How to Increase a Websites Authority Score
Authority score can be challenging when you are just getting started.
Results often depend on your industry and content focus.
Websites with niche topics usually face less competition. This makes authority score easier to build.
Highly competitive topics require additional effort to stand out.
Below are proven ways to increase authority score, even in competitive spaces.
What is an Authority Score?
Authority score was developed by Moz, a company that has supported SEO efforts since 2004.
It measures how valuable a website’s content is compared to similar sites.
The score ranges from 1 to 100.
Higher scores generally indicate stronger content and higher perceived credibility.
A higher authority score often correlates with better visibility in search results.
This score is relative. Comparing your site to direct competitors is more useful than aiming for a perfect score.
You do not need a score of 100 to be competitive.
Authority score is not a Google ranking factor. However, it helps evaluate content quality and competitiveness.
SEO platforms like Moz, SEMrush, and Ahrefs use similar metrics to assess domain strength.
These tools also provide insights on how to improve authority over time.
How to Increase Authority Score
Adding High-Quality Backlinks
Backlinks are one of the most important authority signals.
Quality matters more than quantity.
According to Ahrefs, most websites with no organic traffic also lack backlinks.
Start by reviewing sites that already link to your content.
Analyze competitor backlinks to identify new opportunities.
Focus on earning links from reputable, relevant sources.
Backlinks increase referral traffic and user engagement.
Authority growth from backlinks takes time, but the impact compounds.
Backlinks are important to Google “90% of websites that don’t get any organic traffic don’t have backlinks.” (Ahrefs)
Create Link Worthy Content
Consistent content publishing supports authority growth.
Create content that provides value and encourages others to link to it.
Review past content to identify high-performing topics.
Expand on those ideas or update older posts with new information.
Refreshing content signals relevance and credibility.
Updated pages are more likely to earn natural backlinks.
Audit the Site and Remove any Bad Links
Low-quality or spammy links can harm authority.
Toxic backlinks reduce credibility and may lead to penalties.
Conduct regular link audits to identify harmful connections.
Remove or disavow links that come from unreliable sources.
SEO tools can help detect unhealthy backlinks quickly.
Maintaining a clean link profile protects long-term authority.
Improve Page Speed
Page speed directly impacts user experience and site quality.
Slow-loading pages drive users away.
Mobile speed is especially important due to mobile-first indexing.
Google prioritizes fast, responsive mobile experiences.
Improving page speed supports both authority and engagement.
While technical improvements take effort, the benefits are significant.
Improve Internal Links
Internal links help users navigate your site more easily.
They also help search engines crawl your content efficiently.
Topic clusters are an effective internal linking strategy.
Group related pages under a central topic to build structure.
Avoid over-optimization.
Too many links can appear spammy and reduce crawl efficiency.
Balance usability with SEO best practices.
Having too many links could result in over-optimizing a site, which will hurt domain authority and ranking.
Too many links on a page will raise some flags with search engines, and make a specific page or even a whole site seem spammy and overwhelming.
This will also make it harder to crawl for search engines.
Final Thoughts....
Authority score growth takes time.
Results do not happen overnight.
Consistency is key. Continue improving content, links, and site performance.
Track progress and make regular updates.
Fresh, high-quality websites attract more traffic and build trust.
Higher authority supports stronger rankings and credibility.
Over time, increased authority leads to higher engagement and better long-term performance.