In your journey to dominate search engine rankings, you’ve likely heard about the Moz Domain Authority (DA) metric and asked: How often does Moz update Domain Authority? As someone who has watched the SEO landscape shift for decades, I’ll walk you through the real answer — no fluff, no half-truths.
In this article you will learn how frequently Moz refreshes DA, why update timing varies, how to interpret changes, and how you should react to them in your SEO strategy.
What Is Domain Authority and Why It Matters
Before we cover update frequency, let’s anchor on what the metric is. Domain Authority is Moz’s proprietary score (on a 1-100 scale) meant to estimate how likely a domain is to rank in search engine result pages. While Google doesn’t use DA in its ranking algorithm, it remains a useful third-party benchmark for comparing site strength relative to your competition.
DA is calculated from factors such as: the number of unique linking root domains, the quality of backlinks, internal linking structure, domain age and trust metrics. Because each of these factors changes over time, the score is dynamic. The more high-quality links you acquire and the better your technical setup, the more likely your DA will improve.
How Frequently Does Moz Update Domain Authority?
Here’s what I’ve observed and compiled from multiple credible sources and years of SEO practice:
- Many sources indicate that Moz typically updates DA approximately once a month, i.e., every ~30 days.
- Some newer commentary suggests the underlying Mozscape link index data is refreshed every 3 to 4 weeks (roughly monthly), and in some cases newer crawl & link recognition may reflect in near real-time for some domains.
- Other reports say updates may happen every few weeks and occasionally daily fluctuations might be reflected, though not always reliably or visibly.
- Some older or less precise statements suggest updates every 2-3 months, but those seem less aligned with current behavior.
Putting this together: You can reasonably anticipate a DA update monthly, with possibility of slightly faster update cycles (e.g., 3-4 weeks) depending on Moz’s index refresh, your site’s link activity, and internal algorithm changes.
Why the Frequency Isn’t Fixed
You may ask: “If monthly is typical, why can’t I pinpoint a consistent date?” Here are reasons why:
- Moz’s crawler network and Mozscape index has to harvest link data, validate it, remove duplicates and spam-links, then calculate scores. That’s a process with variable time.
- Sites with very low activity may update slower because there’s less change to process. Sites with high link turnover may show changes faster.
- Moz may roll out algorithmic shifts or model changes (for example DA v2) that affect scores, causing irregular timing.
- Your site’s DA score may not actually change even though an update occurred — if your link profile and competitive context didn’t shift meaningfully.
- External competition: Because DA is comparative across all domains in Moz’s index, even if you improve, your score might stay the same if many other domains also improved.
What You Should Expect When Monitoring DA
Given the factors above, here’s how to approach DA monitoring realistically:
- Check your DA once a month. That aligns with update frequency and avoids chasing noise.
- Don’t expect daily changes unless you earned a major link from a very high-authority domain; even then the change might not show immediately.
- Use historical tracking: Compare your DA over several months rather than day-to-day, because meaningful movement takes time.
- Recognize that a lack of change doesn’t equal failure — sometimes stability is acceptable if your site is strong.
- Understand that drops can occur due to changes outside your direct control — a competitor’s growth, a Moz algorithm adjustment, or removal of links.
Interpretation of DA Movements: What They Mean
When your DA score does change, here’s how to interpret it:
- Small uptick (e.g., +1 or +2): Likely the result of a few new good backlinks, or Moz’s refreshed index picking up earlier work. These incremental moves are normal and expected.
- Larger gain (e.g., +5 or more): Could indicate a strong backlink acquisition campaign, publicity that generated multiple new root domains linking to you, or a positive shift relative to competitors.
- Drop in DA: Might mean you lost quality backlinks, a spammy link network was removed (yours or a competitor’s which changed the relative rankings), or Moz changed its calculation model.
- No change over several months: This is common especially for established domains in competitive niches. Growth at higher levels becomes harder, since you’re competing with the top players.
Strategic Implications for Your SEO
Because DA updates monthly or close to it, here are how you should align your strategy:
- Plan link-building and outreach campaigns with a mindset of long-term gain. Don’t expect instantaneous DA improvements within days.
- After you earn major backlinks, allow for ~1-3 months before checking for DA influence. The next monthly update is when you might see it.
- Use DA as a benchmark, not as the sole performance metric. Combine with organic traffic, keyword rankings, conversion rates, and backlink growth.
- If your DA begins plateauing, review your link profile for diversity, context relevance, and anchor diversity. At higher DA levels, incremental gains require more effort.
- If your DA drops, look at your recent link losses, technical issues (e.g., site outages or indexation problems), and competitor shifts rather than panic.
Recent Data & Trends Worth Knowing
- At the time of writing in 2025, multiple SEO resources indicate that Moz’s link-indexing infrastructure has improved, so DA updates may be slightly faster than older “every two months” estimates.
- The competitive nature of DA is becoming stronger: even if you improve your own link profile, your score may not rise if many others improve too.
- Many SEO agencies acknowledge that while DA is still used for prospecting (e.g., for link-building targets or partner evaluation), it has less direct impact on Google ranking than it once seemed. It remains correlative, not causal.
Practical Checklist for You Right Now
Here’s a quick list you can act on:
- Set a reminder to check your DA once a month, preferably right after Moz releases an update (though exact dates aren’t published).
- When your DA increases, log what outreach or links were secured in the prior 4–6 weeks — this helps identify what works.
- If no change, audit your backlinks — identify if you lost domains, if low-quality links dominate, if internal linking is weak.
- Use DA score changes as a signal, not the end goal — your ultimate aim remains: higher traffic, better rankings, improved conversions.
- Compare your DA to key competitors in your niche — achieving a higher DA than a competitor may give you a ranking edge.
Conclusion
To answer the core question: Moz typically updates Domain Authority about once a month, with variations depending on link data indexing, algorithm updates, and competition context. It’s not an exact schedule — don’t fixate on calendar days — but that monthly rhythm is a sensible expectation.
What truly matters is how you respond: by building quality backlinks, improving site health, and tracking meaningful metrics over time. DA is a helpful gauge, not a guaranteed ranking lever. Treat it as an informative tool in your broader SEO toolkit rather than the destination itself.