Domain Authority is a third-party metric from Moz scored 1–100 that predicts how well a site might rank. It's logarithmic and comparative, meaning moving from DA 20 to 30 is easier than 50 to 60, and your score shifts based on what everyone else is doing. If your DA stagnates, the most common reason is insufficient link velocity—you're not acquiring quality backlinks fast enough to outpace both your competitors and natural link decay. Check your backlink profile for these issues. You might be gaining links, but losing them through 404s, site migrations, or link removals at the same rate. Run a lost links report in Ahrefs or Semrush. If you're hemorrhaging links from expired domains or deleted pages, that directly counters new gains. Also verify the quality of new links—ten directory submissions won't move DA like one contextual link from a DA 60+ editorial site. Competitor activity matters more than most realize. If sites in your niche are running aggressive outreach campaigns or earning press coverage, the baseline rises and your static profile falls relatively. DA recalculates regularly as Moz's index updates, so a score drop doesn't always mean you did something wrong—it can mean others did something right. At Ottawa SEO Inc., we track DA as a directional indicator but never optimize for it directly. We focus on relevant link acquisition from sites our target audience actually reads. A DA stuck at 32 but ranking page one for commercial keywords in Ottawa beats a DA 45 with no traffic. Prioritize links that drive referral visitors and topical authority in your niche over pure metric chasing. Build 3–5 solid editorial or resource links per month from sites with real traffic, and DA typically follows within 60–90 days. If it doesn't, check whether you're comparing against an older Moz index or if your niche's competitive threshold simply moved higher.