The way to increase domain authority is to get followed links from domains that have not linked to you before, and nothing else. That is true whether you measure it as Domain Authority by Moz (DA) or Domain Rating by Ahrefs (DR): both scores read the link graph and ignore your content, your traffic and your on-page work. So the question “how to increase domain authority” has a short answer and a long one. The short answer is new referring domains with followed links. The long answer is where a new site gets them, in what order, and how much each round moves the number. This guide covers the long answer with figures from the 126 startup directories we track, all checked on 22 September 2026.
7 ways to increase domain authority, fastest first
Followed links from new domains are the only input, so the seven items below are ordered by how quickly a new site can get one, not by how much each is worth. A DR 0 site should work down the list; a DR 30 site can start at item four.
1. Directory listings with a followed link
Directory listings are the fastest followed links a new product can get, because the directory wants the listing and the form takes ten minutes. Of the 126 directories, launch platforms and review sites we track, 40 give a followed link on a standard listing. Their median DR is 53, 27 of them are DR 40 or higher, and 7 are DR 70 or higher. Of the 16 that publish an approval window, 10 list within seven days. The full set is on the dofollow list.
The catch is that 82 of the 126 are nofollow by default and 61 of those state a condition for turning the link followed: 52 name a paid tier, 34 a badge on your site, and 25 a top-three finish in a weekly or daily vote. Read the link column before you submit.
2. Integration and partner marketplace pages
Every integration partner has a marketplace or app directory, and a listing there is a followed link from a strong domain your competitors cannot buy. If your product connects to Slack, Zapier, Shopify, HubSpot or a payment provider, the marketplace listing is worth doing in the same week as the directories. Approval takes days to a few weeks and usually requires a working integration and a support page.
3. Unlinked mentions of your product
A site that already names your product will usually add a link if asked, and that is a new referring domain for one email. Search your brand name in quotes, exclude your own domain and the directories you just submitted to, and write to every page that mentioned you without linking. Reply rates are highest for reviews and round-ups published in the last month.
4. Podcasts and guest posts in your niche
One episode or post on a site your customers already read gives a followed link from a domain with topical relevance, which counts more than the same DR from an unrelated site. Aim for hosts and blogs in the DR 40 to 60 band: they answer email, they publish within a month, and their link moves a DR 10 site more than a DR 90 site that links out to thousands.
5. A free tool or calculator
A useful free tool earns links without outreach, because writers link to things that do work for their readers. It has to solve a real task in your category: a checker, a generator, a calculator, a template pack. The links arrive over months rather than weeks, so build it after the listings are done, not instead of them.
6. Original data
A dataset nobody else has, published as a page with a table, is the most linkable asset a small company can make. Pricing surveys, benchmark results, a count of something in your industry. It is the reason every number on this page comes from our own dataset rather than someone else’s post.
7. Keep the links you already have
Losing a followed link costs the same as gaining one. Directories prune unpaid and unverified listings, and 41 of the 126 we track require their badge on your site; take it down and the link goes nofollow or the listing goes. Check your lost-links report monthly and re-verify any listing that has dropped.
What a round of directory listings does to a DR 0 site
One round of directory listings usually moves a fresh domain from DR 0 to somewhere between 10 and 20 within about two months. The reason is simple: the score is logarithmic, so the first ten referring domains are worth more points than the next hundred, and directories are where the first ten come from.
Here is what the dataset says a full round contains, checked 22 September 2026.
| Of the 126 directories | Count |
|---|---|
| Followed link on a standard listing | 40 |
| Followed link and free | 5 |
| Followed link and freemium (free tier, paid skip) | 16 |
| Followed link and paid | 13 |
| Followed link and DR 50 or higher | 22 |
| Followed link and DR 70 or higher | 7 |
| Nofollow by default with a stated unlock | 61 |
The distribution matters more than the top of it. The 40 followed-link directories sit mostly in the DR 20 to 69 range: 1 under 20, 12 between 20 and 39, 12 between 40 and 59, 8 between 60 and 69, 5 between 70 and 79, 2 between 80 and 89 and none at 90 or above. All six DR 90+ sites we track (SourceForge, Capterra, Crunchbase, G2, Hacker News and Product Hunt) link nofollow. They send visitors, not authority.
