Domain Authority Checker
Enter any domain to check its authority score, referring domains, and global ranking.
Powered by the Crawly Index. Hundreds of millions of domains, updated monthly. Learn more →
What is domain authority?
Domain authority is a score that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search engine results. It is not an official Google metric - it is a third-party concept used by SEO tools to summarise the overall strength of a domain based on its backlink profile.
A higher score means the domain has more high-quality sites linking to it, which generally correlates with better rankings. It is best used for comparison - benchmarking your site against competitors, or tracking progress over time.
Backlink-driven
Authority is built through backlinks. The more high-quality sites that link to a domain, the higher its authority score will be.
Use it for benchmarking
Compare your score against competitors to understand how much ground you need to close, or track growth over time as you build links.
Updated monthly
Scores are recalculated each month, so you always see the latest picture of a domain's link profile.
How to read the score
The authority score runs from 0 to 100, calculated from harmonic centrality across a web graph of indexed domains. Here is how to interpret each range.
Global brands, major news outlets, and dominant publishers. Top 0.01% of all domains worldwide.
High-authority sites with strong link profiles. Top 0.1% globally - extremely competitive to outrank.
Well-established sites with solid backlink profiles. Top 1% globally and competitive across most niches.
Credible sites with a meaningful web presence. Top 5% globally - solid authority for most industries.
New or thinly-linked domains. Most websites on the internet fall here - focus on earning quality backlinks.
Frequently asked questions
Is domain authority an official Google metric?
No. Domain authority is a concept introduced by third-party SEO tools - most notably Moz - to estimate how well a domain might rank. Google does not use any metric called domain authority. However, the underlying signals (backlinks, referring domains) do influence Google rankings.
What is the difference between domain authority and domain rating?
Domain Authority (DA) is Moz's proprietary metric. Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' equivalent. This tool shows an Authority Score calculated from harmonic centrality. All three are estimates, not official scores.
Why does my score look lower than on other tools?
Different tools use different data sources and algorithms. Moz and Ahrefs use their own proprietary crawl data. Scores are not directly comparable across tools - use them for relative comparison within the same tool.
How can I improve my domain authority?
Earn more backlinks from high-quality, relevant sites. Focus on referring domains rather than total link count - 100 links from 100 different trusted domains is far more valuable than 100 links from one site. Publishing linkable content, digital PR, and guest posting are the most reliable methods.
Where does the data come from?
Authority scores are calculated from harmonic centrality rankings. A rank-based formula maps each domain's position to a 0-100 score, so mid-tier sites score in the 20-50 range rather than clustering at the top. Data is refreshed monthly.
Is this tool free?
Yes. The domain authority checker is completely free with no login required.
Know your authority. Fix your site.
A strong domain authority score only converts into rankings if your site is technically sound. Crawly is a free native Mac app that crawls your entire site and surfaces missing titles, broken pages, redirect chains, hreflang errors, and duplicate content - with no page limit.
Download Crawly freeCrawly
Audit your entire site, not just one page
Crawly crawls every URL on your site and surfaces issues automatically. Free to download for Mac.
Download free