Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
The Concept of Spam Score
Spam Score, also known as the Spam Score, refers to the likelihood of a web page being identified as spam by search engines such as Google.
In essence, this score is a number between zero and one hundred that indicates how likely a page under review is to be listed as a spam page in search engine results.
Overall, the Spam Score depends on various factors such as the number of outbound links, the quality of the links, the textual content, keywords, and more.
The better these factors are, and the more credible the page’s connections are with other reputable pages, the lower the Spam Score will be.
The Spam Score index, introduced by Moz, allows you to measure the percentage chance that Google has identified your site as a spam site by reviewing 27 different factors related to spam characteristics.
However, it should be noted that the Spam Score index is only one of the important factors in your site’s SEO and should not be used alone to evaluate your site.
Additionally, this index was determined by Moz and based on their analyses, and it cannot be definitively claimed that Google uses these same factors to identify spam sites.
For this reason, to improve your site’s SEO, you need to use multiple different methods and solutions, and use reliable and diverse sources to evaluate your site’s SEO status.
James Norquay says, “If you work for SEO success, you need to consider Spam Score. If you have something on your site that has increased your Spam Score, your site can be severely affected in site ranking. To achieve a good ranking, you need to control your Spam Score and look for ways to reduce it.”
James Norquay, CEO of SEO.co.
How is the spam score calculated?
MOZ spam score is used as one of the methods to calculate the likelihood of a domain or webpage being considered spam.
To calculate the MOZ spam score, the company uses 27 different factors, which are explained below:
- Low number of pages
- Domain extension
- Domain size and length
- Presence of numbers in the domain
- Use of inappropriate fonts on the website
- Not using Google Tag Manager
- Absence of two-step advertisements
- Fraudulent phone numbers
- Link to LinkedIn social network
- Presence of email addresses
- SSL of the website
- Meta tag keywords
- Low visit count
- Use of non-local rel=canonical
- Titles that are too short or too long
- Meta descriptions that are too short or too long
- Use of long meta tag keywords
- Favicon symbol
- Facebook Pixel
- Unnatural link building
- Link building and spam score
- High number of links compared to content
- Presence of vowels in the domain
- Presence of hyphens in the domain
- Inappropriate URLs
- Presence of toxic words
- Links to external sites with toxic words
Moz Spam Score Factor: Low Number of Pages
Low number of pages means that a website has a small number of pages, which may be due to inadequate content production or inefficient use of existing resources.
This can lead to decreased attractiveness of the website for visitors and inefficiency in optimizing the site for search engines.
Moz Spam Score Factor: Domain Extension
The domain extension, or the last part of a website’s domain name, is used to identify the type of website.
Domain extensions can be determined by the ICANN organization, and most of them are made up of national extensions of each country that are used for global websites, such as .com, .net, .org, etc.
Some domain extensions are specific to certain types of websites, such as .edu for educational institutions, .gov for government organizations, and .biz for businesses.
Using the appropriate extension signifies stronger credibility and effectiveness in the SEO of the website.
Moz Spam Score Factor: Domain Size and Length
Domain size and length refer to the number of letters and characters used in the domain name.
Generally, shorter and simpler domains are more noticeable, and it is recommended to use short and simple domains for improving SEO and site efficiency.
For example, domains with long lengths and excessive use of characters may lead to difficulty in preserving and remembering them by users, which can result in decreased website traffic.
Additionally, for search engines, shorter and simpler domains are easier to remember and are recommended for improving the site’s ranking in search results.
Moz spam score factor: Two-Factor Authentication Ads
The absence of Two-Factor Authentication Ads on a website means not utilizing one of the important methods for increasing security and protecting user accounts and information.
In fact, it indicates a lack of attention to user security and privacy, and increases the risk of information and account theft.
On the other hand, if spam sites intend to advertise, they often redirect users to their desired ad on another site with a single click, while normal sites use Two-Factor Authentication Ads (2-click ads).
Therefore, the presence of these types of ads on your site increases its spam rate.
Moz spam score factor: Use of Meta Keywords
Meta Keywords is one of the SEO meta tags that is placed in the header section of a web page.
This tag usually contains a list of keywords that we want our site to be displayed for in search engines.
On the other hand, the use of meta tags in website SEO does not have much impact, but some sites still use these tags. According to Moz, the use of meta tags may indicate that the site is spam.
