Domain Authority (DA) is a metric developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search engine results. It is scored on a scale from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating stronger ranking potential. Ahrefs uses a similar metric called Domain Rating (DR). Neither is an official Google metric, but both correlate strongly with real-world ranking performance and are widely used in the SEO industry to benchmark website strength and evaluate link-building targets.
Understanding domain authority (what it is, what it is not, and how to build it) helps SA businesses set realistic SEO expectations and prioritise their efforts correctly.
How Domain Authority Is Calculated
Domain Authority and Domain Rating are primarily calculated from backlink data: how many external websites link to your domain, and how authoritative those linking websites are. A site with many high-quality links from credible, well-trafficked websites has a high DA/DR. A new website with no links starts at zero.
The relationship is not linear. Moving a domain from DA 10 to DA 20 is relatively straightforward, a modest link-building effort over a few months achieves it. Moving from DA 50 to DA 60 requires significantly more work, because the sites at that level already have strong backlink profiles and you are competing against more established authority.
Both metrics are updated regularly as Moz and Ahrefs crawl the web and refresh their link data. A site’s DA can drop if high-authority links pointing to it are removed, or if the sites linking to it lose authority.
What Domain Authority Does Not Tell You
DA is a useful approximation, not a definitive measurement of ranking ability. Google’s actual algorithm does not use DA or DR; these are third-party estimates based on observable backlink data, not a direct window into Google’s ranking systems.
A website can have a modest DA and outrank a much higher-DA competitor for a specific keyword if it has better on-page optimisation, more relevant content, and stronger topical authority in that specific area. Domain authority is a broad signal; topical authority and page-level signals matter at least as much for specific keyword rankings.
DA should be used directionally. If your DA is 15 and a competitor ranking for your target keyword has a DA of 50, you know you face a significant authority gap that will take sustained link-building work to close. If their DA is 25 and yours is 20, the gap is manageable and can potentially be bridged with excellent content and targeted link acquisition.
How to Build Domain Authority for a South African Website
The primary driver of DA improvement is earning high-quality backlinks from other websites. The strategies covered in more detail elsewhere in this content series (Digital PR, guest posting, local SA citations, competitor backlink analysis) are the practical mechanisms for doing this.
A few specific considerations for South African domains. The .co.za TLD carries some local relevance signals for SA-focused searches; if your business is South Africa-based and primarily serving the SA market, operating on a .co.za domain rather than a .com is generally preferable for local SEO purposes. The authority you build on that domain stays on that domain, so it is worth establishing correctly from the start.
Links from other South African domains (particularly SA news outlets, SA business directories with genuine traffic, SA professional associations, and SA government portals) are particularly valuable for SA-targeted rankings. They signal local relevance alongside domain authority.
Content quality plays an indirect but important role. High-quality content earns links organically over time, as other publishers cite it as a useful resource. A comprehensive guide to SA POPIA compliance for marketing teams, for instance, will accumulate links from SA marketing publications and legal blogs over months and years without requiring active outreach for every one of those links.
Realistic DA Benchmarks for SA Businesses
Most new SA business websites start at DA 1–5. With consistent SEO work (technical foundation, regular content publication, and active link earning) a typical SA business website can reach DA 15–25 within twelve to eighteen months. Reaching DA 30–40 typically requires two to three years of sustained effort including genuine digital PR work with SA media.
The leading SA domain authority benchmarks are the major news publications (News24, TimesLive, BusinessDay, IOL), which sit at DA 70+. These are valuable targets for earning editorial links, not for comparison, no agency or SME website is competing at that authority level. For most competitive B2B keywords in South Africa, a DA in the 25–40 range is sufficient to rank on page one with strong on-page optimisation and topical authority.
Request a free domain authority audit to see how your domain compares to your top SA competitors and what link-building strategy will close the gap fastest.