We give every website a score out of 100 to help you quickly judge if a backlink is worth pursuing. Think of it like a credit score for websites - higher is better, and certain red flags can really hurt the score.
90–100 Points: Excellent High-quality websites with strong reputations. They're established, trustworthy, and a backlink from them will genuinely help your SEO. Go ahead and pursue these opportunities.
76–89 Points: Good, solid websites with only minor issues. They might be relatively new or have a slightly elevated spam score, but they're generally safe bets. These backlinks will still provide good SEO value.
61–75 Points: Average. Proceed with caution. These sites have some noticeable quality issues — maybe they're fairly new, have moderate spam signals, or are missing some legitimacy markers. Review carefully before deciding.
1–60 Points: Poor. Multiple red flags detected. These backlinks probably won't help much and might even hurt your SEO. Generally, it's best to avoid unless you personally know and trust the site.
Score of 0: Disqualified. A score of exactly zero doesn't mean "very poor" — it means a specific disqualifying condition was detected that guarantees the backlink provides zero SEO value. See the deal-breakers section below.
We analyse websites across several key areas:
Domain Reputation: How long has the site been around? Does it have a good track record? Does it appear in web archives, indicating it's been a real site for years?
Technical Quality: Does it use secure HTTPS? Are there any dodgy redirects?
Spam Signals: Does Moz flag it as spammy? Does Google consider it dangerous?
Legitimacy Markers: Does it have a contact page? Is it a root domain rather than a subdomain?
Some things automatically drop a site to zero because they guarantee the backlink won't help your SEO at all:
NOFOLLOW links only: Sites like Facebook, Pinterest, and Wikipedia don't pass SEO value through their links. Why pursue something that offers no value?
Blocked from search engines: If the page tells Google not to index it, your link won't count.
Parked domains: "This domain is for sale" pages aren't real websites.
URL redirects to a different domain: If the URL redirects elsewhere, you're not getting a link from where you expected.
UGC platform detected: If the overwhelming majority of outbound links on the page are nofollowed, the site is applying a blanket nofollow policy — typically a sign that it's a user-generated content platform where links carry no weight.
Google Safe Browsing threat: If Google has flagged the site for malware or phishing, it's an automatic zero.
These issues significantly reduce a site's score because they indicate quality problems:
Very new domains (under a year old) — haven't proven themselves yet.
High spam scores — Moz has detected numerous spam characteristics.
No security — sites without HTTPS are outdated and risky.
These items appear as warnings but don't automatically reduce the score — they need your judgement:
Content mills — sites publishing lots of posts could be spam OR legitimate publications.
Suspicious patterns — sites with "Write for Us" pages are common on both spammy sites AND legitimate blogs.
High nofollow link rate — if many outbound links are nofollowed but not enough to trigger the UGC zero, we'll flag the percentage. Some no-following is normal editorial practice; a very high rate warrants a closer look.
Our Recommendation:
Focus your efforts on sites scoring 76 or above. These provide genuine SEO value and are worth your time.
For scores between 61 and 75, read the warnings carefully. Sometimes these can still be good opportunities depending on your specific situation.
Avoid anything below 61 unless you personally know and trust the site. The score indicates there are real quality concerns.
If the score is exactly 0, a specific disqualifying condition was found — check which deal-breaker triggered it before pursuing the link.
Trust Scores are a helpful starting point, but they're not the whole story:
Relevance matters: A score-65 site in your exact industry might be more valuable than a score-90 generic directory.
Quality over quantity: One great contextual link beats ten mediocre ones.
New can be good: Brand-new, high-quality sites get penalised for age, but could be great long-term partners.
Warnings aren't penalties: Items in the warning section are for your awareness — they require human judgement.
Use your judgement: The score is a tool to save you time, not a replacement for your own assessment.