Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
My Domain authority dropped 9 points... Does anyone have any suggestions to fix this significant drop.
- 
					
					
					
					
 My domain authority dropped by 9 points and I haven't done anything differently since the last scan. What is going on? 
- 
					
					
					
					
 I noticed some big drops in the sites I monitor this update as well, yet rankings and traffic are business as usual. Patrick's link is helpful as are other's comments. The other thing I'd suggest is to monitor traffic, rankings and webmaster tools to make sure nothing is seriously wrong. If nothing arouses your suspicion, wait for the next update. This one was smaller than the last, root domains down by almost 10%. If you have a site with few incoming link sources, you're going to be more susceptible to sampling fluctuations. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 You should not look at Moz's domain authority as a fixed number; it will change, depending on their index that month. A good way to look at this number is relative to a couple of your competitors. Track them, and if their number also goes down when yours goes down, it is probably the index. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 You are not alone, my site dropped 6 points and my competitors that I am tracking also dropped anywhere from 3-5 points as well. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Hi there Rand actually just gave some insight to this in another Q+A thread; I recommend reading it! Hope this helps - good luck! 
- 
					
					
					
					
 I wonder if Moz has recently modified their domain authority algorithm to take into consideration Google's mobile-friendly or "Phantom" updates? 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Domain Authority is not really something you can control. It is a view taken by Moz, Google etc using various algorithms. So now you cannot influence the rank easily. I would recommend stepping way way back and take a broad view of your site and look at some of the key Domain ranking factors that Google (might, as we can guess but they don't tell) use. Dropping a factor of 9 is large, so something must have changed in the bigger picture. Bear in mind that just because the numbers have gone down, does not mean that your site has had a penalty or other such disaster, it could well be that your Pond just became a Sea for some reasons, which you need to take a view on in your broad overview of your industry. Please let us know how you get on as this would be very interesting to all Mozers I am sure Bruce 
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
- 
		
		Moz ToolsChat with the community about the Moz tools. 
- 
		
		SEO TacticsDiscuss the SEO process with fellow marketers 
- 
		
		CommunityDiscuss industry events, jobs, and news! 
- 
		
		Digital MarketingChat about tactics outside of SEO 
- 
		
		Research & TrendsDive into research and trends in the search industry. 
- 
		
		SupportConnect on product support and feature requests. 
Related Questions
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Does redirecting from a "bad" domain "infect" the new domain?
 Hi all, So a complicated question that requires a little background. I bought unseenjapan.com to serve as a legitimate news site about a year ago. Social media and content growth has been good. Unfortunately, one thing I didn't realize when I bought this domain was that it used to be a porn site. I've managed to muck out some of the damage already - primarily, I got major vendors like Macafee and OpenDNS to remove the "porn" categorization, which has unblocked the site at most schools & locations w/ public wifi. The sticky bit, however, is Google. Google has the domain filtered under SafeSearch, which means we're losing - and will continue to lose - a ton of organic traffic. I'm trying to figure out how to deal with this, and appeal the decision. Unfortunately, Google's Reconsideration Request form currently doesn't work unless your site has an existing manual action against it (mine does not). I've also heard such requests, even if I did figure out how to make them, often just get ignored for months on end. Now, I have a back up plan. I've registered unseen-japan.com, and I could just move my domain over to the new domain if I can't get this issue resolved. It would allow me to be on a domain with a clean history while not having to change my brand. But if I do that, and I set up 301 redirects from the former domain, will it simply cause the new domain to be perceived as an "adult" domain by Google? I.e., will the former URL's bad reputation carry over to the new one? I haven't made a decision one way or the other yet, so any insights are appreciated. Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | gaiaslastlaugh0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Combining Two Sites With Similar Domain Authority
 Hello, We run two sites with the same product, product descriptions and url structure. Essentially, the two sites are the same except for domain name and minor differences on the home pages. We've run this way for quite a few years. Both sites have a domain authority of 48 and there are not a large number of duplicate incoming links. I understand the "book" to say we should combine the sites with 301's to the similar pages. I am concerned about doing this because "site 2" still does about 20% of our business. We have been losing organic traffic for a number of years. I think this mainly has to do with a more competitive environment. However, where google used to serve both our sites for a search term it now will only show one. How much organic benefit should we see if we combine. Will it be significant enough to merge the two sites. Understandably, I realize the future can't be predicted but I would like to know if anyone has had a similar experience or opinion Thanks Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ffctas0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Switching URLs after acquisition to retain domain authority?
 Hey everyone! My company just acquired our biggest competitor and we're switching to their platform because they have a better technical structure for SEO--what's the best way to do that, other than a 301 redirect? Can we even rename their domain to ours? How do we ensure we keep both our and their domain authority and SEO juice? Thanks! Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | genevieveagar0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Sub Domain Usage
 I see that the gap uses gap.com, oldnavy.gap.com and bananarepublic.gap.com. Wouldn't a better approach for SEO to have oldnavy.com, bananarepublic.com and gap.com all separate? Is there any benefit to using the approach of store1.parentcompany.com, store2.parentcompany.com etc? What are the pros and cons to each? Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | kcb81780
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Referring domain issues
 Our website (blahblah).org has 32 other domains pointing to it all from the same I.P address. These domains including the one in question, were all purchased by the website owner, who has inadvertently created duplicate content and on most of these domains. Some of these referring domains have 301's, some don't - but it appears they have all been de-indexed by Google. I'm somewhat out of my depth here (most of what I've said above has come from an agency who said we should address this before being slapped by Google). However I need to explain to my line manage the actual issues in more detail and the repercussions - any anyone please offer advice please? I'm happy to use the agency, or another - but would like some second opinions if possible? Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | LJHopkins0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Is it safe to redirect our .nl (netherlands) domain that we have just purchased to our .com domain?
 Hi all! We've recently developed a German version of our website with German translation and now we have just purchased a .nl domain, but with this one, we want all of the copy to remain in English. Is it ok to redirect our .nl domain to our current .com website or will this give us bad SEO points? Thank you! Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | donaldsze0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Buying a banned domain
 Hello all, I've found a exact match keyword domain that I'm able to buy. Problem is that I'm under the impression it might have been banned by google, currently it is only showing adsense without content. The site can't be found using the cache: or site: parameters in Google and the PR is 0. What are your experiences on buying a banned domain and how can I double check if the domain is banned? This blogpost suggests I should not buy it, any other opinions? Thanks. Hellemans Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | hellemans0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Recovery during domain migration
 On average, how long does it takes to recover 80% of the rankings if two high authority domains are combined without chaging any content? I totally understand that each domain is different and search engines can treat them differently but if all the steps are followed to the T what are the chances? Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ninjamarketer1
 
			
		 
			
		 
			
		 
			
		 
			
		 
			
		 
			
		 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				