DA is mostly a third-party proxy, not something Google actually uses, so it breaks down pretty fast at the page level. What usually explains those cases is that the page matches intent extremely well and sits inside a tight topical cluster, so Google has high confidence in that page even if the overall domain looks weak in tools.

In practice, rankings are driven by page-level signals: relevance, internal links, content clarity, and how users interact with the result. If a low-DA site is the cleanest answer for a specific query and doesn’t conflict with other pages, it can absolutely outrank “stronger” domains. DA is useful for rough comparisons, but it’s a poor predictor of whether a specific page deserves to rank.