# Page Authority: Moz's PA Metric Explained

Learn what Moz's Page Authority measures, how to check PA and how it differs from domain metrics. Use the score for comparison, not as a Google ranking factor.

Canonical: https://backlinkgrid.com/glossary/page-authority


**Page Authority (PA)** is a metric developed by Moz that predicts how likely a specific webpage is to rank in search engine results. Scored on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, PA measures the ranking strength of an individual URL based on the backlinks pointing to that specific page.

Unlike [Domain Authority](/glossary/domain-authority) which evaluates entire websites, Page Authority focuses exclusively on page-level link signals. A website with DA 70 might have individual pages ranging from PA 15 to PA 65 depending on how many quality links each page has attracted.

## How Page Authority Works

### The PA Algorithm

Moz calculates Page Authority using a machine learning model that considers:

- **Link quantity**: Number of external links pointing to the specific URL
- **Link quality**: The PA and DA of pages linking to you
- **Link diversity**: Variety of referring domains
- **Anchor text patterns**: How links describe your page
- **Spam signals**: Presence of suspicious link patterns

The model is trained against actual Google search results, correlating these signals with pages that rank well for competitive terms.

### The Logarithmic Scale

PA uses a logarithmic 0-100 scale, meaning:

- **Moving from PA 20 to 30** requires significantly less effort than moving from PA 50 to 60
- **The higher your current PA**, the more difficult further improvement becomes
- **Most pages cluster** in the 20-50 range

This is why brand new pages start near PA 1, while only exceptional pages (Wikipedia articles, major news homepages) approach PA 90+.

### How Often PA Updates

Moz continuously crawls the web and updates their link index. However:

- **Index updates happen regularly** but aren't real-time
- **New backlinks may take 2-8 weeks** to appear in PA calculations
- **Deleted pages/links** take time to be removed from the index
- **Algorithm refinements** occasionally cause score fluctuations

---

## Page Authority vs Domain Authority

### Key Differences

| Factor | Page Authority (PA) | Domain Authority (DA) |
|--------|--------------------|-----------------------|
| **Scope** | Single URL/page | Entire domain |
| **Based on** | Links to that specific page | Links to any page on domain |
| **Varies within site** | Yes - each page has unique PA | No - same DA for all pages |
| **Best for** | Evaluating specific pages | Comparing overall site strength |
| **Building strategy** | Target links to specific URLs | General link building |

### When to Use Each Metric

**Use Page Authority when:**
- Evaluating a specific page for link placement opportunities
- Analyzing competing pages for a target keyword
- Deciding which of your pages to prioritize for link building
- Assessing the value of a potential backlink source page

**Use Domain Authority when:**
- Comparing overall website strength
- Quick site-level quality assessment
- Evaluating potential partnership or outreach targets
- Setting domain-level SEO benchmarks

### A Practical Example

Consider a large publication like Forbes (DA ~95):
- Homepage: PA 90+
- Popular article from last month: PA 45
- New article published today: PA 1-10

The DA reflects overall site authority, but individual pages vary dramatically based on their specific backlink profiles.

---

## Page Authority Benchmarks by Industry

### What's "Good" PA by Sector

PA scores must be interpreted relative to your competition. Here are typical ranges by industry:

| Industry/Niche | Low PA | Average PA | Strong PA | Exceptional PA |
|----------------|--------|------------|-----------|----------------|
| **Local Business** | 0-15 | 15-25 | 25-40 | 40+ |
| **SaaS/Tech Startup** | 0-20 | 20-35 | 35-50 | 50+ |
| **E-commerce (product pages)** | 10-20 | 20-35 | 35-50 | 50+ |
| **Professional Services** | 0-20 | 20-35 | 35-45 | 45+ |
| **Health/Medical** | 15-25 | 25-40 | 40-55 | 55+ |
| **Finance** | 15-30 | 30-45 | 45-60 | 60+ |
| **News/Media** | 20-35 | 35-50 | 50-70 | 70+ |
| **Major Publications** | 40-50 | 50-65 | 65-80 | 80+ |

### Competitive Benchmarking Process

Rather than comparing to general benchmarks, compare your PA to actual competition:

1. **Identify your target keyword**
2. **Check PA of the top 10 ranking pages** for that keyword
3. **Calculate the average PA** of positions 1-3
4. **Compare your page's PA** to this competitive benchmark

**Example:**
For "best project management software":
- Position 1: PA 58
- Position 2: PA 52
- Position 3: PA 49
- Your page: PA 31

This tells you approximately how much link building you need—your page needs to more than match the PA of current top-rankers (plus have excellent content and relevance).

