How to Reduce Your Websites Spam Score and Improve SEO

A healthy, trustworthy site is built by keeping your spam score low, maintaining a clean backlink profile, and following white-hat SEO best practices. When your website avoids toxic links, thin content, and over-optimized anchor text, search engines see it as more reliable, which can directly help improve SEO rankings and organic visibility.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to reduce your website’s spam score and improve SEO by auditing and cleaning backlinks, avoiding black-hat tactics, strengthening content quality, fixing technical SEO issues, and building natural, authoritative links so you can confidently lower risk while boosting performance for your main keyword: how to reduce your website’s spam score and improve SEO.

What is a website spam score in SEO?

A website spam score in SEO is a predictive metric that estimates how likely a domain or page might be seen as “spammy” based on patterns in its backlinks, content, and technical setup. It is not a direct Google metric. Instead, different SEO tools use their own models to flag sites that share characteristics with domains that have been penalized or deindexed in the past.

Spam score (or similar “toxicity” metrics) is best treated as a warning system. It helps you spot risky backlinks, over‑optimized pages, or suspicious patterns before they turn into real search visibility problems.

How tools like Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMrush calculate spam risk

Each major SEO platform handles spam risk differently:

• Moz Spam Score Moz looks at a large set of domains that were banned or penalized and identifies common “spam flags.” Their Spam Score is based on a series of binary signals such as low link diversity, very thin content, keyword‑stuffed titles, and other patterns that often appear on penalized sites. The more of these flags a subdomain triggers, the higher its spam score and the higher its estimated risk.

• Ahrefs Ahrefs does not provide a single “spam score” metric. Instead, they encourage users to judge spamminess by combining metrics like Domain Rating, organic traffic, link patterns, and anchor text. Their documentation explicitly notes that Google’s exact spam criteria are unknown, so they avoid a one‑number “spam score” and focus on helping you filter low‑value or suspicious backlinks using multiple signals.

• SEMrush (Toxicity Score) SEMrush uses a Toxicity Score from 0 to 100 for each backlink and an overall toxicity level for your domain. The score is built from dozens of “toxic markers,” such as links from deindexed or malware‑infected sites, spammy TLDs, obvious link networks, comment spam, poor layout, suspicious anchor text, and more. The higher the Toxicity Score, the more likely that backlink is risky and worth reviewing or disavowing.

Although the names differ, all of these systems try to answer the same question: Does this site or link look like the kind of thing Google usually distrusts?

Typical spam score ranges and what’s considered “too high”

Because each provider uses its own scale, “too high” depends on the tool:

• Moz Spam Score (0–100%) Moz’s score is based on how many spam flags a subdomain triggers. In practice:

• Low (0–10%) is usually normal and not a concern.

• Moderate (11–30%) suggests you should review backlinks and content quality.

• High (30%+ and especially above ~60%) often indicates a strong overlap with known spam patterns and deserves a closer audit.

• SEMrush Toxicity Score (0–100 per link)

• 0–44: Non‑toxic (generally safe).

• 45–59: Potentially toxic (needs manual review).

• 60–100: Toxic (high‑risk links that may warrant removal or disavowal). At the domain level, SEMrush classifies overall risk based on the percentage of toxic backlinks. If more than about 10% of your backlinks are toxic, your profile is usually labeled High risk; 3–9% is Medium, and below 3% is Low.

Because these are relative, context matters. A small site with a handful of toxic links might be in more danger than a huge site with the same number of bad links but thousands of strong, natural backlinks.

Does Google actually use spam score or is it just a warning signal?

Google does not use Moz Spam Score, SEMrush Toxicity Score, or any other third‑party spam metric in its ranking algorithms. These scores are proprietary estimates created by SEO tools, not official Google signals.

What Google does use are its own spam detection systems and manual reviews. It looks for link schemes, hacked sites, cloaking, auto‑generated content, and other violations of its spam policies. If it finds serious issues, it can ignore links, demote pages, or apply manual actions.

So, think of spam score as:

• A warning signal, not a verdict.
• A way to prioritize audits of backlinks, content, and technical issues.
• A prompt to ask, “Does this pattern look manipulative or low quality in a way Google might dislike?”

