Domain authority is about how strong your website is in search engines, not as an official Google factor, but as a useful benchmark for your organic visibility. The article explains how authority is closely related to quality content, strong and relevant links, a technically well-functioning webshop, and high credibility (E-E-A-T), so you can understand what truly elevates your ranking in search results.
What is domain authority?
Domain authority, often known as Domain Authority from Moz, is a third-party metric that attempts to predict how well a domain can rank in search engines. It is primarily based on link profile, history, and an overall estimate of credibility. It is important to understand that it is not a measurement from Google, but a model from an SEO tool.
If you want to dive into Moz's own explanation of the method and its limitations, you can read their guide on Domain Authority.
The rule of thumb is simple: Use domain authority as a comparison tool between sites in the same market, not as a goal in itself. Google does not rank pages because your number is high. Google ranks pages because they win the competition on a specific keyword with relevant content, good user experience, and strong signals.
Domain authority and SEO
When you work seriously with SEO, domain authority often becomes interesting because it typically follows the efforts that actually make a difference: relevant links, content that matches search intent, and a website that functions technically and for the user. Authority is therefore best understood as a result of good SEO work.
Domain authority is not a ranking factor
Google uses its own signals and models, and a Moz score is not part of them. Nevertheless, there may be overlap between what makes a domain look strong in an SEO tool and what actually provides better visibility in practice. A domain with better mentions, better content, and fewer technical obstacles typically finds it easier to rank because it overall delivers higher quality.
E-E-A-T and credibility on your website
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. It is not a single measurement, but a principle that helps you think about credibility, especially when you are competing in an industry where users need to be able to trust your messages, products, and recommendations.
Google's guidelines for helpful content are a good starting point if you want to understand what characterizes high-quality content. You can read the introduction to helpful content hos Google.
For e-commerce and webshops, this means in practice that you need to make it easy to assess that you know what you are doing. This should be expressed through documentation and concrete evidence, not through empty claims.
You can support this by working with:
- Cases with concrete results and learnings
- Service descriptions with clear scope, process, and expectation alignment
- Content that demonstrates experience, for example through guides, examples, and methods
- A brand that is consistent across the website and channels
If you want to see examples of documented work, you can explore our cases, where we typically describe both the process and the results.
Linkbuilding til webshops
Links are still an essential part of authority because relevant links from relevant websites act as digital recommendations. However, it's not about gathering as many links as possible. It's about quality, context, and credibility.
Indhold der kan fortjene links
For webshops, it often works best to think in terms of assets that others actually want to refer to. Start with a clear purpose and a specific target audience, and then build something that is better than the average content in your niche.
Typical formats that attract links when done properly are:
- Case studies with concrete figures, lessons, and clear conclusions
- Guides that solve a real problem and can be used in practice
- Tools, templates, or benchmarks that save time or create an overview
It requires more work than just publishing another generic blog post, but that’s also why it works. When the content genuinely helps, the likelihood of natural links and mentions increases significantly.
Teknisk SEO og hastighedsoptimering
Domain authority is not built solely from links. If your webshop is heavy, cluttered, or technically fragile, you make the work harder for both users and search engines. Technical quality affects crawlability, indexing, and the on-page experience, and it can ultimately impact your organic performance.
Core Web Vitals is an example of where performance and user experience meet. You can get an overview via web.dev's introduction to Core Web Vitals.
In practice, speed and technical performance often relate to the theme's code, image handling, and third-party scripts. If you want to read about how we typically approach this, you can see our service on hastighedsoptimering.
SEO is also about preserving what you have built
During redesigns and platform shifts, you can lose authority if redirects, internal links, and URL structure are not handled correctly. Therefore, a migration should always be an SEO project, not just a development project. If you are working with Shopify, you can see our approach to Shopify migration, where the focus is precisely on ensuring continuity in visibility and history.
If you want to work more structured with domain authority as a result of your SEO efforts, you can start by ensuring that the foundation is in place first, and then build authority through content and links over time.
A simple prioritization might look like this:
- Get a handle on technical errors, index management, and speed
- Create content that matches the search intent and can serve as a reference in your niche.
- Strengthen your link profile with relevance, mentions, and activities that deserve links
- Hold on to the gains from migrations, redesigns, and ongoing changes
Ready to strengthen your authority? If you want an honest assessment of what can specifically boost your visibility, you can write to contact@mercive.com or call at +45 61 60 29 83.
