Authority Score

Semrush's 0-100 compound metric for a domain's overall quality and SEO strength. Blends link power (quantity + quality of backlinks), organic traffic, and a natural-vs-spammy signal. Higher = harder to outrank and more valuable as a backlink source. It is a Semrush model, not a Google metric — treat it as a comparative yardstick, never an official ranking factor.

Syntax

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Authority Score: 0-100 (logarithmic — 40→50 is far harder than 10→20)

Example

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// Rough bands for context
0-20    New or thin sites, low link equity
21-40   Established small sites / local businesses
41-60   Strong niche authorities
61-80   Major industry players
81-100  Global brands (Wikipedia, Amazon, gov sites)

// How to USE it:
// - Comparing two competitors? Higher AS ≈ steeper climb.
// - Prospecting backlinks? Favor referring domains with
//   higher AS AND topical relevance.
// - Do NOT report it to a client as "our Google score" —
//   it is a third-party estimate.

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