If your spam score is high, it does not automatically mean you are penalized. It does mean you should investigate why the tool sees risk and clean up anything that would also look suspicious to Google.

How to check your current spam score and risk level

Understanding your current spam score and overall spam risk helps you spot problems before they turn into traffic drops or manual actions. You will usually combine third‑party SEO tools with data from Google Search Console, then decide which domains, pages, or backlinks need attention first.

Using Moz and other SEO tools to find your site’s spam score

Moz is the best‑known provider of a formal Spam Score. It looks at dozens of signals on your subdomain and compares them with sites that have been penalized by Google. The result is a percentage from 1 to 100 that indicates how similar your site looks to known spam. Low percentages usually mean low risk, while higher numbers suggest patterns that often appear on penalized sites.

To check it, you enter your domain into an SEO platform that reports Moz metrics. Look at:

• Spam Score percentage
• Domain‑level vs page‑level issues
• The specific “spam flags” or risk factors the tool lists

Other tools do not always use the phrase “spam score,” but they still estimate link or domain risk. Some show a toxicity or link risk score, or highlight suspicious backlinks based on low authority, no organic traffic, or obvious patterns of manipulation. Use these numbers as guides, not absolute truth. Different tools use different models, and they can disagree on the same domain.

Checking spam indicators inside Google Search Console

Google Search Console does not show a spam score, but it does show whether Google has actually taken action against your site.

Key places to check:

• Security & Manual actions → Manual actions: If you see a manual action for “unnatural links,” “pure spam,” “site reputation abuse,” or similar, Google has already decided your site violates spam policies. If it says “No issues detected,” you do not have a manual penalty.
• Links report: Review which sites link to you most, and what anchor text they use. A large volume of links from obvious low‑quality domains, or anchors that are all exact‑match keywords, can signal link spam risk.
• Performance report: Sudden, unexplained drops in impressions and clicks, especially around known spam‑related updates, can hint at algorithmic spam filtering even without a manual action.

Think of third‑party spam scores as early warnings, and Search Console as the place that shows whether Google has actually acted.

Prioritizing which domains, pages, or backlinks to fix first

Once you know your spam score and have checked Search Console, you need to decide what to tackle first. A simple order of priority helps:

1. Anything tied to a manual action If Search Console lists a manual action, start there. Fix the specific issues Google names, such as manipulative backlinks or spammy third‑party content, before worrying about minor tool‑based warnings.

2. High‑impact, clearly spammy backlinks In your backlink tools and the GSC Links report, sort by:

• Number of links from a domain
• Authority / traffic of that domain
• Anchor text patterns

Prioritize domains that send many links, look obviously low‑quality, or use aggressive keyword‑stuffed anchors. A handful of bad links from a tiny site is less urgent than thousands of manipulative links from a network of thin sites.

3. Important pages with risk signals Check key money pages and top‑traffic URLs. If they rely heavily on suspicious links or show patterns that tools flag as risky, clean those up first, because any penalty or devaluation there will hurt the most.

4. Patterns, not one‑offs Look for repeated issues: the same directory network, the same type of spun guest posts, or the same anchor text across many domains. Fixing whole patterns (for example, a group of paid links) usually reduces spam risk more than chasing isolated odd links.

By combining spam scores from tools with real‑world signals from Google Search Console, you can see whether you are dealing with a genuine spam risk or just noisy metrics, and then focus your effort where it will actually protect your rankings.

Common reasons your website’s spam score is high

Toxic or irrelevant backlinks from low‑quality sites

A high spam score is often driven by backlinks from sites that look untrustworthy to search engines. These can include link farms, private blog networks, auto‑generated blogs, hacked sites, and low‑quality directories. They usually have thin or spun content, lots of outbound links, and very little real traffic.

If many of your backlinks come from domains that are off‑topic (for example, a finance blog getting links from casino or adult sites), that mismatch is another strong spam signal. Tools flag these as “toxic” because they resemble paid links or link schemes rather than genuine recommendations. Over time, a backlink profile dominated by this kind of link can push your spam score up and make it harder to rank.

