Getting high-quality backlinks from websites with a high domain authority (DA) is one of the most effective ways to improve your own site's search engine rankings. However, getting these coveted backlinks takes time, effort, and strategy.
In this comprehensive guide, you'll learn everything you need to know about getting high DA backlinks, including:
Plus, we'll provide actionable tips for crafting link-worthy content, outreach emails, and more to score backlinks from authoritative sites in your industry.
Let's dive in!
Domain authority (DA) is a score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages.
DA scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating a stronger likelihood of ranking well due to factors like trust, link equity, high-quality content, and other signals search engines look for.
Websites with a DA above 50 are considered to have high domain authority. Backlinks from high DA sites are desirable because they pass authority and ranking power to your website. Links from authoritative, reputable sites indicate to search engines that your content is trustworthy.
Google cares a lot about link authority, so earning high DA backlinks is a top SEO priority for improving organic search visibility and traffic. Here is how you can monitor your backlinks.
Basically, backlinks from sites with higher domain authority give your own domain more "link juice" and authority to potentially outrank competitors - so you definitely want them!
Now let's look at techniques for finding and building relationships with websites that have the high domain authority you want for backlinks.
The first step is identifying relevant, high-authority sites in your industry to reach out to.
Here are some tips for discovering quality websites with high domain authority:
DA checker tools allow you to easily check a site's domain authority score. Some options include:
These tools make it easy to see which websites in your niche have the highest domain authority to target.
Find out where your competitors are getting backlinks from by using tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush.
Sort their backlinks by Domain Rating to identify the high authority domains linking to them - those should be on your outreach list as well.
SimilarWeb shows the top websites that share an audience with a domain. Look up your competitors or current linking sites to discover more authoritative sites to contact.
Search Engine Result Analysis
Browse Google results in your niche and note websites that rank on the first page for your target keywords. Authoritative, high-traffic sites that get prime SERP real estate often have very high DAs.
Moz's Top 500 Pages Report lists the most linked-to pages on the web. Reach out to the site owners behind these popular pages, which all have very high domain authority.
Review Your Industry Resources
Check out "best/top of" articles for your industry, which often link to authoritative, influential sites you can pitch. For example, roundups of top marketing blogs or best resources for doctors.
Now that you know how to find high DA sites, let's look at proven tactics for actually getting links from them.
Reaching out for a link is only the first step. To actually earn high domain authority backlinks, you need compelling pitches and link-worthy assets.
Here are 10 proven methods for getting authoritative sites to link to you:
Curated lists of tools, research, tutorials, books, and other resources related to the website's niche make great link fodder. Build a comprehensive resource page or catalog on your site, then pitch it to site owners for inclusion.
Authority websites often publish guest articles by industry experts. Write guest posts with embedded, contextual links back to your site and pitch them to site editors.
Develop free, branded tools like calculators, quizzes, or interactive tools that sites can embed or link to. Outreach with a tailored pitch about how their audience would benefit.
Publishing in-depth research, data, how-tos, or guides as a downloadable PDF is a proven way to earn high-value links. Make sure your content provides real value.
Conduct an original study or survey in your space and share the results, then reach out to high DA sites to get linked as the source.
Scour your existing content for hard stats, data points, research, or powerful facts that sites might want to reference or link to as external citations. Then reach out and pitch them.
If you have partnerships/success stories with other authoritative brands, ask for a testimonial quote or case study that you can use to pitch relevant high DA websites.
Look for opportunities to co-author or sponsor industry reports published by authoritative sites. Securing a byline means direct links.
When high-profile news related to an authoritative site's niche breaks, quickly publish commentary they may want to reference or link to while the topic is hot.
Create videos, presentations, graphics, illustrations, or other assets they can embed or link to as visual companions to articles.
Those are just a few of the many options for getting authoritative backlinks. Now let's cover some common mistakes to avoid when acquiring DA links.
The most successful link-building campaigns follow best practices and avoid these common pitfalls:
Mass emails to lists of site owners are a turnoff. Link requests should be personalized and show you understand the site you're pitching.
Quick fixes like link exchanges, paid links, and automated tools mean low-quality links. Manual outreach and relationship-building is the way to earn authoritative backlinks that truly impact rankings.
Don't over-optimize anchor text links with target keywords. Use branded, partial match, or naked URLs for the most natural linking.
Techniques like blog comment spam, low-quality forum posts, shady directories, and link networks lead to low-value links that could actually hurt your site. Avoid them.
Only reach out to sites relevant to your industry with content complementary to yours. Random niche sites won't drive the results you want.
Do your own analysis to find link opportunities rather than copying where competitors are getting links. Duplicate outreach to the same sites gets lower response rates.
Make sure you have something of true value to the publisher, like exclusive data. Links shouldn't benefit you alone - give them a reason to link.
Avoiding these mistakes ensures your link-building efforts are safe, natural, and effective for boosting domain authority.
Now let's look at some of the top websites you should target to build high DA backlinks.
Here are some examples of sites across various verticals that have extremely high domain authority:
The domains above represent authoritative sites across news, e-commerce, video, forums, blogs, and more.
Target websites with DA scores of 80 or higher for your link-building campaigns whenever possible for the maximum SEO impact.
These are independent, trusted websites whose backlinks can drastically improve your own domain authority and search rankings.
Earn backlinks from these high DA sites by contributing valuable assets and resources rather than spammy ads - that's how to build sustainable links that boost your authority in search engines.
Now let's look at some handy tools for checking domain authority when evaluating link opportunities.
Here are some of the best free tools for looking up any website's domain authority:
A) A domain authority above 30 is considered decent, but aim for 50 or higher. The best high authority sites have DA scores between 80-100.
A) Quality is more important than quantity. Just a handful of links from authoritative sites can positively impact rankings. Start with a goal of securing backlinks from 5-10 relevant DA 80+ sites.
A) It takes consistency and patience. Strive to pitch new authoritative sites weekly and follow up. It can take months to get published, so persistence pays off.
A) High domain authority backlinks are ideal, but a balanced link profile also includes sites with varying (yet still relevant/quality) DA scores. Mix high authority links with other good backlinks.
A) No - buying backlinks is risky and against Google's guidelines. Focus your efforts on earning high-quality links through outreach, relationships, and contributing valuable assets. The most sustainable high DA links are earned, not paid.
A) The quality of the linking domain matters more than traffic levels. However, higher visibility sites tend to have higher domain authority in the first place. I'd aim for a site with both high DA and decent traffic levels.
Getting backlinks from high authority domains is hugely impactful for improving your own site's search rankings and traffic.
By creating link-worthy assets like guest posts, tools, resources pages, and multimedia content, and then pitching relevant authoritative sites, you can earn DA-boosting backlinks.
Avoid spammy link-building tactics and focus on contributing value rather than solely benefiting your own site.
Use DA checker tools to identify sites to target and optimize your outreach for the highest response rates.
Implementing the tactics in this guide will put you on the path to building natural links from authoritative domains and leveling up your website's domain authority.
Now get out there and start earning some high DA backlinks!
