Spam links and Domain Authority
-
I have a site that I know was Domain Authority 35 but now Domain Authority 25 after someone sent a load of spam links to it, how can this be correct and how can I change it?
Is it worth doing a disavow and will moz take that into account?
-
Hi there,
Sam from Moz's Help Team here - thanks so much for reaching out!
So, a couple of things - when you disavow a link through Google, it doesn't actually remove the link, Google just stops putting SEO weight into it. So our crawler will still find the link. Unfortunately there isn't a way in Link Explorer to "disavow" a link yet so we will still show it.
Disavowing a link doesn't take it away from our tools, so they will still appear as backlinks to your site. The fact that Google disregards them in relation to your site does not take them off the sites they are on, so best practice is to approach the webmaster first and request the link be removed. If you get no response then disavow with Google:).
I also want to note a couple of things about your DA drop in general - overall, seeing your DA drop is a fairly common problem and can be attributed to a few things:
1.Links we previously discovered are now marked as lost.
2. You've earned more links, but the highest authority sites have grown their link profile even more.
3. The links you've earned are from sites that we haven't seen correlate well with higher Google rankings.
4. We've done a better or worse job crawling sites/pages that have links to you (or don't).It's a bit difficult to isolate the exact cause of what happened without your own SEO consultant or developer being able to take a dive into this, but you can definitely read more specific information here if you'd like to understand more about the process:).
Something else to note is that on March 5th, we rolled out an entirely new DA calculation method, which affected the DA of many sites. You can read more about this update here https://moz.com/domain-authority-2.0.
Do let us know if we can help with anything else!
-
But does Moz take this into account and Google say here there is no need?
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/gary-illyes-google-penguin-negative-seo-disavows/296609/
-
Moz won't take it into account as, when you use the disavow tool, you send the file directly to Google, so Moz will have no visibility.
Your DA has no direct impact on your ranking, so if you've disavowed the links, I would simply make a note of it and carry on about your business.
In all fairness, Google is pretty good at ignoring that kind of thing now, so unless you've had a manual action (or it was very recent and you're anticipating one) it may not be worth the effort of creating and uploading a disavow file.
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
-
Is the Link Tracking Lists feature broken?
I used to be able to create a list of links via Link Tracking Lists and within 8 days Moz bot would visit and index the links in the Moz database. However, this no longer works. Is it broken? I have used this previously without issues, and tried several times over 20 days, but nothing. Anyone else having issues? Moz support - is this feature broken? If so, when do you envisage having it fixed? Thanks
Link Explorer | | BitsyJones0 -
What do these link terms mean?
I'm not sure what all of the different link terms mean: -External, followed links -Internal, nofollowed links -External, nofollowed links -Internal, no followed links -Total linking domains -Followed linking domains What are the differences? Which metric will indicate the total # of other sites that are linking to my site? Thank you!
Link Explorer | | sgarrels0 -
How do you check for .gov and .edu backlinks using the new link explorer?
I'm trying to do an audit but I can't seem to figure out how to find .edu and .gov backlinks from the new link explorer. Can someone please help? I'm trying to learn how as open site explorer will be replaced by the link explorer. Thank you!
Link Explorer | | AFARiva1 -
How long does it take to turn around a 10/17 SPAM score domain?
Hi - Looking at acquiring a domain name that has a great product fit. The problem is it is currently getting a 10/17 Open Site Explorer SPAM score. The existing site for the domain is running Google sponsored link ads and is full of internal pages that link off to these ads. That explains the existing SPAM score. If I acquire the domain I'll throw out the Google ad pages and build instead a site with real valuable content that behaves like a normal site and look at building backlinks etc. My question is, following this approach, how long is it likely to take Google to not see the domain as some Spam factory so it starts getting well positioned SERPs?
Link Explorer | | Gavin.Atkinson0 -
I need to know about Just Discovered Links
Hi I have 2 websites, 1)www.abc.com DA 20 PA 29 RD 6 Total Links 226 and 2)www.123.com DA35 PA 46 RD 34 Total links 11,075 Every post i published on my 1st website shown in Just discovered links, whereas in 2nd website, it is not appeared. Now, my question is, what i do to have my all posts shown in just discovered links for my second website. From every aspect my second website is stronger than first one. Awaiting answer.
Link Explorer | | Abdul_Majid0 -
Why root domain go down of my website?
Why root domain go down of my website even i am making unique root domain on daily bases but still root domain should be increase instead go down. What is going wrong with this process ? Please guide me and give me solution for increase root domain.
Link Explorer | | renukishor0 -
Does Feedburner URL of the Home Page Carry Link Equity?
Hi There, During an SEO Audit, I found that OSE categorizes Feedburner URL of root domains under link-equity passing and followed. For example, the following link has been categorized under link-equity passing and followed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SpoonflowerBlog I have heard that a lot of SEOs saying feedburner links don't carry any link juice. If that's true, then why does OSE categorize feedburner URL of root domains under link-equity passing and followed? I would appreciate if someone from the Moz staff could take some to answer this. Thanks.
Link Explorer | | TopLeagueTechnologies1