What Is Page Authority? How to Check and Improve It in 2026
Page Authority predicts how well a page will rank. Learn what it is, how it differs from Domain Authority, which tools measure it, and 10 actionable ways to improve your scores.
What Is Page Authority?
Page Authority (PA) is a score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a specific web page is to rank in search engine results. It runs on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate greater ranking potential.
The key word here is specific page. Unlike Domain Authority, which looks at your entire website, Page Authority zooms in on a single URL. A homepage might have a PA of 50 while an obscure blog post on the same site sits at 12. Each page earns its own authority based on the links pointing to it and the signals surrounding it.
Because the scale is logarithmic, it is much easier to move from 20 to 30 than from 70 to 80. A score of 50 does not mean you are halfway to perfect. It means you are already well ahead of most pages on the web.
Important caveat: Page Authority is not a Google metric. It is a third-party prediction score. Google does not use PA in its algorithm. However, the signals PA measures (backlinks, content quality, technical health) closely mirror the signals Google actually cares about, which makes it a useful proxy for benchmarking.
Page Authority vs Domain Authority: What Is the Difference?
These two metrics are related but measure different things:
Domain Authority (DA) predicts the ranking strength of an entire domain (e.g., yoursite.com). It reflects the overall backlink profile, content quality, and trustworthiness of the whole site.
Page Authority (PA) predicts the ranking strength of a single URL (e.g., yoursite.com/blog/my-post). It focuses on links pointing directly to that specific page.
Think of it this way: Domain Authority is the reputation of the whole company. Page Authority is the reputation of one specific employee.
Here is how they compare:
For practical SEO work, PA matters more when you are optimizing a specific page for a specific keyword. DA matters more when you are evaluating overall site health or choosing backlink targets.
How Google Actually Evaluates Page-Level Authority
Google does not use Moz's Page Authority internally. Instead, it uses its own systems to evaluate how authoritative and trustworthy a page is.
PageRank Is Still Alive
The 2024 Google Content Warehouse API leak confirmed what many suspected: PageRank is still a core part of Google's ranking system. Multiple variants of PageRank run behind the scenes, including "Nearest Seed" PageRank, which measures how close a page is to known trusted seed sites in the link graph.
That said, modern Google ranking involves hundreds of signals. PageRank is foundational but not the only factor.
E-E-A-T Matters More Than Ever
Google's quality rater guidelines emphasize four signals:
Google's December 2025 core update shifted emphasis toward demonstrated expertise. Concrete examples, original data, and case studies now matter more than just stating credentials.
Core Web Vitals and Technical Health
Page-level authority is also influenced by technical signals:
The bottom line: Google evaluates page authority through a combination of links, content quality, trust signals, and technical health. Moz's PA tries to approximate this, but the real picture is more complex.
How to Check Page Authority
Several tools offer page-level authority metrics. They each use different algorithms, so scores are not directly comparable across tools. Pick one and use it consistently.
Moz (Page Authority)
Moz created the PA metric. You can check it using the free MozBar browser extension or the Moz Link Explorer. Free accounts get limited lookups.
Ahrefs (URL Rating)
Ahrefs offers URL Rating (UR), which measures the strength of a page's backlink profile on a scale of 0 to 100. It is one of the most widely used alternatives to Moz PA.
SEMrush (Authority Score)
SEMrush provides an Authority Score that blends link data, organic search data, and traffic data. Their free Website Authority Checker lets you look up individual URLs.
Google Search Console
While it does not give you a single authority score, Google Search Console shows you which pages rank, for which queries, and at what positions. Pages ranking consistently for competitive queries likely have strong authority signals.
BulkAudit
You can run a bulk audit across all your key pages to see Performance, SEO, Accessibility, and Best Practices scores in one shot. While these are not authority scores specifically, low Performance or SEO scores often correlate with low page authority because the same technical issues that hurt your Lighthouse scores also suppress your ranking potential.
What Is a Good Page Authority Score?
There is no universal "good" PA score because authority is relative. A PA of 30 might be enough to rank on page one for a low-competition keyword, while a PA of 60 might not crack the top 10 for a highly competitive query.
Here is a rough framework:
The most useful way to use PA is to compare your pages against the pages that currently rank for your target keywords. If the top results have PA 50-60 and your page has PA 25, you know you have a gap to close.
10 Ways to Improve Page Authority
1. Earn Quality Backlinks
This is the single biggest driver of page authority. Focus on earning links from sites that are relevant to your topic and have their own authority. One link from a respected industry blog is worth more than 100 links from random directories.
Tactics that work: create original research or data studies that people want to cite, write guest posts for reputable publications, build tools or resources that earn natural links.
2. Fix Your Internal Linking
Internal links are the quickest way to redistribute authority across your site. Identify your highest-authority pages (check in Moz, Ahrefs, or Google Search Console) and add contextual links from those pages to the ones you want to boost.
Build topical clusters where a pillar page links to and from related subtopic pages. This helps both users and search engines understand your content structure.
3. Create Genuinely Useful Content
Pages that solve real problems attract links naturally. Go deeper than your competitors. Add original examples, data, screenshots, and expert insights that nobody else has.