---

## How to Check Page Authority

### Free PA Checker Tools

**1. MozBar (Recommended for Quick Checks)**
- Free Chrome/Firefox extension
- Shows PA/DA for every page you visit
- Displays in browser toolbar
- [Download MozBar](https://moz.com/products/pro/seo-toolbar)

**2. Moz Link Explorer Free**
- 10 free queries per month
- Shows PA plus detailed link data
- Most accurate since PA is Moz's metric
- [Moz Link Explorer](https://moz.com/link-explorer)

**3. Small SEO Tools**
- Unlimited free checks
- Less accurate than Moz directly
- No account required
- [SmallSEOTools PA Checker](https://smallseotools.com/page-authority-checker/)

For a wider selection of tools that show PA alongside other metrics, see our [complete list of free backlink analysis tools](/blog/best-free-backlink-checkers).

### Checking Competitor PA at Scale

For analyzing multiple competitor pages:

1. **Export SERP results** for your target keywords
2. **Batch check PA** using Moz's API or bulk checker
3. **Create a spreadsheet** comparing your PA to competitors
4. **Identify the PA gap** you need to close

### Tracking PA Over Time

Monitor PA for your key pages monthly:

| Page | Jan PA | Feb PA | Mar PA | Change | Notes |
|------|--------|--------|--------|--------|-------|
| /service-page | 28 | 29 | 32 | +4 | Added 3 guest post links |
| /blog/guide | 22 | 22 | 24 | +2 | Natural link growth |
| /product | 35 | 34 | 33 | -2 | Investigate lost links |

---

## How to Improve Page Authority

### 1. Build Backlinks Directly to the Page

The most direct way to increase PA is earning backlinks to the specific URL:

**Effective tactics:**
- [Guest posting](/link-building-tactics/guest-posting) with links to specific pages (not just homepage)
- [Broken link building](/link-building-tactics/broken-link-building) targeting relevant pages
- Creating linkable assets like original research, tools, or comprehensive guides
- [Digital PR](/digital-pr) to earn editorial links to specific content

**Key principle:** Links to your homepage build DA but don't directly improve specific page PA. Target link building efforts to your priority pages.

### 2. Strategic Internal Linking

Your internal links transfer page authority within your site:

**Best practices:**
- Link from your highest-PA pages to priority pages needing a boost
- Use relevant, natural anchor text
- Ensure important pages receive internal links from multiple sources
- Create hub pages that link to related content

**Example internal link flow:**
```
High-PA blog post (PA 45) → Links to → Money page (PA 25)
                                        ↓
                            Money page PA increases over time
```

### 3. Content Quality and Link Worthiness

PA follows content quality indirectly:

- **Exceptional content attracts natural links** → More links = Higher PA
- **Comprehensive resources become link targets** → Industry references link to you
- **Original research gets cited** → Citations = backlinks = PA growth

Focus on creating content people want to reference and share.

### 4. Remove or Disavow Toxic Links

Low-quality or spammy links can suppress PA:

- **Audit existing backlinks** using Moz Link Explorer
- **Identify suspicious patterns** (foreign language spam, link farms, irrelevant directories)
- **Use Google's Disavow Tool** for links you can't remove manually
- **Monitor for negative SEO** attacks

---

## Common PA Mistakes to Avoid

### Mistake 1: Only Building Homepage Links

Many link building campaigns focus exclusively on homepage links. While this builds DA, it doesn't help specific pages rank better.

**Fix:** Allocate link building budget to priority inner pages, not just the homepage.

### Mistake 2: Expecting DA to Transfer

High DA doesn't automatically make new pages high-PA. A brand new page on a DA 70 site still starts with minimal PA.

**Fix:** Understand that new content needs its own link building to gain PA.

### Mistake 3: Obsessing Over Exact Numbers

PA fluctuates regularly. Chasing specific PA targets leads to frustration.

