Link Building
Page Authority
A predictive, third-party metric estimating how well a specific page is likely to rank in search results, scored 1–100, based on link and on-page signals specific to that URL.
What Is Page Authority?
Page Authority (PA) is a metric, also developed by Moz, that estimates how well a single, specific page — rather than a domain as a whole — is likely to rank in search engine results, on the same 1-to-100 scale used by Domain Authority. Where Domain Authority looks at a site's overall backlink profile in aggregate, Page Authority is scoped to the individual URL: how many quality backlinks point specifically to that page, along with other page-specific signals. This distinction matters in practice because a single page on an otherwise low-authority domain can still have a comparatively strong Page Authority if it happens to have earned a disproportionate number of quality links directly (a viral resource, a widely-cited piece of research), while a page on a high-Domain-Authority site with no links of its own might still have a fairly modest Page Authority. Like Domain Authority, Page Authority is not an official Google metric — it's Moz's own predictive model, useful as a relative comparison tool but not something search engines consult directly.
Why Page Authority Matters for SEO
More precise than domain-level metrics for a single URL
Page Authority reflects the specific link equity a given page has earned, rather than the domain's overall strength, which matters when comparing individual pages rather than whole sites.
Useful for internal prioritization
Identifying which pages on your own site have the highest Page Authority can help prioritize which pages to build internal links toward, or feature more prominently.
Link prospecting at the page level
When evaluating a potential backlink source, checking the specific page's Page Authority (not just the domain's DA) gives a more precise read on that individual link's likely value.
A Simple Example
A mid-tier blog with a modest Domain Authority publishes one exceptionally well-researched, widely-cited industry report. That specific page accumulates far more quality backlinks than any other page on the site, giving it a Page Authority notably higher than the domain's overall DA — a useful distinction when deciding where on that site to look for a relevant link.
Best Practices
- Evaluate both a prospect's domain-level and page-level authority when assessing a potential link source.
- Use Page Authority internally to identify which of your own pages have accumulated the most link equity.
- Treat Page Authority, like Domain Authority, as a directional estimate rather than a precise, stable number.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Relying solely on Domain Authority when the actual linking page itself has very little authority of its own.
- Comparing Page Authority scores across different third-party tools as if they were directly equivalent.
- Treating Page Authority as an official search engine ranking factor.
Key Takeaways
- Page Authority estimates how well a specific page, not a whole domain, is likely to rank.
- It scopes link and on-page signals to the individual URL.
- A single page can have a Page Authority notably different from its domain's overall Domain Authority.
- It is a third-party predictive metric, not an official search engine signal.