Did Your Semrush Authority Score Change On Jan 31, 2023? Here's why

Semrush, among the leading SEO tools, made a significant update to the Authority Score (AS) metric on January 31, 2023. What happened?

The world of search engine optimization (SEO) is constantly evolving. With the introduction of new algorithms, ranking factors, and metrics, it can be difficult for website owners to keep up. However, one recent development that has taken the SEO community by storm is the new Authority Score. What is the Authority Score, how does it work, and why is it becoming an increasingly important factor in search engine ranking?

What is the Authority Score?

The Semrush Authority Score is a metric that measures the overall authority of a website and is helpful in understanding and improving your site's SEO status. Unlike traditional metrics such as Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA), the Authority Score takes a more holistic approach to evaluate a website's authority. It factors in a range of variables such as backlinks, social signals, content quality, on-page optimization, and more. The goal of the Authority Score is to create a more manipulation-resistant metric that accurately reflects a website's overall authority.

How does the Authority Score work?

The Authority Score is calculated using a proprietary algorithm that considers a range of factors. Some of the key elements include:

Backlinks: The quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to a website are key indicators of its authority. The Authority Score algorithm considers not only the number of backlinks but also their relevance, quality, and diversity.
Social Signals: Social media activity and engagement are important indicators of a website's authority. The Authority Score algorithm considers the number of social media followers, likes, shares, and mentions a website has received.
Content Quality: The quality of a website's content is critical to its authority. The Authority Score algorithm assesses the relevance, depth, and originality of a website's content to determine its quality.
On-page Optimization: The Authority Score also considers on-page optimization factors such as title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and more.

The Authority Score algorithm evaluates these and other factors to determine the overall authority of a website. The result is a score between 0 and 100, with higher scores indicating a higher level of authority.

Why is the Authority Score important?

The Authority Score is an important KPI as it provides a more comprehensive and accurate evaluation of a website's overall authority. This is particularly important in the face of growing efforts to manipulate traditional metrics such as DA and PA. By providing a more holistic and manipulation-resistant evaluation of a website's authority, the Authority Score is helping to level the playing field and create a more accurate representation of a website's value.

In addition, some search engines use it to rank websites. As the algorithms and ranking factors used by search engines continue to evolve, it is becoming more important for website owners to understand and optimize for the Authority Score.

The Changes

To maintain its high levels of trustworthiness, Semrush's recent improvements are continuing to combat spam and link manipulation,

Factoring in organic traffic to better judge a site’s real value
Factoring in spam signals to resist manipulation
A visualizer in the tool that shows how we calculate the score
A Network Graph report that makes it easier to spot Private Blog Networks (PBNs) and signs of natural/unnatural link profiles.

From many client profiles we've been monitoring, we've seen ratings change by up to 30%, and we've also seen the New York Times go from 88 to a perfect 100!! For further details, consult the in-depth coverage on Semrush.

Search Engine Optimization

Joachim

My dad taught me to dream big and to work my butt off to make those dreams a reality. Building stuff and helping people succeed is what we are about. And if things don't work the first time, we try again differently. Growing bigger is one thing, growing better is what we aim for.