How To Increase Page Authority: 10 Dependable Ways To Improve Your Rankings

You published a great page. You optimized it. You waited patiently for Google to notice.

And then… not much happened.

There are plenty of reasons a page may struggle to climb the search engine results pages (SERPs). Backlinks, content quality, internal linking and technical SEO can all influence how competitive a page becomes.

Page Authority (PA) can help you make sense of some of those signals. It isn’t a Google ranking factor — and chasing a higher score shouldn’t be the goal — but it can be a useful benchmark to understand the relative strength of a page.

So, what’s your score telling you? Let’s look at how Page Authority works, where to find yours and 10 ways to build stronger pages with a better shot at ranking.

What Is Page Authority?

Page Authority is a predictive SEO metric developed by Moz that estimates the ranking potential of an individual webpage.

Moz scores pages from 1 to 100 using a machine learning model and link data. The score uses a logarithmic scale, which means moving from a PA of 20 to 30 is generally much easier than clawing your way from 70 to 80.

Higher scores suggest greater ranking potential relative to other pages. But there’s an important word in that sentence: relative.

There isn’t a universally “good” Page Authority score. A PA of 35 could be competitive for one search landscape and underwhelming in another. The useful comparison is between your page and similar pages competing for the same search results.

And one more time for the people in the back: Page Authority comes from Moz, not Google.

Google doesn’t use PA to determine search engine rankings. Instead, treat it as a third-party indicator of website authority at the page level — not a grade from Google on your SEO homework.

Page Authority vs. Domain Authority

Page Authority and Domain Authority (DA) are related, but they measure different things.

The simplest distinction:

• Page Authority estimates the ranking potential of one page.
• Domain Authority estimates the ranking potential of an entire domain.

That means a website with high Domain Authority can still have individual pages with relatively low PA. A shiny domain can’t automatically make every new blog post an SEO superstar.

Other SEO platforms have their own authority metrics, too. Semrush offers Authority Score, while Ahrefs uses Domain Rating. These metrics use different methodologies, so don’t treat them as interchangeable. And just like PA, none is a direct Google ranking factor.

So, what is a good Domain Authority or Page Authority? The answer depends on your competitive landscape. Compare your scores against relevant competitors rather than aiming for an arbitrary number like 50, 70 or 90.

How Is Page Authority Calculated?

Moz doesn’t calculate PA by having an SEO expert inspect every page and assign it a score. Instead, Page Authority uses machine learning and data from Moz’s link index to predict how pages may perform in search.

That means your backlink profile plays an important role. Relevant signals include:

• The number and quality of backlinks pointing to the page.
• The number of referring domains and linking root domains.
• The strength of those linking pages.
• Internal linking and link equity.
• Spam-related link signals.
• The overall strength of the page’s link profile.

Because PA is comparative and Moz regularly updates its model and link data, your score can change even when you haven’t touched the page. That’s another reason not to obsess over a one-point drop. Your competitors may have changed. Moz’s data may have changed. The model may have changed. 

PA is a benchmark, not your SEO blood pressure.

Where To Find Your Page Authority

If you want your actual Page Authority score, Moz’s Link Explorer is the place to start. It lets you investigate individual URLs along with their backlinks and other authority data. But don’t stop at one metric.

Different tools can tell you different things about page performance:

• Moz: Check Page Authority, Domain Authority and backlink data.
• Semrush: Review backlink data and metrics such as Semrush’s Authority Score.
• Google Search Console: Monitor impressions, clicks, queries and positions in Google Search.
• Google Analytics: Evaluate organic traffic and what visitors do after reaching your site.

Search Console and Google Analytics don’t report PA because, again, it’s Moz’s metric. But they can answer a more important question: Is this page actually performing?

A rising authority score is nice, but rising qualified organic traffic is nicer.

10 Ways To Increase Your Page Authority

You can’t simply open your CMS and change PA from 27 to 73. (Shame, really.) What you can do is strengthen the signals associated with authoritative, competitive pages. 

Here’s where to focus.

1. Earn High-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are central to Page Authority, but this is very much a quality-over-quantity situation. A relevant inbound link from a credible, authoritative website can be considerably more valuable than a pile of links from low-quality sites nobody has heard of.

Focus on earning backlinks from relevant referring domains that have genuine audiences and topical authority. And skip buying sketchy links in bulk. If an email promises “500 HIGH DA BACKLINKS!!!” before you’ve finished your morning coffee, that’s probably not your path to SEO glory.

Building a healthy backlink profile takes longer, but quality backlinks are worth earning.

2. Create Content Worth Linking To

Of course, “get more backlinks” isn’t particularly useful advice if nobody has a reason to link to you — so give them one. Link-worthy content often offers something difficult to find elsewhere, such as:

• Original research and proprietary data.
• Industry reports.
• Useful statistics.
• Infographics.
• Comprehensive guides.
• Templates or interactive tools.

Original research can be particularly powerful because other writers need credible sources to support their own content. The key is content quality. Rewriting the same five tips already ranking on Page 1 probably won’t have publishers fighting over who gets to link to you first.

Create something useful enough to cite.

3. Strengthen Your Internal Linking

You don’t have to wait for another website to give an important page some love. Internal linking helps distribute link equity throughout your own site while giving search engines more context about your site structure and the relationships between pages.

Identify relevant high-authority pages on your website and link from them to priority pages where it makes sense. Use descriptive anchor text, too. “Learn more” tells search engines considerably less than “B2B content marketing strategy,” for example.

Just keep it natural. Internal linking should help readers navigate your content, not turn every paragraph into a web of blue text.

