Spam Score – A detailed Study

We use the word ‘spam’ so much in our daily lives. Be it for any unknown mail, be it for text on WhatsApp, but in SEO a Spam Score represents the sites present on google with similar features that indeed aren’t any good, and these sites are either penalized or even banned by google. Spammers have a huge nexus. Despite Google keeping a keen eye on every activity online, spammers manage to crawl into your URL and use it unfairly. Then why can this spammer be stopped? What is their interest in this mischievous activity? What pleasure do they get by posting someone else’s URL on different sites? Indeed no one will use their time and energy for nothing. So what do spammers get? Spammers are paid. Yes, money is the only interest behind this ill motive of making an innocent blogger suffer for their deeds.  At times the websites that are penalized or banned have nothing to do with the content flashing on their site. It is all done by the spammers. Well, the discussion won’t end so easily. First, let us understand it in a very simple language.

What is the spam score?

Let us understand what a spam score is? It is actually duplicacy. Yes, any duplicate or copied content present on a website is spam, and the number of spam is its spam score. The sites that are not regularized and monitored and consist of a huge number of spam have to pay a heavy penalty to google and if the violation continues the site gets banned by google. So here we learn:

• It is a rating system declared by Mozo in the year 2015 that forecast the chance of hostname spam on a website
• Spam is duplicacy
• It is the similar features present on different websites
• Websites with spam are penalized or banned by google
• One should keep investigating the quality of their website to avoid any sort of spam collection

Well, now we know what a spam score is. And it isn’t a good thing to have spam on your website. Now the question arises, how does it affect your site? Let us discuss:

How does spam affect a website

There are many kinds of spam. Like chain letters, pyramid schemes, someone offering easy money, how to become rich in one go, working at home and get paid, video call with women, offering some unknown startup business, free health check-up, etc. Have you ever noticed those unwanted pop-ups on your site? Those misleading links? Unwanted data? Yes. we all encounter such problems once we are online. If you own a website you need to be extra careful in terms of spam. There are so many kinds of SEO spam, that it even can confuse you with traffic on your website. You get surprised at a sudden rise in traffic on a website that is actually some kind of foul play. It is not only unwanted material but also it can be very harmful to your website in numerous ways:

• It slows down the speed of your website
• A decrease in website performance has a negative impact on the ranking of the website
• The database URLs of your website can be hacked and sold to the spam crawlers
• Your website gets flooded with spam. Your email, database as well

If your website’s URL is being hacked and used google can penalize some of the following penalties:

• User-generated spam penalty
• Abnormal links to your website sanction
• Hacked website penalty
• Structural markup of spam sanction
• Overuse /stuffing of keyword penalty
• Scheming redirects penalty
• Copy content/duplicacy or no added value sanction

Precaution and prevention against spam score

Now we know spam scores are nothing good for your website. You know it cannot be stopped completely. But certainly, there are some ways that can provide a barrier between spam and your website. Some precautions can be taken to prevent the ill effect of it. We all know precautions are always better than prevention. Now the question arises is there any way or method to remove spam from a website? Yes, there are some. Here we will discuss some of the proven tricks not to get into the spammer’s trap:

• Manual scanning – a hacker will always try to make a back door entry to your site. Manual scanning will help you to notice any malware in your file.
• Anti-virus software – always make sure your server has an up-to-date anti-virus installed and keep running while you are working on your system. This anti-virus software is very effective at locating malicious files in web directories.
• Use a third-party tool to scan your website – you can find many third-party tools online these days. Use them to scan your website. In case you missed any malicious activity during step one, this would help you to locate the back door if any.
• Install WordPress plugin – The WordPress plugin will help you to ensure the safety of your files every time by scanning them. If a spammer adds any kind of code to your website, WordPress will immediately detect it.
• Sitemap check – it is very important to keep checking your sitemap. SEO spam attack actually modifies WordPress to make a rise in the likes of the URLs found by the search engines. If you notice any kind of modification get it fixed immediately.
• Keep changing your password – if you notice any sort of spam in your WordPress database, it is well understood that the spammer has accessed all of your administrative sections. Now it becomes very important to generate new WordPress keys and change your password for all your accounts be it FTP account, hosting account, or database. Change all WordPress user passwords to scan all email ids of all users. If you come across any unauthorized user just remove it.
• Keep examining your files and keep re-installing your plugin and themes. These precautions will help your website keep free of spam.