Why do some sites have a higher Page Authority than Domain Authority in OSE??

[James77]

Hi,

I have noticed when using OSE and enter a domain you very often see a higher Page Authority than Domain Authority.

If someone could explain why this would happen then I would be very grateful - its my current understanding that page authority would ALWAYS be LESS THAN Domain Authority but that is not always the case (I have seen cases where PA is more than 10 higher then DA)

Here's an example where PA > DA

http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/links.html?site=www.primelocation.com

Thanks

[RobertFisher]

No, there are too many open variables: age of pages, localization, keyword popularity, etc.

Edit: look at mozTrust of urls and domain mozTrust of various sites. This will show you that a + b is not equal to c.

hope it helps clarify.

[James77]

Hi Rob & Rand,

Many thanks for helping explain the concept. What I am trying to understand is if DA is a calculation based on PA of all pages on that domain (or if it is possible to work out DA from PA of all pages on that domain) or a totally separate calculation which incorporates other metrics. EG
A domain has 2 pages A (PA 50), B (PA 40). Is it possible to work out what DA is for this domain from these 2 values alone?

Many thanks

[AlanMosley]

An indervidual may be rated higher then the team he plays for, a page can be rated higher then the domain it belongs to.

[RobertFisher]

Well,

Sorry, your understanding is incorrect. Domain authority is just that, an overall value for the domain. So, if you go to a site where the links all come to a home page or the vast majority do, you are going to see a high PA for the home page PA. If that same site has 50 pages with few links you are going to see a lot of PA=1.

So, while the home page is important it does not outweigh the fact that overall the site is not that highly trafficked. This is a reason sites have trouble with conversions of inner pages sometimes.  All the value is placed on the home page and someone then has 500 internal links from that page so it does not even help the inner pages.

Remember this in the search engine world pages are ranked and not sites. So, PA is more important from that point of view.

Hope this clarifies,

Best