PBN with high spam score

Z

Zolddino

Newbie
Joined
Feb 3, 2016
Messages
37
Reaction score
5
Hi everyone!
I’ve taken over an SEO project, and the previous specialist built a large PBN around it with dozens of sites. I’ve only worked with smaller PBNs before, where I built medium-quality backlinks, but the sites in this network seem really weak to me because their Spam Score is quite high. There are nearly 40 domains with data like this:
domain1 - DA33 - Spam Score 50
domain2- DA5 - Spam Score 1
domain3 - DA15 - Spam Score 50
domain4 - DA 9 - Spam Score 72
domain5 - DA12 -Spam Score 5


For those with more experience in PBNs:
Is it normal for these sites to have such a high Spam Score?
Do they have any real value, or should I delete them? Maybe just the ones with the highest Spam Score?
 
Advertise on BHW
check the history of this domains
 
Zolddino said:
Hi everyone!
I’ve taken over an SEO project, and the previous specialist built a large PBN around it with dozens of sites. I’ve only worked with smaller PBNs before, where I built medium-quality backlinks, but the sites in this network seem really weak to me because their Spam Score is quite high. There are nearly 40 domains with data like this:
domain1 - DA33 - Spam Score 50
domain2- DA5 - Spam Score 1
domain3 - DA15 - Spam Score 50
domain4 - DA 9 - Spam Score 72
domain5 - DA12 -Spam Score 5


For those with more experience in PBNs:
Is it normal for these sites to have such a high Spam Score?
Do they have any real value, or should I delete them? Maybe just the ones with the highest Spam Score?
Click to expand...

It's important to check their backlinks and not rely on the "spam score".

Google will ignore obvious trash links (and you can disavow them as well), but the spam score can still consider them.
 
Spam score itself is usually not considered as a standalone metric. It's used to extrapolate link quality. If the entire backlink profile is trash, then you should abandon even if it has low spam score. Many authority sites have high spam score but it's acceptable as they have high quality backlinks to balance it out. If a site only has spam backlinks, then it's better to stay away from it.
 
These days, there are several tools available to check website performance, credibility, and link profiles. Each platform uses its own unique algorithm to evaluate site quality, making the metrics vary from one tool to another.

At the same time, the Spam Score developed by MOZ is one of the traditional methods used to assess a website’s quality. We take Spam Score seriously, and I strongly recommend not investing heavily in websites with a high spam score. In my opinion, a Spam Score below 15 is the safest range to proceed with.

Of course, this is just my perspective, so I encourage you to review different metrics and make an informed decision based on your own evaluation.
 
Those high Spam Scores are a big warning sign. PBN sites with scores over 50 can do more harm than good, especially if their DA is low. It's best to keep only the stronger, cleaner domains with low Spam Scores and either remove or disavow the risky ones. Building a smaller, higher-quality PBN or focusing on natural backlinks is much safer and more effective in the long run.
 
Moz’s Spam Score is one of the most misleading metrics when it comes to PBN evaluation.

High spam score ≠ dead site.

I’ve ranked plenty of pages using PBNs with 50-70 Spam Score as long as:

1. The backlink profile has real referring domains not just 301 farm junk.
2. Outbound links are controlled no casino/pills/cbd footprints everywhere).
3. Content is indexed + site passes a *simple cache check / brand search* in Google.

To decide whether to keep/delete, I’d look at:

RD vs SS ratio A DA15 w/ SS 50 but 200 legit RDs is still valuable.
Anchor text history in Ahrefs If 90% anchors are Chinese/Keto Pills dump it.
Spammy TLDs in links? If it’s full of .xyz / .top / .gq probably toxic layer.

Personally, I’d keep anything that’s indexed + sending traffic regardless of Spam Score. Most of my highest-performing PBNs are ugly on paper.

Moz metrics are for beginners SERPs tell the truth.
 
High spam score means Google may already distrust them, so they’re not worth keeping.
 
Ignore spam score and evaluate backlink profiles one by one. and then decide what to keep and what not.

And forget that aything like spam score or DA exists and you will live a better and more fulfilling professional life mate.
 
Thank you so much for your help!
These PBN sites have no traffic at all, and they are not connected to each other in any way. They only link to the blog posts of the money page. Each site has only 4–5 articles.
 
Hey, no, that high 'Spam Score' isn't normal for anything you'd want to keep around. Domains with 50-70+ are typically considered quite toxic. They offer very little to no real value and could even be a liability for your main site. My advice would be to get rid of anything above a 20-30 mark, especially the 50s and 70s you listed. Focus your efforts on building up better quality domains for your network.
 
If DA and other metrics of these PBNS is low and spam score are like 50 then is best to remove these PBNS as will not do any good and may risk your site more
 
Do you have admin access to these pbns or they are owned by the former agency? Did you check their backlink profile? Give some info about backlinks of the top spam score domain. How many and what type?
 
Domains with Spam Scores above ~30–40 are usually risky. While some may still pass link juice, the chance of penalties or negative impact is high.
 
High Spam Scores usually mean those sites could be risky for your SEO. It’s common in big PBNs, but I’d avoid using sites with very high Spam Scores (like over 50-60). They can hurt more than help. Focus on the lower spam score sites with decent DA instead. Also, check if those domains have clean backlink profiles and real content before using them. Hope this helps!
 
Why would you bother with those kinds of domains when you can easily find thousands of such domains at any given time. For an example of how mediocre (or worse), and plentiful, these such domains are, here is the result of abuot 20minutes of scraping from this morning:

1761208620903.png

For the above, I just scraped a single website, it took about 30s to setup and I let it run for about 20minutes.

Thousands of referring Subnets, DA in the tens and Moz Spam score less than 15 across the board.

People, stop fucking around with shitty domains! There are so many such domains that you don't have to be limited to domains with high spam score or no links. For your sake, don't base your website's / PBNs on shitty domains, it will fall apart sooner or later.
 
PBN sites with high Spam Scores are often low-quality and can negatively impact your SEO.
Consider removing or disavowing the riskiest domains and retaining only the healthier, trustworthy sites for links.
 
Same here, I’m facing this issue too — my website’s spam score suddenly jumped recently. Definitely concerning, looking into backlinks and domain history now.1777035418211.png
 
Last edited:
Advertise on BHW
You must log in or register to reply here.
Sign up now!

Main Menu

Home Main Forum List Black Hat SEO White Hat SEO BHW Newbie Guide Blogging Black Hat Tools Social Media Downloads

Marketplace

Account Selling Content / Copywriting EBooks / Methods Hosting Misc Proxies For Sale SEO - Link building SEO - Packages Social Media Social Media - Panels Web Design More

Making Money

Affiliate Programs Hire a Freelancer IM Journeys Making Money Pay Per Click Site Flipping Want to Buy

BlackHat World

Dispute Resolution Forum Suggestions & Feedback Introductions Lounge
Back
Top