Link Building
Spam Score
Quick definition
Spam Score is Moz's 0–17 metric estimating how likely a site is to be penalized or considered low-quality based on common spam signals.
Spam Score evaluates 27 site signals (thin content, low domain authority, suspicious anchors, hidden links, etc.). Higher scores indicate higher likelihood of being treated as spam.
Why Spam Score matters
Use it as a triage filter when evaluating backlink prospects or auditing existing links. A handful of high-Spam-Score links isn't fatal — large clusters are.
How Spam Score works in practice
Always validate Spam Score with a manual review. Some legitimate sites get false positives, and some clean-looking sites with low Spam Scores are actually thin link farms.
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Related terms
Toxic Backlink
A toxic backlink is a link from a low-quality, spammy, or manipulative source that can harm your site's rankings or trigger a manual penalty.
Link Audit
A link audit is a systematic review of a website's backlink profile to identify strengths, weaknesses, and toxic risks.
Trust Flow
Trust Flow is Majestic's 0–100 metric measuring the quality and trustworthiness of a website's backlink profile.
Domain Authority
Domain Authority (DA) is Moz's 0–100 score predicting how well a website will rank in search results based on its backlink profile.
Domain Rating (DR)
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' 0–100 score measuring the strength of a website's backlink profile relative to others in its index.
Page Authority
Page Authority (PA) is Moz's 0–100 score predicting how well a specific page will rank in search results.