You should check the quality of a donor website before posting a link. Metrics from various SEO services can help you do it. You can identify authoritative projects using search engine marketing platforms and build links to them.  

What Is Page Authority?

So, what is page authority? Without taking SEO metrics into account, page authority is the digital equivalent of its quality. It is used to understand which page deserves higher rankings in search results.

Google’s ranking formula is kept secret; it is still unknown how exactly the algorithms generate search results. Webmasters know only that hundreds of different factors affect the outcome.

Google gives authority metrics to each domain and page. For this purpose, it uses the PageRank metric, previously shown in the public domain. Now, we won’t see the actual numbers, but PR continues to be part of the search algorithms, which only strengthens the role of PA in SEO.

At the time when PageRank checkers were relevant, SEO platforms were already offering alternatives. Today, such metrics act as a lifeline, allowing website owners to determine the donor’s quality in a matter of minutes. 

If delivering SEO without metrics, webmasters would have to analyze hundreds of pages and domains manually, which is a difficult task. Therefore, search engine marketing platforms are very helpful.

Note that search engine algorithms work differently than SEO services. There is no point in comparing PageRank with the analogs, which are still being updated. They are useful only as one piece of the puzzle, so you shouldn’t make decisions based on one metric alone.

More often than not, webmasters using different link-building methodologies rely on the Page Authority metric from the popular Moz service. The company supporting the platform has been developing SEO products for over 15 years, and it clearly understands the Page Authority meaning.

PA by Moz demonstrates the effectiveness of a page’s ranking in search results. This metric can be considered equivalent to PageRank. When webmasters analyze donors before posting links, they pay great attention to Page Authority.

PA in SEO is tied to a specific page, not a website. Therefore, if a donor is high-quality, you should choose the page with the highest score. Then, theoretically, you can get more benefits for the same cost. 

What does it mean in SEO?

PA in SEO assesses the page quality and the project value in general. If the page also ranks well for the most relevant keywords, you should add the donor to your white list.

Theoretically, the higher the Page Authority, the better the chances of the page getting a top position in SERPs. But this conclusion is drawn based only on the Moz algorithms, not Google’s. Actual results can vary significantly.

Nevertheless, you should not disregard the Page Authority meaning. You can use this indicator to select a stronger page and website from a list of potential donors. But it is better to make decisions based on a set of metrics. If Moz displays low numbers, but the project is high-quality and has a regular audience, you can safely build links to it. In SEO, numbers mean a lot, but the final decision is made by a person, not by algorithms.

It takes a few seconds to answer the “What is my Page Authority?” question thanks to the high speed of data processing in Moz and other services. You do not need to purchase a subscription plan and spend a few hundred dollars. 

SEO platforms free webmasters from a lot of routine work, but you should not forget about manual analysis. In most cases, Moz rates authoritative projects high, but the algorithms can fail from time to time.

So, you should not avoid additional work since it is important to analyze the content and spam score of potential donors manually. Webmasters sometimes forget about these aspects and focus their efforts solely on checking SEO metrics. 

How Is the Page Authority Scored?

When we are done with the “What is Page Authority?” issue, let’s figure out how the metric is scored. Page Authority is the value of a page measured between 0 and 100. The more points the page scores, the higher its chances of getting high positions but only in the artificial environment of the Moz ecosystem.

The basis of the Page Authority algorithm is a logarithmic model applied in the original PageRank. Therefore, the index is often used as an accessible option.

Page Authority is a predictive measure rather than the ultimate truth. In addition, page quality scores can change over time. It scores 60 points today, but it may drop to 30 points in a few months.

PA in SEO is determined based on more than 40 specific indicators. Each of them affects the final number. So, if the algorithms question most criteria, the page will not get many points.

The data to generate Page Authority are taken from the Mozscape index, which is considered one of the largest databases in the SEO world. Mozscape is a sort of a clone of Google’s bot that crawls websites and records data.

The information in the index is regularly updated, so PA is not a constant value. The page authority value must quickly adjust to changes on the page. For example, if there are multiple spam outbound links, the webmaster should notice such issues before posting a backlink.

Page Authority improvement or decrease depends on more than just link upgrades. Moz periodically updates its approach to calculating its metrics. Therefore, you should regularly monitor the dynamics.

Machine learning algorithms are used to convert the Page Authority meaning into figures. They analyze incoming data and perform a large range of calculations. The result is Page Authority as a relative measure of quality. 

Trust level

The first important criterion of page quality is a trust level. It indicates the value of page credibility. If a page houses useful, properly optimized content, it is trustworthy. 

The credibility of every page can change rapidly, so it is relevant only at a particular point in time. For example, a website owner can add a lot of keyword phrases and mess up the content.

Pages with bad content don’t get high scores, so many webmasters need to understand the Page Authority meaning in detail and improve their websites to the max to boost them in organic SERPs.

Number of contributed links

It’s impossible to calculate PA in SEO without taking links into account. This factor is one of the most crucial since the very release of Google. No matter how much the search engine tries to get rid of its dependence on links, it cannot refuse them.

The search engine team regularly updates algorithms to recognize artificial linking. They still don’t work perfectly, but the improvement is underway.

Webmasters are used to the fact that it’s easy to get inbound links using dedicated services, but in the current conditions, you should proceed as carefully as possible. This is the only way to protect yourself from problems with ranking.

The Moz algorithms make a detailed analysis of the quality of links on each web page. A group of link factors greatly affects the final Page Authority value.

Last updates

When webmasters encounter PA, many of them wonder, What is Page Authority in SEO built on? They know that content and links affect the metric, but there is another essential sign to keep an eye on.

