What Is Page Authority and How Do You Improve It?
Page Authority (PA) is a 0 to 100 score developed by Moz that predicts how well a specific page will rank in search results. Unlike Domain Authority, which scores a whole site, Page Authority is URL-specific. A single domain can have strong PA on its pillar pages and much weaker PA on new or rarely linked URLs.
Page Authority is not a Google metric. It is a third-party signal that acts as a useful proxy for how competitive a page is likely to be, based on the shape and strength of its backlink profile. Most SEO teams use PA alongside Ahrefs URL Rating, ranking position data, and organic traffic to judge page-level authority.
This guide covers what Page Authority actually measures, how it is calculated, the factors that influence it, and the practical steps that move a URL up the PA curve over time.
What Is Page Authority?
Page Authority is a Moz metric scored on a 0 to 100 logarithmic scale.1 Moving from PA 20 to PA 30 is significantly easier than moving from PA 60 to PA 70. Scores cluster in the middle of the range, with only a small fraction of URLs on the open web reaching PA 70 or above.
Moz introduced Page Authority to give SEOs a standardised way to compare the ranking potential of individual URLs. It is built on Moz’s Link Explorer data, which indexes links and updates scores monthly. The metric is directional, not absolute: PA is most useful when comparing similar pages to each other, not as a hard number to chase.
How Page Authority Is Calculated
Page Authority is produced by a machine learning model trained against Google SERP data. The model learns which URL-level signals correlate with higher ranking positions, then assigns each URL a 0 to 100 score reflecting that predicted strength.
The dominant signals are link-based: the quantity of linking root domains to the URL, the quality of those linking domains, and the anchor-text and topical profile of the inbound links. Internal link structure and the authority of the wider site also feed into the score.
Because the model is recalibrated periodically, a page’s PA can move even if its own link profile has not changed. The metric reflects relative ranking ability, so if the open web’s link profile shifts, all scores shift with it.
Page Authority vs Domain Authority
Domain Authority scores the whole domain. Page Authority scores one URL. A website can have a high DA but low PA on a new page that has not yet accumulated links. Equally, a low DA site can host individual URLs with unusually high PA if those pages have earned strong inbound links.
In competitive SEO research, the two metrics work together. DA tells you how strong the site overall is. PA tells you which specific URLs on that site are carrying the ranking weight. Use DA for competitor-level analysis and PA for page-level SERP comparisons.
Factors That Influence Page Authority
Several URL-level signals feed into Page Authority, and understanding them explains why some pages climb the score faster than others.
The quantity of linking root domains matters more than the raw link count. Ten links from ten different credible domains typically move PA further than one hundred links from the same source. Moz weights unique referring domains heavily in the model.
Quality of those referring domains is equally important. Links from high-authority, topically relevant sites lift PA substantially. Links from low-quality or off-topic sources contribute little and can, in extreme cases, drag PA down.
Anchor text balance matters. A natural anchor-text profile that blends branded, generic, URL-based, and occasionally topical anchors signals organic link acquisition. Over-optimised exact-match commercial anchors can depress PA and create manual-action risk.
Internal linking routes equity to the page. Pages that receive strong internal links from high-PA pillar pages on the same site accumulate PA faster than isolated URLs.
How to Improve Page Authority
The single most effective lever is earning high-quality backlinks from topically relevant domains.4 A targeted digital PR campaign that earns coverage from respected publications moves PA faster than any other tactic. Editorial guest posts and niche edits on vetted sites above DR 40 round out a clean acquisition mix.
Internal linking is often underused. A high-PA pillar page passing equity to a new target URL can accelerate its PA growth significantly without any external outreach.5 Audit your site for strong pages that could route link equity to pages you want to lift.
Refreshing older content signals freshness and earns new natural links. Rewrite outdated statistics, expand thin sections, and update screenshots or examples, then re-promote the page to existing linkers.
Build topical clusters. A pillar page on a broad topic, supported by 5 to 10 strong internal pages covering related subtopics, reinforces the authority of every URL in the cluster. Google increasingly rewards topical coverage over isolated pages.
Page Authority Benchmarks by Page Type
Context matters when reading PA. A brand-new blog post might score 15 and still rank well for a low-competition query. A commercial page competing in a crowded niche may need PA above 50 to break the top ten. Judge the score against the SERP you are trying to enter, not against a universal benchmark.
How to Check Page Authority
Moz Link Explorer is the official source. Enter the URL, and Moz returns PA alongside Domain Authority, linking root domains, and spam score. The free tier gives limited queries per month. Paid Moz subscriptions unlock bulk URL analysis and historical data.
Ahrefs URL Rating is the industry-standard alternative. URL Rating uses a different algorithm but serves the same purpose. Most teams using Ahrefs rely on UR rather than PA because Ahrefs crawls more links than Moz.
For a complete picture, run the URL through two or three of these tools. Each has blind spots in its link index, and agreement between tools raises confidence in the score.
The Limits of Page Authority as a Metric
Page Authority is a proxy, not a Google ranking factor.2 Google does not use Moz’s PA when ranking pages. A high PA score correlates with ranking ability because both are driven by similar inputs, but chasing PA without chasing search visibility is a category error.
PA can lag real-world ranking changes. Moz updates its index monthly, so a page that has just earned significant links may not see its PA move for a few weeks. During that window, the page can already be ranking higher without the score reflecting it.
Use PA as one input among several.6 Pair it with organic traffic growth, keyword ranking movement, and the URL Rating from Ahrefs. If all four metrics trend up, the page is on the right trajectory regardless of any single score’s current value.
Page Authority and Link Building Strategy
A Page Authority-led link building strategy starts by identifying the 10 to 20 URLs on your site that matter most commercially. These are usually priority service pages, pillar blog posts, and high-intent content. Build backlink acquisition plans around those specific URLs, not the homepage.
Cross-reference current PA against SERP competitor PA for each target URL.7 The gap tells you how much ground to close, and that informs campaign volume. Pair each target URL with a linkable asset that naturally earns links, then direct equity internally from the asset to the commercial URL.
Track PA quarterly rather than monthly to smooth out index-update noise. Compare against URL Rating trends as a cross-check, and always weight the real-world signals such as keyword rank, organic traffic, and conversions above the authority metric itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
LinkPanda Link Building, Frequently Asked Questions
Sources
External Sources
Google Search Central Google Search Essentials
Google\'s official guidance on search ranking signals.
Internal References
About The Author
Christopher Lier
Christopher is an experienced Search Engine Optimization (SEO) marketer and digital marketing specialist. He is Co-Founder of LinkPanda and leads the marketing and sales teams. Mostly known as a Software-as-a-Service co-founder of LeadGen App, he has helped grow the website to become a renowned player in the lead generation space with steadily growing user base and readership.
