What Is Page Authority? Definition, Examples & How to Improve

Introduction

Domain Authority tells you how strong your website is overall. But what about a single page — does it have the power to rank on its own merits?

Table of Contents

That’s what Page Authority answers. And for SEO targeting at the page level, it’s often the more relevant number.

What is Page Authority? (Definition)

Page Authority (PA) is a score from 1 to 100, also developed by Moz, that predicts how well a specific page on your website is likely to rank in search engine results. Unlike Domain Authority (which measures the entire domain), PA measures the ranking potential of a single URL.

A blog post, a product page, a landing page — each has its own PA score based on the links pointing specifically to that URL.

Like DA, PA is a Moz metric and not an official Google ranking factor. But it’s a useful proxy for understanding the relative strength of individual pages and evaluating competitors at the page level — which is where rankings are actually decided.

The Page Authority Formula

Moz calculates PA using a machine learning model trained to correlate with actual Google rankings. The primary inputs are:

PA = f(backlinks to the specific page, quality of those backlinks, MozRank of the page, internal link equity)

Key factors include:

Number of external backlinks pointing to that specific URL
Authority (DA/PA) of the sites and pages linking to it
Internal links flowing to the page from within your own site
Anchor text of incoming links

PA also uses a logarithmic scale — moving from PA 20 to PA 30 is far easier than moving from PA 60 to PA 70.

Real Example of Page Authority

A health website has a DA of 38. They publish two articles:

Article A: “Complete Guide to Intermittent Fasting” — featured on three popular health blogs, linked from 8 internal pages. PA: 41
Article B: “Intermittent Fasting for Diabetics” — newer article, only 1 external backlink, linked from 2 internal pages. PA: 19

Both articles are on the same domain (DA 38), but Article A has significantly higher PA due to its stronger external and internal link profile. When Google evaluates rankings for their respective keywords, Article A’s higher PA is one of the signals giving it stronger page-level competitive power.

Why Page Authority Matters

It Explains Why Individual Pages Win or Lose

Two pages on the same domain can have vastly different ranking power. PA helps you understand why one of your pages ranks on page 1 while another sits on page 3 — even if the content is similar in quality.

It’s Essential for Competitive Analysis

When analysing why a competitor ranks above you for a specific keyword, check the PA of their ranking page versus yours. If their PA is 45 and yours is 17, the gap tells you exactly what you need to build — more backlinks to that specific URL.

It Guides Internal Linking Strategy

Pages with high PA pass authority to other pages they link to. Identifying your highest-PA pages and using them to link to your newer, lower-PA content is one of the most underused but effective on-site SEO tactics.

Domain Authority vs Page Authority: Key Difference

DA measures the entire domain’s ranking power. PA measures one specific page’s ranking power. A page on a low-DA domain can have high PA if it has earned many quality backlinks directly to that URL. Conversely, a page on a high-DA domain can have low PA if nobody links to that specific page.

When evaluating keyword competition, page-level PA of the ranking URLs is often more predictive than domain-level DA.

Common Page Authority Mistakes

Mistake 1: Building All Backlinks to the Homepage

Many link-building efforts focus on earning links to the domain’s homepage — which builds DA but doesn’t directly strengthen the specific pages you want to rank. Build links directly to the content pages targeting your most important keywords to build PA where it matters.

Mistake 2: Neglecting Internal Links to New Content

Every new article you publish starts with very low PA. One of the fastest ways to increase PA on a new page is to add internal links from your highest-PA existing pages. Many site owners skip this step entirely, leaving new content to build authority far more slowly than necessary.

Mistake 3: Ignoring PA When Analysing Competitor Pages

Seeing a competitor outrank you and assuming it’s about content or keywords alone misses the picture. Check the PA of their ranking page. If it’s significantly higher than your equivalent page, you have a link-building gap to close, not just a content gap.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: What is the difference between DA and PA in simple terms?

DA (Domain Authority) measures the strength of your entire website. PA (Page Authority) measures the strength of one specific page. DA is the overall reputation of your domain. PA is the reputation of an individual URL. For ranking a specific piece of content, PA is often the more directly relevant metric because rankings are decided at the page level.

Q2: How do I increase Page Authority?

The most effective ways to increase PA are: earning external backlinks directly to that specific URL from authoritative sites, adding internal links from your site’s highest-authority pages to the target page, and improving the content quality to make the page worth linking to. PA grows as a result of good link building — there is no shortcut.

Q3: Is Page Authority accurate for predicting rankings?

PA correlates with rankings but doesn’t determine them. Google uses hundreds of signals including content quality, relevance, user experience, and many others that PA doesn’t capture. PA is best used as a comparative benchmarking tool — not as a guarantee of ranking performance. A page with PA 45 will generally outrank a PA 20 page, but content relevance and search intent match can override this.

Conclusion

Page Authority zooms in where it matters most — the specific page competing for the specific keyword. Use it to benchmark your pages against competitors, prioritise your link-building targets, and build a smarter internal linking strategy. While DA tells you the strength of your whole site, PA tells you the strength of your most important individual pages — and that’s often the number that decides who ranks.