What is Page Authority?

Why It Matters

Domain Authority alone can hide big differences in ranking potential between individual pages on the same site, and Page Authority is what surfaces that page-level nuance. A well-linked page on an otherwise smaller site can actually outrank pages on much bigger domains, which matters directly when deciding which specific pages to prioritize for content investment or internal linking. Ignoring page-level authority and only looking at domain-wide numbers can lead a team to underinvest in a page that's genuinely close to ranking, or overinvest in one that's fighting an uphill battle regardless of on-page work. Because it's derived from page-level link signals specifically, comparing Page Authority across a site's own pages is a useful way to spot which content has earned outsized backlink attention and could be a strong candidate for further optimization or internal links pointing to it. As a third-party proprietary score, it's best used as a directional signal for prioritization, not as a literal input into Google's own ranking algorithm.

Example

A single well-linked blog post on a smaller site can have a Page Authority of 45, well above that site's own Domain Authority of 28, because that specific page has attracted a disproportionate share of the site's total backlinks. That gap is why Page Authority is the more relevant metric when evaluating one page's individual ranking potential, while Domain Authority is better suited to sizing up overall site strength.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How is Page Authority different from Domain Authority?

  Page Authority predicts the ranking potential of one specific URL, while Domain Authority predicts the ranking strength of an entire site. A single page can have a Page Authority well above or below its own site's Domain Authority depending on how many backlinks that specific page has attracted.

• Is Page Authority a Google ranking factor?

  No, Page Authority is a proprietary metric built by Moz using its own machine learning model, not a signal Google itself uses or publishes. It's meant as a directional, comparative score for SEO teams, not a literal input into how Google actually ranks pages.

• What's a good Page Authority score?

  Page Authority is most useful compared relatively, against a site's own other pages or against direct competitors targeting the same keywords, rather than judged against a fixed universal number. A higher score simply means Moz's model predicts stronger ranking potential relative to whatever it's being compared against.

• Why might a single page have a higher Page Authority than its own site's Domain Authority?

  This happens when that specific page has attracted a disproportionate share of the site's total backlinks compared to the rest of the site's pages. A single widely-linked blog post or resource page is a common example of this pattern.

• How can a team improve a page's Page Authority?

  Since it's derived primarily from page-level link signals, earning more quality backlinks pointing directly at that specific page is the main lever, along with strong internal linking from other authoritative pages on the same site. Content that naturally attracts external links, like original research or a widely useful resource, tends to build Page Authority fastest.