Domain Authority is a proprietary score from Moz that predicts ranking potential on a 1-100 scale. Google doesn't use DA in its algorithm at all. What backlinks actually do is increase your site's trust, relevance, and PageRank-like authority in Google's real ranking systems. Moz built DA to estimate that underlying authority by analyzing link profiles, so when you earn quality backlinks, DA usually rises as a side effect, not as a direct cause-and-effect relationship. The strength of the correlation depends entirely on link quality. A dozen links from authoritative Canadian news sites, government pages, or established industry publications will move your DA far more than 500 directory links or blog comment spam. We've seen clients jump 5-7 DA points in six months with 15-20 solid editorial links, while others acquire hundreds of low-value links and see zero movement or even drops when Moz recalibrates its index. Key factors that make backlinks increase DA: - Source authority: Links from sites with DA 50+ carry exponentially more weight than DA 20 sources - Relevance: Topically related sites pass more modeled authority than random niches - Link diversity: 30 links from 30 domains beats 30 links from 3 domains - Anchor text naturalness: Over-optimized anchor profiles can suppress DA gains - Freshness: Moz's index updates monthly, so new links take 4-8 weeks to reflect At Ottawa SEO, we track DA as a portfolio health indicator, not a goal. If a client's DA stagnates while organic traffic and rankings climb, we don't panic because Google's actual authority signals matter more than Moz's model. Conversely, if DA spikes but rankings don't, we audit whether the links are genuinely valuable or just gaming Moz's algorithm. Focus on earning links that drive referral traffic and rankings. DA will follow if you're doing it right, but chasing the number itself leads to poor link acquisition decisions.