Updated on January 29th, 2026
Before I went self-hosted, my DA (domain authority) was 26, but then it dropped to 23 after I migrated. However, now my DA is 56. In this post, I want to share how you can increase your domain authority.
What is Domain Authority?
Before I begin with how I increased my DA (domain authority), I wanted to briefly talk about what DA is and why it matters. DA is a number 1-100. The higher your DA, the higher your blog is likely to rank in search engines like Google. However, if you have a low DA, you can still rank above higher DA blogs, as there are other factors taken into account when determining rank on Google, such as the keywords you used. If you do not know your DA, you can check your DA on Moz or on Domain Authority Checker. Moz is the official site to check your DA, but you are limited to 10 searches a month. On Domain Authority Checker, there are no limits to how often you can check.
Why Does DA Matter?
If you want to start working with brands or if you have already, some brands require a certain DA. On blogger outreach networks like Get Blogged, you should have a minimum of a DA5. However, most opportunities are looking for blogs that have a DA20+. On social media, you can find posts for brands looking for bloggers with DA20+, 30+, and even higher. Luckily, not all brands have a DA requirement. That said, it is still good to work on your DA so that you can potentially work with more brands.
Why Did My DA Decrease?
It is common for DA to fluctuate, but after I migrated my blog to be self-hosted, my DA dropped from 26 to 20, but it shortly went back up to 23. When I first started my blog on WordPress.com, I did not have my own domain, and I was blogging on karaleecupcake.wordpress.com. Not too long after I started my blog, I bought my domain, but I remained on WordPress.com with the free personal plan, then later the premium plan. However, when I went self-hosted, I migrated from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. I ended up losing the backlinks I got from when I commented on other blogs with karaleecupcake.wordpress.com, and my DA dropped. Since then, I have been working on getting backlinks, which have resulted in my increase to 56.
How to Increase Your Domain Authority
#1 Backlinks
There are other factors that can affect your DA, but backlinks are the main way to increase your DA. Essentially, a backlink is when another blog or website links to your blog. The higher the DA the other blog or website has, the more “link juice” they give to your blog. Therefore, if you are a DA10 and a DA15 and a DA25 links to you, you will receive more “link juice” from the DA25. However, it is still beneficial to get backlinks from lower DA blogs and websites, as they are still included in the total number of domains that link to your blog.
I do want to mention that not all backlinks are good. If a website has a DA30, but its spam score is 90%, it could end up harming your DA because you were linked to a website that has a high correlation with other websites that were penalized or banned from Google. A high spam score does not mean the website is more spammy, but if you are only getting backlinks from sites with high spam scores, it can be harmful to your own spam score. You can read more about spam scores on Moz, as there are many factors taken into account when determining the spam score of a website or blog. With that said, how do you get backlinks?
Commenting on other blogs
One of the easiest ways to get backlinks from other blogs is to comment on other blogs. Many blogs have the option to include your URL. When your comment is published, someone can click on your name, and they will be directed to your blog. However, when you comment on other blogs, do not just leave a “great post” or “check out my latest post” comment. Your blog could be considered spammy if you continuously write “great post” on blogs just to get a backlink.
I do want to mention that backlinks from commenting on other blogs are no-follow links. No-follow links look the same as do-follow links. However, no-follow links do not directly affect your blog’s ranking on search engines. Even though getting do-follow links is better, all backlinks are included in your total number, which helps increase your DA.
Guest posting and collaborations
Another way you can get a backlink is through guest posting and collaborations. When you write a guest post, you write either a full post or a paragraph that is then published on another blog. You will then be credited for writing that post or section, and your blog will be linked. As far as collaborations, you will work with one or more bloggers, and you will each publish a post on a certain topic on your own blogs. You will then link to the other blogger(s) and they will link back to your blog. It does take more time to write a post than to leave a comment, but it can be worthwhile, especially since these links are often do-follow. Other people are likely to read what you wrote, and they can visit your blog that way.
