SEO Tycoon

**prashant vikram** · 08:03 PM

Hello friends!

I have heard many times the keyword "Domain Authority", what is this exactly ? What are its effects ?

**CSS4Life** · 09-19-2007, 07:56 PM

According to your blog, you are an SEO expert so I would have thought you'd be telling us.

Anyway - in what context do you mean "domain authority"? For example, Technorati displays authority for blogs, but I doubt you're talking about this.

**prashant vikram** · 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whym

According to your blog, you are an SEO expert so I would have thought you'd be telling us.

Anyway - in what context do you mean "domain authority"? For example, Technorati displays authority for blogs, but I doubt you're talking about this.

Well i have a very new blog, and i am new in SEO field. thanks for appreciating me. I am learning from these type of forums lot.

Thanks.

**Learning Newbie** · 09-19-2007, 08:13 PM

It's been suggested that authority for a domain name (a site) is part of Google's formula. That might or might not be true. Google isn't open source so we can't pull back the covers and find out. But if it's not true today, it will be in a week or a year or five years.

Authority can be topical or general. Topical authority would be if people are searching for web hosting, Whym is an authority in the topic. General would be just what it sounds like - not limited to one topic. The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) is a general authority site. If you do a search and there are only two results, my blog and BBC, chances are my blog doesn't deserve to be first.

Its effects are helping you do better in the search. It comes from getting links (which are like votes) from a site that's an authority. That means not a directory, not a blog, not Wikipedia, and not anything that you have control over. Anybody can add their link to Wikiland so that doesn't count for much. Not everybody can get stories about them and linking to them in the news, not everybody can light up 1,000,000 blogs and social networks at once because everybody can't stop talking about them. It's an exclusive club and most of us frankly don't get super far.

The short answer is get links from the most authoritative reputable sites you can but where you can't make the links yourself. Like on WordPress.org for example - they're an authority on blogging so if they go on about your blog it means something. The long answer is do something to earn attention from these authorities and you'll get pulled into the club. Wise man say "that's the easiest and hardest thing to do."

**CSS4Life** · 08:16 PM

Newbie's explained it much better than I could have so I'd go with what he wrote

**prashant vikram** · 09-19-2007, 08:23 PM

Thanks for describe Newbie !

**Learning Newbie** · 09-19-2007, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whym

Newbie's explained it much better than I could have so I'd go with what he wrote

That's only because you got a link out of what Newbie wrote.

**CSS4Life** · 09-19-2007, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

That's only because you got a link out of what Newbie wrote.

That's a bit harsh. Actually it was because I had barely any idea what domain authority was (well in SEO terms) and I guessed it was what you had written, but when I posted something asking for more details about what he meant by domain authority, I saw you'd written that long explanation about it, so I deleted what I wrote and just said Newbie explained it best

**vangogh** · 09-20-2007, 02:58 AM

John did a good job explaining it, but I'll try to add a little more. Google is giving higher weight to authority than any other search engine. Too much in most people's opinions. Authority is the reason Wikipedia ranks for everything.

Think of it in a sense as how much Google trusts your site or your domain. If your site has been online for a few years and consistently talking about the same topic it might get a little extra trust and authority.

Mostly it really is about links and not just to a specific page, but to the site as a whole.

The way I think of topical authority is by looking at the how related two sites are. If a site about mountain biking links to another site about mountain biking that's a lot of topical authority since both sites are on the same topic. If a mountain biking site linked to a site about trails in national parks that's still topical, but not as much.

If CNN came across your mountain biking site and decided to feature you in an article and link to you they would be giving you some general authority. CNN probably does have articles about mountain biking, but it's clearly not a site about biking on the whole. CNN could pass topical authority to MSNBC, but it's only passing general authority to your mountain biking site.

Now think of it all in terms of trusting the advice of people you know. Let's say you live next door to a plumber and a nuclear physicist (feel free to substitute any profession that typically requires you be extremely smart). You'll probably trust the physics guy's answers more often than the plumber's answer in general, but when you're having a problem with the pipes in your kitchen who are you going to call.

