a weekly/monthly basis, though, like one does with keyword positions, in order to identify any real trending. Enjoy!