Page Authority (PA) is a metric from the SEO tool vendor Moz. It scores a single URL from 1 to 100 and is meant to predict how likely that page is to rank. Domain Authority applies the same idea to a whole domain.
What does the score tell you?
According to Moz, the score is based on data from its own web index, includes link counts and dozens of other factors, and is calculated with a machine learning model. Moz recommends using it as a relative metric for comparing pages, not as an absolute value. Comparable metrics exist at other vendors, for example URL Rating at Ahrefs.
How to read it
PA is a third-party metric. Google’s overview of its ranking systems lists PageRank and link analysis, and no Moz score, and Moz itself says PA is not an acknowledged Google ranking factor. PA relates to link data that Google’s systems also look at (assessment). It is useful for comparing pages on a similar topic, for example to size up link targets or competitors.
Example
Two guide pages on the same topic, yours with PA 28 and the competitor’s with PA 51. The gap suggests the competing page has more or stronger links. It does not explain why Google ranks either of them higher.
Sources
- Ranking systems guide – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- Page Authority – Moz (Nov 18, 2024)moz.com
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