I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered this same situation: I begin working with a client who has a brand-new site, we collaborate on an amazing content strategy, and then the customer asks me how long it will take to rank on the first page of Google for high-volume, high-competition terms.
Constantly having to explain that, despite our best efforts, we simply won’t be at the top of search results for our target phrases for some time is not a lot of fun. Not if the site is new, lacks a substantial body of material, and has a weak network of incoming links.
Why Does It Matter How Strong a Domain Is?
Google has to prioritize which of the potentially hundreds of pages that target the search term “tips to paint the exterior of my house” to show to users.
Because Google cares so much about providing a positive user experience, it prioritizes finding relevant content and recognizing sites that have a track record of providing high-quality, authoritative information in a given field.
Domain authority plays a role here. If everything else is equal, your brand new mom-and-pop painting firm will have a hard time competing with a massive chain like Lowes for similar keywords.
While Google does not utilize domain authority as a direct factor in determining search engine results page rankings, it does provide some indication of how well your site will likely do in comparison to others.
A Simple Method for Verifying Your Current Level of Authority
While there are several free resources available for determining domain authority, Moz’s Explorer tool and the free MozBar Chrome plugin are the best options because they provide the data directly from Moz. While the rest of Moz’s Explorer isn’t free, you can do up to 10 queries every month without paying anything.
You Can Increase Your Domain’s Authority in 5 Concrete Ways
The significance of domain authority can only be measured indirectly, but we are aware of this fact. Once again, I’ll highlight the importance of not ignoring the passage of time when building your site’s authority and backlink profile.
The 5 steps below will help you get started on increasing your domain authority right away
Emphasize Creating Connections
Domain authority is a major quality signal that Google considers, and one of the best ways to increase it is through link development. After all, if many other excellent and respected websites are linked to you, it must suggest that they value what you have to offer. This has been picked up by Google.
Backlink audits can reveal your present backlink profile and should be your first step if you haven’t already.
Get rid of all the bad links
If your company engaged in any of the “not punished then but now not approved” backlink tactics, it’s easy to get a little carried away with the backlink construction. Spamming your link online, for example on a private blogging network, will quickly earn you a Google penalty and lower your site authority.
Have a good look at the results of the audit of your backlinks. As well as displaying your overall positive-to-toxic link ratio, SEMrush will also highlight any potentially harmful inbound links.
Make Amazing Content
If you want to increase your domain authority, content marketing is a must. You may maintain the integrity of your site’s core pages while opening up additional space for original material (which Google likes) that draws in your ideal customers, facilitates the creation of high-quality inbound links, and boosts your site’s search engine rankings for additional terms.
Check for Crawlability Problems
You will suffer on the search engine results pages (SERPs) if Google is unable to crawl your site and access the valuable content it contains. Your domain authority score may take a fall because of problems that both Moz and Google are experiencing.
To maximize your SEO rankings, you need to make sure your site is easily crawled by search engines like Google. You may prevent problems like duplicate content, broken links, and unclear redirection by utilizing a site audit tool to check for these things on a regular basis. My first choice remains SEMrush; nevertheless, Moz is also a really good alternative.
Intensify your online presence
Retweets, likes, and shares of your content are all social signals that search engines like Google and Moz use when determining your domain and page authority. Although this is not as important as other ranking factors like backlink profiles or crawlability perfection, it can still have an effect on your domain authority, so it’s worth your time to get it right if you want to see results immediately.
Finding techniques to improve social proof on your content is beneficial because it will increase traffic to your site and your authority score.
Conclusion
Everyone has seen the frustration that domain authority can cause for new websites that are seeking to create a name for themselves (and enhance site traffic and lead generation) through content marketing. Maintain your patience because the authority of your site and your ability to rank effectively will increase with time and some effort put into your link-building techniques.
Even if you feel like you’re waiting forever for editors to react to your guest posting enquiries, sticking to these methods will pay off in the long run.