Google's helpful content system specifically rewards content that demonstrates first-hand experience. If you are writing about a tool, actually use it and show your results.
4. Optimize On-Page SEO
Make sure search engines can understand what your page is about:
5. Improve Page Speed
Slow pages get fewer links, more bounces, and lower rankings. All of these suppress authority over time.
Run your pages through a performance audit. Fix the basics: compress images, enable caching, minimize JavaScript, use a CDN. If your LCP is over 2.5 seconds, that is your first priority.
6. Remove or Disavow Toxic Backlinks
Not all backlinks help. Links from spammy, irrelevant, or penalized sites can actually drag down your authority. Use Moz, Ahrefs, or Google Search Console to audit your backlink profile and disavow links that look harmful.
7. Update and Refresh Old Content
Pages that go stale lose authority over time. Google favors fresh, accurate content. Schedule regular reviews of your important pages to update statistics, add new information, and remove outdated advice.
Adding a visible "Last updated" date also signals freshness to both users and search engines.
8. Make Pages Mobile-Friendly
With mobile-first indexing, Google primarily sees your mobile version. If your pages are hard to use on a phone, your authority suffers regardless of how good the desktop experience is.
Test on actual devices. Check that text is readable without zooming, tap targets are large enough, and nothing overflows the screen.
9. Ensure Pages Are Crawlable
Authority cannot build if Google cannot find or index your pages. Check for:
10. Promote Content Strategically
New content needs initial momentum to start earning organic links. Share on social media, email your list, reach out to people who have linked to similar content before, and submit to relevant communities or newsletters.
The goal is to get your content in front of people who might link to it. Every quality link compounds your authority over time.
How to Audit Page Authority Across Your Entire Site
Checking page authority one URL at a time is impractical if you manage dozens or hundreds of pages. Here is a more efficient approach:
Step 1: List your key pages. Focus on pages that target your most important keywords: product pages, pillar content, top blog posts, service pages.
Step 2: Run a bulk audit. Use BulkAudit to check performance, SEO, and technical health across all pages simultaneously. Pages with low Performance or SEO scores are likely underperforming in authority metrics too.
Step 3: Check authority scores. Use Moz, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to pull PA/UR/Authority Score for the same set of URLs. Look for pages where your authority is significantly lower than competitors ranking for the same keywords.
Step 4: Prioritize improvements. Focus your link building and optimization efforts on pages where closing the authority gap will have the biggest traffic impact. Usually these are pages ranking on page 2 (positions 11-20) that just need a push to reach page 1.
Step 5: Track over time. Run periodic audits to measure whether your efforts are moving the scores in the right direction. Page authority changes slowly, so check monthly rather than daily.
Page Authority vs PageRank: Are They the Same?
No. PageRank is Google's internal algorithm for evaluating link-based authority. Page Authority is Moz's external attempt to predict ranking potential.
PageRank was Google's original innovation. It evaluated the quality and quantity of links pointing to a page to determine its importance. While Google no longer publishes PageRank scores publicly (they stopped updating the toolbar PageRank in 2016), the algorithm is still used internally.
Moz's Page Authority tries to approximate what PageRank and other Google signals are doing, using Moz's own link index data. It is a useful directional indicator, but it is not the same thing.
Common Page Authority Myths
Myth: PA is a Google ranking factor
PA is a Moz metric. Google does not use it. However, the underlying signals (backlinks, content quality) do influence Google rankings.
Myth: Higher PA always means higher rankings
PA is one of many factors. A page with lower PA can outrank one with higher PA if it has better content relevance, fresher content, or better user experience signals.
Myth: You can control PA directly
You cannot manipulate the score directly. You can only improve the signals that PA measures: backlinks, technical health, and content quality. The score follows.
Myth: PA updates in real time
Moz's index updates periodically, not continuously. Your PA score might lag behind recent changes by weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
QWhat is a good Page Authority score?
There is no universal target. PA is best used comparatively. Check the PA of pages currently ranking for your target keywords. If the top results have PA 40-50 and your page has PA 20, you need to close that gap through link building and content optimization.
QHow is Page Authority different from Domain Authority?
Domain Authority measures the ranking strength of your entire domain. Page Authority measures the strength of a single URL. DA reflects the overall site health. PA reflects the specific page's backlink profile and signals.
QDoes Page Authority affect Google rankings?
Not directly. PA is a Moz metric, not a Google ranking factor. However, the signals that PA measures (backlinks, content quality, technical health) are the same signals Google uses to evaluate pages. Improving those signals improves both your PA and your actual rankings.
QHow often does Page Authority update?
Moz updates its link index and recalculates PA periodically, typically every few weeks. Changes you make today will not be reflected in your PA score immediately.
QCan I check Page Authority in bulk?
Yes. Moz offers bulk PA checking through their API and tools. You can also use Ahrefs batch analysis for URL Rating or SEMrush for Authority Score. For technical health scores that correlate with authority, BulkAudit lets you audit hundreds of URLs at once.
QHow long does it take to improve Page Authority?
PA improves gradually. After earning quality backlinks and making on-page improvements, expect to see PA changes within 1-3 months as Moz recrawls and recalculates. Significant improvements (moving from PA 20 to PA 40) typically take 6-12 months of consistent effort.
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