What is domain authority and does it matter for a local business?

If you’ve ever hired an SEO consultant or read about website rankings online, you’ve probably seen a number called “Domain Authority.” Maybe someone told you your site needs a higher DA. Or you looked up a competitor’s DA and wondered what it meant. Here’s the honest answer — including what Domain Authority actually is, who invented it, and whether you should care about it as a local service business.

Domain Authority is not a Google metric

This surprises a lot of people: Domain Authority (DA) was created by a company called Moz, not by Google. It’s a third-party score, on a scale of 1 to 100, that attempts to predict how well a domain will rank in search results. Other companies make similar scores — Ahrefs calls theirs Domain Rating (DR), Semrush calls theirs Authority Score. They’re all trying to estimate Google’s internal understanding of a site’s authority, but none of them are the real thing. Google does not use Domain Authority as a ranking factor.

What does Google actually use?

Google uses its own internal system to evaluate domain trust and authority, often referred to as PageRank (though the modern version is far more complex). The primary signal underlying all of these metrics — both Google’s and Moz’s — is backlinks: links from other websites pointing to yours. A link from a trusted, established site is worth more than a link from a random blog nobody reads. The quantity and quality of your backlinks are what drive your perceived authority.

Does DA matter at all for a local service business?

It’s a useful signal, but not the one most people think it is. Here’s the key insight: for most local service business niches, your competitors don’t have very high domain authority either. A plumbing company in Akron, Ohio competing for local searches isn’t competing against national sites with DA 70+ for most of their keywords. They’re competing against other local plumbers — and most of those sites have DA in the 10–30 range.

At that level, content volume and relevance often outweigh domain authority. A locally focused site with 300 well-written, specific pages can outrank a competitor with a higher DA but only 10 pages — because Google is matching the searcher’s query to the most relevant page, and the 300-page site simply has more relevant pages to offer.

How to actually improve your domain authority over time

• Get listed in local directories. Citations from Yelp, the BBB, your local chamber of commerce, and industry directories all contribute legitimate backlinks.
• Earn links from local press and partners. If your business gets mentioned in a local newspaper, a supplier’s website, or a community organization, ask for a link.
• Create content worth linking to. Guides, local resources, and genuinely useful tools attract natural links over time — which is why blogging helps beyond just traffic.
• Don’t buy links. Paid link schemes violate Google’s guidelines and can result in a manual penalty that destroys your rankings overnight. Not worth it.

The bottom line

Watch your DA as one signal among many, but don’t obsess over it. A better use of your energy is building the kind of comprehensive, locally-focused site that earns trust through coverage and quality content. That’s what the best-ranking local service businesses have — and it’s exactly what BossProWebsites is built to deliver. A number going up on a third-party dashboard is a lagging indicator. The real goal is showing up when your customers search — and that comes from doing the fundamentals well.