What is the value of your website?

Before you answer, understand that ‘value’ in this sense isn’t about money, but about the compelling reasons that attract visitors to your site and keeps them engaged.

And as we all know, engagement is the one of the key triggers that motivates visitors to perform some kind of call-to-action (CTA) on your site, whether that is subscribing to your newsletter, ordering a free E-book, scheduling a free consultation, taking advantage of a free whitepaper or buying one of your products and services.

Because when you visitors opt in to something on your site, that brings them one step closer to converting from curious bystanders to active users, in other words, bridging them from prospects to customers.

So let’s get back to that question.

What is the value of each of your website pages that provides visitors with a positive experience?

That value has a direct effect on your search engine ranking and credibility, so it is one of the keys to effective marketing.

If you don’t know the answer, or the answer you have is less than satisfactory, don’t worry, because we’re launching a three-part series that will provide you with a better understanding of the three factors that make your site valuable: domain authority, the value of content, and the meaning of relevance.

So let’s get started with the importance of maintaining and enhancing your domain authority.

What Is Domain Authority?

Domain authority (DA) is a term that was developed by Moz, and refers to the power and value of your domain name as it relates to search engines. Typically, the greater your domain authority, the higher the likelihood that your site will draw traffic and rank higher on search engines.

Moz’s DA score is based on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 representing the highest achievement in terms of authority.

Most new sites will score low on this scale, because they have yet to build the awareness, credibility and industry presence that elevates DA scores.

So what are the factors that determine your domain authority?

Well, there are quite a few actually, because Moz’s goal was to approximate the factors that Google uses to rank sites in terms of quality.

And worse yet, it is very difficult to increase your site’s DA score, because of the number of factors that go into this metric.

How Backlinks Can Boost Your Domain Authority

However, improving your search engine optimization (SEO) methods can definitely influence your DA score, but you will need patience, as it can be a long process.

But here’s the thing that should excite you. One of the biggest factors in your DA score is the quality of your backlinks, which is something you can improve.

Backlinks – also known as ‘inbound links’ – are links from another website to your site, which can help increase user awareness and build credibility.

The problem, however, is that not all backlinks are equal, which means that any links from a site that isn’t reputable or credible actually hurts your site’s page value.

In fact, Google places a much higher value on backlinks from websites with high DA scores, and it also likes to see backlinks from a number of different websites.

So get rid of all backlinks from websites that are not reputable or credible by requesting removal of the link from the site administrator.

If that fails, post a note about the backlink that informs visitors that the site that linked to your page is not one that you believe is reputable.

And of course, you should strive to build quality backlinks, and the best way to do that is for every page of your website to offer outstanding content that will catch the attention of influencers in your industry.

How Internal Linking Affects Domain Authority

Another factor that can influence your DA score is internal linking, in which you include a link on one page of your site to another page on your site.

For example, if you sell computer software and you are writing a blog article titled, ‘5 Ways To Choose the Right Computer Software,’ you could include a link in that article to another article on your site titled, ‘Why the Wrong Computer Software Could Ruin Your Business.’

So why is this important?

Well, let’s say that one of your pages ranks very high on search engines, but another page ranks much lower.

By creating an internal link on the high-ranking, authoritative page, you can help boost views to that lower-ranking page, while still keeping visitors on your site.

Internal links help to connect your website pages in a way that is logical and powerful, build the credibility of your site, and increase your individual page ranks.

One Link At a Time

Boosting your domain authority takes time and effort, but it can result in some big gains for your business. As marketing expert Rand Fishkin said, a targeted link building strategy enhances visibility, grows rankings, generates more visits and creates more conversions.

The key is to stay vigilant about the quality of backlinks on your site, and to continue to seek out possible backlinks from sites that have a proven track record of quality and authority.

In part two of this series, we will explore the role of content in building page value.

If you want to learn more about domain authority, or you need marketing advice, please contact us today for a consultation.