Domain authority increases when you accumulate more high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites while maintaining a clean link profile. The metric itself is a third-party score from Moz (DA) or Ahrefs (DR), not a Google ranking factor, but it correlates strongly with ranking ability because both reflect link equity. The most effective approach is earning links from sites with higher authority than yours. One link from a DR70 news site moves the needle more than twenty directory links from DR15 sites. Focus on these tactics: publish original research or data studies that journalists cite, create tools or calculators your industry references, guest post on established blogs that allow contextual links, and get featured in roundups or resource lists on authoritative sites. Digital PR that lands coverage in national or industry media delivers the biggest DA jumps. Timeline matters. DA rarely moves quickly unless you land major placements. Expect 3-6 months before seeing measurable change with steady effort. A site earning 5-10 quality links monthly from DR40+ domains typically sees 8-12 point increases over six months. Sites starting below DA20 can jump faster initially, while moving from DA50 to DA60 requires exponentially more link equity. Avoid shortcuts. Buying links from PBNs or link farms can temporarily inflate DA but destroys rankings when Google catches it. Run a toxicity audit every quarter and disavow spammy domains. We've seen client sites drop 15 DA points overnight after algorithm updates penalized manipulative links. At Ottawa SEO Inc., we track DR (Ahrefs) more than DA because it updates faster and provides clearer benchmarks. For local businesses in Ottawa or Toronto, reaching DR30-35 usually establishes competitive authority in non-saturated niches. National brands need DR50+ to compete for commercial terms. Remember that DA is a comparative metric recalculated as the entire web's link graph changes, so your score can drop even if you gain links if competitors gain more.