To find guest posts and collaborations, you can join Facebook groups for bloggers and see if anyone wants to collaborate. You can also reach out to other bloggers you know.
Link swaps
As an alternative to guest posting or collaborating with other bloggers, you could simply do a link swap. For a link swap, you link to another blogger’s post on your blog, and they will link to one of your posts on their blog. To find bloggers who are willing to do link swaps, I recommend joining the Bloggers SEO & DA Help Group on Facebook. In the group, you can find bloggers who are looking to do link swaps. You can also make your own post where you list your DA, what your blog or post is about, and the minimum DA of other blogs you would like to swap with.
Advertising on other blogs
You can also advertise on other blogs. Some bloggers offer advertising packages that you can purchase, then your blog will be included as a do-follow link in a ‘Meet the Advertisers’ post, your blog will be linked on their sidebar, and your blog will also be promoted on social media. I do want to mention that if a blogger only offers sidebar advertising, you will gain a backlink for that month, but when the new month begins, your blog will be removed from the sidebar and you will lose that backlink, as it is not permanent, whereas backlinks in the ‘Meet the Advertisers’ post or other posts are permanent. It does cost money to advertise on other blogs, but you will gain a backlink to your blog and be promoted for a whole month, which can also help increase your blog views.
A note about Moz Pro
When you do get a backlink for your blog, it will take time before the backlink is found. However, I recommend starting the free 30-day trial for Moz Pro. With Moz Pro, you can create a Link Tracking List of backlinks you have, and it can find backlinks in as little as a few days, but usually, it takes 2-4 weeks to find the backlinks, but it could also take longer. If you do the 30-day trial, Moz will hopefully pick up some backlinks you have, which will help increase your DA quicker.
After the 30-day trial, Moz charges $49 per month for Moz Pro, which I personally think is too much. If you have backlinks that have not been found during the 30 days, it might be worthwhile. However, there is no guarantee those backlinks will be found during the next month, so I do not think it is worth it to spend money on Moz Pro.
#2 Internal Links
As I mentioned earlier, backlinks are the main way to increase your DA, but there are other factors that can help, including internally linking your posts, which is where you link to your own posts on your blog. When you write a new post, it is recommended to include 1-3 links to previous posts you have written. Also, you can go back and add links for your newer posts to your older posts. Internal links help your readers and also Google to see how your posts are connected. However, if you only focus on internal links and not on getting any backlinks, the internal links will not really help increase your DA.
#3 Fixing Broken Links
Similar to internal links, broken links can help increase your DA, but you also need to work on getting backlinks. Broken links occur when you include a link in your post, but now the link does not work because the page (or other content, such as an image or video) was deleted, renamed, or moved. Also, broken links can happen if you mistype the URL.
Broken links are bad because, first of all, they can be frustrating for readers when they click on a link in your post and they receive a 404 “Page Not Found” error. The reader might also be less likely to visit your blog again if they encounter broken links. Also, when Google crawls your blog to index it in their database, and it runs into a broken link, it will waste time crawling that link instead of links that can help your post be indexed and ranked. Furthermore, if you have many broken links on your blog, your blog can be seen as abandoned and of lower quality. Therefore, your blog can be ranked lower.
To check for broken links, I recommend using Broken Link Checker. On Broken Link Checker, you enter your blog’s URL, and it will scan up to 3,000 pages at a time. If it finds a broken link, it will show you your post’s URL and the source code so you can easily fix it yourself.
#4 Waiting
Another factor when it comes to increasing your DA is to wait. I have had my blog for over 5 years before I even had a DA30+, and that is with working on backlinks the last few years. When you purchase a new domain, your DA will start at 1 unless you purchased a domain that was already used and has an established DA. It will take time to grow your blog and gain backlinks. Therefore, do not expect to have a DA20 one month after purchasing your domain. However, having a domain for a long time does not always mean the DA will be higher. If someone bought their domain 5 years ago, but they were never active, they will have a low DA compared to someone who has been actively blogging for a year and working on getting backlinks.