It’s the frequency with which content on a page is updated. If it was published three years ago and hasn’t been changed since then, Google’s algorithms won’t like it. But there are exceptions to the rules, so-called perpetual content.

For example, the laws of physics barely change, so there is no need to update the page every month. In this case, the page score will not decrease over time because updating is not possible.

Once again, it should be noted that multiple factors affect Page Authority, and you should evaluate the metric comprehensively. Therefore, search for insights into improving PA that address all aspects of internal and external optimization. 

Where to Check PA?

Besides Moz, other services can be used to better understand the Page Authority meaning. They help you get a fresh assessment of a project and are very useful for making a decision about link building.

Some platforms offer their own analogs of Page Authority, which can be used to select donors. Therefore, you should not discard them and focus on a single metric. 

Ahrefs 

This search engine marketing service is in high demand among webmasters. It has an equivalent of Page Authority, which is called URL Rating. UR also ranges from 1 to 100 using a relative scale.

So, what is Page Authority in Ahrefs? The Ahrefs algorithms use backlink data to calculate UR and take into account nofollow attributes, a damping factor, and other metrics included in the original PageRank formula. For example, URL Rating of page http://aweb.ua/en/ is - 10.

You can check the digital presence and authority of a page for free with a backlink checker . There is no need to register or purchase a paid plan, but the report will include no more than five pages.

MOZ

We have detailly described the page authority definition according to Moz, so it remains only to check its list of donors and get the scores. You can do this with a free service on the platform.

You can see that even the Google homepage scored only 74 out of a possible 100. This shows that it is very difficult to reach the 90+ mark. Such donors are worth their weight in gold.

You can also install the MozBar plugin that adds a Page Authority value to search results. You can use it to select donors directly in the SERP. It is a very useful tool. 

Majestic

What is Page Authority according to this service? Majestic also offers its analog — Citation Flow, which is a kind of normalized PageRank. It is calculated on data available within the Majestic system.

Trust Flow must be used in conjunction with CF. This metric is related to link quality rather than quantity, unlike Citation Flow. You should add both metrics to the list utilized when analyzing donors.

There are also third-party platforms that can check Page Authority, Domain Rating, and other metrics in bulk. You can use them to save money on paid plans if it is the only functionality you need. 

What Is a Good Page Authority?

Page Authority can range anywhere from 0 to 100 points. Therefore, it is very difficult to set a threshold to say that 40 is bad and 50 is good.

Every webmaster has different requirements for the quality of donors and a customized approach to evaluating websites. So, you should not rely on the experience of others but adjust the list of criteria to the features of your niche.

What is an authority site? Most webmasters believe that a donor must have PA from 50 to 60 to build links. It is very difficult to find projects with PA 80-90, so the specified threshold is more realistic.

Note that a relative scale is used for the metric, so the difference between websites with 90 and 99 points is significant. And remember to manually analyze each donor because even a service with the best reputation can make errors in calculations. 

Tips for Improving

It is believed that the best way to affect Page Authority is by improving a link profile. Although the metric covers different signals, backlinks play the most crucial role.

Moz developers point out that there is no single tool for the rapid boost of PA. The system considers different factors, so it is necessary to conduct comprehensive work to expect an increase in the indicators in the future. 

Remove any spammy blog comments

Spam comments dilute links, so you should remove them. And you should do this not a few days after they appear in the public domain but through pre-moderation. There is no point in allowing users to post comments without verification if the project has a small audience.

All popular content management systems have useful modules that cope with spam and help maintain a link weight. In addition, they are free, and their setup does not require specific knowledge. 

Quality link-building

Quality links are an effective way to boost the authority of a page and a website as a whole. Content will not improve PA on its own, or the dynamics will be very slow.

That’s why you should take the time to answer the “What is Google Page Authority?” question and build links to credible projects. You can check the quality of your link-building strategy with a PA checker.

PRPosting will help you get links from authoritative resources on a regular basis. Thanks to the platform, you can find donors suitable for any budget. The websites can be filtered in the search interface by URL Rating and Majestic quality metrics. 

Regular updates

Updating content and a whole website is important not only for boosting Page Authority but also for improving search engine positions. The algorithms of Google and other services keep a close eye on content updates.

What does Page Authority mean in the context of updates? If a project looks abandoned, its credibility can eventually collapse. It is difficult to recover authority, so it is better to avoid such problems. You should update pages once a month, at least locally. 

Quality content

The concept of quality content is very vague, but there is a general explanation. It’s any format of content people want to share. Such content can be an article, research, infographics, a checklist, etc.

Quality content is one of the pillars on which a successful website promotion in search engines is based. Without it, even 10,000 backlinks from reputable donors will be useless, and the costs won’t pay off.

Focus on niche leaders who regularly get organic links through content. Such links can be easily identified because they don’t look like paid links. But you should not resort to black-hat techniques — you can be penalized for using them. 

Page Authority vs. Domain Authority

In addition to the great meaning of Page Authority, Moz highlights the website quality metric — Domain Authority. You can check the authority of a page and a domain in the single interface.

Similar approaches are used to calculate the two metrics. Domain Authority is equivalent to the quality of links posted on a website. You should also pay attention to it.

If a donor seems attractive, but it is difficult to find pages with the highest authority, you can choose any page that does not have a huge number of links. This is the most effective tactic.

Domain Authority also reflects a possible potential for ranking, so there is no point in analyzing only the authority of a particular page. You should always look through a broader lens and think ahead. 

Conclusion

Website quality metrics, such as Page Authority, help webmasters assess the potential of donors to build links. Without them, it would be difficult to identify a quality project and avoid spending money in vain.

PA in SEO plays an important role only as part of a larger set of metrics to check before paying for posting links. Aside from this metric, there are many others that you should not ignore either. 

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