Comparing Page Authority Tools
I would compare Page Authority tools based on how well they explain why a page has its current link strength and what can be improved, rather than focusing only on the authority score.
Backlink Coverage — Check the size, freshness, and relevance of the backlink database, including new and lost links pointing to individual pages.
Referring-Domain Data — Look beyond the number of backlinks and examine unique referring domains, their relevance, quality, and growth over time.
Link-Quality Analysis — Useful tools should help identify authoritative and relevant links, anchor-text patterns, potentially suspicious links, and links that may contribute little value.
Page-Level Metrics — Page Authority, URL Rating, or similar metrics can provide comparative context. These are third-party measurements, not Google ranking factors, so I would use them alongside actual ranking and traffic data.
Competitor Comparisons — Comparing equivalent pages can reveal differences in referring domains, backlinks, content coverage, and potential link-building gaps.
Historical Data — Historical backlink and authority trends help identify whether a page is gaining strength, losing links, or experiencing significant changes.
Reporting and Integrations — Exports, dashboards, APIs, analytics integrations, and automated reports are valuable for tracking page performance across larger sites.
Ease of Use — The tool should make it easy to move from a metric to an actionable insight, such as identifying pages that need better internal links, stronger content, or relevant external links.
How I Evaluate a Tool
I would test several tools on the same set of pages and competitors, then compare backlink discovery, referring domains, link quality, historical trends, and page-level metrics. I would validate those findings against keyword rankings, impressions, organic traffic, and conversions.
The most useful tool is the one that helps answer practical questions such as:
Which pages are gaining or losing links? → Why are competitor pages stronger? → Which links or referring domains matter? → What should we improve next?
Simple Summary
A useful Page Authority tool should provide more than an authority score. The strongest evaluation combines backlink coverage, referring-domain quality, historical trends, competitor data, and actual page performance to turn page-level authority metrics into actionable SEO improvements.