Timing runs in two stages. Listings go live between the same day and six months after you submit, depending on the directory and whether you pay: of the 16 followed-link directories with a published window, the longest free queue is 180 days and the shortest is instant. Ahrefs then registers the link one to three weeks after it goes live. Budget two months from the first submission to a settled number, and measure with the Domain Rating checker at the end of it, not every morning.
The 10 highest-DR directories with a followed link
These ten are where the first round starts, sorted by Domain Rating. Three of them need their badge on your site before the link is followed, and three are paid only.
| Directory | DR | Cost | Badge needed | Approval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fazier | 83 | Freemium, $29 to skip | Yes | Up to 30 days free, instant paid |
| Findly.tools | 81 | Freemium, $29 to skip | Yes | Premium live within 24 hours |
| ToolPilot AI | 78 | Freemium | Yes | Not stated |
| BetaList | 77 | Paid | No | Depends on plan |
| There’s An AI For That | 77 | Paid, $49 | No | 1–2 days |
| PeerPush | 75 | Freemium, $39 to skip | No | Paid live in about a minute |
| Submit AI Tools | 75 | Unknown | No | Not stated |
| Acid Tools | 68 | Unknown | No | Reviewed, time not stated |
| MagicBox.tools | 68 | Paid, $15.90 | No | Within 7 days |
| AI Tools Directory | 67 | Freemium | No | 30–90 days free, 24–48 hours paid |
The whole ranking, including the nofollow giants, is on the top 10 by Domain Rating page. Fit still comes first: an AI directory will reject a bookkeeping product however high its DR, and a rejected submission is an afternoon spent for nothing.
Domain Authority vs Domain Rating
Domain Authority is Moz’s 0 to 100 link score and Domain Rating is Ahrefs’ 0 to 100 link score, and the same followed link from a new domain raises both. They differ in which crawl they read and how they weight it, so one site can show DA 30 and DR 45 and neither is wrong. Google uses neither. Founders and directories quote DR far more often, which is why every number on this site is Domain Rating by Ahrefs. Pick one score, check it monthly with the Domain Rating checker, and track the trend against the competitors ranking for your keywords.
What does not increase domain authority
Content, traffic, on-page SEO, internal linking and social followers do not increase domain authority, because none of them is a link from another domain. Most guides on this query list them anyway. Here is what each one actually does.
- Content. A page ranks and brings visitors without adding a point to DA or DR. It raises the score only when another site links to it, which is item five and six above.
- Traffic. Neither Moz nor Ahrefs reads your analytics. A DR 90 nofollow listing on Product Hunt can send thousands of visitors and leave the score where it was.
- On-page SEO and internal links. Titles, headings, speed and internal linking help pages rank for what they already have authority to rank for. They move nothing at the domain level.
- Social profiles. Links from social sites are nofollow and from the same handful of domains everyone else has. Zero effect.
- More links from the same domain. A second, tenth or hundredth link from a site that already links to you counts roughly once. Five hundred backlinks from three domains is three referring domains.
- Disavowing links. Moz’s own advice includes removing spammy links, and a disavow file can help a site under a manual penalty. For a new site with a small profile it does nothing; there is nothing to remove yet.
Why domain authority drops
Domain authority drops when a linking page disappears, when a linking domain loses value, or when the index is recalibrated and other sites gain links faster than you do. One to three points either way is noise from recalculation. Five or more usually means lost links, and for a startup the usual culprits are directories. Listings get pruned when a free tier lapses, when a badge check fails, or when a product finishes outside the top three on a launch platform that only follows links for winners. Check the lost-links report, then re-open the listings you completed and click through to your own site to read the rel attribute.
What to do next
- Check your current number with the Domain Rating checker and write it down with the date.
- Submit to the followed-link directories that fit your product, starting with the DR 60+ ones in the table above, and put one badge snippet in your footer for the ones that need it.
- Add your integration marketplace pages and write to every site that mentioned you without a link, in the same week.
- Check the score again in eight weeks. The free rank plan reads your site, scores all 126 directories against it and hands back the ten to submit first, with the listing text ready to paste.