#5 SEO
The last point I want to mention is SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and by improving the SEO on your blog, your blog is likely to rank higher on search engines and have more traffic. Since both DA and SEO are related to ranking on search engines, it is also good to work on SEO.
The first part of SEO is keyword research. Ideally, you want a keyword that has a high search volume but low competition. Once you have found a keyword, you then use the keyword in your title, introduction, subheadings, and throughout your post. You should also use your keyword in your URL for the post. To search for keywords, I recommend using Ubersuggest, but you are limited to 3 searches a day on the free plan. You can also use the Keyword Surfer Chrome extension. When you type a keyword into Google, it will automatically show you the search volume. You can also find keywords directly on Google by searching for a keyword and seeing what related search terms you are given.
Along with keywords, there are other aspects of SEO that you should implement, including writing posts that are a minimum of 300 words to include keywords and help Google understand what your post is about. You should also include headings in your post. H1 is designated for the title of your post, whereas H2 is your main point, and H3 is used to break up H2. You can also use H4-H6 if you need to.
Furthermore, you should have a meta description for your posts. The meta description is the short paragraph that is shown when a search result is made on Google or other search engines. The meta description lets others know what the post is about, and it can increase the number of people actually clicking on your post. If you do not include a meta description, Google will use the first couple of sentences of your post, which may not always tell readers what the post is about. You can also rename the file names of your images so they do not have a random name like “20160221_113135”, add alternative text to your images, which you should already be doing as it improves the accessibility of your blog, and include at least 1 relevant external link to help improve SEO.
If you struggle with SEO and find the process overwhelming, you can hire an SEO consultancy that will conduct an SEO audit, create an SEO strategy, and implement SEO on your website.
SEO Plugins
Since my blog is self-hosted, I use the free version of the Yoast plugin, which provides a guideline on how to improve SEO for each post, including having a focus keyphrase and using the keyphrase throughout the post, a meta description for the post, internal and outbound links, and images. As an alternative to Yoast, I have heard that Rank Math is also good to use. If you are not self-hosted or you cannot use plugins, you can still work on SEO for your posts.
Really helpful breakdown on how to Increase Your Domain Authority. I like that you start with what domain authority is and why it matters for SEO and credibility, then move into specific steps like building backlinks, fixing broken links, and improving internal linking. Those are core tactics most SEO guides agree on for growing a site’s authority over time.
This is a very informative post. My DA hovered at 19 for 2 years before I finally saw an increase! It’s now held steady at 21, which I’d like to increase. My main issue is with SEO! I’m not good at it. 😅 One of the things I find strange is my page authority (PA) is a lot higher than my DA. Sadly, that isn’t taken into account when working with brands. Surely links to pages (and posts!) within your blog is just as an important as links to your domain name?
That’s fantastic your DA increased to 21! Yea brands don’t really care about PA even if it’s high because they only focus on how many links you have from other sites (DA). It is important to have internal links though especially when Google is indexing your blog!
You are an amazing teacher! I am trying to do some research before I actually start my blog, and this is the best site I have visited so far.
Thanks.
Aw I’m glad to hear that!
This is very informative. What changes have you seen in SEO and algorithms since you started blogging? I’m still very new. Moz doesn’t even recognize the site. AHREF Says DA 0, but 8 backlinks & 4 referring domains. There is so much for new bloggers to learn. Thanks for this!
Wonderful tips I am working to increase my DA.
Thanks! Hopefully this post will help you increase your DA!
Thanks for sharing these DA Tips, I noticed my dropped after changing my niche, so I’m working to get it back to good levels, I do have a problem with broken links as a few companies have gone bust, so it will take time to correct nearly 8 years of broken links 🙂
You’re welcome! That’s good you’re working on getting your DA up, and I’ve had the same issue where companies I wrote about on my blog went bankrupt so I’ve had to remove their links. It’s good to keep on top of broken links and I like to check for broken links once a month so I won’t have to go through months (or years) of broken links at once.
