Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Enhance Keyword Discovery with Bulk Analysis
      Moz Pro

      Enhance Keyword Discovery with Bulk Analysis

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing
      Moz API

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Link Building
    4. Moz API Spam Score - Backlinks

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Moz API Spam Score - Backlinks

    Link Building
    wordpress backlinks website optimization
    6
    6
    203
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • RejinKayastha
      RejinKayastha last edited by

      Hi, everyone I am trying to get my website DA up. I have analyzed my competitors and thanks to Moz I have idea and insights of how my competitors get backlinks. But, some of them are old school techniques. Also my website has some PBNs no follow backlinks does it affect my website ranking? Their spam score is 10-40. But other competitors has them as well.

      Does anyone know indepth on this topic?

      johnsmithappdev Sandrawright23 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • Sandrawright23
        Sandrawright23 @RejinKayastha last edited by

        @RejinKayastha said in Moz API Spam Score - Backlinks:

        Hi, everyone I am trying to get my website DA up. I have analyzed my competitors and thanks to Moz I have idea and insights of how my competitors get backlinks. But, some of them are old school techniques. Also my website has some PBNs no follow backlinks does it affect my website ranking? Their spam score is 10-40. But other competitors has them as well.
        Does anyone know indepth on this topic?

        PBN backlinks, especially those with higher spam scores, can potentially harm your rankings if search engines view them as manipulative. If competitors are using similar strategies and haven't been penalized, it doesn't guarantee safety—it may just be a matter of time.

        1. Modern Link-Building Strategies
          Instead of relying heavily on old-school methods or risky PBNs, focus on building high-quality, natural backlinks:

        Content Marketing: Create valuable, shareable content (e.g., blogs, infographics, or videos).
        Outreach: Build relationships with industry-specific bloggers, influencers, and publications for guest posts or mentions.
        Broken Link Building: Find broken links on relevant websites and suggest replacing them with your content.
        Directory Submissions: Ensure you're listed in relevant, high-quality directories.
        4. Competitor Analysis
        While learning from competitors is great, prioritize strategies that align with Google's guidelines. High-risk techniques might provide short-term gains but could backfire long-term.

        Would you like a step-by-step guide to creating a diverse backlink strategy?

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • jamesrobert43
          jamesrobert43 last edited by

          @RejinKayastha said in Moz API Spam Score - Backlinks:

          Hi, everyone I am trying to get my website DA up. I have analyzed my competitors and thanks to Moz I have idea and insights of how my competitors get backlinks. But, some of them are old school techniques. Also my website has some PBNs no follow backlinks does it affect my website ranking? Their spam score is 10-40. But other competitors has them as well.

          Hi there! I’m facing a similar issue with my website. I've noticed some PBN no-follow backlinks with spam scores between 10-40, just like your situation. It’s tricky since competitors also have similar backlinks, but I'm focusing on diversifying my link profile with more high-quality, organic links to avoid any potential risks. Let’s keep an eye on it and aim for natural link-building strategies moving forward!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Alex1aqq
            Alex1aqq last edited by

            It’s great that you’re analyzing competitors to improve your website’s DA! Regarding PBNs and no-follow backlinks, while they might not directly pass link equity, their presence can still impact rankings if seen as spammy or manipulative by search engines. As for Nulls Brawl PC, much like SEO, it's essential to maintain a clean and fair environment for a game’s growth. Just as manipulating backlinks can hurt a website, unfair tactics in gaming can negatively affect the community and experience. Focus on sustainable, organic strategies for both!

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • johnsmithappdev
              johnsmithappdev @RejinKayastha last edited by

              Hey RejinKayastha!

              Great that you're focusing on improving DA.

              PBNs & No-Follow Links:
              PBNs: Google can detect PBNs, and using them can lead to penalties, especially if they’re low-quality.
              No-Follow Links: They don’t directly affect rankings but still help diversify your backlink profile.
              Spam Score (10-40):
              A score in this range could be risky. It’s important to focus on high-quality backlinks to improve your profile over time.

              Tips:
              Disavow harmful backlinks via Google’s tool.
              Build white-hat links through guest posts and content marketing.
              Monitor your backlink profile regularly with Moz, Ahrefs, or SEMrush.
              Hope that helps! Let me know if you need more info.@RejinKayastha

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Mudasir_Qayyum01
                Mudasir_Qayyum01 last edited by

                Regarding your question, nofollow backlinks, including those from PBNs, don’t directly pass link equity to your site, but having too many spammy links, even nofollow ones, can still hurt your overall trustworthiness in search engines.

                Here’s the breakdown:

                Spam Score Impact: While Moz’s spam score doesn’t directly affect rankings, a high concentration of backlinks from sites with spam scores in the 10-40 range can raise red flags. Search engines might view your site as risky if the pattern seems unnatural.

                Competitor Strategies: Some competitors might be getting away with PBNs or spammy links now, but this is risky. Algorithms like Google’s Penguin are designed to catch such tactics, and penalties can follow.

                What You Can Do: Focus on acquiring quality, natural backlinks from authoritative sources through guest posting, content marketing, and relationship building. Also, review and clean up your link profile regularly—use Google’s Disavow Tool for any toxic links that could harm your SEO.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • 1 / 1
                • First post
                  Last post

                Got a burning SEO question?

                Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                Start my free trial


                Browse Questions

                Explore more categories

                • Moz Tools

                  Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                • SEO Tactics

                  Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                • Community

                  Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                • Digital Marketing

                  Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                • Research & Trends

                  Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                • Support

                  Connect on product support and feature requests.

