Spam Score is a metric developed by Moz to measure the likelihood that a website might be penalized or deindexed by Google due to spammy practices. It is calculated based on 27 spam flags, which include factors like low-quality backlinks, thin content, and unnatural linking patterns.
How Spam Score Works
- Ranges from 1% to 100%
- Higher scores = Higher risk of penalty
- Based on backlink profile & on-site factors
Spam Score Categories:
✅ 1% – 30% (Low Risk) – Safe, minimal spam signals.
⚠️ 31% – 60% (Medium Risk) – Some suspicious factors; monitor links & content.
🚨 61% – 100% (High Risk) – High likelihood of Google penalties or deindexing.
What Increases Spam Score?
❌ Too many low-quality backlinks (from PBNs, link farms, or irrelevant sites).
❌ Thin content or auto-generated pages with no value.
❌ Overuse of exact-match anchor text in backlinks.
❌ High ratio of follow vs. nofollow links (unnatural link profile).
❌ Spammy domain names (e.g., multiple hyphens or exact-match keyword domains).
How to Reduce Spam Score?
✅ Disavow toxic backlinks using Google’s Disavow Tool.
✅ Build high-quality, relevant backlinks from trusted sources.
✅ Improve on-page SEO & content quality.
✅ Avoid buying backlinks or participating in link schemes.
✅ Maintain a natural anchor text profile.
👉 Spam Score is just a Moz metric—Google doesn’t officially use it, but a high score often indicates SEO risks.