Brand Authority: Moz’s Latest Metric for Brand Strength

The concept of online brand strength is quantified through a numerical score ranging from 1 to 100. 

This metric aims to encapsulate a brand’s wide-ranging impact. Moz, a leading SEO solutions provider, has introduced a novel metric called “Brand Authority“. As an integral part of their Moz Pro SEO toolset and Moz API, as announced recently.

Brand Authority, as defined by Moz, can be located in the Domain Overview. It assigns a score, referred to as “online brand strength,” within the range of 1 to 100. Furthermore, a fresh brand comparison visualization has been incorporated.

Dr. Peter J. Meyers, moz marketing scientist explained, “Brand Authority merges Moz’s grasp of search intent and volume. To create a score reflecting a website’s collective influence from branded searches. 

He explained that this data synthesis includes elements like search queries such as [iPhone 15] and [iPad Pro], which strongly reflect Apple’s brand awareness. 

By consolidating this diverse data, Brand Authority normalizes and aligns it with the influence exhibited by well-established brands.

While not directly linked to a specific offline factor, the Brand Authority score inherently represents the broader influence of significant brands, extending beyond the digital realm.

As of now, Moz solely founds this metric on U.S. data, but it plans to expand its scope to include more regions in the year 2024.

The data points contributing to Brand Authority’s calculation will receive updates at varying intervals. Nevertheless, the metric itself will undergo bi-monthly updates, as confirmed by Meyers.

Moz Pro and Moz API have integrated Brand Authority into their existing pricing structure.

The metric carries relevance for Moz’s user base. Users can explore its potential utility for SEO, public relations, and other marketing endeavors. Yet, some SEO experts outside Moz might skeptically view adding another 1-100 “authority score“.

Meyers highlighted that Brand Authority, while applicable in broader marketing areas such as PR, fundamentally originates from Moz’s SEO expertise

Practically, Moz advises users to leverage Brand Authority for assessing gaps, optimizing ROI, valuing sales prospects, and evaluating acquisitions. Assess the actual impact of media brands that amplify their stories.

Brand Authority distinguishes itself from Moz’s previously introduced metric, Domain Authority. 

Both metrics coexist: Domain Authority reveals online strength and ranking potential, while Brand Authority examines broader organizational influence.

Moz’s improved Domain Overview tool visually contrasts Domain Authority with Brand Authority, helping users understand their competitive relationship.

Unlike NPS, share of voice, and sentiment analysis, which assess brand strength post-initiation of journeys, Brand Authority gauges pre-journey brand awareness.

Moz unveiled top 500 sites by Brand Authority, including five perfect scores of 100: Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, and Walmart.

This metric provides a distinctive perspective on brand strength, analyzing searchers’ recognition of brand terms, sub-brands, products, and services.