                • See all categories

                Related Questions

                • HFM97

                  Unsolved How can I improve SEO for my auditing firm’s website?

                  website website optimization

                  Hi Moz community! I run aauditing.com, offering audit, tax consulting, and accounting services in the UAE. I’m looking for effective SEO strategies to boost visibility and attract clients. Any tips on content optimization, backlinks, or local SEO would be appreciated!

                  Getting Started | | HFM97
                  2
                • Socialdom

                  Block Links From Spam sites

                  backlinks spam backlinks

                  can you block links from other websites?ie: links backlinking to your site, causing a high spam score.

                  Link Building | | Socialdom
                  0
                • caitlinrolex789

                  Unsolved Google URL inspection live test rendering issue.

                  google search console wordpress css

                  Hi Everyone, This is my first post on Moz. I have been trying to get this thing sorted and have read everywhere and everyone just says don't worry about it. I would really like some advice/suggestions on this it will be really helpful. When I use the Google URL inspection tool from the Google search console the page rendering is completely broken. The tool refuses to load resources each time. At end of the day that's how the website is rendered in Google cache. I have already tried disabling cache plugins and Cloudflare but nothing works. site - nationalcarparts.co.nz
                  This is how it renders when using URL inspection tool -
                  https://prnt.sc/7XKHtEU01gEl and if you check cache:https://nationalcarparts.co.nz this is how Google is caching it. Plugins I am using - Elementor Version 3.6.1, Elementor Pro Version 3.6.4, Exclusive Addons Elementor Version 2.5.4, Exclusive Addons Elementor Pro Version 1.4.6, WP- rocket, Cloudflare Pro plan with the plugin. Please if someone has fixed this issue and has a possible solution for it. Thanks cacheissue1.PNG

                  Support | | caitlinrolex789
                  1
                • nitinkumar9258

                  Is there any tool that can automatically generate backlinks for my website?

                  Hi I need a tool or some kind of service like attracta for backlinks. I need backlinks from high page rank directories blogs etc. Please help me out from where I can purchase backlinks?

                  Link Building | | nitinkumar9258
                  3
                • poke1

                  Rankings Dropped After New Backlinks.

                  I have a low-traffic website (under 100 unique visitors per day) and I've encountered a strange issue started yesterday morning. I acquired three back-links, one of these back-links is contextual and the other two are site-wide. The site-wide back-links are from PA 40+ blogs. It looks like the back-links are already indexed by Google. Despite these new back-links, my rankings across multiple keywords have dropped several positions. I'm new to SEO, but I would assume new back-links would improve my rankings. None of these back-links are low quality links, they are from real established blogs with high domain and page authority values. Could anyone give me insights into why my rankings may have dropped with new back-links?

                  Link Building | | poke1
                  1
                • italiansoc

                  Impact of distribution of backlinks across multiple pages

                  Community, I would be interested to see if anyone has been seeing any experiments, experience documentation, or other data that would give context around the impact of pointing backlinks not just to your money page / home page but distribute it across pages. When doing competitive research I often run into competition which has lower domain strength and page rank but a link profile that is more spread out across their domain; these competitors often outrank my site despite their individual page properties being weaker. Any reference to existing documented experiments, personal experience or guidance is welcome.

                  Link Building | | italiansoc
                  0
                • asa-php

                  Trading Backlinks a good idea?

                  New to the "backlinking" party. Wondering if its 'good practice' to trade links with other websites within a like-industry. We've been receiving a lot of emails from other websites asking us to trade links.  Is this a good link building practice anymore? Thanks!

                  Link Building | | asa-php
                  0
                • jgower

                  Frustrated with spammy backlinks from competitors

                  I've only been doing SEO for my company for the last month and I've made some headway but what is really frustrating me right now is a couple of competitors that have OBVIOUS spammy links ranking in the number 1,2,3 stops all over the board for the keywords i'm going for.  One competitor in particular has anchor text links EVERYWHERE that make absolutely no sense...junk like... "I have never been more saddened by anything in my life than when my grandfather got cancer.  I told my uncle he needed to buy some auto insurance.  I really like pork." I mean, these links are the pages with the most page authority and page rank out of all of the ones they have...and I'd venture to say that almost all of their backlinks are like this...well, half of them are just random links with good anchor text on the sidebar of a bazillion spam websites (diapers, toys, fake blogs, etc.)...while i have about 3k links and most of my top competitors have about 5k links...these guys have over 33k. Worse yet, when I look at something like Alexa rank, they have pretty high overall traffic rank but it shows traffic rank in MX (mexico) instead of the US...these guys only sell in the US!  I mean, they're black hat if I've ever seen such a thing and they rank superbly on all keywords. What can I do to compete with this junk?

                  Link Building | | jgower
                  0

                Get started with Moz Pro!

                Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                Start my free trial
                Products
                • Moz Pro
                • Moz Local
                • Moz API
                • Moz Data
                • STAT
                • Product Updates
                Moz Solutions
                • SMB Solutions
                • Agency Solutions
                • Enterprise Solutions
                • Digital Marketers
                Free SEO Tools
                • Domain Authority Checker
                • Link Explorer
                • Keyword Explorer
                • Competitive Research
                • Brand Authority Checker
                • Local Citation Checker
                • MozBar Extension
                • MozCast
                Resources
                • Blog
                • SEO Learning Center
                • Help Hub
                • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                • How-to Guides
                • Moz Academy
                • API Docs
                About Moz
                • About
                • Team
                • Careers
                • Contact
                Why Moz
                • Case Studies
                • Testimonials
                Get Involved
                • Become an Affiliate
                • MozCon
                • Webinars
                • Practical Marketer Series
                • MozPod
                Connect with us

                Contact the Help team

                Join our newsletter
                Moz logo
                © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                • Accessibility
                • Terms of Use
                • Privacy

                Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.