What is a Good Page Authority Score? 2025 SEO Guide

Understanding Page Authority in 2025

Page Authority (PA) is a predictive metric developed by Moz that estimates how well a specific web page will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). Measured on a logarithmic scale from 1 to 100, Page Authority has become an essential benchmark for SEO professionals, digital marketers, and affiliate managers who need to understand their content’s ranking potential. Unlike Domain Authority, which evaluates an entire website’s strength, Page Authority focuses exclusively on individual page performance, making it invaluable for targeted optimization strategies. The metric considers dozens of factors, with backlinks being the most influential component, but also accounting for content quality, domain credibility, and various trust signals that search engines use to determine ranking capability.

The Page Authority Score Breakdown

Understanding the different authority tiers is crucial for setting realistic SEO goals and benchmarking against competitors. The Page Authority scale operates on a logarithmic system, which means that improving from a score of 20 to 30 is significantly easier than moving from 70 to 80. This logarithmic nature reflects how search engines themselves evaluate pages—the difficulty increases exponentially as you climb higher in authority rankings.

What Constitutes a Good Page Authority Score?

The answer to “what is a good Page Authority score” is more nuanced than a simple number. A score of 50 or above is generally considered decent to good, but this benchmark varies significantly depending on your industry, competitive landscape, and specific business goals. In highly competitive industries like finance, health, and technology, the average Page Authority scores are substantially higher, meaning you might need a PA of 60 or 70 to be competitive. Conversely, in niche markets with less competition, a PA of 35 or 40 might position you well above your competitors.

The most effective approach is to use Page Authority as a comparative metric rather than an absolute target. Instead of aiming for a specific number in isolation, analyze the PA scores of pages currently ranking in the top positions for your target keywords. If the average PA of top-ranking competitors is 45, and your page sits at 25, you have a clear gap to address. This competitive benchmarking provides actionable intelligence that generic benchmarks cannot offer. PostAffiliatePro users benefit from this approach by tracking their affiliate partners’ content authority and identifying high-performing pages that drive conversions and commissions.

The Logarithmic Scale: Why Progress Gets Harder

One of the most important concepts to understand about Page Authority is that it operates on a logarithmic scale, not a linear one. This means the effort required to improve your score increases exponentially as you climb higher. Moving from PA 10 to PA 20 might require acquiring 5-10 quality backlinks, but moving from PA 70 to PA 80 could require 50+ high-authority links. This logarithmic nature reflects how Google’s own algorithms work—it becomes progressively harder to improve rankings as you move up the competitive ladder.

This principle has significant implications for your SEO strategy. New pages and websites should focus on building foundational authority through consistent content creation and moderate-quality backlinks. Once you reach PA 40-50, you can shift your strategy toward acquiring fewer but higher-quality links from more authoritative sources. Understanding this progression helps you allocate resources more efficiently and set realistic timelines for authority growth. For affiliate managers using PostAffiliatePro, this means recognizing that newer affiliate partners may need more support and resources to build their content authority compared to established publishers.

Key Factors That Influence Page Authority

Page Authority is calculated using a sophisticated machine learning algorithm that considers over 40 different factors. While Moz keeps the exact formula proprietary, research and industry experience have identified the most influential components. Backlinks remain the dominant factor, with both the quantity and quality of referring domains significantly impacting your PA score. A single link from a high-authority domain like Forbes or HubSpot can boost your score more than dozens of links from low-authority sites.

Beyond backlinks, Page Authority considers the quality and relevance of linking domains, the anchor text distribution used in those links, and the age and stability of your link profile. Pages with long-standing backlinks from trusted sources typically have higher authority than pages with recent links from questionable sources. The metric also factors in domain-level signals like your overall Domain Authority, content quality indicators, and various trust and spam signals that help Google determine whether a page deserves to rank well.

How Page Authority Differs from Domain Authority

While Page Authority and Domain Authority are related metrics, they serve different purposes in your SEO analysis. Domain Authority (DA) measures the overall ranking strength of an entire website or domain, considering all backlinks pointing to any page on that domain. Page Authority (PA) focuses exclusively on individual pages, evaluating only the links and signals specific to that particular URL. A website might have a Domain Authority of 45, but individual pages on that site could have Page Authority scores ranging from 15 to 65, depending on their individual link profiles and content quality.

This distinction is crucial for strategic planning. You might have a high-authority domain but still need to build authority for specific pages targeting competitive keywords. Conversely, a low-authority domain can still have individual pages with respectable PA scores if those pages have attracted quality backlinks. For affiliate networks managed through PostAffiliatePro, understanding this difference helps you identify which affiliate content pages have the strongest ranking potential and which need additional link-building support to compete effectively.