**Fix:** Focus on relative improvement and competitive benchmarking rather than absolute PA targets.

### Mistake 4: Ignoring Link Relevance

A high-PA link from an irrelevant page provides less value than a moderate-PA link from a highly relevant source.

**Fix:** Prioritize relevance alongside PA when evaluating link opportunities.

### Mistake 5: Expecting Overnight Results

PA changes gradually as Moz processes new links.

**Fix:** Plan for 3-6 month link building campaigns with patience. Check PA monthly, not daily.

---

## PA vs Other Page-Level Metrics

### Comparison Table

| Metric | Provider | Scale | What It Measures | Free Access |
|--------|----------|-------|------------------|-------------|
| **Page Authority** | Moz | 0-100 | Page ranking potential | Yes (limited) |
| **URL Rating (UR)** | Ahrefs | 0-100 | Page link profile strength | Yes (limited) |
| **Page Trust Flow** | Majestic | 0-100 | Page trust from links | Yes (limited) |
| **Page Citation Flow** | Majestic | 0-100 | Page link quantity | Yes (limited) |

### Which to Use

All these metrics measure similar concepts with different methodologies:

- **If you use Moz:** Stick with PA for consistency
- **If you use Ahrefs:** URL Rating serves the same purpose
- **For trust assessment:** Majestic's Trust Flow offers unique perspective
- **For comprehensive view:** Cross-reference multiple metrics

The key is consistency—pick a primary metric and use it across all your analysis for comparable data.

---

## Page Authority Limitations

### What PA Cannot Tell You

**PA is not a Google ranking factor.** Google doesn't use Moz's PA metric. PA predicts ranking potential based on Moz's analysis of ranking signals, but Google's actual algorithm is far more complex.

**PA doesn't account for:**
- Content quality and relevance
- User experience signals
- Technical SEO factors
- Search intent match
- Keyword optimization
- E-E-A-T signals

**PA is comparative, not absolute.** A PA 40 page might outrank a PA 50 page if it has better content, relevance, or user engagement.

### Appropriate Use Cases

**Use PA for:**
- Competitive analysis and benchmarking
- Link prospecting (evaluating source page quality)
- Progress tracking over time
- Internal link prioritization
- Understanding relative page strength

**Don't use PA for:**
- Predicting exact rankings
- Sole decision-making factor
- Ignoring content/relevance quality
- Short-term performance measurement

---

## Page Authority Strategy Checklist

### Monthly PA Audit

□ Check PA for top 10 priority pages
□ Compare to previous month's scores
□ Identify any significant drops (5+ points)
□ Investigate lost backlinks for declining pages
□ Update competitive benchmarks for target keywords

### Link Building Prioritization

□ List pages where PA improvement would have highest impact
□ Allocate link building resources to specific URLs (not just homepage)
□ Track new backlinks acquired and expected PA impact
□ Set realistic 3-6 month PA targets based on competitive analysis

### Content Optimization

□ Identify low-PA pages with ranking potential
□ Improve content quality to attract natural links
□ Add internal links from high-PA pages
□ Create linkable assets for priority topic areas

---

## Summary

Page Authority is Moz's page-level prediction of ranking potential:

**Key takeaways:**
- PA measures individual URL strength, not entire domains
- Build links directly to specific pages to increase their PA
- Use PA for competitive benchmarking, not absolute targets
- Compare your PA to pages actually ranking for your keywords
- PA improvement requires sustained link building over months

**Your PA action plan:**
1. Install MozBar to check PA while browsing
2. Audit your priority pages' current PA scores
3. Benchmark against top-ranking competitors
4. Allocate link building to specific pages, not just homepage
5. Track monthly and celebrate gradual improvements

---

## Related Resources

- [Free Backlink Checker](/tools/free-backlink-checker) - Check Page Authority for any URL instantly
- [Backlink Audit Checklist](/tools/backlink-analyzer) - Step-by-step audit guide
- [Domain Authority Explained](/glossary/domain-authority)
- [Link Equity: How Value Flows Between Pages](/glossary/link-equity)
- [Authority Metrics: Understanding DA, PA, and Beyond](/backlink-quality/authority-metrics)
- [Best Free Backlink Checkers](/blog/best-free-backlink-checkers)
- [How to Evaluate Backlink Quality](/backlink-quality/evaluating-link-opportunities)