Spam Score 8/17 with no inbound links. Any hints ?

[julienraby]

Hi everyone,

One of my client's website has a 8/17 Spam Score. (Domain Authority 18)

Thing is, he has 0 inbound links (using Open site explorer) but he has 5 referring domains  (when using Majestic).

No error messages whatsoever in his Search Console.

My questions are :

• what could explain that 8 Spam Score ?

• what can I do to lower that spam score (except disavow links in GWT) ?

Thanks!

[Chris_Hickman]

Hello,

Keep in mind the spam score is more of a helping tool, rather than a complete tool. In other words it's there to give you an idea of how your link profile appears, more than telling specifically which links are harmful. I believe the tool will be going away soon, so don't look too far into it.

Also, different tools, such as majestic and AHREFs are great for monitoring back links, but are not always 100% accurate. Sites like these, and even Open Site Explorer, don't have to the resources to scan the internet like Google does. With that being said, go to the source. Review your link provide within Google Search Console. Rather than using a tool, do it yourself, the results will be much more thorough.

I hope this helps, if you would like more information on reviewing your back link profile please ask.

Chris

Adficient.com

[ChrisAshton]

Moz's Spam Score is about far more than just questionable backlinks. Since we don't have a URL to dig deeper and offer specific suggestions, the best I can really off you is a couple of links to better understand what it is you're looking for - it will probably spark a few ideas for you.

Link 1 - Whiteboard Friday

Link 2 - Moz Blog

As far as using tools like OSE and Majestic goes, Chris Hickman is correct in that they're imperfect. OSE seems to have the smallest index (ie the lowest volume of sites crawled) while Majestic has the most so it's only natural that Majestic would be giving you higher numbers.

Hopefully this will at least point you in the right direction!