How does an index page have a higher Authority than the root domain?

[Thos003]

So just curious, but on my domain, http://www.bulwarkpestcontrol.com the Page Authority is 59 and the root domain authority 52. That seems odd as it is the same page. Explanation?

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Hi Thomas,

It seems odd but it's quite normal. For almost all sites the most links to the root domain will be to the homepage/ index. That's why this page on average out performs the average pages of your site. That's why your PA is higher than the DA.

Hope this helps!

[DHS_SH]

If you have a /index page, I assume it would be beneficial to 301 redirect this to the root domain?

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Only if all the links go the root domain otherwise it's wasting your incoming links on /index.

[Thos003]

So the root domain authority is an average of the domain? Isn't Root Domain just the Root of the domain, not the entire domain?

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Root Domain Authority doesn't exist, it's Domain Authority that shows the overall authority of your domain.

[Dr-Pete]

DA and PA are modeled somewhat independently, if memory serves, and they aren't scaled against each other (only other metrics of their kind), so it is possible for you to have a DA that's lower than your PA. Typically, that would mean that the majority of your strength is rooted in the home-page, as Martijn said. Unless there's a big discrepancy, it's generally not any cause for alarm.