Keywork Difficutly Tool

[mel_leger]

What is the difference between the Page authority and Domain authority when you do a keyword research?

thanks

mel

[Chris.Menke]

Mel,

"Authority" is Moz's method of measuring strength and just like measuring a person's strength, the measurement doesn't really mean much unless/until it is used in comparison to the strength of something else.  Moz's calculation of page strength, aka "page authority" provides a means for you to measure the strength of one page as compared to others and the their calculation of "domain authority" provides a means to compare one domain's strength against others.  As you're learning, don't worry too much about all the technical aspects that go into calculating authority, but use the calculation simply as a comparison tool.

• Moz's description of "page authority"
• Moz's description of "domain authority"

Now, when it comes to which of these two calculations you should pay attention to when,  I usually think of it like this: if a competitor's search result for a term you are doing keyword research for is an interior page of their website (not the homepage), you'll want to think about using the "page authority" calculation to compare an interior page you're optimizing with your competitor's result.  If the competitor's result for the the target keyword is their homepage, then think of using "domain" authority" to compare the strength of your two sites in order to get an idea of how much (offsite) work you'll have to put in in order to rise above them for your target keyword.