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Measurement

Domain authority

Domain Authority is a proprietary third-party score from Moz that estimates a domain’s ability to rank; it is not a Google metric or direct Google ranking factor.

In Plain English

It is like one company’s forecast model: useful for observations within that model, but not the weather system itself.

Why it matters

Understanding domain authority helps you make clearer SEO decisions without mistaking one signal or metric for the whole picture.

Example

An SEO team tracks a third-party authority score alongside link quality and organic performance, while documenting that the score is an estimate.

Common misunderstanding

Google does not use Moz Domain Authority as a ranking factor. Avoid treating a vendor score as proof of trust, quality or future performance.