Moz Introduces Brand Authority: A New Metric to Measure Online Brand Strength

Staying on top of the latest tools and metrics in the ever-evolving digital marketing and SEO landscape is crucial. 

Moz, a leading SEO software provider, recently unveiled its newest Brand Authority metric. This metric aims to quantify a brand’s online strength and influence, providing marketers with valuable insights to enhance their SEO and marketing strategies. 

In this article, we’ll explore what Brand Authority is, how it differs from other metrics like Domain Authority, its potential applications, and why it matters to SEOs and marketers.

1. What is Brand Authority?

Brand Authority, now available in Moz Pro SEO toolset and API, is a score assigned by Moz to assess a website’s online brand strength. The score ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating a more influential brand.

2. Understanding Brand Authority Calculation

At its core, Brand Authority leverages Moz’s expertise in search intent and volume data to calculate a brand’s score based on its branded search terms. 

For example, popular searches like [iPhone 15] and [iPad Pro] strongly reflect awareness of the Apple brand. The metric aggregates this data and compares it to well-established brands, resulting in a comprehensive strength score.

3. Offline Influence and Online Brand Strength

While Brand Authority doesn’t directly tie to offline factors, it inherently reflects the overall influence significant brands possess, both online and offline. 

The metric goes beyond traditional SEO signals for search engines like Google and provides a broader view of a brand’s impact on the world (including offline influences previously not considered).

4. Global Expansion of Brand Authority

Presently, Brand Authority relies on U.S. data; however, Moz plans to incorporate data from other regions in 2024, broadening its scope and usefulness.

5. Frequency of Updates

The data points used in Brand Authority will be updated at different intervals, with the metric itself being refreshed bi-monthly. This ensures that marketers have access to the most current and relevant information.

6. Pricing and Access to Brand Authority

Good news for Moz Pro users – adding Brand Authority will not increase subscription fees. 

However, accessing Brand Authority data via the Moz API will incur additional charges, as communicated by Moz.

7. Why Should Marketers Care About Brand Authority?

Marketers using Moz’s services should explore Brand Authority to understand their brand’s online strength compared to competitors. It offers valuable insights that can inform SEO, PR, and other marketing activities.

8. Moz’s Motivation Behind Brand Authority

Dr. Peter J. Meyers, marketing scientist at Moz, emphasizes that measuring brand influence is vital for SEOs. The metric’s ability to encompass success signals beyond search opens up diverse use cases for PR and broader marketing efforts, all while rooted in Moz’s SEO expertise.

9. Understanding Brand Authority’s Applications

Moz users can leverage the metric to identify gaps in their marketing strategy, maximize ROI, evaluate the value of sales prospects and potential acquisitions, and measure the real impact of media brands that cover their stories.

10. Brand Authority vs. Domain Authority

Moz is renowned for its Domain Authority metric, predicting a website’s likelihood to rank in search. Brand Authority and Domain Authority are complementary metrics, each offering unique insights. The improved Domain Overview tool now visually displays the relationship between the two scores, helping users better understand their competitive landscape.

11. Brand Authority vs. Other Brand Metrics

In contrast to traditional brand metrics like NPS, share of voice, and sentiment analysis, Brand Authority is search-centric. It aims to capture people’s awareness of a brand even before they start their search or buyer’s journey. This makes it a valuable addition to the marketer’s toolbox.

12. Top 500 U.S. Brands by Brand Authority

Moz has released a list of the top 500 U.S. brands based on their Brand Authority score. Notably, five brands achieved a perfect score of 100: Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, and Walmart. 

Check out the following brand authority comparison visualization for valuable insights into the online strength of these renowned brands.

13. Final Thoughts

Brand Authority marks a significant advancement in the SEO landscape. It enables marketers to measure and understand their brand’s influence and impact, making it an indispensable tool for optimizing marketing efforts and staying ahead of the competition.

Ready to harness the power of Moz’s Brand Authority for your small business’s online success?

Partner with BlakSheep Creative, the experienced Denham Springs, LA digital marketing agency. 

With our expertise and Moz’s cutting-edge metric, we’ll craft a winning strategy to elevate your brand’s online strength to enhance your marketing and PR efforts.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity! Contact us now, and let’s pave the way to greater online influence.

FAQs

1. How often is the Brand Authority metric updated? 

The Brand Authority metric is refreshed bi-monthly, providing users with up-to-date information about their brand’s online strength.

2. Can Brand Authority be accessed through the Moz Pro subscription without additional charges? 

Yes, adding Brand Authority will not lead to an increase in the Moz Pro subscription fees.

3. Is Brand Authority available for global data or limited to the U.S.? 

Brand Authority is based only on U.S. data, but Moz plans to include data from more regions in 2024.

4. How does Brand Authority differ from Domain Authority? 

While Domain Authority predicts a website’s likelihood to rank in search, Brand Authority captures broader signals of an organization’s influence, encompassing offline and online factors.

5. Can Brand Authority help identify marketing gaps and potential acquisition targets? 

Yes, Moz users can leverage Brand Authority to assess their marketing gaps and understand the true value of sales prospects and potential acquisitions.