What is Spam Score and how is it calculated?
What is Spam Score?
Spam Score is Ranktracker's proprietary metric indicating the spam level of a page, group of pages, or an entire domain (depending on the endpoint you’re using). It can take values from 0% to 100%:
A score of 0%-30% is considered a low Spam Score.
A score of 31%-60% is considered a medium Spam Score.
A score of 61%-100% is considered a high Spam Score.
The score is calculated based on 18 signals, which are listed in the table below.
How Spam Score of a page is calculated
To calculate the Spam Score for a page, the API considers various signals: from whether the page has contact information to which protocol it uses (HTTP or HTTPS). Below we list all the signals and show their impact on the overall score.
*TLDs associated with spammy websites:
How Spam Score of a domain is calculated
When it comes to calculating the Spam Score for a group of pages (backlinks_spam_score) or an entire domain (target_spam_score), the API calculates the Spam Score for each individual page and then finds the average.
For example, if a domain has 5 pages with 30%, 45%, 20%, 10%, and 70% Spam Scores, then its Spam Score will be: (30 + 45 + 20 + 10 + 70) / 5 = 35%.
Spam Score is Ranktracker's proprietary metric indicating the spam level of a page, group of pages, or an entire domain (depending on the endpoint you’re using). It can take values from 0% to 100%:
A score of 0%-30% is considered a low Spam Score.
A score of 31%-60% is considered a medium Spam Score.
A score of 61%-100% is considered a high Spam Score.
The score is calculated based on 18 signals, which are listed in the table below.
How Spam Score of a page is calculated
To calculate the Spam Score for a page, the API considers various signals: from whether the page has contact information to which protocol it uses (HTTP or HTTPS). Below we list all the signals and show their impact on the overall score.
| Signal | Impact on the score |
|---|---|
| Domain name length (including TLD) is less than 3, equal to 3, or greater than 20 characters | +10% |
| Main domain contains more than or equal to 2 numeric characters | +15% |
| Subdomain contains more than or equal to 2 numeric characters | +20% |
| Domain contains one of the TLDs associated with spammy websites* (see the list below) | +20% |
| Page doesn’t contain link or script tags from trustworthy sources (Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter) inside the head element | +20% |
| Page contains link or script tags from trustworthy sources (Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter) inside the head element | -(number of sources * 5) |
| Page contains social meta tags | -15% |
| Page contains contact info | -20% |
| Page utilizes non-local rel canonical tag | +20% |
| Website uses the insecure HTTP protocol instead of HTTPS | +30% |
| Page doesn’t have a title tag or its title tag is less than 30 or greater than 65 characters | +5% |
| Page has a title tag and its title tag is greater than 30 or less than 65 characters | -5% |
| Page doesn’t have a description tag or its decsription tag is less than 40 or greater than 200 characters | +5% |
| Page has a description tag and its description tag is greater than 40 or less than 200 characters | -5% |
| Page has more than 10 keywords in the meta keywords tag | +15% |
| Page has more than 100 external links | +20% |
| Page has more than 500 internal links | +15% |
| Ratio of external links to internal links is greater than 3 | +15% |
*TLDs associated with spammy websites:
.surf, .cn, .cfd, .ga, .biz, .hk, .pw, .icu, .top, .tw, .gq, .work, .cf, .cam, .ml, .bit.ly, .bit.do, .ow.ly, .goo.gl, .x.co, .rebrand.ly, .tinyurl.com, .t.co, .is.gd, .ht.ly, .xyz, .bestHow Spam Score of a domain is calculated
When it comes to calculating the Spam Score for a group of pages (backlinks_spam_score) or an entire domain (target_spam_score), the API calculates the Spam Score for each individual page and then finds the average.
For example, if a domain has 5 pages with 30%, 45%, 20%, 10%, and 70% Spam Scores, then its Spam Score will be: (30 + 45 + 20 + 10 + 70) / 5 = 35%.
Updated on: 21/10/2022
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