01
Does Google use Domain Authority?
No. Google's John Mueller wrote on X, then Twitter, on July 24, 2020: "Google doesn't use Domain Authority at all when it comes to Search crawling, indexing, or ranking." Moz's own page agrees: "Domain Authority is not a Google ranking factor and has no effect on the SERPs." Google doesn't publish any sitewide authority score of its own.
That doesn't mean Google ignores a site as a whole. Its guide to ranking systems says "Site-wide signals and classifiers are also used and contribute to our understanding of pages." Google doesn't publish what those signals are, and a tool's score isn't a window into them.
02
Why do agencies and link sellers quote DA?
Because it's one easy number. DA boils a site's standing in Moz's tool down to a single score, which makes sites quick to compare and easy to sell against. Moz's Russ Jones told Search Engine Land in 2019: "Domain Authority is a comparative metric, and I cannot stress this enough. On its own, in a vacuum, DA means very little."
The score can also move for reasons that have nothing to do with your business. When Moz changed its calculation in March 2019, Search Engine Land reported SEOs worrying about the changed scores and warned of link builders making "bogus Domain Authority pitches." Paying for links that pass ranking credit is link spam under Google's policies, as our backlink entry explains.
03
How should a contractor read DA in a report?
As a rough comparison, never as a result. If your site and three competitors in the same market are measured in the same tool on the same day, the gap is one loose sign of how you compare in that tool. A rising DA isn't a call, an estimate or a booked job, and Google doesn't see it.
Ask for numbers tied to your business instead: clicks and impressions from Google Search Console for your service searches, where you appear in the map results for your core searches, and calls and form fills by source. Our guide to what a monthly SEO report should show lists what belongs in one, and call tracking explains how calls get credited to a source.
04
Is raising your Domain Authority worth paying for?
Not as a goal in itself. Mueller told a site owner on Reddit in 2022, "you do not need DA for Google Search. Google doesn't use it at all." If an agency's proposal promises a higher DA, it's promising a change in another company's tool, not more customers.
The work agencies usually point to, earning links from suppliers, associations and local press, is worth doing for its own reasons: those links can send referrals and help people find you. Judge it by those results. Our guide to evaluating an SEO proposal shows which promises to question before you sign.
Related terms: Backlink · Topical authority · Prominence · All glossary terms
Where to go next: The home-service SEO handbook shows where links fit in the work that brings calls.