Definition
Domain Authority is a score from 1 to 100 created by the SEO tool Moz to estimate how likely a website is to rank, based mainly on its backlink profile. Similar metrics include Ahrefs' Domain Rating. Google does not use these scores; they are comparison tools only.
Why it matters for law firms
DA is useful for comparing your firm against competitors or judging a potential link source. It becomes a problem when agencies sell 'high DA links' as the goal, because scores can be inflated and a relevant local link often matters more than a high-DA unrelated one.
Example
A tax law firm compares itself with three top-ranking competitors and sees a large DA gap. Instead of chasing the number, it focuses on earning links from accounting associations and business publications its clients actually read.
How to improve it
- Use DA or DR to benchmark, not as a KPI on its own.
- Prioritise relevance and real traffic when judging link sources.
- Track rankings and consultations rather than authority scores.
- Be wary of anyone selling links by DA.
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Aditya Chauhan
Head of SEO, PageOne Lawyers
Last updated September 26, 2026