Page Authority
Also called: PA, Moz PA
Page Authority (PA) is a 1 to 100 score from Moz that predicts how likely a specific webpage is to rank in search results, based mainly on its backlink profile. It is a third-party estimate from a machine learning model, not a metric Google uses to rank pages.
Moz introduced Page Authority in 2011 as a way to compare the ranking potential of individual URLs. The score sits on a logarithmic scale from 1 to 100, so climbing from 20 to 30 is far easier than pushing from 70 to 80. Moz builds it with a machine learning model trained against real Google search results, fed link signals from its own crawl index: linking root domains, followed and nofollow links, 301s and 302s, and link age. It does not read your on-page copy, keywords, or technical setup directly.
What moves a PA score
PA is relative, not absolute. Because the model is periodically recalculated against a shifting web and index, your number can rise or fall even when nothing changed on the page. Treat it as a benchmark against the other URLs ranking for your target query, not a goal in itself. Page Authority measures a single page, while Domain Authority (DA) measures the whole site, and the two feed each other.
One point that trips people up: PA is not a Google ranking factor. Google says it ranks with many systems and no single third-party authority score, so a higher PA does not directly buy positions. What it does track well is the strength of a page’s link profile, which is a genuine driver of how that page competes in the SERP.
How it affects your traffic
Page Authority rises mainly when a URL earns more links from strong, relevant pages, which is the same lever that also moves real rankings. If a priority page is stuck below competitors, the fix is rarely more words on the page; it is earning citations and internal links that point authority at it. Chasing the PA number for its own sake is a trap, but the underlying work of building quality links is what our Link Building service is built to do.
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