Page Authority is a score developed by Moz that predicts how well a specific page on your website will rank in search engine results. It ranges from 1 to 100 — the higher the score, the stronger the page’s predicted ranking ability. Understanding what page authority is and how it differs from broader site-level metrics is an important part of any complete SEO strategy.
What Page Authority Measures
Page Authority is a proprietary metric — it’s Moz’s measurement, not Google’s. It is calculated using multiple factors from Moz’s link index, with the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing to the specific page being the primary driver.
Page Authority uses a logarithmic scale. This means improving your PA score from 10 to 20 is significantly easier than improving it from 50 to 60. The higher the score, the harder it becomes to improve because the most authoritative pages on the internet — Wikipedia, major news sites, government pages — occupy the upper ranges.
It is important to understand that Page Authority is a predictive metric, not a direct Google ranking factor. Google does not use Moz’s score in its algorithm. However, the factors that correlate with high Page Authority — specifically the number and quality of backlinks pointing to a page — are also factors that genuinely influence Google rankings. As a result, Page Authority serves as a useful proxy for competitive analysis even though Google never sees the score itself.
Page Authority vs Domain Authority
These two metrics are frequently confused. They measure different things.
Domain Authority measures the predictive ranking strength of an entire website — the domain as a whole. Page Authority measures the predictive ranking strength of a single specific page. A website can have a high Domain Authority while individual pages within it have low Page Authority if those specific pages have few backlinks.
For example, a large news site might have a Domain Authority of 85. However, a specific article published on that site last week with no external backlinks yet might have a Page Authority of only 20. The page benefits from being part of a high-authority domain, but its individual page-level authority is low until it earns its own backlinks.
Both metrics are useful for different analytical purposes. Domain Authority is more useful for assessing overall competitive landscape — can my site realistically compete in this niche? Page Authority is more useful for analysing whether a specific competitor page is beatable for a specific keyword, by comparing the PA of competing pages directly.
How Page Authority Is Calculated
Moz calculates Page Authority primarily based on link data from its index. The key factors include the number of unique domains linking to the page, the Page Authority of those linking pages, the Domain Authority of the linking sites, and the anchor text distribution of those links.
Moz updates its Page Authority scores frequently as its crawler discovers new links and its index refreshes. A page that earns a high-authority backlink will typically see its PA score increase within weeks of Moz crawling that linking page.
Other SEO tools have equivalent metrics. Ahrefs uses URL Rating (UR) for page-level authority. Semrush uses an Authority Score that blends page and domain level signals. These different metrics are not directly comparable — a page with Moz PA 40 may have Ahrefs UR 55 — because each tool’s crawler has different coverage and each metric’s formula differs.
While domain authority measures the strength of your entire brand, page authority dictates the individual ranking muscles of a single piece of content.
Why Page Authority Matters for Competitive Analysis
Even though Google doesn’t use PA directly, it is highly useful for competitive research.
When you identify a keyword you want to rank for, check the PA of the pages currently ranking in the top 5. If those pages have PA scores of 60 to 80 and your equivalent page has PA 15, you have a significant authority gap to close before you can realistically compete. In contrast, if ranking pages have PA 25 to 35, your page has a much more achievable path to competing.
This analysis helps prioritise link building efforts. Rather than building links randomly, you can identify specific pages that need authority improvements to be competitive for their target keywords, then focus link building efforts on those pages strategically.
Furthermore, comparing PA alongside content quality gives you a complete competitive picture. A ranking page with high PA but thin content may be beatable by producing significantly better content and building comparable authority — because Google rewards content quality alongside link authority.
How to Improve Page Authority
Since Page Authority is primarily driven by backlinks, improving it requires earning more high-quality links pointing to the specific page you want to strengthen.
Earn editorial backlinks to the specific page by producing content worth citing. Original research, comprehensive guides, unique data, and tools that other content creators reference naturally earn the kind of links that build PA effectively. The local link building strategies we’ve covered previously apply here — the same principles that build local authority also build page-level authority.
Build internal links to the target page from other high-authority pages on your site. Internal links pass PageRank between pages. A page that receives internal links from your highest-authority pages benefits from that authority transfer. Systematically routing internal links to your most important pages through relevant anchor text strengthens their PA over time.
Promote the page through digital PR and outreach to earn mentions and links from industry publications. A guest post that references your target page, a PR placement that links to it, or a tool that other sites embed and attribute all build the external link equity that raises PA.
Consolidate authority from thin or low-value pages through 301 redirects. If your site has multiple thin pages covering similar topics, consolidating them into a single comprehensive page and redirecting the others concentrates their individual link equity into one stronger page.
Page Authority as Part of Your Full SEO Picture
Page Authority is one metric among many in a complete SEO analysis. Used alongside keyword difficulty, content quality assessment, and search intent analysis, it provides a useful picture of the competitive landscape for any target keyword.
However, no single metric should drive all decisions. A page with PA 20 but exceptional, unique content that precisely matches search intent will often outrank a PA 50 page with generic, outdated content. Google’s algorithm evaluates relevance, content quality, user experience, and authority together — not authority in isolation.
For a complete view of your site’s authority profile alongside content and technical health, our SEO audit covers page-level and domain-level authority analysis as part of a comprehensive competitive assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Is Page Authority the same as Google PageRank?
No. Google PageRank is Google’s internal measure of page authority based on its own link graph — and Google no longer publicly reports PageRank scores. Page Authority is Moz’s external approximation of a similar concept, calculated from Moz’s own link data. They measure related but distinct things and are not interchangeable.
- Can I increase Page Authority quickly?
Not substantially. PA is driven primarily by backlinks, and building quality backlinks takes time. Quick link acquisition through low-quality sources will not increase PA meaningfully because those links carry little weight in Moz’s algorithm. Sustainable PA growth comes from earning genuine, high-quality backlinks over months.
- How often does Moz update Page Authority scores?
Moz updates Page Authority scores as its crawler refreshes its link index, which happens continuously. Individual page scores typically update within weeks of significant new links being acquired or lost. Major Moz index updates can cause broader PA score fluctuations across the web.
- Does a new page always start with PA 1?
New pages typically start with a very low PA — often shown as 1 or N/A — before Moz’s crawler discovers them and any backlinks pointing to them. Once indexed by Moz and linked to from other pages, the PA score reflects the accumulated link equity to that specific URL.
- Should I focus on Page Authority or Domain Authority for competitive analysis?
Both, for different purposes. Use Domain Authority to assess whether your site can realistically compete in a niche overall. Use Page Authority to assess whether a specific page of yours can compete with specific ranking pages for a target keyword. The most useful competitive picture combines both metrics with content quality assessment.
- Does internal linking improve Page Authority?
Yes. Internal links pass PageRank between pages within your site. A page that receives multiple internal links from high-authority pages on the same domain benefits from that internal equity transfer, which contributes to both its Page Authority score and its Google rankings. Strategic internal linking is therefore a legitimate page authority improvement tactic alongside external link building.
