Page Authority: what it is, the checker tool, and is it still useful?

Page Authority is an SEO metric that grades how important a single page is on the web. It was a big deal when Moz launched it in 2012. The relevance has faded since, partly because Google's content landscape shifted, partly because so many sites now have established authority metrics.

What is Page Authority?

Page Authority counts the total inbound links from external websites to a single page. It captures link accumulation from third party sources. When articles get shared or cited, the page they point at sees its score rise. Moz built PA as a complement to Domain Authority.

Difference between Page Authority and Domain Authority

Domain Authority measures the prominence of the whole website. It has been around since 2005 and is updated monthly. Page Authority came out in 2012 and has stayed relatively static, which is why people call it outdated. For reference: top domains had an average DA of 64 in 2015, up from 33 in 2010.

How do you check your Page Authority?

Use the MozBar Chrome extension. Other tools (Ahrefs, Semrush) surface comparable page level scores. Most search result tools show PA right next to the result.

Why is Page Authority still relevant

PA mattered most at launch, when most websites had no authority signal at all. The modern web has changed. Today's sites typically carry substantial authority signals already, which reduces how much PA on its own tells you. As one of several inputs, it still has a place.