Free Spam Score Checker — check a domain’s spam risk
The Spam Score Checker reports a domain’s spam score — a risk signal that estimates how closely a website resembles sites that have been penalised or flagged as low quality. Spam Score is a metric created by Moz, and our tool surfaces it from a connected Moz integration. In line with our evidence-first principle, we never invent or estimate this number: if a provider is not connected, the tool shows “insufficient evidence” instead of a fabricated value. Use it to vet domains before you build links, buy guest posts, or accept a backlink.
How the Spam Score Checker works
- Enter a domain or URL. Paste the website you want to vet into the box above.
- We read the spam score from the provider. When the Moz integration is configured, the tool retrieves the domain’s Spam Score and attributes it to its source.
- You get an honest result. A low, medium or high risk reading — or a clear “insufficient evidence” state when no provider data is available. Nothing is guessed.
What is Moz Spam Score?
Moz Spam Score is a percentage from 0% to 100% (an earlier version used a 0–17 flag count) that represents the share of spam flags a domain triggers. Moz identified roughly 27 features — such as very few indexed pages, thin or low-quality content, missing contact information, and unnatural link profiles — that are statistically common among penalised sites. The more of these flags a domain matches, the higher its Spam Score. It is a correlation-based estimate, not a direct measure of spam and not a Google signal.
How to read the spam score scale
- Low risk (0–30%): the domain shares few traits with penalised sites.
- Medium risk (31–60%): some warning signs — review carefully before linking.
- High risk (61–100%): the domain strongly resembles spammy or penalised sites.
Treat these bands as guidance. Always judge a domain in context — a slightly elevated score on an otherwise healthy site is not the same as a high score on a thin, link-spammed domain.
Why spam score matters for SEO and link building
Spam Score is most useful for backlink audits and link-building decisions. Earning links from high-spam domains — or letting them link to you — can expose your site to toxic backlinks that undermine trust. Checking the spam score before you pursue a guest post, directory, or link exchange helps you avoid risky neighbourhoods and focus your off-page SEO on clean, authoritative sites. Pair it with a Backlink Checker and a Domain Authority Checker for a fuller picture.
What causes a high spam score?
- Very few indexed pages or an unusually small site.
- Thin, duplicated, or low-quality content.
- Unnatural link patterns — excessive exact-match anchors or paid links.
- No clear contact details, privacy policy, or ownership signals.
- Being linked to by many known spam domains.
How to lower your spam score
- Publish genuine, original, useful content and grow real pages.
- Audit and disavow toxic or paid backlinks pointing at your site.
- Earn links naturally from relevant, trustworthy websites.
- Add clear contact, about, and policy pages to build trust signals.
- Avoid link schemes, private blog networks, and low-quality directories.
Frequently asked questions
What is a spam score checker?
A spam score checker is a tool that reports a domain’s Spam Score — a risk signal, created by Moz, that estimates how likely a site is to be penalised or low-quality based on features it shares with sites that have been penalised. Our Spam Score Checker surfaces this figure from a connected Moz integration and never invents or estimates it: if no provider is connected, we show “insufficient evidence” rather than guessing a number.
What is Moz Spam Score and how is it calculated?
Spam Score is a Moz metric expressed as a percentage from 0% to 100% (an older model used a 0–17 flag count). It is based on around 27 “spam flags” — characteristics such as an unusually low number of pages, thin content, or unnatural link patterns that correlate with penalised websites. A higher percentage means the domain shares more traits with spammy or penalised sites. It is a third-party estimate, not a Google metric.
What is a good spam score?
Lower is better. As a rough guide, a Spam Score under about 30% is generally considered low risk, 31–60% is medium risk, and above 60% is high risk. These bands are guidance, not hard rules — always review a domain in context rather than judging it on the number alone.
Does a high spam score mean Google penalised my site?
No. Spam Score is Moz’s correlation-based estimate, not a Google ranking factor or a penalty. A high score means a domain resembles sites that have been penalised, which is a useful warning sign — especially when vetting link-building opportunities — but it is not proof of a Google penalty.
Why do you source spam score from a provider instead of calculating it?
Spam Score is proprietary to Moz and depends on their large link and index dataset, which only they can produce. On principle we never fabricate or estimate third-party metrics, so this tool reads the value from a connected Moz integration and clearly attributes it to its source. Without a provider, it honestly reports that the data is unavailable.