These are such good tips! Thanks for all this info! My blog is new, so I need all the help I can get!
You’re welcome and I’m glad to hear you found this post helpful!
these are all great tips! especially about the broken links.
Thanks! I’m glad you found them helpful, and it’s good to check for broken links every now and then!
Since my DA dropped, getting jobs with brands has been difficult. I would love to advertise with you.
I will reach out as soon as I am ready
I am sorry to hear that your DA has dropped. It can be difficult finding work with brands espeically when they have a DA requirement.
I would love to have you as an adveriser and you can reach out to me whenever you are ready.
This is super helpful, thank you! I’ve got to start engaging with other blogs more and checking for broken links. Feeling inspired 👍
You’re welcome! Yes it is good to engage with other blogs and check for broken links every now & then!
This is really relevant to my as my DA has not changed in ages. I need to get those backlinks haha.
I hope you’ll be to increase your DA and getting backlinks is the most direct way!
Great tips, I’m still working on my domain. It kept falling down and going up for a while. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome! Yes domain authority does fluctuate, but hopefully it will go up for you!
This was one of the best DA tips post I have read. You have explained it so well and I have learned a few things I didn’t even know before. Thank you for sharing these tips! I am going to use what I have learned.
Lauren x
You’re welcome and I’m to glad to hear you found my post helpful and you learned some new things!
This post came at the right time for me, glad I saw it. I’ve had my website for 11 years but only did it for fun but only starting to take it seriously the last year so I shall follow your tips and hopefully one day I’ll be able to do paid work! 🤞
You’re welcome! I hope my tips help and you’ll be able to increase your DA!
Thank you for sharing.. suggestions you have mentioned make sense. At this moment my DA is 12 which is lower. However, the age of my website is 1.5 years. Needs to work on your tips.
I think DA 12 for a website that’s 1.5 years is good! Hopefully by focusing on getting more backlinks, making sure you have internal links and checking for broken links will help!
Incredibly helpful post, and so well written too. I had no idea about the DA Facebook group — just put in a request to join, so thank you. I still struggle with organic traffic, but these tips will no doubt help. Definitely a post to pin!
I’m glad to hear you found my post helpful and I hope the DA group helps too!
Thank you for sharing these tips, they are incredibly useful! I’ve just requested to join the DA Builder Group on Facebook – what a great way to increase our DA’s.xxx
I’m glad to hear you found this post useful! Yes the Facebook group is a great way to get backlinks!
Great post! My blog is for anyone who loves writing, books, and all the arts. If you think it might be fun or helpful to have my followers (who total about 10k across my social media) meet you, here’s the link for general guidelines: https://wp.me/p6OZAy-1eQ
Thanks
very informative and amazing post! Ever since I moved to WordPress and changed my domain name, I was searching how I can raise my domain authority. Thank you so much for sharing. xx Penny
You’re welcome! I hope you’ll be able to increase your DA because it is hard having to start all over again when changing your domain name.
Very useful info, thank you for sharing Karalee! I have saved this on Pinterest so I can find it easy when my work on DA begins. Wish me luck 🙂
You’re welcome! Good luck with increasing your DA!
Firstly, massive congrats on getting to DA50, that is absolute DA goals! This is such a helpful post, Karalee. I’ve been mulling whether or not to try Moz for a free trial and I think, when I can carve out some proper time, I will give it a go, it sounds extremely useful. Will have to remember to cancel before I get charged $99 though! x
Thank you so much! I was discouraged after my DA dropped, but I’m glad that focusing on backlinks paid off!
I definitely recommend the Moz trial because it should help pick up the backlinks quicker! Yes $99 is a lot & I honestly don’t think it’s worth it after the trial.
As a new blogger just beginning the blogging journey, this post was so so helpful. Thanks for putting the detailed points.
Welcome to the blogging community!
I’m glad you found my post helpful!