Benchmarking Against Your Competitors

The most practical way to determine if your Page Authority is “good” is through competitive analysis. Start by identifying the top 5-10 pages currently ranking for your target keywords. Check their Page Authority scores using tools like Moz Link Explorer, Ahrefs, or Semrush. Calculate the average PA of these competing pages—this becomes your benchmark. If your page’s PA is within 5-10 points of this average, you’re competitive. If it’s 15+ points lower, you have significant work to do.

This competitive benchmarking approach accounts for industry variations automatically. A PA of 35 might be excellent in a niche market but inadequate in a highly competitive industry. By comparing against actual competitors rather than generic benchmarks, you get a realistic picture of your ranking potential. Additionally, monitor how your PA changes over time relative to competitors. If your PA is growing faster than theirs, you’re gaining competitive ground even if your absolute score is lower. PostAffiliatePro’s analytics capabilities help you track these metrics across your affiliate network, identifying which partners are building authority fastest and which need strategic support.

Improving Your Page Authority: Proven Strategies

Increasing Page Authority requires a multi-faceted approach focused primarily on building a stronger backlink profile. The most effective strategy is acquiring high-quality backlinks from relevant, authoritative sources. Rather than pursuing quantity, focus on links from pages that are topically related to your content and have established authority in your industry. A single link from a relevant industry publication with PA 60+ is worth far more than 20 links from low-authority directories.

Content quality is the foundation of natural link acquisition. Create comprehensive, original, and genuinely useful content that other websites want to reference and link to. Original research, detailed case studies, and expert roundups tend to attract more backlinks than generic blog posts. When you publish valuable content, you create natural link-building opportunities as journalists, bloggers, and researchers seek sources to cite. Internal linking strategy also plays a supporting role—linking from your high-authority pages to newer content helps distribute authority throughout your site and accelerates the growth of lower-authority pages.

Avoid black hat tactics that might provide short-term PA gains but risk severe penalties. Buying links, participating in link schemes, or using automated link-building tools can result in manual penalties that devastate your rankings. Google’s algorithms have become sophisticated at detecting unnatural link patterns, and the risk far outweighs any temporary benefits. Focus instead on sustainable, white-hat strategies that build genuine authority over time.

Page Authority and Your Affiliate Program

For affiliate managers and network operators, Page Authority is a critical metric for evaluating affiliate content quality and predicting earning potential. High-PA content from your affiliates is more likely to rank well, drive organic traffic, and generate commissions. When recruiting new affiliates, checking their existing content’s Page Authority gives you insight into their SEO capabilities and content quality standards. Affiliates with established high-PA pages are more likely to create quality content for your program.

PostAffiliatePro enables you to track and analyze your affiliate partners’ content performance, including authority metrics. By identifying which affiliates are building the strongest content authority, you can provide targeted support, resources, and incentives to help them improve. You might offer additional commission rates for high-PA content, provide SEO training, or facilitate link-building opportunities between affiliate partners. This strategic approach to authority management helps your entire network grow stronger and more competitive.

Monitoring and Tracking Page Authority Over Time

Page Authority isn’t static—it fluctuates as your link profile changes and as Moz updates its algorithm. It’s recommended to check your Page Authority scores monthly rather than obsessively tracking daily changes. Monthly monitoring gives backlinks time to be discovered and indexed while avoiding the noise of minor fluctuations. Track your PA alongside other metrics like organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates to understand the real-world impact of authority changes.

When you notice PA declining, investigate the cause. Have you lost backlinks? Has a high-authority referring page been removed or deindexed? Are competitors building links faster than you? Understanding the “why” behind PA changes helps you adjust your strategy accordingly. Similarly, when PA increases, analyze what contributed to the improvement—was it new backlinks, content updates, or improved domain authority? These insights inform your future optimization efforts and help you replicate success.

The Relationship Between Page Authority and Rankings

While Page Authority is not a direct Google ranking factor, it’s a strong predictor of ranking potential because it measures signals that Google does consider important. Pages with higher PA tend to rank better for their target keywords, but this correlation isn’t absolute. A page with PA 40 might outrank a page with PA 50 if the lower-authority page has better on-page optimization, more relevant content, or better user experience signals. Page Authority should be viewed as one piece of the ranking puzzle, not the entire picture.

The most successful SEO strategies combine strong Page Authority with excellent on-page optimization, high-quality content, and positive user experience signals. A page with PA 60 but poor content and high bounce rates will underperform compared to a PA 45 page with exceptional content and strong engagement metrics. Use Page Authority as a guide for identifying pages with strong link-based potential, then optimize those pages comprehensively to maximize their ranking performance.