Backlinking is a game-changer for SEO, especially in 2022. It allows you to interact with a wider audience, boost online visibility, and, eventually, establish your brand as a credible and high-authority resource.

A backlink transports web users from platform A (an external website) to platform B (your website). In doing so, it helps businesses tap into a wider pool of internet users and get more conversions. However, a backlink is only as effective as the quality of the link used. This is why you need to get high DA & PA backlinks for your platform.

What Are DA and PA Backlinks? 

Essentially, the domain authority ranking score predicts a website’s performance on search engine result pages (SERPs). It’s calculated by totaling the number of links, root domains linked to the platform, and other Moz tools and factors. Moz uses a logarithmic point scale to assign DA scores ranging from 0 to 100.

DA backlinks refer to links connected to other reputable platforms, aka high domain authority (DA) platforms. Domain Authority is an SEO metric introduced by Moz to determine how a domain is likely to rank in SERPs. It also indicates the popularity, relevance, and quality of the domain.

A high DA backlink comes from a website with a high DA score, usually above 40. Think of the most popular and credible websites, like Google, WordPress, and Forbes. These are all high DA platforms and are considered highly trusted sources based. High DA backlinking means getting your website referenced on a high DA website. This builds your own website’s domain authority.

Moz’s page authority (PA) metrics work similarly. The difference is that they calculate an individual web page’s ability to rank instead of the entire domain. Thus, it predicts the page’s popularity, relevance, and quality instead of the domain’s. A high PA score (as determined by Moz’s metrics) means that the page is likely to rank higher on search engines. Consequently, a high PA backlink comes from a website with a high PA score.

Why Are DA & PA Important?

The two go hand in hand. A high DA link will only perform well for SEO if the linking page has a high PA.

High domain authority websites usually rank higher on SERPs than low domain authority websites. On its own, DA doesn’t affect your SEO content. However, almost all high-ranking websites have high authority and page authority ratings.

For instance, your website may get a backlink from a platform with a DA 70. However, if the platform or linking page lacks sufficient backlinks, it’ll have a low PA score. This means its page authority would be low.

Essentially, when you’re targeting high DA backlinks for your link-building campaign, you should ideally target pages with high PA metrics. This will enable your content to appear in the top results on SERPs because it’ll get greater link equity through the high page authority of the platforms you’ve targeted. You can determine DA and PA metrics using Moz Link Explorer.

Ways to Get High DA and PA Backlinks

We’ve established that websites with high DA & PA ratings are good for building backlinks for your platform. However, acquiring high DA backlinks is trickier than it sounds. It’s a time-consuming process, may sometimes cost money, and requires you to produce stellar content to get credibility.

In other words, you need to earn your backlinks. The good news is that this is still possible.

Ready to acquire high DA & PA backlinks for your website? Here’s what you should do.

Target The Right Sites

Many brands make the mistake of targeting every DA 60 (or above) platform they come across in the hopes of building high DA backlinks. In doing so, you end up prioritizing quantity over quality, which is the opposite of what you want for your backlinks.

The key is to be specific and target websites in your niche that are more popular.

Do a quick Google search on your focused keywords. For instance, let’s say your targeted keywords are “camping gear”.

When you type these in the search bar, you’ll be presented with a bunch of websites. While the results that show up on the first search engine page aren’t always high DA platforms, they’re mostly well-reputed high DA websites. Thus, it’s a good idea to target the websites that show up in these search results.

Make a list of the domains appearing on the first page and use Moz’s Open Site Explorer tool to determine their DA rankings. Here’s what it looks like:

Once you enter the URL in the search bar, you’ll be shown the metrics. The DA ranking is listed on the left side. You can use this information to decide whether or not you should target the platform. Generally, it’s recommended to prioritize platforms with DA scores over 80. That said, don’t target too many websites simultaneously, even if they’re all DA 80 platforms. Stick to 5–6 relevant websites for a focused back linking strategy.

Work Around Broken Links

Have you ever clicked on a link added to a blog or website landing page, only to be redirected to a web page that no longer exists? You know, the ones where you get the old “404 Not Found” error? This is a case of websites using broken links, knowingly or unknowingly. And, it’s the perfect opportunity for you to get high DA backlinks.

Here’s the thing; most websites usually have a handful of links mentioned across pages—web, blog, social media—that no longer work. These pages were probably resourceful once but were likely deleted a while ago because the websites they were redirecting to rebranded and changed names, discontinued certain services, shifted to new URLs, stopped updating resources, or shut down. As a result, the web pages became obsolete.

Unfortunately, not every platform that had previously linked to the modified/non-existent website is aware of the updates. As a result, their web pages still contain the outdated, broken links.

Consider the example of Moz. When it first changed its name from SEOmoz to Moz (along with the URL), many people, brands, and platforms were unaware of the change. Consequently, their websites still included the outdated URL—SEOMoz.org—instead of the new one.

