Moz Domain Authority (DA) Explained:
The Moz Domain Authority (DA) measures a website’s power and relevance to search engines like Google and Apple maps. Domain Authority is calculated by evaluating linking root domains, the number of total links, MozRank, MozTrust, etc. — into a single DA score. This score can then be used when comparing websites or tracking a website’s “ranking strength” over time.
It’s important to remember that it is significantly easier to grow your score from 20 to 30 than it is to grow from 70 to 80.
Low Authority DA Range 0 to 20: Most websites that score between 0 and 20 are either new or older sites that have yet to accumulate many backlinks. Smaller local businesses with domain authorities in this range can rank well for specific local keyword searches related to their business niche. Websites in this range will need help to rank for anything but the most straightforward local keywords.
Average Authority DARange 20-40: This is a typical domain authority score for a website that has existed for several years and has acquired some backlinks. At this stage, if you add relevant content to your website, your traffic and rankings will increase. Target-specific keywords can maximize the website’s backlink power and even rank for more complicated terms.
Above Average Authority DA Range 40-60: At this stage, a website is well established and actively engages in disciplined SEO.
High Authority DA Range 60-80: A website with domain authority above 60 is well on its way to becoming a nationally recognized brand. Websites in this range are ranking for both branded and non-branded keywords. Examples from the parking industry are national brands like SpotHero and ParkWhiz, each connecting to tens of thousands of parking locations throughout the USA and Canada.
Extremely High Authority DA Range 80-96: A domain authority above 80 means a website is well recognized nationally or internationally.
Top Range DA 96 to 100: Websites in this category tend to be associated with household brands that are widely utilized and often have a global presence. Some examples included Amazon.com, Wikipedia.org, and Apple.com.
Why Moz Domain Authority Matters To Parking & Mobility
If Moz Domain Authority is a measure of the power of a website, then increasing domain authority will increase the traffic that search engines send to a website. When combined with intelligent shopping cart funnels and an optimized website product design, an increasing DA score will correlate with increased vehicle traffic and revenue.
Increasing domain authority takes time. There are no shortcuts, and nefarious activities like buying backlinks or generic blog posts will likely do more damage than good. Keeping your visitors engaged with interesting, relevant, and fresh content, building authoritative backlinks from relevant websites, and engaging in focused SEO will improve Moz domain authority over time and drive increased traffic to websites, shopping cart funnels, and, most importantly, the entrances of parking facilities.
Remember that SEO is a specialty. Too many SEO agencies lump their customers into a one size fits all model. But the parking industry has different needs than an online t-shirt shop or cooking website. While those examples aim to drive digital traffic to webpages, in the parking industry our KPIs focus on driving literal cars to physical locations. A high bounce rate is a flashing red warning sign for an online shop, but in parking, a high bounce rate can indicate that drivers are quickly finding the information they need to get where they are going. It takes an informed approach to determine the difference.
What Are Non-Branded Keywords, And Why Are They Important?
Non-branded keywords are keyword strings that don’t include your brand name. They are particularly valuable as they help attract new customers to the business.
By way of example, if a customer searches for “ABC Brand Parking Company,” that would be a branded keyword string, and it will attract only people looking for ABC Brand Parking Company. Suppose a customer searches for “Stadium Parking,” and ABC Brand Parking Company ranks highly for parking near the stadium. In that case, they will be able to convert new customers who may not be familiar with the parking brand.
Ranking for non-branded keywords is an excellent way to increase market share. And market share is the only way to increase traffic to an individual parking facility. Remember, no one (in their right mind) goes out to visit a parking garage. People go out for work, meetings, sporting events, dinners, concerts, and social activities. When they drive, they need to park. More and more people are searching for the best parking location online. Companies that actively engage in parking-centric SEO will win those customers and increase their share of the marketplace.
Information Is Power, Not Just Revenue
For many parking operators, revenue is the driving metric of success. But there is far greater power in broadcasting parking information to drivers. Let’s consider a university or a hospital that has multiple parking structures and lots, each facility designated for different types of drivers. Complete and accurate information published in an SEO-friendly fashion will help ensure that hospital guests are directed straight to guest parking and kept separate from the doctors’ and administrators’ parking lot. On-campus traffic can be significantly reduced if students are directed to the appropriate parking lots closest to their classes and visitors for the football game know all of their parking options. “University Stadium Parking Tailgate Lot” conveys a great deal of highly relevant information.
Information Fly Wheel
But getting that information out there requires focused SEO work which will result in a higher DA ranking. A higher domain ranking means that more information gets out there. Which in turn results in a higher DA ranking.
Want to jumpstart your company’s flywheel? Let’s set up a call to discuss!