Over‑optimized anchor text and unnatural link patterns

Anchor text is another common reason a website’s spam score climbs. When a large share of your backlinks use the exact same keyword phrase, it looks like manipulation instead of natural linking. Patterns like “best cheap car insurance” repeated across dozens of domains, or anchors that feel awkward in the sentence, are classic red flags.

Healthy profiles mix branded anchors, naked URLs, generic phrases like “click here,” and a smaller portion of keyword‑rich text. When that balance is missing, spam‑detection systems and search algorithms treat the pattern as risky, even if some of the linking sites are decent.

Thin, duplicate, or AI‑generated content that looks low quality

Spam scores do not only look at links. Pages with very little original value can also contribute. Short, shallow articles, doorway pages created just to target a keyword, or content copied from other sites all weaken quality signals.

AI‑generated content is not a problem by itself, but if it is generic, repetitive, or clearly written just to rank, it can resemble spun content. When many pages on a domain look like this, tools are more likely to classify the site as spam‑prone, especially if weak content is combined with aggressive link building.

Aggressive ads, pop‑ups, or design that feels spammy to users

User experience plays a role too. Sites overloaded with banner ads, auto‑play videos, interstitials, or pop‑ups that block the main content tend to look spammy both to people and to algorithms. If the visible text is drowned out by HTML for ads and widgets, quality scores drop.

Layouts that push users to click on ads or affiliate links instead of helping them find information can also correlate with higher spam scores. Even if your content is decent, an ad‑heavy, confusing design can make your site resemble known spam patterns.

Technical issues that can look like spam (redirect chains, broken pages, etc.)

Some technical SEO problems can accidentally mimic spam behavior. Long redirect chains, sneaky‑looking redirects, or sending users and crawlers to different destinations can resemble cloaking or doorway tactics.

Large numbers of broken pages, orphaned URLs, or parameter‑based duplicates can also create a messy index footprint. In extreme cases, this looks similar to expired domains reused for link schemes or hacked sites full of junk URLs. While these issues are often unintentional, they still add noise to your site’s signals and can contribute to a higher spam score if not cleaned up.

Cleaning up your backlink profile safely

How to audit backlinks for spammy or toxic links

Start by exporting all your backlinks from one or two major SEO tools so you can see the full picture. Look at domains first, not individual URLs. Sort by:

• Domain authority or similar metrics
• Anchor text
• Follow vs nofollow
• Country and language

Flag backlinks that look spammy or toxic, such as:

• Sites with auto‑generated content, spun articles, or obvious scraped pages
• Pages stuffed with outbound links to unrelated niches
• Links from hacked pages, adult, gambling, or malware‑related sites
• Sitewide footer or sidebar links that you never agreed to

Open a sample of suspicious domains manually. If a normal user would never trust or visit that site, it is a strong candidate for cleanup.

When to request link removal vs. when to use the disavow tool

If a bad link comes from a site that looks maintained and has a contact page, start with a polite removal request. Keep it short, include the exact URL, and explain that you are trying to clean up your backlink profile.

Use the disavow tool when:

• The site is clearly spammy or hacked and has no real owner to contact
• You have already tried removal and got no response
• There are thousands of toxic links and manual outreach is not realistic

Disavow at the domain level for obvious spam networks, and at the URL level when only a few pages are a problem. Use it carefully and only for links you are confident are harmful or completely irrelevant.

Avoiding link farms, paid links, and risky link exchanges

To keep your spam risk low, avoid any backlink deal that sounds like a shortcut. Warning signs include:

• Networks that promise “hundreds of links per month” for a flat fee
• Sites that publish any guest post as long as you pay
• “You link to me, I’ll link to you” schemes at scale

Instead, focus on links from real, topic‑relevant sites with actual audiences. One strong editorial link from a trusted site is worth far more than dozens of links from a link farm.

Adjusting anchor text to look natural and not manipulative

A healthy backlink profile has a mix of anchor types: branded, URL, generic (“click here”), and a smaller share of keyword‑rich anchors. Problems start when most links use the same exact‑match keyword.

When you control or can influence anchors (for example, in guest posts or partner content), aim for variety and context. Use your brand name, page titles, or natural phrases instead of repeating the same keyword. If you find old links with obviously over‑optimized anchors and you know the site owner, ask them to change the text to something more neutral.