Moz Spam Score Factor: Linking to LinkedIn social network
Linking to LinkedIn social network means adding a link to your user account on LinkedIn. By adding this link, your audience can easily access your LinkedIn page and follow you on the LinkedIn social network.
This can help you network and create new business relationships. Additionally, linking to a social network like LinkedIn can improve your online presence and credibility.
However, spam sites, as they lack credible business connections, do not provide a link to this social network.
Moz Spam Score Factor: Using Non-Local rel=canonical
rel=canonical is an HTML meta tag that informs search engines that the page you are launching is a duplicate or a copy of another page.
This helps search engines determine which page should be displayed in search results and prevents issues related to duplicate or copied content.
However, Non-Local rel=canonical means that the domain to which rel=canonical is set does not belong to the local domain where you currently are.
In other words, if you set rel=canonical for another page and set a domain different from the current page domain, search engines may mistakenly show search results for that page and show the page related to the target domain instead.
In general, using Non-Local rel=canonical instead of the correct rel=canonical can have negative consequences for your site’s SEO.
MOZ Spam Score factor: Titles too short or too long
A web page title should accurately and briefly convey the main concept of the content.
Therefore, the title should not be too short that it does not provide enough information to the user, nor too long that it forces the user to read it.
MOZ Spam Score factor: Presence of vowels in the domain
The presence of vowels such as “a”, “e”, “i”, “o”, “u” in the domain can have an impact on site ranking.
Some search engine algorithms may believe that domains with more vowels in them are more likely to appear in search results.
However, this alone does not have a significant impact on ranking and is combined with other more important factors.
MOZ Spam Score factor: Absence of favicon symbol
A favicon symbol is a small icon used for display in the browser address bar and tabs.
This icon is usually a small image in .ico format that is placed in the head section of the site using HTML code.
The favicon icon usually contains the logo or recognizable symbol of the company or brand and is used for better site identification.
MOZ Spam Score factor: No Facebook Pixel
Facebook Pixel is an analytical tool provided by Facebook that helps websites review and improve their advertising performance on Facebook.
With Pixel, you can collect information about your website visitors and share this information with Facebook to show the best ads to users who visit your website.
With Pixel, you can easily track activities such as page views, add to cart or purchase, and use this information to improve ad performance on Facebook.
Moz Spam Score Factor: Presence of Toxic Words
Toxic words refer to words that have inappropriate, insulting, threatening, or +18 content.
These words may exist in the website’s content, domain name, page titles, meta descriptions, and other possible areas.
The presence of toxic words on a website can have a negative impact on visitors and also on the site’s position in search engines as an undesirable and influential factor.
Therefore, it is recommended to carefully review all website content and domain names to ensure that no toxic words are present.
Neil Patel says, ‘You can never get past it. Nothing replaces the Spam Score on Google. When you have a high Spam Score, Google doesn’t trust you. So, instead of looking for ways to reduce it, it’s better to start by creating good quality content on your site.’
Neil Patel
Other factors that may be considered as spam by Google
1- Hyphens in domain: Using hyphens (-) in a domain can make it easier for search engines to read the domain.
However, using hyphens alone does not have a significant impact on ranking and is only one of the factors that search engines consider when evaluating websites.
2- Domain age: Domain age indicates the time the domain was registered, and the younger the domain age, the higher the likelihood of it being spam.
3- Page age: Page age indicates the time the page was created.
4- Visitors count: The number of visitors to a site indicates the level of activity and traffic to the site.
5- Number and quality of links: The number and quality of links pointing to the domain and page being evaluated.
6- Meta keywords: The presence of keywords in the domain and page meta tags.
7- Duplicate content: The presence of duplicate content on the domain or page.
8- WHOIS issues: Checking domain ownership information in WHOIS.
9- Server issues: Checking domain server problems.
10- Domain security: Not using security protocols such as HTTPS.
11- DNS settings status: Checking the accuracy of DNS settings.
12- Content quality: Checking the quality of the domain or page content.
13- Keyword count: Checking the number of keywords in the domain or page content.
14- Link sharing: The presence of duplicate links on the domain or page.
15- User engagement level: Number of comments, ratings, and user evaluations.
How can I check my site’s spam score?
To check your site’s spam score, you can use one of the free online tools available.
