Authority weaknesses (LOW_DS, LOW_PS, NO_BL)
Three signals that indicate a ranking result has weak authority — meaning a newer or smaller competitor has a real shot at taking its slot.
LOW_DS — Low Domain Score
Fires when: the result's domain scores ≤ 10 on DataForSEO's 0–100 domain authority scale.
What it tells you: this domain has essentially no aggregate SEO weight. It's ranking because Google found nothing better, not because the domain has earned a place through links or history.
Why it's beatable: domain-level authority takes a long time to build, but a single well-linked page on any reasonable site will out-authority a DS-10 domain. If you see multiple LOW_DS flags in a top 10, the SERP is effectively saying "this keyword is under-served; please rank something better."
What to look at next: check each low-DS result's actual content. If they also have THIN_CONTENT, NO_BL, or OLD_CONTENT, you're looking at a text-book opportunity. If one low-DS result has rich content and current dates, it's probably a niche expert outranking bigger sites — same opportunity, different flavour.
LOW_PS — Low Page Score
Fires when: the result's page-level authority is at or below DataForSEO's baseline (≤ 0 on the normalised scale).
What it tells you: this specific URL has no meaningful backlinks or engagement signal, even if the domain is strong. It's often a stale page on a big site that's ranking on domain inheritance alone.
Why it's beatable: page-level authority responds to links faster than domain-level. A page with 5 decent referring domains can outrank a PS-0 page on a DS-80 site.
Classic pattern: a big media domain with an old, half-hearted article ranking for a keyword. The article has LOW_PS + OLD_CONTENT + sometimes THIN_CONTENT. A fresh, substantial, well-linked article on a DS-30 site can displace it within a quarter.
NO_BL — No Backlinks
Fires when: both referring domains and total backlinks are zero for this URL.
What it tells you: nobody has ever linked to this page. Google is ranking it purely on domain authority + on-page signals. Any inbound link you can point at a competing page is, by definition, more than this one has.
Why it's beatable: SEO's oldest trade is "write a better page + earn a few links". When the target has zero links, you're at parity before you've shaken anyone's hand. Even a modest outreach campaign moves the needle.
Warning sign: sometimes NO_BL appears on a page that's still ranking because the domain is massive (think a Wikipedia article or Reddit thread). In those cases the domain authority is doing all the work and displacement is much harder than the code suggests. Pair with DS: NO_BL + LOW_DS + low PS is the jackpot; NO_BL + high DS is much tougher.
Reading the authority signals together
Two shortcuts worth memorising:
Opportunity stack — LOW_DS + LOW_PS + NO_BL on 4+ of the top 10. The SERP has no authority floor. Almost always rankable with competent content.
Authority lottery — one result at DS-80+ with the rest all flagged LOW_DS. The DS-80 is on an unshakeable brand, but slots 2–10 are up for grabs. A strong article targeting mid-tier rank (positions 3–5) is realistic even on a new site.
Where SERPTool shows these
- Per-keyword aggregate on the analysis table (icons column)
- Per-result dots in the SERP Breakdown, with tooltip explanation
- 3 boolean columns (
LOW_DS,LOW_PS,NO_BL) in the Full SERP CSV export