These are good tips to increase DA. I admit, my DA sometimes goes up and sometimes goes down. I need to work more on these tips make my DA stable. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks! It is very common for DA to fluctuate, but hopefully the tips will help!
Great post! I had a big focus on DA at the end of last year but now I’ve been focusing more on organic traffic as it seems that’s what people are more bothered about for sponsored posts etc 🙂
I also always remove links from comments that were clearly made just for the link and not genuine! I get a lot in old posts!
Corinne x
Thanks! I feel like it is mixed on what brands are looking for because some want a high DA (like on Get Blogged) while others want more views, but it is good that you are focusing on organic traffic.
I remove those types of links too!
Thanks so much for the reminder. We need to check our DA and focus on increasing it. We’ll definitely use these tips.
You’re welcome! I hope you’ll be able to increase your DA!
This post is really helpful! I’ve bookmarked it so I can come back and use some of the resources you mentioned. And I’ve requested to join that FB group too. While I’m super happy our DA is in the double digits at 10, I’ve really struggling to get it higher. It’s inspiring to hear about yours being at 50! Wow!
I’m glad you found it helpful & the FB group is definitely useful to get some backlinks!
That’s aweosme your DA is 10! It can be difficult to increase your DA, but hopefully getting some more backlinks will help!
I have been really trying to increase my da as mine dropped this year and unsure why. It can be so frustrating. I am doing everything but the advertising packages. I haven’t had an advertising package since January. So maybe that is something I try.
You are smashing your DA score, you must be so proud. Thank you for sharing such a helpful blog post.
Lauren
I’m sorry your DA has dropped & I understand it can be frustrating.
It might be worth looking into doing advertising packages again & also trying to find blogs with higher DAs to comment on & do guest posts, collabs or link swaps with.
Thank you!!
Thank you so much for sharing this information! It’s great to know that there are so many ways to increase your DA. I had initially thought it only increased through backlinks. You did such a wonderful job explaining it. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! 🙂
You’re welcome! DA is mainly increased through by backlinks, but the other ways can help too!
Good tips. I did nothing for my main blog and got to 44 although it’s now 40 after the alogrithm/method change a couple of years ago. I got to 23 on my dance blog but haven’t posted for the best part of a year or done anything with it, so it’s dropped right back. My new blog I’m just starting out. I don’t do link swaps though – as they have the potential to be picked up by google and given a penalty. It’s not worth it for me, given it’s mostly SEO people who want links who’re after high DA. PRs and brands themselves aren’t bothered.
That’s awesome your main blog got up to 44! I’m sorry to hear that the DA for you dance blog dropped, but yea DA can drop if you’re inactive.
I’ve done a few link swaps in the past, but yea it is mainly people who have low DAs and want to swap with higher DAs
These are great tips! I haven’t focused a ton on my DA and have bookmarked this so I can sit down & apply it to my blog.
Thanks! Some of the tips you can incorporate when you write a new post including adding internal links & implementing SEO whereas the others like getting backlinks & fixing broken links require more work.
I found this article very informative. I am trying to revive my blog. I will try the tips you mentioned.
I’m glad to hear you found it informative! Hopefully the tips will help!
Thanks so much for the great advice! We didn’t know too much about DA.
You’re welcome!
I recently started to hear about DA after launching my new blog last month and I’m definitely someone who freaks out when I’m overwhelmed. I’m happy that you have a lot of helpful tips on how to increase it. After checking mine, no surprise that I’m only DA1, I realize that this is how I can improve and grow my confidence (and authority) as a blogger!
Thank you for taking the time to share these incredible tips. I’m going to have to bookmark so I can jot down notes on how to improve.
DA can be difficult to understand because it is so technical, but you can improve your DA by continuing to be active on your blog & trying the different ways to gain backlinks.
You’re welcome!
Thank you for sharing, such a useful post explaining and breaking down DA. Great for a newbie like me.
You’re welcome & I’m glad you found it useful!