Over time, this more natural anchor text profile helps reduce spam signals and makes your link building look organic rather than manipulative.

Content improvements that naturally lower spam score and boost SEO

Improving content quality is one of the safest and most effective ways to lower spam risk and strengthen SEO. Modern spam updates focus heavily on thin, repetitive, or obviously machine‑generated pages, as well as keyword stuffing and other manipulative tactics. Cleaning this up sends strong quality signals and usually improves rankings at the same time.

Rewriting or removing thin, duplicate, or outdated pages

Start by finding pages that are very short, say‑nothing listicles, doorway‑style city pages, or near‑duplicates of each other. These are classic thin or duplicate content patterns that recent spam updates and quality systems are built to detect and devalue.

For each weak URL, decide whether to:

• Rewrite and expand it into a useful, focused resource that actually answers a clear search intent. Add explanations, examples, visuals, FAQs, and internal links.
• Merge several similar pages into one stronger, comprehensive guide, then 301‑redirect the old URLs.
• Remove and redirect pages that have no traffic, no links, and no real purpose.

Aim for every indexable page to have a clear topic, unique value, and enough depth that a human visitor would feel it was worth their time.

Reducing keyword stuffing and over‑optimization

Keyword stuffing is still a direct spam signal: repeating the same phrase over and over, cramming city lists, or forcing keywords into every heading and alt tag. Google’s current spam policies and recent updates explicitly call this out as a violation.

To fix over‑optimization:

• Read pages out loud. If the main keyword sounds forced or annoying, dial it back.
• Replace some exact‑match phrases with natural variations, pronouns, or synonyms.
• Remove keyword‑stuffed blocks in footers, sidebars, and internal link anchors.
• Make titles and headings written for humans first, then lightly tuned for search.

The goal is clear relevance, not repetition. If a page genuinely covers a topic in depth, you do not need to hammer the same phrase 20 times.

Creating helpful, experience‑driven content that earns natural links

Spammy content often looks generic, scraped, or auto‑generated with no real insight. Recent spam and core updates are much better at discounting this kind of material, especially when it is obviously AI‑generated without human editing or expertise.

Shift your content strategy toward:

• First‑hand experience: real case studies, test results, screenshots, and stories from your own work or use of a product.
• Clear, practical help: step‑by‑step instructions, checklists, and examples that solve the user’s problem quickly.
• Original angles: data you collected, opinions backed by evidence, or niche insights others are not covering.

This kind of experience‑driven content naturally attracts mentions and links over time, which lowers perceived spam risk and strengthens your overall authority.

Updating old posts to improve quality and relevance

Old posts that still get impressions but no longer match current search intent are a quiet source of “low‑quality” signals. Multiple case studies show that updating and improving existing content can significantly boost rankings and traffic.

When you refresh an article:

• Recheck the main keyword and intent. Adjust the angle, title, and headings if needed.
• Add missing sections, current stats, and up‑to‑date examples. Remove outdated advice.
• Improve structure with clearer subheadings, better introductions, and concise conclusions.
• Fix broken links, update internal links to newer resources, and tidy formatting.

Treat each update as a chance to make the page the best answer on the topic today, not just “good enough.” Over time, a library of refreshed, high‑quality content does more to lower spam risk and grow organic traffic than any quick technical trick.

On‑site changes that make your site feel less spammy

Simplifying layout and navigation to improve trust

A site that feels clean and predictable almost always feels less spammy. Start with your layout: keep a clear visual hierarchy, plenty of white space, and a consistent design across pages. Avoid cluttered sidebars, too many competing colors, or elements that jump around as the page loads.

Navigation should make it obvious where to go next. Use a simple top or side menu with clear labels, a visible search bar, and logical categories. Limit the number of primary menu items and avoid stuffing the header with every possible link. Breadcrumbs, clear headings, and a straightforward footer also help users (and search engines) understand your structure.

Trust signals matter too. Make sure your logo, contact page, about page, and policies are easy to find. When visitors can quickly see who you are and how to reach you, the site feels more legitimate and less like a throwaway spam domain.

Dialing back intrusive ads, pop‑ups, and auto‑play elements

Intrusive ads are one of the fastest ways to make a website feel spammy, even if your content is solid. Reduce or remove full‑screen interstitials that appear before users see any content, especially on mobile. If you use pop‑ups for email capture or promotions, delay them until the user has scrolled or spent some time on the page, and make the close button obvious.

