DA vs PA: What’s the Difference?

Byjahurnur@gmail.com

Introduction

Both scores come from Moz. Both go from 1 to 100. Both measure authority.

So what’s actually different — and which one should you be tracking?

The answer depends on what you’re trying to rank, and understanding the distinction will change how you approach both link building and competitive analysis.

Definitions

Domain Authority (DA) is a Moz score from 1 to 100 that predicts how likely your entire website — the whole domain — is to rank in search engine results. It’s a domain-level metric. Every page on your site benefits from your domain’s DA.

Page Authority (PA) is a Moz score from 1 to 100 that predicts how well a specific individual page on your website is likely to rank. It’s a URL-level metric. It reflects the ranking power of that one page based on links pointing specifically to that URL.

Both use logarithmic scales and are calculated using Moz’s link index and machine learning models trained to correlate with actual Google rankings.

The Formulas

DA is primarily based on: DA = f(number of unique linking root domains to the domain, quality of those domains, total backlinks, MozRank, MozTrust)

PA is primarily based on: PA = f(number of backlinks to the specific page URL, quality of those linking pages, internal link equity flowing to the page, anchor text relevance)

The key mathematical distinction: DA aggregates link signals from the entire domain. PA aggregates link signals from one specific URL.

Real Example: DA vs PA in Practice

A health website has a DA of 44. They have two pages:

  • Page 1 — Homepage: Linked from 280 referring domains over 6 years. PA: 48
  • Page 2 — “Gut Health Quiz”: A newer tool page with only 4 external backlinks but strong internal linking from 12 other pages on the site. PA: 28

Now a competitor website has a DA of 29 but their specific article on gut health has been featured in two major health magazines and earned 34 direct backlinks. That article has a PA of 47.

When Google ranks pages for “gut health quiz,” it doesn’t pit DA against DA. It evaluates the specific competing pages. The competitor’s PA 47 article competes directly against the PA 28 tool page — and can outrank it despite the lower domain DA. Page-level competition is decided by PA, not DA.

Why the Difference Matters

For Keyword Competition Analysis

When you’re analysing whether you can rank for a keyword, DA tells you about the overall domain strength of your competition. PA tells you about the specific page competing against you. A DA 70 competitor is intimidating — but if their specific ranking page has a PA of 18 with 3 backlinks, you can realistically outrank that page even with a lower domain DA.

Always check PA of the specific ranking pages, not just the DA of the domains they belong to.

For Link Building Strategy

If your goal is to increase overall domain authority, earn backlinks to your homepage and core site pages. If your goal is to rank a specific article or tool page, earn backlinks directly to that URL. DA-building links and PA-building links serve different purposes.

For Internal Linking

Your highest-PA pages are your most powerful authority distributors. Strategic internal links from your high-PA pages to newer, lower-PA content is one of the fastest ways to lift a new page’s PA without earning external backlinks.

DA vs PA: Key Differences Summary

DA measures the whole domain. PA measures one page. DA improves when you earn links to any page on your site. PA improves when you earn links specifically to that URL. DA is most useful for comparing domains broadly. PA is most useful for comparing specific ranking pages. A high DA site can have low-PA pages. A low-DA site can have high-PA pages if individual articles earn strong direct links.

Common Mistakes When Comparing DA and PA

Mistake 1: Using DA to Evaluate Individual Page Competition

When deciding whether you can rank for a keyword, checking only DA misses the page-level picture entirely. A competitor might have DA 65 but the page ranking for your keyword has PA 14 with 2 backlinks — that’s actually a winnable page-level competition.

Mistake 2: Building All Links to the Homepage to Improve PA on Inner Pages

Homepage backlinks build DA for the whole domain, but PA for your inner pages grows primarily from links pointing directly to those URLs. If you need a specific article to rank, build links to that article, not just the homepage.

Mistake 3: Ignoring PA When Doing Content Audits

During a content audit, pages with low PA despite being published for years are signalling a link-building gap. These pages need either direct backlinks or stronger internal links from high-PA pages on your site to reach their ranking potential.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: Should I focus on improving DA or PA?

It depends on your goal. If you want to improve your site’s overall competitive standing and ability to rank new content faster, focus on DA by earning backlinks to your domain broadly. If you want to rank a specific page for a specific keyword, focus on PA by building links directly to that page. Ideally, do both — but know which matters more for your immediate goal.

Q2: Can a page have higher PA than the domain’s DA?

Yes, this is possible — though relatively uncommon. If a specific page earns a large number of high-quality backlinks directly to its URL, its PA can exceed the domain’s DA. This happens most often with viral content, widely-cited research, or extremely popular tools that attract links independently of the rest of the domain.

Q3: How do I check DA and PA for free?

Use Moz’s Link Explorer (moz.com/link-explorer) — it shows both DA and PA for any domain or URL. Moz offers a limited number of free checks per month. You can also install the MozBar Chrome extension to see DA and PA scores overlaid on search results, which makes competitive analysis significantly faster.

Conclusion

DA and PA are related but measure different things. DA is your domain’s overall SEO credit score. PA is each individual page’s ranking power. For competitive research, always analyse both — DA to understand the domain-level competition, PA to understand the specific page-level battle you’re actually fighting. Build both deliberately: earn site-wide authority through consistent link building, and build page-level authority by earning direct links to your most important content.