GrowKittWhat Is a Good Domain Authority Score?
As a rule of thumb: Domain Authority under 30 is low, 30–50 is average, 50–60 is good and 60+ is strong. But DA is comparative by design — a 'good' score is simply higher than the competitors ranking for YOUR keywords. Check your score against theirs side by side before judging anything.
What Domain Authority actually is
Domain Authority is Moz's 1–100 score predicting how likely a domain is to rank, based mostly on the quality and quantity of sites linking to it. Similar scores exist elsewhere — Ahrefs' DR, OpenPageRank — all measuring roughly the same thing: link-based reputation. One fact up front, because it changes how you should treat the number: DA is a third-party metric. Google does not use Moz's score. It's a useful thermometer, not the fever itself.
The scale is logarithmic — and that changes everything
Moving from DA 20 to 30 is far easier than moving from 60 to 70. Early points come quickly with your first quality links; later points demand serious authority. So don't compare your new business site to a newspaper's DA 90 and despair — that comparison is meaningless. The only comparison that matters is against the sites actually competing for your keywords.
So what's a GOOD score? The honest table
- Under 10: brand-new or invisible — normal for young sites, nothing is wrong with you
- 10–30: early stage — typical for small local businesses with few citations
- 30–50: established — competitive for most local and niche Indian keywords
- 50–60: strong — competitive for national commercial keywords
- 60+: authority territory — big brands, major publishers, institutions
The real test in one sentence: search your main keyword, note the DA of the top five results, and 'good' means being in their range. A DA of 25 is excellent if the sites outranking you sit at 20.
What genuinely moves the score
Quality referring domains — different real websites choosing to link to you: suppliers, industry associations, local news, genuine directories, guest articles. Ten links from ten good domains beat a thousand from one spammy network. We wrote the full picture in How many backlinks do you actually need?. What does NOT move it: tweaking metas daily, posting more to social, or buying 'DA 50+ guaranteed' packages — the last one risks a Google penalty under its spam policies.
Check yours — and your competitors' — in 10 seconds
Our free authority checker compares up to four domains side by side on real OpenPageRank data: score, global rank, referring domains, trend. No signup. Inside the app, GrowKitt's Backlinks & Traffic tool adds Moz API data and drops it into client-ready reports.
Frequently asked questions
1. Is Domain Authority a Google ranking factor?
No. DA is Moz's own metric — Google has repeatedly confirmed it doesn't use it. It's a convenient proxy for link strength, useful for comparing competitors, not a number Google reads.
2. What is a good Domain Authority for a local Indian business?
Most local businesses compete perfectly well at DA 15–35, because their local rivals sit in the same range. Beating the five sites above you matters; the absolute number doesn't.
3. How fast can I increase my DA?
From a low base, a handful of quality links can move you several points within a couple of months after metrics refresh. Past 50, progress slows to a crawl by design — the scale is logarithmic.
4. Why did my DA drop when I didn't change anything?
Scores are relative and recalculated across the whole web — if the index grows or others gain links, your score can dip slightly without any loss on your side. Watch the trend over months, not weekly noise.
5. DA vs DR vs PageRank — which should I track?
They correlate strongly. Pick one (plus referring domains, the realest number of all) and track it consistently rather than juggling all three. GrowKitt reports Moz and OpenPageRank data together.
6. Can I buy links to raise my DA?
You can, and it may inflate the number briefly — but buying links violates Google's spam policies and risks penalties that cost far more than the shortcut gained. Genuinely earned links only.
7. Does website content affect Domain Authority?
Indirectly but powerfully: content is why anyone links to you. Useful guides, honest data and local expertise earn the referring domains that the score actually measures.
8. How do I check a competitor's Domain Authority free?
GrowKitt's free authority checker at growkitt.com/web-tools/authority-checker compares up to 4 domains side by side — score, rank and referring domains — with no signup.
Siva Krishna D
GrowKitt Director & Developer · Pooja Soft Solutions, Ongole
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