> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://wiki.platelunchcollective.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Domain Authority

> Domain Authority (DA) is a proprietary Moz metric scored from 1 to 100 that predicts how likely a domain is to rank in search results, based primarily on the...

*Measurement* · *Citation & Visibility Measurement*

## Definition

Domain Authority (DA) is a proprietary Moz metric scored from 1 to 100 that predicts how likely a domain is to rank in search results, based primarily on the quality and quantity of inbound links pointing to the domain.

## Why It Matters for AI Search

Domain Authority is a traditional SEO metric that has partial but imperfect relevance to AI search. High-DA domains tend to appear more frequently in AI citations — not because AI systems use DA directly, but because the signals underlying DA (authoritative backlinks, wide third-party citation, established entity presence) correlate with the signals AI systems do use. DA is useful as a rough proxy but should not be the primary metric for [AI search optimization](https://www.platelunchcollective.com/services/ai-seo) work.

## Common Misconception

Domain Authority is a Moz proprietary metric, not a Google metric — Google does not use DA in its ranking or citation systems. Ahrefs' equivalent metric is Domain Rating (DR); both measure similar things but are calculated differently and are not interchangeable.

## Related Terms

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Site authority" href="/ai-search-glossary/site-authority" />

  <Card title="Trust signal" href="/ai-search-glossary/trust-signal" />

  <Card title="Backlink" href="/ai-search-glossary/backlink" />

  <Card title="Source credibility" href="/ai-search-glossary/source-credibility" />

  <Card title="Brand footprint" href="/ai-search-glossary/brand-footprint" />
</CardGroup>

## Relevant Plate Lunch Collective Services

[AI Search Visibility Assessment](https://www.platelunchcollective.com/services/context-map)  [Context Map](https://www.platelunchcollective.com/services/context-map)