These tools help you check your site’s spam score and identify problems. Here are several free tools we recommend:
Moz Spam Score: One of the best free tools for checking your site’s spam score.
To use this tool, simply go to the moz.com website and enter your site’s URL.
Open Site Explorer: Another free tool from Moz that allows you to check the number and quality of links pointing to your site.
Google Search Console: A free tool from Google that allows you to check for security issues, DNS settings, and other site problems.
Siteliner: A free tool that checks for duplicate content and broken links on your site.
Copyscape: A free tool that checks for duplicate content on your site and other sites.
Small SEO Tools: This free tool can help you check your site’s spam score.
To use this tool, simply go to smallseotools.com, enter your website’s address, and the tool will check your site’s spam score and show you the results.
SEMrush: SEMrush is a powerful SEO analysis tool that can help you check your site’s spam score.
To use this tool, simply go to semrush.com, enter your website’s address, and the tool will check your site’s spam score and show you the results.
In addition, you can also use other tools such as Ahrefs, Majestic, and Open Site Explorer.
All of these tools help you check your site’s spam score.
Barry Schwartz says: “Spam Score is a metric that helps you understand how much Google trusts your site. If you have a high Spam Score, you are at serious risk.”
Barry Schwartz | CEO of RustyBrick
However, according to MOZ:
- SPAM score is measured from 0 to 30 based on the MOZ SPAM score criteria, which is considered low.
- A score of 30 to 60 is considered moderate based on the MOZ SPAM score criteria.
- A score above 60 is considered high based on the MOZ SPAM score criteria.
Reducing SPAM score To reduce your SPAM score on MOZ, you can use the following solutions:
Reduce the number of invalid backlinks: Disavow low-quality incoming backlinks. Therefore, you must review the incoming links and remove irrelevant and low-quality links.
Build high-quality links: I recommend reading link building tutorials.
Use appropriate titles and descriptions: Appropriate titles and descriptions help search engines better understand your site’s content.
Titles and descriptions that are attractive and useful to users should be updated and should not use meaningless keywords.
Improve the quality of your site’s content: Your site’s content should be attractive and useful to users. By providing quality and useful content, users are more likely to return to your site, and as a result, your SPAM score will decrease.
Use appropriate content optimization methods: To improve your site’s ranking in search engines, you can use methods such as appropriate keywords, suitable content, and site design.
By using these methods, your site will be better recognized, and the best possible results will be provided to users in searches.
Use appropriate internal links: By creating appropriate internal links, direct users to other pages of your site and improve your site’s content.
Also, appropriate internal links show search engines that your pages are related to each other and provide the best search results to users.
Prevent the use of meaningless keywords: The use of meaningless keywords raises your site’s SPAM score.
To prevent this problem, use keywords that are relevant to your content and avoid using meaningless words.
What spam score is considered dangerous for a site?
There is no exact and specific value for a high spam score.
Different SEO analysis tools may have different values for spam scores.
Also, the number and type of problems considered as spam may vary among different tools.
In addition, your site’s spam score is just one of the important factors that affects improving your SEO and site ranking in search results.
To improve your site’s ranking, you need to use white hat SEO methods and resolve the issues that increase your site’s spam score.
In general, any high spam score indicates the presence of issues that need to be investigated and resolved.
To do this, it is best to pay attention to the complete SEO analysis results for your site and take steps to resolve the issues based on the results.
Final Words
Considering that Spam Score can have a significant impact on your website’s ranking in Google search results, you should pay attention to factors that may lead to an increase in your site’s spam score and address them.
The best solution to reduce spam score is to create valuable and original content for your website and adopt optimization strategies such as optimizing site structure, removing empty pages, avoiding unnatural link building, etc.
Overall, you should focus on factors that affect your spam score and use site optimization methods to improve your website’s ranking in Google search results.
Also, using tools like Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, etc. can help improve your spam score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Spam Score is an evaluation metric defined by Moz to measure the likelihood of a website being spam. This tool gives a score to a website by examining various factors, including your backlinks, percentage of spam referrers, and site content.
The best way to reduce your Spam Score is to remove or change your backlinks from spammy sites that increase this score. Also, avoid creating low-quality content with spam referrers or low-quality pages with little content.
No, Spam Score is only one of the important factors used to rank websites in search engines. Other factors such as quality content, keywords, page loading speed, user experience, etc. also have a significant impact on website ranking.
