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SPAM SCORE: What is it? Does Google work in accordance with it?

Numerous factors can contribute to destroying your websites’ reputation & ranking. Before Moz introduced the concept of the Spam Score, people were puzzled about what could make their site spammy & whatnot. One of the giant constituents of ‘Spam Score Concept’ is ‘Having a lot of Spam Backlinks’.

 

What Is A Spam Score?

According to an SEO Professional of Kinex Media, “Spam Score is a broad term that includes 27 factors based on which ‘How likely you are to get penalized by google?’will be decided.”

 

More the FLAGS, Higher the SPAM SCORE, Greater the CHANCES of obtaining PENALTIES.

 

Does Spam Score Operate On Subdomain Level?

Yes, Spam Scores operate on the Subdomain level. I know the famous myth spreading like fire in the SEO World, “Spam Score operates on Root Domain Level.” It’s FALSE. Please, do not trust it and spread it further.

 

When we say Spam Score does not operate on the Root Domain-Level, we indicate, “Particular Pages could be considered Spammy. Entire Website is not spam.”

 

Don’t you know, “What is Subdomain?”

The additional part that appears before the primary domain name is called the subdomain.

 

 

 

 

 

What Are SPAM FLAGS?

Spam Flags are the factors described by Moz’s Spam Score Concept that contribute to making a website Spam and are more likely to be penalized by Google.

 

How Many Spam Flags Are Normal For Your Site To Have?

FYI, There is no website on Google that does not have even 1 Spam Flag. It starts becoming risky for you if the number of flags increases.

 

How Many Total Spam Flags Are There?

The term Spam Score was coined in 2015 & at that time, there were only 17 Spam Flags. With time, this number kept on increasing. And today (April 2022), they are 27.

 

  1. MozTrust > MozRank

If MozTrust comes out to be lower than MozRank, then the website is probably spammy. To determine credibility, you are scored on a scale of 1 to 10.

 

  1. Big Site, Low Link Density

Assume that your site is quintessentially giant with a significant number of pages. But if you do not have an adequate number of links pointing to it, your pages will not be considered to have real value.

 

  1. Low Link Heterogeneity

By low link heterogeneity, we mean that the number of the inbound links is more, but they are obtained from chosen websites. Let me make this more clear to you with an instantaneous situation:

“The number of the inbound links you are having is 1000, but the domains from which they are linked to are only 5.”

 

  1. The imbalance between Dofollow & Nofollow Links

If the proportion of Dofollow links is more significant than nofollow links, you are suspected of not achieving those links naturally.

 

  1. Minifying Branded Anchor Texts in inbound links

If you keep up with your tactic of making keywords your anchor texts, it will not help you. It would be best to use other anchor texts, like Click Here & Read More.

 

  1. Thin & Low-Quality Content

We all know that there are several opinions published on this particular topic. It becomes difficult for Google to determine which one is good and which is not. It is believed that Google discards the Thin and Low-Quality content. It shows only that content on the 1st page of SERP, which is excellent quality and contains in-depth information.

 

  1. Small Site Markup

Site Markup is done using these potential languages: Javascript, CSS & Schema. Site Markup is usually done to enhance the user experience. But if any of the following things are found to be on your site, then it will be considered spam as per the Spam Score Metric:

Your website

 

  1. Low Quantity of Internal Links

To give users a meaningful experience, it is required that your site must have plenty of internal links.

 

  1. External Links in Navigation

It should be made sure that your site must not have excessive external links. If you do so, then Google will consider your site to be made for promotional purposes and not for informational reasons.

 

  1. No Contact Info

If your site has incomplete contact information, then Google will not spare this thing and will penalize you.

 

  1. Domain Name’s Length

Gone are the days when incorporating Long-tail keywords in the domain used to prove fruitful. Today, you can impress Google by keeping the domain name to 10 characters.

 

  1. Number including Domain Names

Though it may seem incredible to include numbers in the domain names, it is believed to be hated by Google. It would be best to keep the domain name limited to alphabets only.

 

  1. Domain Names with Hyphens

It is believed that Spanny websites include the Hyphens in their Domain names.

 

  1. Domains associated with the Spam Sites

If you are taking services from the Domain Service Provider who has provided the hosting services to various spam sites, you will get a red flag waved at your website.

 

  1. Doesn’t make use of Google Font API

The domains that do not use the particular Google Font API are considered spammy.

 

  1. No Google Tagging Manager

Spam Sites do not have Google Tags on them. To ensure you do not invite this spam flag, use the free tool – Google Tag Manager.

 

  1. No Doubleclicks

Sites that do not have double clicks are considered the Spammy sites.

 

  1. No Linkedin Links

Those websites which have a LinkedIn link attached to them are not considered spam.

 

  1. SSL Certified

If your site’s URL is commenced with ‘https’ and not with ‘http’, your site is Safe & Secure. But if it is not SSL secured, it’ll only display ‘http’, and for Google, it is not safe.

 

  1. Excessive Meta Keywords

The website, which includes many meta keyword tags, is seen to fool Google.

 

  1. Inappropriate Keywords

If the meta keywords are too short or long, they come under the spam circle.

 

  1. Long Meta Descriptions

Those who don’t obey the guidelines of Google are hated by it. Google automatically cuts down your meta description at the 160th character count. So don’t act over smart by publishing the long meta descriptions. It won’t do any good to you.

 

  1. Non-local rel=canonical tags

This tag informs Google that a particular URL is the master version of all. But if you are using this tag pointing to the external site, you may emerge spammy.

 

  1. Facebook Pixel

Moz has found that the sites, including Facebook Pixel Code, are far from considered spammy.

 

  1. Webspam Topic Words

Spam sites are known for using web spam topics. Whether you are the owner of a spam website or a reputed website, if you use the words like a casino, sex or porn & gaming, you’ll soon find yourself at risk of getting one more red flag.

 

  1. No Browser Icons

The reputable and non-spammy sites usually have favicons. Favicons are icons that appear at the top left side of the tab. But such things are not used by spam sites. So if you want to maximize your site’s credibility, you must make use of the favicons.

 

Does Moz’s Spam Score Concept Is An Imitation Of What Google Considers Bad?

Frankly, we don’t know whether all Spam Flags are per what Google considers Good or Bad. But, yes, it is a marvelous effort by Moz. Commendable!

 

How Can Spam Signals Be of Great Help To Us?

If you find your website having issues and an increased number of the spam flags, then you can quickly get them corrected and increase your authority:

 

  • Spammy Subdomain

If you get a flag owing to having something fishy with your subdomain, you can instantly get it rectified. Early resolvance can help you to maintain a good position in the SERP.

 

  • Quality Backlinks

On finding out that your site has spammy backlinks, you can disavow them. Here I would like to caution you to use this tool wisely. Because if you are not sure that a particular backlink is from a spam website or not, and you are disavowing it, you are destroying their reputation and yours as well.

 

Pro Tips

Below mentioned are some tricks that will help you avoid gaining spam flags:

 

  • Do not make use of the exact match keywords. Using them partially and per relevance can help you rank.
  • Make sure you are not using keywords as your anchor text. Break the monotony and use different anchor texts.
  • Do not consider using specific Top-Level Domains like TLDs.
  • Publish In-Depth, Long & Easy-to-Read content.
  • Always take care of the User Experience.

 

Conclusion

Moz has done a fantastic job by bringing forth an exciting & helpful concept that helps people know whether they are following the right path of SEO. 27 Spam Flags tell what is causing your website to be spammy. If you have less than six flags, it is outstanding. But in case the count of these spam flags keeps on increasing, then it is a matter of worry.