For the most part the physicist is probably smarter (doesn't have to be I know) and you see more authority in him. (CNN in general has more authority than you) But there will still be specific questions where the plumber is going to give you the better answer (That's why a link from a site in your industry may carry more weight than a site outside your industry).

**chrishirst** · 09-20-2007, 04:12 AM

Mind you, the whole thing falls apart with the fact that search engines rank pages not sites.

**prashant vikram** · 09-20-2007, 12:40 PM

Is there any effect on domain authority using any different anchor text for link than your domain address.

**gringo** · 09-20-2007, 01:09 PM

Whilst you are still asking 'beginner' questions like this you really should remove the "SEO expert" title from the site in your sig.

Anchor text gives a very clear indication of what the linked content is about to visitors (both human and search engine). Consider somebody assessing you personally and writing their judgement of you on a folded up pice of paper (like a vote). The more pieces of paper with the words (anchor text) "SEO Beginner" you have, the more likely it is that you actually are an "SEO beginner". That's an example of how anchor text works.

Forget how search engines represent their idea of authority and think about what authority means to you. You will know if you really have an authority site, and how to "grow" one i.e. you yourself need to be an authority on your chosen subject.

**Learning Newbie** · 09-20-2007, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prashant vikram

Is there any effect on domain authority using any different anchor text for link than your domain address.

No. None at all. Any link you create - and you'll have to make the link yourself to choose the anchor text - will have zero effect on how authoritative your domain is. To repeat from earlier in the thread, authority comes from authority links. Forum signatures, 20 blogger accounts, directory submitting and other easy links contribute nothing to authority.

**Learning Newbie** · 09-20-2007, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whym

That's a bit harsh. Actually it was because I had barely any idea what domain authority was (well in SEO terms) and I guessed it was what you had written, but when I posted something asking for more details about what he meant by domain authority, I saw you'd written that long explanation about it, so I deleted what I wrote and just said Newbie explained it best

I was just giving you a hard time, mate! Besides, you got a link because you're an honest web host, not the other way around.

**CSS4Life** · 09-20-2007, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

I was just giving you a hard time, mate! Besides, you got a link because you're an honest web host, not the other way around.

Thank you

**Learning Newbie** · 09-20-2007, 01:53 PM

I must be too humorous and feisty lately. I need to use more smilies to show when I'm joking.

**CSS4Life** · 09-20-2007, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

I must be too humorous and feisty lately. I need to use more smilies to show when I'm joking.

Agreed! Lol

**vangogh** · 09-20-2007, 09:17 PM

Chris I agree that search engines rank pages, but I think some of the factors they use to do that look at the entire site. Domain authority would be one of those site factors.

The same content with the exact same links pointing to the page will rank differently on different domains. I have no doubts that what happens on your site away from a specific page affect how that page ranks.

**prashant vikram** · 09-21-2007, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gringo

Whilst you are still asking 'beginner' questions like this you really should remove the "SEO expert" title from the site in your sig.

Anchor text gives a very clear indication of what the linked content is about to visitors (both human and search engine). Consider somebody assessing you personally and writing their judgement of you on a folded up pice of paper (like a vote). The more pieces of paper with the words (anchor text) "SEO Beginner" you have, the more likely it is that you actually are an "SEO beginner". That's an example of how anchor text works.

Forget how search engines represent their idea of authority and think about what authority means to you. You will know if you really have an authority site, and how to "grow" one i.e. you yourself need to be an authority on your chosen subject.

hey gringo, I think google likes natural links and the links which content the anchor text as same as your domain address looks like natural link, and google thinks you are getting the links naturally. So, i asked this question.

**Learning Newbie** · 09-21-2007, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prashant vikram

hey gringo, I think google likes natural links and the links which content the anchor text as same as your domain address looks like natural link, and google thinks you are getting the links naturally. So, i asked this question.

With the world's biggest database, I think Google has far better ways to tell. For example: do you have links from any domain that's linked to in the link exchange forum?