DA is one of the complex-sounding things in the blogging world that I was initially confounded by but it is actually quite simple. In the end, all the things that increase DA are what increase SEO and working on SEO should be enough, in my opinion. Helpful post! I like how you added waiting as a point because many forget that we have to wait to see it grow, it won’t happen overnight.
I agree I was confused by DA at first too, but it’s not hard to understand. Both the goals of having a higher DA & improving the SEO of your posts is to rank on Google, but with DA there is also the added factor of backlinks.
Yes with both DA & SEO it does take time to see results!
Thank you, Kaylee. I was actually look at backlinks and wondering what metrics I can look at to see whether my blog is doing alright. Although my principles are to write what I feel like and stay close to my topic, I do want to write good content that is found and read. My current DA is 6, after starting in February with a new domain. I’m slowly building and developing myself as a writer. The journey has been very enjoyable so far. I love commenting, because it brings me to great posts like this one. Thanks for all the links to these useful tools. This is where I found out what my DA is currently, haha. Besides that, it is reasuring to read your experience.
You’re welcome! I think that’s fantastic your DA is already 6! You should write what you want because that is how you’ll stay motivated to keep blogging, but it does help if you look into keywords to use so your posts do get found!
You’re welcome!
Rebuilding after going self-hosted can definitely be a little rocky at the start, but it is well worth it in the end! I love your solid tips for increasing DA, and your quick run down of what headings are for what. 🙂
Yes! I didn’t expect my DA to drop by going self-hosted, but it’s good that I figured out that all the links I lost were from when I had the .wordpress.com site & I was able to build up my backlinks again
Thanks!
This was a really helpful post. My DA seems to go up and down and since I am less than one year old in blogging there are always new things to learn about. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome! It is very common for DA to fluctuate for all blogs & sites & even now my DA fluctuates a little.
Wow 👌 this was thoroughly written and researched. I had no idea of the back links and spam affecting DA LIKE THAT.
Thanks! Yes backlinks are a big part of DA & luckily if you only have a few sites with a high spam score linking to you, it won’t affect your DA
This is such an amazing post, thank you SO much for sharing this. I’ve been blogging a while but I’ve never checked my DA as honestly, I didn’t really know what it was so I really appreciate how in-depth you’ve gone with what DA is and how it helps your blog. I found this really interesting! Xo
Elle – ellegracedeveson.com
You’re welcome! I’m glad you found it helpful!
I learned a lot. Thanks for the Facebook Group idea and hashtag.
I’m glad you learned a lot & you’re welcome!
This was a really helpful post! I am always trying to increase my DA score so I’m definitely going to start using these tips! X
I am glad you found it helpful!
These are all great suggestions! I need to focus on building my backlink profile for my new website so will definitely try guest posts out in the future 🙂 x
mia
Thanks! Yes guest posts are a good way to go!
I find DA so frustrating because I am trying my best to increase it but it doesn’t seem to be budging! I know that guest posting is probably one of the best ways, but I currently don’t have a lot of time with uni. Maybe once it’s the Easter break I’ll have time aha x
I know what you mean. DA can be stagnant even if you’re doing everything to try to increase it.
Hopefully you’ll have time during the break!
This was really useful as my DA dropped significantly when I changed my WordPress plan — thanks for this!
You’re welcome! I was suprised that my DA dropped when I went self-hosted but when I went to look at all the links I lost, they were from my .wordpress.com blog so it made sense & I’m glad that I could gain backlinks to make up for it.
Truly useful tips and reminders here. Checking for broken links is a practice I need to put in place.
Thanks! I recommend checking broken links about every month or so. If you wait longer, you could have a bunch of broken links & it could take you all day or even longer to fix them
This is great, jus checked my DA using that link provided and it’s 11 but the blog is 4 months old, great tips on how to move this up.. thanks very helpful
That’s awesome your DA is 11 after such a short time! Hopefully you’ll be able to increase it!