Broken links impact the credibility of the website using them. For instance, let’s suppose you cited a research study in your content and linked it to the relevant web page. However, that web page no longer exists, and readers get a 404 error when they click on it. This may make them doubt your credibility and count you out as a reliable and informative source.

So, how exactly does this help with DA & PA backlink building?

When you spot broken links on high-authority platforms, you can directly reach out to the website to inform them about it while offering your own credible content as a valuable replacement.

Here’s a template you can follow:

Sounds too simple? There’s more to it than just a simple email exchange.

For starters:

• You need to have top-notch content on your website to convince high-authority platforms to consider your offer.
• Your content should also be super relevant to the topic discussed on the high DA web page for you to get a backlink in return.

The good news is that it works.

You can use this simple yet effective strategy to build high-quality backlinks. For things to go smoothly, actively search for broken links. You can use online tools to identify broken links used on high-authority sites. You can also access the content of these outdated pages using Archive.org to determine exactly what the previous link had to offer.

Look for competitors within your industry that have recently rebranded or discontinued services. This will help you target platforms using outdated URLs and offer them replacement content that adds value to their websites. Make sure you create niche-specific content to increase your chances of getting high DA & PA backlinks.

Use the Right Content Formats

Content is king; there’s no denying that. However, you need to be smart about structuring your content for effective DA & PA backlink building.

You can write the best content on a topic, but your blog may still go unnoticed if you aren’t catering to online readers. In other words, you need to give readers what they want and use the right format when structuring your content.

Certain types of content tend to perform better than others. More specifically, content posts that answer “what”, “why”, and “how” from the get-go are usually among the most preferred options. Blog titles containing these words tend to appear higher on search engines because they directly answer a user’s query.

Additionally, infographics and videos also perform better online, making them useful tools.

This is why it’s recommended to focus on “how-to”, “why,” and “what” posts when creating content. You can also create supporting videos and infographics out of these, giving users multiple formats to access the information they’re searching for.

How does this help with high DA & PA backlink building?

Your website is more likely to get linked to on high-authority platforms when you offer to-the-point and highly relevant information.

For instance, if you publish an article titled How To Launch Your Start-Up that share’s a detailed, step-by-step guide for aspiring entrepreneurs, it’s more likely to get referenced by other industry-relevant publications and platforms. This can help you get more high-authority DA & PA backlinks.

Another way to go about this is by publishing “Ultimate Guides”. These are long-form content pieces that act as comprehensive guides on specific subjects.

Writing an ultimate guide allows you to cover A LOT of useful and relevant information on a single page, giving readers a detailed insight into a specific topic.

This is a useful high DA backlink building strategy because it allows people to link to your content for comprehensive analysis of certain topics. Your content serves as the go-to resource on the subject, making it more likely to be backlinked across high-authority platforms whenever people write about related topics.

Here are some snippets from Search Berg’s blog on off-page SEO:

As you can see, the blog shares a thorough analysis of off-page SEO, outlining its benefits, discussing effective strategies, and answering multiple “whats”, “hows”, and “whys” along the way.

Ultimate guides go by many names. “Beginner’s Guide”, “Definitive Guide”, “Go-To Guide”, etc. Get creative!

Start Guest Blogging

We can’t not mention guest posts when talking about high DA & PA backlinking strategies! Guest blogging is one of the most effective ways to showcase your brand and promote it organically on high-authority websites. It allows you to engage the external platform’s audiences and generate traffic to your website through the content published there. It also helps with strategic back linking.

You can add internal links within the guest post body, aka contextual links. These link back to contextually relevant pages and can be strategically inserted throughout the text. This way, when readers click on the specific anchor phrase, they’ll be redirected to your website.

Alternatively, you can add internal links in the author bio placed at the beginning or end of the blog. This allows readers to access your website directly. Here’s an example of what an author’s bio looks like:

Both strategies can help you get high DA backlinks. However, guest blogging is trickier than it seems. Everyone wants their content to be noticed on high DA platforms like Forbes, Entrepreneur.com, and Business Insider. This means you must really step up your game and produce exceptional content to make the cut. Some tips to keep in mind:

• Pick a niche-specific topic
• Understand the content format for the guest post platform you’re targeting
• Make your content engaging and informative
• Remove any and all fluff

If done right, guest blogging can help you build a long-term relationship with your targeted DA platform. Once the editors or website owners see you’re adding value to their site, they’re more likely to accept your content frequently and allow you to add contextual links. This will help you build authority and gain high DA and PA backlinks.

Recommended Read: Revealed! Guest Posting Insights From Industry Insiders.

Get High DA & PA Backlinking Credibility Now!

Ready to launch a strong high-authority link-building campaign? We’re here to make it happen!

In this blog, we discussed the different ways to get high DA & PA backlinks for your website. Now, it’s time to consult the experts and get right to it. Learn more about our link-building services, and let us help you optimize your backlink building strategies. Let’s get started!