Is prioritizing “high DA” backlinks still an effective SEO strategy?

[Doongbuggy]

as exposed in the leak, relevance matters more than DA although there is some metric of domain value, yes

[SEOVicc]

I don’t know anyone good with linkbuilding that still follows DR/DA for valuation of links

[Ray69x]

Mentioning brands on well-known websites can truly enhance the overall experience, rather than just focusing on sites with high domain authority that may not be as familiar.

[EuropeSEO]

I would rather have 6 DR 10 links, than 1 DR 60 link.

[ccrrr2]

Relevance is more important, but those backlinks should also have some authority when linking. Sales of backlinks will only go up imo. People want shortcuts and myth sellers will profit from selling 89DA backlinks even if they are irrelevant to the target.

[cubicle_jack]

Honestly, I think DA obsession is mostly a distraction at this point. The whole “high DA backlink” chase made sense maybe 5-7 years ago when it was easier to game, but Google’s gotten way better at understanding actual relevance and authority beyond just domain metrics. I’ve seen sites with a ton of high DA backlinks stuck in mediocre rankings because the links were irrelevant or obviously bought.

What seems to matter more now is whether the backlink is from a site that actually has topical authority in your niche and whether it’s contextually relevant. A link from a DR 45 industry blog that your target audience actually reads is going to move the needle more than some DR 80 generic news site that has nothing to do with your space.

That said, DA isn’t completely useless – it’s a decent shorthand for “is this domain spam or legit?” But yeah, people definitely get stuck chasing the metric instead of asking, “will this link actually send qualified traffic or signal relevance to Google?”The Semrush leak stuff basically confirmed what a lot of us suspected – Google cares way more about the actual authority signals (traffic, user engagement, topical relevance) than third-party metrics like DA. So if you’re building links, focus on relevance first, then look at DA as a tiebreaker!!! Hope this helps!

[Nyodrax]

Backlinks are signals of relevance. Better to get them organically by creating useful pages and content.

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[SEOPub]

It never was an effective strategy.

[Digital_Scroll]

Not necessarily… because DA can be misleading.

A lot of backlink profiles **can be deceptive** once you actually look under the hood.

If you see a site with thousands of backlinks from domains with reasonably high DA, that doesn’t tell you the whole story.

You should run a Backlink Audit using tools like Ahrefs or Semrush (BTW, I don’t have a horse in any of those races).

Plug the site in question into one of these platforms, and apply the following filters:

1. Dofollow only
2. Active links only
3. One link per domain

Why?

Nofollow = No SEO link equity
Non-active links = No value; they’re dead
Multiple links from same domain = diluted (minimal) SEO link equity

You may end up seeing a site that originally appeared to have thousands of viable backlinks from domains with reasonably strong DA…

to all of a sudden become a domain with maybe a few dozen viable backlinks to its name because the majority of their “backlinks” of record are worthless.

Something to think about…🤔

[rebelgrowth]

imo chasing high da is kinda overhyped. what matters is how relevant the linking site is to your topic and if it brings actual traffic. ive seen better results focusing on topical authority and building solid content instead of just da. an ai seo tool like rebelgrowth helped me map topics and keep track, but there are lots of options. focus on quality, not just the metric.

[The_Paleking]

All of these metrics are filler. Theyre general. They miss the pioint entirely.

If you can get links from high traffic websites where people click through to your site and follow through with high value web experiences, they are stellar backlinks that move the needle.

Does DA sometimes signal a high value site for linking? Yes. Does that mean anyone on that site is going to give a damn about your website? No.

High traffic = more top of funnel
High relevancy = higher conversion rate + more stickiness

[Few_Trouble1778]

relevance + traffic chart (should not be dropped, or have a downward trend) + DA. But getting good DA links is always good, I think.. 🙂

[design-rush]

>Are people obsessing about DA value more than other requirements?

The fact is that so many posts mention it makes it feel like this is the case. I think it’s due to new people using SEO tools which have this single generated score that makes it feel more tangible to see progress rather than looking at other factors and learning the fundamentals that matter.