4. Target the Right Keywords

A page can’t rank well for everything. Good keyword research helps you identify realistic opportunities based on relevance, competition and search intent.

Ask:

• What is the searcher actually trying to accomplish?
• Does your page satisfy that intent?
• Are you targeting a keyword your website can realistically compete for?
• Are there related terms or questions the page should address?

Then monitor your keyword rankings and revisit older pages when opportunities change.

Content optimization isn’t always about creating something new. Sometimes the page you need is already sitting in your CMS waiting for a little attention.

5. Improve On-Page SEO

You’ve earned links and chosen your keyword, so don’t make search engines work unnecessarily hard to understand the page itself. Basic on-page SEO still matters.

Review elements such as:

• Title tags.
• Headings.
• Meta descriptions.
• Image optimization.
• Keyword placement.
• Readability.
• Content freshness.

Your meta description may not directly determine rankings, but it can help communicate why someone should click your result. Likewise, clear headings and logical structure make pages easier for both readers and search engines to navigate.

No secret sauce required. Just solid on-page optimization.

6. Invest in Technical SEO

Excellent content can’t do much in organic search if Google can’t properly crawl or index it. Run an SEO audit and look for technical issues affecting important pages, including:

• Crawlability and indexing problems.
• Incorrect robots.txt directives.
• Slow page speed.
• Poor mobile usability.
• Broken links.
• Redirect issues.
• Site architecture problems.

Technical SEO isn’t always glamorous. Nobody has ever gathered their friends to show off an especially elegant robots.txt file, but removing technical barriers gives your content a fair chance to perform.

7. Build Links Through Outreach

Great content doesn’t always attract backlinks while you sit quietly and wait. Sometimes you have to tell people it exists.

A thoughtful link-building strategy might include:

• Guest posting on relevant publications.
• Digital PR campaigns.
• Resource page outreach.
• Broken link building.
• Turning unlinked brand mentions into links.

The important word here is relevant. Sending the same “Dear Webmaster” pitch to 2,000 unrelated websites isn’t outreach. It’s a fast way to become very popular with spam filters.

Instead, identify publishers, journalists and websites whose audiences could genuinely benefit from your resource.

8. Refresh Existing Content

Sometimes increasing a page’s authority starts with making the page better.

Review older content for outdated statistics, broken links, thin sections and information that no longer reflects current search intent.

You might:

• Replace outdated sources.
• Add recent research.
• Expand underdeveloped sections.
• Improve formatting and readability.
• Add missing expert perspectives.
• Strengthen E-E-A-T signals.

Source quality matters here, too. Updating an article with questionable evidence isn’t much of an upgrade, which is why E-E-A-T and trustworthy sources should be part of your refresh strategy.

Don’t refresh just to change the publication date. Give readers something meaningfully better.

9. Improve User Experience

Page Authority isn’t a user experience score, but building stronger pages means thinking about the humans landing on them.

Make content easy to read, navigate and explore. That can mean improving your site structure, eliminating intrusive elements, making important information easier to find and creating logical paths to related resources. A visitor shouldn’t need an expedition map to locate the answer promised in your title.

Good user experience also creates more opportunities for people to explore other useful content on your site — which is where that internal linking strategy can earn its keep.

10. Monitor Performance Over Time

Finally, don’t optimize a page and then send it into the internet wilderness unsupervised.

Keep track of:

• Organic traffic.
• Search engine rankings.
• Keyword rankings.
• Backlinks and referring domains.
• Page Authority and other authority metrics.
• Indexing and search performance.

Use Google Search Console and Google Analytics alongside SEO platforms to understand what’s actually changing. If rankings improve but PA doesn’t, don’t panic. If PA rises but traffic and conversions remain flat, don’t throw a party.

Authority metrics are diagnostic tools. Business and search performance are the outcomes that matter.

Common Questions About Page Authority

Is Page Authority a Google Ranking Factor?

No. Page Authority is a third-party metric created by Moz, not a Google ranking factor. It can still be useful because it reflects signals associated with page strength and ranking potential. Just don’t confuse correlation with Google’s actual ranking systems.

What Is a Good Page Authority Score?

There’s no universal benchmark. PA is most useful when comparing similar pages competing in the same space. A score that’s strong in a niche industry may be relatively weak in an extremely competitive SERP.

Think competitors, not arbitrary cutoffs.

Why Isn’t My Domain Authority Increasing?

DA can remain flat even while your SEO improves because it’s a comparative metric calculated on a logarithmic scale. Changes to competitors, link indexes and the underlying model can also affect your score.

Focus on your backlink profile and actual search performance rather than chasing individual points.

How Long Does It Take To Increase Page Authority?

There’s no fixed timeline. Earning backlinks, strengthening internal links and improving content can take time to influence authority metrics. Moz also needs to discover and incorporate relevant changes into its data.

SEO remains stubbornly unwilling to provide an “Improve Authority Now” button.

Should I Focus on PA or Rankings?

Rankings — along with organic traffic, conversions and other business-relevant KPIs. Page Authority can help you benchmark progress and investigate why one page may be more competitive than another. It shouldn’t become the goal itself.

Focus on Building Better Pages — Not Just Higher Scores

Page Authority can be a useful benchmark. But your customers don’t know your PA score, and Google isn’t handing out trophies for hitting 80.

What does matter? Creating pages people want to read, reference and link to. Quality backlinks, useful content, smart internal linking, solid technical SEO and a good user experience can all strengthen your pages, and potentially your PA along with them.

So, don’t let a little number in an SEO tool become the main character. Instead, build pages that deserve authority and let the score be the side effect.