It can be difficult to remember all the elements involved in search engine optimization (SEO). Oftentimes, it is easy to think you have covered all the bases, but then you realize you were missing something crucial.
Sometimes, you may not even realize that a specific aspect of your page matters. It’s all about Page Authority (PA).
It makes it easy to determine which areas of your SEO need improvement. In this article, you will learn what page authority is and why it is important for marketers.
What is page authority?
The page authority of a website is a measure of where the page will appear in search engine results pages (SERPs).
It was developed and created by Moz, a company that offers marketing analytics services. Scores range from 1 to 100. The higher the score, the more authority a page has, and the better it’s going to rank.
Technically What is a Page Authority?
Similar to Domain Authority, Page Authority measures the quality of individual pages. Using Mozscape’s web index, Page Authority incorporates link counts and dozens of other factors (more than 40 in total).
Importantly, it does not take into account specific on-page elements such as keyword placement. A machine-learning algorithm calculates Page Authority, and thus its value fluctuates as data is fed into it.
Because of this, Page Authority should be viewed as a relative metric rather than an absolute value “scoring” a single page’s rankability.
When calculating page authority, what factors are considered?
Page authority is measured on a scale of 100 points. As the score increases, pages are more likely to be ranked higher in search engine results.
This score can also be used by website owners to compare the performance of their pages with those of their competitors. Three factors determine the authority score of a page:
When was the page last updated?
A page that is out of date negatively impacts your score. It is unlikely that your page will appear on a search engine results page if it has not been updated in a long time. Make frequent updates to your pages to improve your search engine ranking.
Page trustworthiness
In the absence of reliable links and low-quality content, authority for the pages will either remain static or decrease. The content on all pages should be of high quality, and the backlinks should be solid both externally and internally.
Link contribution to the page
The practice of stuffing links is not acceptable. Adding links to your page is important, but you must ensure that they are quality, relevant links.
Incorporating irrelevant links into your content adds next to no value and will not help you improve your search engine ranking.
Getting irrelevant links means you have a website dedicated to a specific topic (for example health), but you are getting backlinks from a completely different one (for example tech).
Domain authority vs. Page Authority
Page Authority (PA) differs significantly from Domain Authority (DA). An assessment of DA considers the authority of an entire website, whereas an assessment of PA considers only the authority of a single page.
So what’s the good news?
Having a high PA score on more pages will improve your domain score.
This is why many people are more concerned about improving Page Authority than increasing Domain Authority. When each page of a website is improved individually, search engine optimization becomes more effective.
What is the importance of page authority for SEO?
It has been claimed by some digital marketing experts that PA does not have any significance.
How true is it?
The right way to optimize your website is to use it along with other elements. Because MozBar considers varying components on your site, it’s a good way to find out if any areas need more SEO work. You can also use it to create a snapshot of where a specific page stands and where it could go with some changes.
You can show growth, change, and improvement over time by having a low PA now and a high PA later on.
So, is Page Authority important for SEO?
Both yes and no. Even though Page Authority can provide insight into how well your optimization is performing, it does not have any bearing on your ranking. Google does not even consider PA.
