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.
How to identify spammy website before making backlinks on them
-
Hi, I search in google but didnt find a proper answer for this! maybe search an incorrect keyword!
The question is, How can I find out a website that I'm going to make a backlink on is a spammy website?
For example I did this guest bloging on this good website: Best Sure-Shot Organic Pest Control Approaches Every Gardener Should Know | Balcony Garden Web
But it seems to be spammy because I use SEO POWERSUIT software that shows this backlink is 20% risk of google penalty!
Is it right!? So how can we rest assured for making a quality backlink? I can not think any other way

-
You can't use how a site looks or feels to you to get an indication of if it is safe or not...
You need to be checking, aside from the MOZ spam score, through something like SEMrush, what their traffic is like. Have they had any penalties that might be affecting them?
Use The Wayback Machine as well to check the history of the site. This can tell you if it was ever a site you would rather not be associated with or if it has been recently purchased because it has good history and links. Expired domains can surface very frequently and people will charge for gues blogging and lins etc.
You should also check who else links to the site. Are there reputable sites that link to it for a good reason?
Just a few more tips to keep an eye on.
-Andy
-
Hi I would say to check few things if you're not sure is the site is spam or not. Mostly, the site impression, feel and looks say it as soon as you land on any site. However, there are possiblity you still remain unsure. I personally use the Google Chrome Plugin to see if the hostname are not suspicious or some wired name. I have MOZ bar plugin again to give domain overview, it also provide me DA and PA, which helps me to understand overall where is that domain stand.
Off course, these all primary elements helps to determin the site we are going to post content or aiming to get back link is not going to harm us anyway.
-
Also check out the Moz trust ranking too so you can make quick judgement calls.
-
Use Moz's opensite explorer or the Moz tool bar to check the website's spam score quickly.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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.
Related Questions
-
How to get rid of bad backlinks
So I noticed my rankings going down and spam score going up. So under my spam score there are over 100 links for different websites but ALL redirect to semalt.com I researched it and it says they hijacked a bunched of backlinks but don't know much more. How can I get rid of all those backlinks? I was told I could use the disavow tool but apparently that can hurt my ranking as well. The semalt.com site has no backlink to me - it looks like the pages that have/had my backlinks, they've redirected to them. For instance this is one of the links http://www.oxvideos.xyz/indianantyphotoxxx 422005fb-9240-40a4-8b65-f5b1f5079dea-image.png
Link Building | | landlwoof40 -
Why my website is not getting rank?
I can understand my website age is a big issue but now I want you to help me. I have been doing guest posts for increasing the domain authority but no good result. I just want you to let me what should I do next? AmazeInvent
Link Building | | alexmurphy11220 -
Where can I find where to submit my website to?
Hi there, I am currently reading and learning about backlinks and I find myself stumped as to where I can submit my website to. I understand the logic's and methods for backlinks but just don't know how to find good quality websites to submit my website to. I appreciate any help in advance. Jay
Link Building | | VoodooCreativeLtd0 -
A lot of backlinks from outside of niche – bad?
We have received a lot of backlinks over the years by users putting links on their websites to their home pages on our site, eg: our.domain/user1 our.domain/user2 … our.domain/user100000 There are 10’s of thousands of these backlinks, all natural, but many of them come from blogs that are completely outside of our niche. Only a small percentage of our backlinks 1% to 5% could actually be coming from pages related to our niche, the other 95%+ could be users just linking to their home pages. Could this really hurt us..? We have 1000’s of backlinks related to our niche, yet we’ve noticed that some competitors with less than 50 backlinks can outrank us for certain keywords.. Also related, we’ve noticed these user links popping up on a lot of spammy sites, directories, etc. We didn’t create them but we’re disavowing them now to be safe. So this could also be hitting our rankings.
Link Building | | dsumter0 -
More than one link on an external website
Just wanted to clarify my understanding of this... I'm of the understanding that if an external site has more than one link going to your site, then it is only the one link that passes value. If this is the case.... Which is the link that passes value (i.e the first link established or the link that, all factors being considered, is the most valuable for passing authority?) If a second link established on an external website comes from and goes to a different webpage than the first (and is done for the purposes of targeting and boosting a different keyword category/theme), is this then a beneficial practice? If multiple links on an external website all serve to generate solid referral traffic, will this boost rankings, and thereby be a sound practice? Thanks in advance for your help in clarifying this for me!
Link Building | | Gavo0 -
Does backlinks in images equal naked backlinks?
I've discovered few backlinks in images came from websites points to my home page. What is the value of these links?
Link Building | | Eslam-yosef0 -
Ways to remove spammy backlinks
Hello everyone, I got hit with an algorithm penalty and need to start removing old backlinks ASAP. Does anyone have any good resources on how best to ask webmasters for removal? Are there any other ways to remove bad back links besides the disavow tool? (An SEO consultant I talked to said that they had a proprietary software that can remove them - is that possible?) Thanks all,
Link Building | | CleanEdisonInc1 -
Paul and Angela Style Backlinks
Do Forum Profile Links provided by Paul and Angela hold any SEO merit ? Will it help in improving SER?
Link Building | | krishrun0