Avoid stacking multiple ad units above the fold or pushing the main content far down the page. Keep ads visually distinct from editorial content so users are not tricked into clicking. Auto‑play video or audio, especially with sound on, is a major red flag for both users and search engines. If you must use video, keep it muted by default and let the user choose to play.

The goal is simple: ads should support the content, not overwhelm it. When visitors can read and interact without constant interruptions, engagement improves and your site is far less likely to be perceived as spammy.

Cleaning up low‑quality user‑generated content (comments, forums, profiles)

User‑generated content can either build trust or destroy it. Unmoderated comments, spammy forum threads, and fake profiles send strong spam signals. Start by tightening basic protections: require registration or email verification for posting, use spam filters and rate limits, and hold first‑time comments or posts for manual review.

Regularly scan for obvious spam patterns: comments with only links, generic “great post” messages with keyword‑stuffed usernames, or forum threads that exist only to drop URLs. Remove or nofollow links in user‑generated areas by default, especially if you cannot manually review each one.

Clean up old, low‑value threads and abandoned profiles that never contributed real content. Add clear community guidelines and enforce them, removing abusive or off‑topic posts. When your comments, forums, and profiles show real conversations, helpful answers, and authentic user details, they become a quality signal instead of a spam risk.

Technical SEO fixes that support a lower spam score

Fixing broken links, redirect issues, and crawl errors

Technical problems can make a site look spammy even when your intentions are good. Search engines see patterns, not motives, so cleaning up errors is a key way to lower spam risk.

Start by finding broken links and crawl errors. Use a crawler or your server logs to spot 404 pages, soft 404s, and 5xx errors. In Google Search Console, check the Pages and Crawl stats reports for “Not found,” “Redirect error,” and similar issues. Fix internal links that point to dead URLs, and where a page has moved, use a 301 redirect to the most relevant replacement.

Keep redirect chains as short as possible. A link that goes A → B → C → D wastes crawl budget and can look like sloppy or manipulative setup. Aim for a single clean hop (A → C). Remove redirect loops entirely, since they block both users and bots.

If you have many old, low‑value URLs (tag pages, thin archives, test URLs), consider consolidating them into stronger pages or returning a proper 410/404 instead of redirecting everything to the homepage. A tidy, logical URL structure sends a clear signal that your site is maintained and trustworthy.

Improving page speed, mobile friendliness, and core web vitals

Slow, clunky pages are a classic hallmark of low‑quality or spammy sites. Improving performance helps users first, but it also supports better rankings and a healthier spam profile.

Focus on the basics:

• Compress and properly size images.
• Minimize heavy scripts, third‑party trackers, and unused CSS.
• Use caching and a fast hosting setup so pages respond quickly.

Check mobile friendliness by viewing your pages on real phones and different screen sizes. Text should be readable without zooming, buttons should be easy to tap, and layout should not break on smaller screens.

Core Web Vitals give you a simple way to track this:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) for load speed.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP) for responsiveness.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) for visual stability.

Improving these metrics usually means faster servers, lighter pages, and fewer layout jumps from ads or late‑loading elements. Sites that feel smooth and stable are far less likely to be flagged as low quality.

Using HTTPS and basic security measures to protect your site

Security issues can quickly turn a normal site into a spam source. If your site is hacked and starts serving spam pages, redirects, or malware, your spam risk skyrockets.

Always serve your site over HTTPS with a valid SSL/TLS certificate. Redirect all HTTP URLs to HTTPS and update internal links and canonical tags so they match. Browsers label non‑secure sites as risky, which erodes user trust and can hurt performance in search.

Add basic security measures:

• Keep your CMS, plugins, and themes updated.
• Use strong, unique passwords and two‑factor authentication.
• Limit admin access and remove unused accounts.
• Regularly scan for malware or unexpected file changes.

If you ever see strange URLs, Japanese or pharma spam, or sudden spikes in low‑quality pages, treat it as a possible hack and clean it up fast. A secure, HTTPS‑only site that is clearly under active maintenance sends a strong “not spam” signal to both users and search engines.

Link building strategies that reduce spam risk over time

Focusing on relevant, high‑quality, niche‑specific backlinks

Safe link building starts with where your backlinks come from. Aim for sites that are:

• Topically related to your niche
• Real businesses or publishers with genuine traffic
• Known for useful, original content

A single backlink from a respected, niche‑specific site is usually worth far more than dozens of random directory or blog network links. Quality signals include strong organic traffic, natural content, and links placed inside relevant articles rather than in sidebars or footers.

When you evaluate a potential backlink, ask: “Would this link still be valuable if Google did not exist?” If the answer is yes because it can send real visitors, build authority, or support your brand, it is almost always a low‑spam, long‑term asset.

Guest posting, digital PR, and partnerships done the right way

Guest posting and digital PR are safe when the content is the main value, not the link. That means:

• Pitching topics that genuinely help the host site’s audience
• Writing original, well‑researched articles, not spun or recycled pieces
• Accepting natural link placements (often to your homepage, resources, or author bio)

Modern digital PR often outperforms classic guest posting, because data‑driven stories, reports, or unique insights can earn mentions on news sites and strong industry publications. These placements are fewer but much more powerful and trusted.

Partnerships such as co‑branded studies, webinars, or tools can also generate safe backlinks. The key is that the collaboration would make sense even without SEO: shared audiences, shared expertise, and content both sides are proud to promote. Avoid any arrangement that is “you give me a link, I give you a link” with no real value behind it.

Building a natural mix of branded, generic, and keyword anchors

Even great backlinks can look spammy if the anchor text is over‑optimized. A healthy profile usually leans heavily on:

• Branded anchors (your brand or domain name)
• Generic anchors (“learn more”, “this guide”)
• Naked URLs

and uses exact‑match keywords only sparingly. Studies of natural link profiles suggest that branded and partial‑match anchors should make up the majority, while exact‑match anchors stay in the single‑digit percentage range.

Think of keyword‑rich anchors as seasoning, not the main dish. Let other sites choose wording that fits their content, and when you do have input, favor branded or descriptive phrases over aggressive “money” keywords. Over time, this mix signals to search engines that your links are earned, not manipulated, which keeps spam risk low while still supporting strong rankings.

How to monitor spam score and measure SEO improvement

Setting up a regular schedule to review spam score and backlinks

Monitoring spam score is not a one‑time task. Treat it like routine maintenance. For most sites, checking spam score and backlinks once a month is enough. If you are in a very competitive niche or doing active link building, review them every 1–2 weeks.

Create a simple checklist so the process is repeatable:

• Check your domain‑level spam score in your preferred SEO tool.
• Review new backlinks gained since the last check.
• Sort links by risk signals such as low authority, irrelevant topics, or spammy anchor text.

Keep a basic spreadsheet or dashboard where you log the date, spam score, number of referring domains, and any actions taken (disavows, removals, content updates). Over time, this record makes it easier to see whether your clean‑up work is actually reducing risk.

Tracking changes in organic traffic, rankings, and visibility

Spam score is only one signal. To measure real SEO improvement, you also need to track how your site performs in search. Watch three main areas:

• Organic traffic: Use analytics to monitor organic sessions and clicks. Look at trends over weeks and months, not just day‑to‑day noise.
• Rankings: Track a core set of important keywords. Note when positions move up or down after you fix spammy links or improve content.
• Visibility: Review impressions and average position in search performance reports. Rising impressions with stable or improving positions usually mean your clean‑up is helping.

Try to compare these metrics with your spam score log. If spam indicators go down while traffic and rankings slowly improve, you are moving in the right direction.

Knowing when a high spam score is urgent and when it’s just a warning

A high spam score does not always mean you are penalized, but it should never be ignored. It becomes urgent when you see several signs at once: a sharp jump in spam score, a wave of suspicious new backlinks, and a clear drop in organic traffic or rankings. In that case, you should quickly audit links, remove or disavow toxic ones, and review recent SEO activity.

If your spam score is only moderately high and your performance is stable, treat it as a warning signal. Prioritize cleaning up the worst links and improving weak content, but do it methodically rather than in a panic. The goal is steady risk reduction over time, not chasing a perfect score.